William C. Ocker
Encyclopedia
William Charles Ocker was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 aviation pioneer. He is known as the "Father of Instrument Flying".

Biography

Ocker was one of seven children born to parents of German descent. He was educated in Philadelphia's public school system.

Ocker entered the U.S. Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 on 25 June 1898, serving with the cavalry and artillery during the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...

 and the Philippine-American War
Philippine-American War
The Philippine–American War, also known as the Philippine War of Independence or the Philippine Insurrection , was an armed conflict between a group of Filipino revolutionaries and the United States which arose from the struggle of the First Philippine Republic to gain independence following...

.

In 1909 Corporal Ocker was serving guard duty at Fort Myer
Fort Myer
Fort Myer is a U.S. Army post adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. It is a small post by U.S...

 when the Wright Brothers
Wright brothers
The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur , were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903...

' biplane was being assembled for its first Army demonstration. He became consumed with the desire to become a pilot, but when he applied for permission to begin flight training, he was told:
"Teaching enlisted men to fly runs contrary to War Department policy".


However, he was emboldened by the successful efforts of Vernon L. Burge, who was taking flying lessons from Lt. Frank P. Lahm at Fort William McKinley
Fort William McKinley
Fort William McKinley, was established in the Philippines during the Philippine–American War in 1901 when the whole land south of Pasig River down to Alabang was declared a U.S. Military Reservation. During the World War II era, it was where USAFFE had its headquarters for the Philippine Department...

. Burge would become the first FAI-certified enlisted pilot, on 14 June 1912. Corporal William A. Lamkey, who entered the US Army Signal Corps on 17 May 1913, had already received pilot training from the Moisant Flying School
Moisant Aviation School
The Moisant Aviation School was a school in the early days of aviation founded Alfred Moisant at Hempstead, Long Island, New York. Alfred and his brother John Bevins Moisant formed the Moisant International Aviators, a flying circus which toured the United States, Mexico and El Salvador. John had...

 (1912), and thereby became the second FAI-certified enlisted pilot. In 1912 Ocker (by then Sgt. Ocker) requested a transfer to Aeronautical Division. His commander, Captain Billy Mitchell, approved the transfer, remarking, "I've been thinking of transferring myself." (Mitchell later would head the Air Service American Expeditionary Force in France during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

). Ocker made the transfer on 23 September 1912, being assigned as aeroplane mechanician at the Army Aviation School at North Island, San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...

.

The US Army taught Ocker to repair and maintain its 2 Curtiss biplanes, and he used this expertise to moonlight at the nearby Curtiss Flying School; instead of receiving pay for maintaining its airplanes he received flying lessons.

On 20 April 1914 Ocker received FAI Aviator Certificate #293, and joined Burge and Lamkey as the only three enlisted pilots in the US Army.

In 1915, Ocker (while on leave from the Army) piloted a Curtiss biplane from Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C. carrying newly-elected Representative Orrin Dubbs Bleakley
Orrin Dubbs Bleakley
Orrin Dubbs Bleakley was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.Bleakley was born in Franklin, Pennsylvania. He attended the University of Bonn, in Prussia. He was engaged in banking with his father until 1876. He became interested in the production of oil...

. Bleakley was recognized as the first elected person to fly from his home state to the nation's capital for duty.

Involvement with aircraft equipment development

Ocker was involved in testing and maintaining some early experiments in aircraft stability and guidance, conducted on the Curtiss flying boat maintained by Ocker. Elmer A. Sperry
Elmer Ambrose Sperry
Elmer Ambrose Sperry was a prolific inventor and entrepreneur, most famous as co-inventor, with Herman Anschütz-Kaempfe of the gyrocompass.Sperry was born at Cincinnatus, New York, United States of America...

, who was developing the equipment, often supervised Ocker in these efforts.

Flying time was difficult to come by in the 1910s due to the limited aircraft in the Army inventory. Ocker volunteered for any possible testing, and thus amassed flying hours more rapidly than most pilots of the era. In 1916 he worked to test and develop airborne radio equipment

Ocker also made newspaper headlines in 1916 when he flew a scouting aircraft to 10,000 altitude over San Diego, and circled the area for an hour: "Aviator ascends 10,000 feet, circles over harbor for hour; spectators thrilled by sight." Later that year he again made headlines when he performed 15 consecutive loops
Aerobatic maneuver
Aerobatic maneuvers are flight paths putting aircraft in unusual attitudes, in air shows, dog fights or competition aerobatics. Aerobatics can be performed by a single aircraft or in formation with several others...

 over the city.

