THE BALLOON MAN

NeSmith: "World's Smallest Airport" made aviation history

 

by Dink NeSmith
from: onlineathens.com
Friday, November 23, 2012
The year 1917 was good for aeronautics. The British were first to land a plane on a ship. Ben Epps Field was “born” in Athens. And Grady Thrasher Jr. was born in Athens, too. I didn’t know any of these facts until I met Grady Thrasher III, a retired attorney, who told me about the “World’s Smallest Airport.”

Grady III’s father and uncles were World War II veterans. But if they were anything, Grady, Bud and Tunis were daredevil entrepreneurs. Grady, a war pilot, taught his Navy seamen brothers how to fly.

And after I watched the documentary produced by Grady III and his wife, Kathy Prescott, I thought of Tim McGraw’s country song, “Live Like You Are Dying.” The Thrasher Brothers lived on the edge — as if they were dying — wowing spectators with their aerial circus from 1945 to 1950.

The three flirted with danger, but they had only one injury. Bud broke his back in a parachute jump. Undeterred, his brother, Grady, placed an ad in The Elberton Star: “Wanted — Male or female who is tired of living, despondent and has no specific object in life, to stand on top of wing of airplane as it does aerobatics at air show.”
Besides being an aeronautical genius, Grady Jr. was a prankster. Humor spiced the air shows. But 27 people didn’t think his ad was a joke. From that group, a wing-walker was selected, while Bud recuperated in St. Mary’s Hospital.
read more:
http://onlineathens.com/opinion/2012-11-23/nesmith-worlds-smallest-airport-made-aviation-history