PGA at NCR, Harrigan’s Tavern moves, John Glenn visits, among other stories
Throughout this year, we’ll be celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Dayton Daily News with stories, photos, videos and more.
Each week, we’ll bring you a selection of notable stories that happened this week in Dayton history, chronicled by the same newspaper that continues to serve the community today.
Here’s a look at some stories happening the week of Aug 13-19.
Aug. 15, 1927: Huge twin-motored airplane contains cigar store
A large, twin-motored Sikorsky airplane, with a completely equipped cigar store, landed at McCook Field in Dayton.
The plane was being flown on a tour of about 85 cities by Roscoe Turner. It had a crew of three men to go with the store contained within the 53-foot fuselage.
Upon landing at McCook, the airship was met by Dayton Mayor A.C. McDonald, members of the Lions Club and members of the Chamber of Commerce.
The plane was completely equipped as a cigar store, with all the prominent brands of cigars, cigarettes, tobacco and pipes. It even had a NCR cash register.
The plane was crowded with patrons eager to have the distinction of buying their tobacco supplies from it over the duration of its three-day stay.
Aug. 14, 1938: Improved air beacon is developed at field here
A new and greatly improved air beacon was developed at Wright Field, which the air corps called a “light in the window” to guide army planes home at night.
The unique feature about the new light was that instead of sweeping a single beam of light around in a circle, it threw out a circular beam shining in all directions. The beam raised up and down past a divided line 40 times a minute, so that a pilot approaching from any angle can be guided by it.
Pilots voiced unanimous enthusiasm for the advantages of the light, known as the oscillating type D-2. It was known to be especially effective in bad weather.
The air corps decided to make it standard equipment and contemplated supplying all major air stations with the new signal light.
The beacon had a 360-degree lens, lit by a 1500-watt, 32-volt lamp.
In plain terms, a pilot would now see 80 flashes a minute (40 up and 40 down) instead of the six flashes per minute with the older signal lights.
Aug. 18, 1969: Ray Floyd played safe, won PGA anyway
The 51st PGA national championship was held at National Cash Register Country Club in Dayton. A record crowd of 23,543 attended.
It was won by 26-year-old Raymond Floyd, who defeated Gary Player by one stroke. Floyd shot three-over-par on the final round for a 72-hole score of 276.
Floyd went into the final round with a five-shot lead but played it safe and barely hung on.
The deciding hole was No. 16, when Floyd sank a 35-foot putt for birdie. When asked about the putt, Floyd said, “I was just hoping to two-putt. How far was it? A couple miles? Really, I’m not very good a judging distances.”
The first-place check was for $35,000
Aug. 13, 1976: It’s a skunk’s life
The Goble family found a tame, de-scented skunk in their garage, and didn’t know what to do with it.
The family liked the skunk, except for their cat, who hissed a lot. They decided to place an in the Dayton Daily News.
Three months earlier there had been another skunk ad, offering “generous reward for the person who finds our skunk.” Unfortunately, that person moved and the Gobles had no way of contacting them. They did discover that the skunk was named “Charlie.”
With each passing day, the Goble children grew more fond of their new pet. “The more you get used to him the better you like him,” said Barbara Goble, their mother.
The family was hoping a farm family nearby would adopt Charlie.
Aug. 15, 1984: Harrigan’s plans to reopen in Kettering
Harrigan’s, the oldest tavern in Kettering, was leaving their site on Far Hills Ave. to relocate at its present location on Marshall Road. The new spot was formerly a Burger Chef.
The atmosphere was to remain the same, sporting an “old Wyoming tavern” look. The only difference was that the new tavern was to serve dinner as well as lunch.
The original tavern location was owned by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, and they planned to raze the building to make more parking for St. Albert the Great Catholic Church.
Aug. 14, 1991: Sen. John Glenn visits Wright Cycle Shop in Dayton
U.S. Sen. John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, acted as excited as a child while visiting Dayton’s last surviving site where Wilbur and Orville Wright worked on the invention that made aviation possible.
Along with the Wright Cycle Shop, Glenn visited the Wright Flyer III at Carillon Park, poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar’s house and Hawthorn Hill, Orville Wright’s house.
Glenn was a supporter of legislation to incorporate those sites and Huffman Prairie, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, into the then-proposed Dayton Aviation Heritage National Park.
Glenn was intrigued by an old-fashioned, high-wheeled bicycle on display, saying, “Bicycle chains haven’t changed much in 90 years,” and mentioned that he “might come back and ride” it when no cameras were present.