Ocker was commissioned as a Captain in the US Army Reserve on 11 January 1917. As the US entered World War I Ocker was called to teach flying to others, first in the Aviation Section, and then as an active-duty officer, commanding Chandler Field in Essington, Pennsylvania. (15 March to 13 April 1917).

Development of blind-flight instruments

While teaching flying, Ocker became more acutely aware of the hazards of flying into clouds, which invariably disoriented pilots. He began carrying one of the first turn and bank indicator
Turn and bank indicator
In aviation, the turn and bank indicator shows the rate of turn and the coordination of the turn. The rate of turn is indicated from a rate gyroscopically and the coordination of the turn is shown by either a pendulum or a heavy ball mounted in a curved sealed glass tube. No pitch information is...

s, given him by Sperry during their earlier testing. Working with US Army Captain David A. Myers, a flight surgeon at Crissy Field
Crissy Field
Crissy Field is a former airfield, now a part of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy in San Francisco, California, United States. Historically a part of the Presidio of San Francisco, Crissy Field was closed as an airfield and eventually the National Park Service took control over it...

, California, they developed proof of that instrument's trustworthiness and ability to deliver an airplane out of blind-flight conditions, provided the pilot could be convinced to obey its indications rather than his own senses.

In 1930 the Army assigned Ocker to Kelly Field with the rank of Major. He had received a patent on the use of the turn-and-bank in aircraft flight, but assigned the patent rights to the government.

In 1930 he again made newspaper headlines (in Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...

), for his cross-country flights (involving landings at the Tucson Airport) while developing blind-flying instruments.

Other achievements

In 1921 Ocker was named to a Board of Inquiry investigating the much-publicized crash of an Army aircraft on 28 May 1921, with 7 fatalities, following a review of the air brigade at Langley Field. The airplane was returning to Bolling Field in the DC area when it was caught in an intense storm. Ocker was also flying home from the same function and had also encountered the storm; this involvement was publicly noted by the Army when it made the press announcement naming Ocker and the other board members.

Ocker was hand-picked by General Billy Mitchell to scout various parcels of future airfields near the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...

. One of the tracts he selected became Bolling Field, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....



On 24 June 1930 Ocker flew 900 miles (San Antonio, Texas to Scotts Field, Illinois) while in an enclosed cockpit, without reference to outside visual cues. He called the flight "an unofficial test".

He developed a "flight integrator", essentially an electrically-driven gyroscope with a moving background scroll that depicted a sky with clouds, and a miniature airplane silhouette which remained correctly oriented relative to the horizon thus depicted.

In 1938 Ocker and Lt. George R. Smith patented a radical new type of airplane propeller that produced less noise and vibration than previous versions.

In 1941 Ocker and Maj. Carl J. Crane invented the "Pre-Flight Reflex Trainer", used to familiarize student pilots with an airplane's motions prior to actual flight training.

Ocker was a Colonel in the US military when he died at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. on 15 September 1942, at age 62.

Honors and tributes

In January 1955 the US Air Force awarded the Legion of Merit
Legion of Merit
The Legion of Merit is a military decoration of the United States armed forces that is awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements...

 to Ocker, in recognition of the many lives saved during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 as a result of the training devices which he had pioneered and developed. It was received by Doris Ocker, his widow, at a ceremony on Davis-Monthan Air Force Base
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base
Davis–Monthan Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located within the city limits, and approximately south-southeast of downtown, Tucson, Arizona....

.

In 1934 Orville Wright wrote Except for Maj. Ocker's great zeal as a missionary, I doubt whether the course in blind flying would be a requirement in the Army today. I believe that his campaign of education has had more influence in bringing about the use of instruments than that of any other person.

Published works

  • Antebellum Fledglings, the Sportsman Pilot, August 1931
  • Blind Flight in Theory and Practice, (co-author with Lt. Carl J. Crane), Naylor Printing Co. San Antonio TX (1932)
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