Elrey Borge Jeppesen
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Elrey Borge Jeppesen (January 28, 1907 – November 26, 1996) was an American aviation pioneer noted for his contributions in the field of
air navigation The basic principles of air navigation are identical to general navigation, which includes the process of planning, recording, and controlling the movement of a craft from one place to another. Successful air navigation involves piloting an airc ...
. He worked as a pilot and began making detailed notes about his routes at a time when aviators had to rely on little more than automobile road maps and landmarks for navigation. He created manuals and charts that enabled pilots to fly much more safely. Finding a demand existed for his work, he founded the
Jeppesen Jeppesen (also known as Jeppesen Sanderson) is an American company offering navigational information, operations planning tools, flight planning products and software. Jeppesen's aeronautical navigation Aeronautical charts, charts are often call ...
company in 1934 to sell what he had developed.


Biography

Jeppesen was born on January 28, 1907, in
Lake Charles, Louisiana Lake Charles is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, fifth-most populous city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the county seat, parish seat of Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, Calcasieu Parish, located on Lake Charles (Louisiana), Lake Char ...
, United States. His parents were immigrants from
Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
. His father, Jens Hans Jeppesen, was an architect and builder trained in Denmark. Elrey grew up on a farm that his father had cleared and homesteaded in
Odell, Oregon Odell is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hood River County, Oregon, United States. Odell was named for an early pioneer, William Odell, a native of Tennessee by way of California, who settled in the area in 1861. ...
, before moving to
Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...
. As a child, Jeppesen spent hours watching eagles fly, and flying became his obsession. In 1921, 14-year-old Jeppesen got his first taste of flying when a barnstormer took him up in a
Curtiss JN-4 The Curtiss JN "Jenny" is a series of biplanes built by the Glenn Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft ...
"Jenny" for a 10-minute flight for US$4 (very roughly ). In 1925, at the age of 18, he joined Tex Rankin's Flying Circus "as a ticket taker, a prop turner, a wing walker, and an aerial acrobat". He soloed after two hours and 10 minutes of flying lessons and purchased his own Jenny for $500, using money borrowed from customers on his newspaper route. For two years beginning in 1928, he worked for Fairchild Aerial Surveys, flying photographers to map Mexico in a
de Havilland DH-4 The Airco DH.4 is a British two-seat biplane day bomber of the First World War. It was designed by Geoffrey de Havilland (hence "DH") for Airco, and was the first British two-seat light day-bomber capable of defending itself. It was design ...
. That same year, the United States government issued its first pilot's licenses; Jeppesen had Oregon's 27th license. His pilot license number is 7034 and was signed by
Orville Wright The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were American aviation pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first succes ...
. His Mexican pilot license number is 33. In 1930, Jeppesen joined
Boeing Air Transport United Air Lines was formed in 1931 as a subsidiary of United Aircraft and Transport Corporation to manage its airlines that were originally acquired by William Boeing, including Boeing Air Transport, Pacific Air Transport, Varney Air Lines, and ...
as an airmail pilot. On May 15, 1930, he was the pilot of the flight carrying the first
stewardess A flight attendant is a member of the aircrew whose primary responsibility is ensure the safety of passengers in the cabin of an aircraft across all stages of flight. Their secondary duty is to see to the comfort of passengers. Flight attenda ...
,
Ellen Church Ellen Church (September 22, 1904 – August 22, 1965) was the first female flight attendant. A trained nurse and pilot, Church wanted to pilot commercial aircraft, but those jobs were not open to women. Still wanting to fly, Church successfu ...
. (
Heinrich Kubis Heinrich Kubis (16 June 1888 – 1979) was a German professional waiter known for serving as the world's first flight attendant and for surviving the Hindenburg disaster. Career Kubis trained as a waiter and worked in several luxury hotels in E ...
had been the first male flight attendant in 1912.) While airway beacons assisted aerial navigation on specific routes, most pilots at that time depended on
dead reckoning In navigation, dead reckoning is the process of calculating the current position of a moving object by using a previously determined position, or fix, and incorporating estimates of speed, heading (or direction or course), and elapsed time. T ...
, generally using automobile road maps (such as those from oil companies or commercial mapmakers), railroad tracks, and landmarks to find their way. Jeppesen purchased a 10-cent notebook and started writing down detailed notes about his routes. He even climbed hills to determine their height and collected telephone numbers of farmers willing to provide weather reports. Word got around about his "little black book", and soon he was giving copies to his fellow pilots. Jeppesen was the first to design en-route procedures, let-down procedures, approach procedures, and the all-important, missed-approach procedure. If the weather were bad and visibility dropped to zero, if the ''Jeppesen Airway Manual'' had a missed approach procedure for that particular airport, the pilot could use it to determine what heading to turn, how to miss any mountains, and how high to climb. Today, many airlines use the ''Jeppesen Airway Manual'' for navigation. In 1934, as demand picked up, Jeppesen founded Jeppesen & Co. in the basement of his
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...
home to sell his information for $10 () a copy. On September 24, 1936, Jeppesen married his flight attendant, Nadine Liscomb. She helped him run his company, working as secretary and treasurer until the company was sold in 1961. On June 10, 1941, Jeppesen was involved in an accident at Denver Municipal Airport. While landing in a rainstorm, the United
DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper ...
aircraft overran the landing area, traveling through the airport boundary lights and into a ditch where the right landing gear failed. Neither the crew nor any of the 15 passengers were injured, but the aircraft itself sustained major damage. In the 1940s, with the onset of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the United States Army and Navy kept Jeppesen busy supplying them with his charts. Jeppesen retired from United Airlines (into which Boeing Air Transport had merged) in 1954. In 1961, Jeppesen sold his company, staying on as chairman. On November 26, 1996, Jeppesen died at the age of 89.


