Our most dudes-rock president. The first in an airplane - after being president - back when a quarter of the takeoff weight was him. To the pilot's immense frustration, Teddy leaned out to wave at the crowd.
"President Lambert of the St. Louis Aero club introduced me to Roosevelt. Lambert said something about my trip from Springfield. Roosevelt said he envied me. 'Here's your chance,' I said to him.
"All right,' said Roosevelt, 'but let's not make too much fuss about it.' Roosevelt was on the machine before I was. He was bareheaded. A newspaperman gave him a cap and he said 'let 'er go.' We started.
"I didn't look at Roosevelt until I felt the machine wiggle. He was waving at the crowd. We were up about 150 feet.
"'Be careful not to pull any of those strings,' I warned him. He was sitting directly underneath the valve cord of the engine and the engine would have stopped had he touched it. 'Nothing doing,' he shouted back, showing his teeth. The propeller made so much noise we had to shout. I heard him say 'war,' 'army,' 'aeroplane' and 'bomb,' but the noise was so great I could not hear the rest.
"I was very careful. I said to myself, 'If anything happens to him I'll never be able to square myself with the American people.' I was mighty glad when we landed. I never felt a greater responsibility in my life.
"'Hoxsey, you're all right,' he said as we alighted."
Tom Scott flew in roughly the same airplane, over a century later.