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 From the time of the Wright Brothers' successful flights at Kill Devil Hill, Americans
have been in love with aviation. In the early days, access to flight was limited to those
with know-how and access to the special tools and materials needed to build your own
plane - or those who received training in the military. By the 1930s, commercially produced
private airplanes became affordable to many "regular" people. As the skies filled with
airplanes and more people were flying on commercial airliners, attending air shows, and
learning to fly themselves, some of the mystique wore off, but the public still loved
a good aviation story. Magazines like
The Saturday Evening Post,
Boys' Life, and
Flying Aces carried both true and fictional stories of air adventures. Newspaper and comic
books published many aviation-related series like Smilin' Jack, Captain Flight, Air Boy, Flyin' Jenny, Sky Blazers,
Tailspin Tommy, and many others were regulars on the news stand.
Since I have a paid subscription to Newspapers.com, I decided to search for a sampling
of some of those comics strips. The Baltimore Sun newspaper, published not far from where
I grew up near Annapolis, Maryland, carried Flyin' Jenny from the late 1930s until the
strip ended in the mid 1940s, so I saved a couple dozen from there. This is the first
one I downloaded (I added a bit of color to it). The publication date was December 7,
1941 - that date "which will live in infamy," per President Roosevelt. Many Americans
were receiving word over the radio of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor while reading
this comic at the breakfast table.
Flyin' Jenny,
whose real name was Virginia Dare (what's in a name?), was a test pilot for Starcraft Aviation Factory
who divided her time between wringing out new airplane designs and chasing bad guys. She was the creation of artist and storyteller Russell Keaton. I will try to remember to post a new Flyin' Jenny each week
until they run out. All I have are the Sunday editions, but it was a daily strip as
well.
Vintage Flyin' Jenny Comic Strips:
- Flyin' Jenny - January 30, 1944 The Baltimore Morning Sun
- Flyin' Jenny - January 23, 1944, The Baltimore Morning Sun
- Flyin' Jenny, - January 16, 1944, The Baltimore Morning Sun
- Flyin' Jenny, - January 2, 1944, The Baltimore Morning Sun
- Flyin'
Jenny - February 8, 1942, The Baltimore Morning Sun
- Flyin' Jenny, - January 25, 1942, The Baltimore Morning Sun
- Flyin' Jenny - January 18, 1942, The Baltimore Morning Sun
- Flyin' Jenny - January 11, 1942, The Baltimore Morning Sun
- Flyin' Jenny - January 4, 1942, The Baltimore Morning Sun
- Flyin' Jenny - December 28, 1941, The Baltimore Morning Sun
- Flyin' Jenny - December 21, 1941, The Baltimore Morning Sun
- Flyin' Jenny - December 14, 1941, The Baltimore
Morning Sun
- Flyin' Jenny - December 7, 1941, The Baltimore Morning Sun
- Flyin' Jenny
- November 2, 1941, The Baltimore Morning Sun
- Flyin' Jenny - October 10, 1939, The Baltimore Morning Sun
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The Amelia Earhart Story - January 4, 1942, The Baltimore
Morning Sun
Posted December 1, 2017
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