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Almost Yesterday is a glimpse into the rich history of our region. Dr. Frank Nickell takes listeners on a journey to specific moments in time, such as the first radio broadcast on KFVS, the history of Farmington’s Carleton College, and the short-lived safari on a Mississippi River island. A gifted storyteller and local historian, Dr. Nickell’s wit and love for the past are combined with sounds and music that augment his narrative.On Saturday, June 7, 2008, Almost Yesterday received First Place in the "Special Programs" category at the Missouri Broadcasters Association Awards Banquet in Kansas City, Missouri.Almost Yesterday airs every Wednesday at 5:42 and 7:42 a.m. and 5:18 p.m.

Almost Yesterday: Flying With Biffle

Almost Yesterday
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Southeast Missouri State University
Ira Biffle

It seems like Almost Yesterday that the first commercial airplane landed at Chicago's Municipal Airport, later Midway Airport. The plane came in from Omaha, Nebraska, with passengers and several bags of mail. The date was December 1, 1927, and it was an historic first for aviation in Chicago.

The Boeing Aircraft was piloted by Ira Oris Biffle, from Patton, Missouri.

Biffle was born on September 14, 1886, the son of Valentine and Matilda Berry Biffle.

Biffle spent his first eighteen years on the family farm between Patton and Marble Hill, Missouri, and there in 1904 he learned about the Wright Brothers and man's first flight. From that time forward the Bollinger County farm could not hold him.

Within a decade he was one of America's first skilled aviators, air mail pilots, and aviation instructors. In 1915 he joined three other pilots to initiate the United States Army Air Corps, operating out of San Diego, California.

During World War I Biffle may have trained more daring young men to fly than any other instructor, and was consistently described as "a hard-boiled instructor.”

Biffle's most famous student was Charles Lindbergh, who paid Biffle $200.00 in 1922 to teach him to fly. Lindbergh quickly impressed his instructor as "a darned good student – intelligent, quick, and nervy, much above the average.” Five years later, Lindbergh became the first pilot to fly non-stop from New York to Paris, becoming one of America's most famous heroes and aviators.

Tragically, on April 7, 1934, at the age of 48, Ira Biffle died of heart disease, impoverished and nearly blind.

The man who taught Lindbergh to fly, was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, an American hero from Patton, Missouri.

Frank Nickell is a retired history professor at Southeast Missouri State University.
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