Legacy

The Jeppesen Company continues to exist today, currently as a subsidiary of
Boeing Commercial Airplanes Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) is a division of the Boeing Company. It designs, assembles, markets, and sells commercial aircraft, including the 737, 767, 777, and 787, along with freighter and business jet variants of most. The divis ...
, which acquired the business in October 2000. A statue of Jeppesen, by artist George Lundeen, was in the center of the main terminal at
Denver International Airport Denver International Airport , often referred to by locals as DIA, is an international airport in the Western United States, primarily serving metropolitan Denver, Colorado, as well as the greater Front Range Urban Corridor. At , Effective Ju ...
. Around the base of the statue was the accolade: "Airmail Pilot - Airline Captain - Wing Walker - Air Navigation Pioneer - Barnstormer - Air Safety Pioneer - Businessman - Instructor". The main terminal is also named in his honor. Jeppesen was the first passenger to disembark from the first flight to arrive at the new airport, United Flight 1474 from Colorado Springs. The
Museum of Flight The Museum of Flight is a private Nonprofit organization, non-profit Aircraft, air and Spacecraft, space museum in the Seattle metropolitan area. It is located at the southern end of Boeing Field, King County International Airport (Boeing Fi ...
holds the Elrey B. Jeppesen Collection in its archives. A
facsimile A facsimile (from Latin ''fac simile'', "to make alike") is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of r ...
of the Little Black Book is also on display in the museum's galleries.


Honors

*
International Air & Space Hall of Fame The International Air & Space Hall of Fame is an honor roll of people, groups, organizations, or things that have contributed significantly to the advancement of aerospace flight and technology, sponsored by the San Diego Air & Space Museum. Sin ...
in 1995 *
National Aviation Hall of Fame The National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) is a museum, annual awards ceremony and learning and research center that was founded in 1962 as an Ohio non-profit corporation in Dayton, Ohio, United States, known as the "Birthplace of Aviation" with ...
in 1990 *
Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame The Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame was established by the Colorado Aviation Historical Society (CAHS) in Denver, Colorado, US, on November 11, 1969, for the State of Colorado. The original and first ten Colorado aviation pioneers were inducted ...
in 1970Holmes, Charles W., Editor, ''Honoree Album of the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame'', The
Colorado Aviation Historical Society The Colorado Aviation Historical Society (CAHS) is located at the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum Old Lowry AFB Campus, Denver, CO and was founded in 1966. The Society acquires, restores, preserves and provides for public display, air ...
, p.27, 1999, Audubon Media Corp., Audubon, Iowa.
* Oregon Aviation Hall of HonorTh
Oregon Aviation Hall of Honor
established by Oregon Department of Aviation in 2003, is located at the
Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum The Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum is an independent, 501(c)(3) non-profit, aviation museum in McMinnville, Oregon. Its exhibits include the Hughes H-4 Hercules (''Spruce Goose'') and more than fifty military and civilian aircraft, unmanned ...
in McMinnville, Oregon.
* OX5 Aviation Hall of Fame *
National Business Aviation Association The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) is a professional association and lobbying group for private business aviation. Overview NBAA is set up as a 501(c)(6) non-profit entity. NBAA organizes conferences and seminars. Edward M. ...
Meritorious Service to Aviation Award in 1965 *
Edward Warner Award The Edward Warner Award is an award that's given in the field of aviation to aviation pioneers or organizations that have contributed to civil aviation. The award is named after Edward Pearson Warner, the first President of the council of ICAO. The ...
in 1995 *
Tony Jannus Award The Tony Jannus Award recognizes outstanding individual achievement in scheduled commercial aviation by airline executives, inventors and manufacturers, and government leaders. The award is conferred annually by the Tony Jannus Distinguished Avia ...
in 1975


References


External links

*
Executive Biography of Elrey B. Jeppesen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeppesen, Elrey Borge American aviation pioneers Air navigation American aviation businesspeople United States airmail pilots Aviators from Colorado Aviators from Louisiana National Aviation Hall of Fame inductees Wing walkers People from Lake Charles, Louisiana American people of Danish descent 1907 births 1996 deaths