America’s first warbird
New movie celebrates the ‘Liberty Plane’
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New video captures excitement
Surprise flight in an Extra 300L
By Dave Hirschman
Sometimes the people that aviation can uplift the most are right in front of us.
Alton Downer works as a lineman at Signature Flight Support at Frederick Municipal Airport in Frederick, Maryland. The U.S. Army combat veteran has logged about 20 hours of dual instruction on his way to becoming a private pilot.
Whenever he refuels the AOPA Extra 300L (donated by Bruce Williams, a flight instructor, aviation writer, and former Microsoft manager who played major roles in the company’s highly successful Flight Simulator programs to continue its pilot education mission), Downer asks technical questions about the unlimited aerobatic airplane’s performance. AOPA offered Downer a flight in the Extra, and the Jamaica-born student pilot accepted with enthusiasm.
For the next half-hour, Downer rode through one aerobatic maneuver after another, and he said the experience left him more infatuated with flight than ever.
“It’s amazing to see what’s possible,” he said. “I never expected anything like this. This day is one I’ll never forget.” 
[email protected], aopa.org/pilot/extraflight
Filmmaker and pilot Dorian Walker produced the film with the organization Friends of Jenny, which was established several years ago to restore a Curtiss Jenny (see “Flying Miss Jenny,” AOPA Pilot July 2016).
“We have finished our film on America’s first warbird. Inspired by both the timeframe, our own DH–4 (which is filmed in it before its hard landing), and Peter Jackson’s They Shall Not Grow Old, we have attempted to take audiences back in time,” said Walker. “I’m a filmmaker and lifelong aviator. In the past decade I’ve been focusing on bringing the old birds back to life, both in film and on the flight line. We still fly the 1917 replica Curtiss Jenny, which was featured in our first film, Legends of the Sky: The Jenny in 2014.”
The story of America’s first warbird, the DH–4 Liberty Plane, was largely unknown, Walker said, yet so many innovations evolved from it. “The development and history of America’s first warbird is innovative, exciting, and heroic. Legends of the Sky: The Liberty Plane, brings this story to the screen.” It will air on PBS stations beginning October 15.
The DH–4 Liberty was the only American-built airplane to be flown into combat in World War I by American crews. Designed by British engineer Geoffrey de Havilland, the bomber first flew into combat with the British Royal Flying Corps in early 1917. When the United States joined the war in April, an example was sent to the U.S. to determine if it was suitable for American production. In less than a year, the U.S. adopted the airframe, and automakers designed and produced a massive V-12 engine to power the aircraft.
The American Aircraft Production Board approved the design for construction in July 1917, pairing it with the American-designed V-12 “Liberty” engine. Because of this, American DH–4 airplanes were known as “Liberty planes.” The first Liberty plane rolled out of a U.S. factory on October 29, 1917.
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