Arthur Godfrey

== Aviation ==
[[File:Arthur Godfrey - George Cooper - Smith de France.jpg - A-23317.jpg|left|thumb|Godfrey (left) with [[National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics|NACA]] pilot George Cooper and [[NASA Ames Research Center|Ames]] director Smith DeFrance]]

Godfrey learned to fly in 1929 while working in broadcast radio in the Washington, D.C., area, starting with gliders, then learning to fly airplanes. He was badly injured on his way to a flying lesson one afternoon in 1931 when an oncoming truck lost its left front wheel and hit him head on. Godfrey spent months recuperating, and the injury kept him from flying on active duty during World War II. He served during the war as a reserve officer in the [[United States Navy]] in a public affairs role.

Godfrey used his pervasive fame to advocate a strong [[Anti-communism|anti-Communist]] stance and to pitch for enhanced strategic [[Airpower|air power]] in the [[Cold War]] atmosphere. In addition to his advocacy for civil rights, he became a strong promoter of his middle-class fans' vacationing in Hawaii and [[Miami Beach, Florida]], formerly enclaves for the wealthy. In Hawaii, he helped raise funds for the "Coronation" [[carillon]] installed at the [[National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific]] in 1956.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=February 1, 1956 |title=Hawaii Volcano Crater has new 25-Bell Carillon |url=https://www.thediapason.com/sites/thediapason/files/195602TheDiapasonA.pdf |journal=[[The Diapason]] |volume=47 |issue=3 |page=6 |access-date=December 12, 2022 |archive-date=December 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221212181613/https://www.thediapason.com/sites/thediapason/files/195602TheDiapasonA.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

He made a television movie in 1953, taking the controls of an [[Eastern Air Lines]] [[Lockheed Constellation]] airliner and flying to Miami, thus showing how safe airline travel had become. As a reserve officer, he used his public position to cajole the Navy into qualifying him as a Naval Aviator, and played that against the [[United States Air Force]], who later successfully recruited him into the Air Force Reserve. At one time during the 1950s, Godfrey had flown every active aircraft in the military inventory.{{dubious|date=September 2022}}{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

His continued unpaid promotion of Eastern Air Lines earned him the undying gratitude of good friend [[Eddie Rickenbacker]], the World War I flying ace who was the president of the airline. He was such a good friend of the airline that Rickenbacker took a retiring [[Douglas DC-3]], fitted it out with an executive interior and [[Douglas DC-4|DC-4]] engines, and presented it to Godfrey, who then used it to commute to the studios in New York City from his huge [[Leesburg, Virginia]], farm every Sunday night.

===Aviation incidents===
In January 1954, Godfrey buzzed the control tower of [[Teterboro Airport]] in his DC-3. His certificate was suspended for six months. He claimed that the windy conditions that day required him to turn immediately after takeoff, but in fact he was upset with the tower because they would not give him the runway that he requested.{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}} He later recorded a satirical song about the incident called "Teterboro Tower", roughly to the tune of "[[Wabash Cannonball]]". A similar event occurred while he flew near Chicago in 1956, though no sanctions were imposed.

===Leesburg airport===
The original Leesburg airport, which Godfrey owned and referred to affectionately on his show as "The Old Cow Pasture", was less than a mile from the center of town, and local residents had come to expect rattling windows and crashing dishes every Sunday evening and Friday afternoon.

In 1960, Godfrey proposed building a new airport by selling the old field and donating a portion of the sale to a local group. Since Godfrey funded the majority of the airport, it is now known as [[Leesburg Executive Airport]] at Godfrey Field. He was also known for flying a [[North American/Ryan Navion]], a smaller single-engined airplane, a [[Lockheed Jetstar]], and in later years a [[Beech Baron]] and a [[Beech Duke]], registration number N1M. In 1964, he became one of the founding members of the board of directors of [[NetJets|Executive Jet Aviation Corporation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.netjets.com/about_netjets/timeline.asp |title=NetJets History |publisher=NetJets Division of Berkshire Hathaway |access-date=13 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416022716/http://www.netjets.com/about_netjets/timeline.asp |archive-date=April 16, 2009 }}</ref>