Page 20 - Jan22T

Company
Epps Aviation
by Lance Phillips
Chronicles
Becoming a household name in any field takes a mixture of fortune, planning and hard work. In the general aviation world, the name Epps is not only ubiquitous for these qualities but is also known for
a family legacy of military and civilian aviators who have excelled at services for pilots and at instilling passion in new generations of flyers.
Possibly none have encapsulated this legacy more so than Georgia’s first family of aviation. That is the family of Ben T. Epps of Athens. Ben was Georgia’s first licensed pilot who designed and flew his own aircraft as far back as 1909 at his little Washington Street shop. Just a few years after the Wright brothers flew their first controlled flight at Kitty Hawk, Ben’s first aircraft, powered by a 15-horsepower motorcycle engine and sitting on three bicycle wheels, took flight and flew 100 yards at around 50 feet over the hilly Athens terrain. By the time the calendar turned to 1917, it only made sense that Ben further support his burgeoning aviation industry in Georgia by starting Rolfe-Epps Flying Service, also in Athens, offering flying lessons, aerial pho- tography and passenger flights. But while designing and building planes and founding an industry, Mr. Epps was busy raising a family.
One of nine children, Ben’s youngest son, Pat, born Feb- ruary 23, 1934, didn’t start with a silver spoon. He had to work to earn everything he accomplished. The work started early, too, especially being the youngest of six boys and
18 • TWIN & TURBINE / January 2022
Marian Epps (CFO), Scott Ducker (Sales), Matt Rule (Sales), Amber Osborne (Pilatus Business Manager).
three girls, all most certainly proud and competitive pilots except one sister who stayed land-based. One of his first memories around airplanes occurred when two of his older brothers, quite comically, used him for ballast as their dad was rebuilding one of his planes. Young Pat, kicking and screaming, alerted all around to his unhappiness about the situation. Next memory: He’s sitting on his mom’s lap in a Ford Tri-Motor – the first recollection of actually flying. But amid these surreal first memories, and around the time of the Tri-Motor ride, Pat’s whole life trajectory could have been disrupted by the fatal takeoff crash his dad incurred while piloting one of his aero creations in 1937.