{"id":16848,"date":"2026-03-10T13:27:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T13:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/uncategorized\/guideposts-classics-neil-armstrongs-mother-on-her-sons-love-of-flying\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T06:02:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:02:28","slug":"guideposts-classics-neil-armstrongs-mother-on-her-sons-love-of-flying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/inspiring-stories\/guideposts-classics-neil-armstrongs-mother-on-her-sons-love-of-flying\/","title":{"rendered":"Guideposts Classics: Neil Armstrong’s Mother on Her Son’s Love of Flying"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most people think Neil Armstrong took the most important step in his life when he set foot on the moon<\/a>. But as his mother, I remember an even greater step taken in our old home on Pearl Street in Wapakoneta, Ohio, on another July day\u201423 years earlier.<\/p>\n

The story begins when Neil was two and his father and I lived in Cleveland, not far from the airport. Like many families during the depression days of the early 30s, one of our inexpensive Sunday-afternoon pastimes was airplane watching. Neil stood between us, his little face pressed so intently against the fence that it often left red marks. We were always ready to leave long before he was, and his plea was always the same: \u201cCan\u2019t we see just one more airplane?\u201d<\/p>\n

I was often uneasy about Neil\u2019s obvious fascination with planes. And I had to admit to myself that this child, our firstborn, was very special to me. After Stephen and I married, I was haunted by the fear that maybe I couldn\u2019t conceive. I had been an only child and often thought, What if I can\u2019t have even one baby?<\/em><\/p>\n

Then finally the day came when our doctor assured me I was pregnant. The minute I got home I went down on my knees and thanked God for His blessing to us and, in the fullness of my heart, I dedicated this child-to-be to Him. In the months that followed, I prayed steadily that this child would be given a thirst for knowledge and the capacity for learning which someday would accomplish noble deeds\u2014hopefully to serve the work of the Lord.<\/p>\n

One Sunday morning, when Neil was five or six, he and my husband left for Sunday school<\/a>. When they returned, both had peculiar expressions on their faces. Stephen was a bit white-faced, but Neil was beaming from ear to ear.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is wrong with you two?\u201d I asked. There was utter silence.<\/p>\n

Suddenly a thought came to me. \u201cDid you go up in that airplane I read about in the paper!\u201d<\/p>\n

Now they looked relieved. Yes, that is exactly what they had done. A pilot was barnstorming in town, and Stephen said rates were cheaper in the morning. He had not really enjoyed the flight, but little Neil had loved every minute of it.<\/p>\n

One morning Neil and I were walking down the cluttered aisles of a dime store looking for cereal bowls. My husband and I now had a wonderful family of three active children who consumed vast quantities of cereal. Somehow the bowls were always getting chipped or broken. I was selecting five shiny new ones when I felt a tug at my arm. \u201cMom, will you buy this for me?\u201d Neil held up a gaily colored box.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is it?\u201d I asked cautiously.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a model-airplane kit.\u201d The eagerness in his voice betrayed his excitement. \u201cMom, this way I could learn how to make airplanes. It\u2019s twenty cents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quickly I thought how 20 cents would buy two cereal bowls, but how could I resist the urgency and enthusiasm in my son\u2019s voice?<\/p>\n

\u201cHoney,\u201d I said gently, \u201ccould you find a kit for ten cents?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSure, Mom!\u201d His face radiant, he raced back to the toy counter.<\/p>\n

Read More: When Buzz Aldrin Took Communion on the Moon<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Although Neil was then only eight years old, that was the beginning of two important occupations in his life. The first was his meticulous assembly line for many model airplanes. We put a table in one corner of the living room, and it was never moved\u2014even when company came.<\/p>\n

The second occupation made the first one possible. Beginning with his first model plane, Neil was never without a job, no matter how small. First he cut grass in a cemetery for 10 cents an hour. Later he cleaned out the bread mixer at Neumeister\u2019s Bakery every night. After we moved to Wapakoneta, Neil delivered orders for the neighborhood grocery, swept out the hardware store and opened cartons at Rhine and Brading\u2019s Pharmacy.<\/p>\n

When Neil wasn\u2019t working or studying, he rode his bicycle three miles north on a gravel road to the Wapak Flying Service Airport. Today this field isn\u2019t used, but in 1944 it bustled with activity. A young instructor, Charles Finkenbine, kept three light airplanes busy as trainers. Budding pilots came from surrounding counties to learn to fly, and Neil at 14 was a familiar figure sitting on the sidelines, his eyes glued to every takeoff and landing. One afternoon I was making grape jelly when the screen door banged as he rushed into the kitchen.<\/p>\n

\u201cMom,\u201d he shouted, \u201cMr. Finkenbine let me touch one of the airplanes!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s fine, son,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe says from now on I can be a grease monkey and one of these days he\u2019ll teach me to fly!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you sure you\u2019re old enough, Neil?\u201d I tried to hide the anxiety in my voice.<\/p>\n

He flashed his wide, confident grin. \u201cDon\u2019t worry. I\u2019ll be careful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The screen door banged again, and he was gone. I\u2019m afraid his assurance did little to comfort me. By now I was beginning to wonder how the Lord could be served by a youngster so completely captivated by airplanes.<\/p>\n

From then on every penny Neil earned went for flying lessons. At 40 cents an hour at the pharmacy it took him between 22 and 23 hours of work to pay for one nine-dollar lesson. But both Dick Brading and Charles Finkenbine were generous men: The first often let Neil off early to go to the airport, the latter managed free flying time for our son in exchange for odd jobs around the hangar. Neil\u2019s goal was to get his flying license as soon as he reached his 16th birthday in August.<\/p>\n

In July our two boys, Neil and Dean, with their father as scoutmaster, attended Boy Scout camp in Defiance, Ohio. The evening they were due back I planned a special homecoming supper. They thought they\u2019d be home at five o\u2019clock, so I peeled potatoes and put them on to boil at 4:30, then started to set the table.<\/p>\n

At 5:15 I picked up my darning basket and started to mend some of Dean\u2019s socks. An hour dragged by. I finished the socks and walked to the window. They were more than an hour overdue, and I knew something was wrong.<\/p>\n

Then looking through the grape arbor, I saw our car drive into the garage. My husband appeared in the doorway, his face pale and drawn. Fear clutched my throat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong, Stephen? Has something happened to the boys?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, they\u2019re all right. Dean is here with me, and Neil will be along soon. But there has been an accident.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cViola, come into the living room, and I\u2019ll tell you all about it.\u201d He put his arm around me, and together we walked to the sofa.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were on our way home this afternoon,\u201d he continued, \u201cwhen we noticed an airplane flying parallel to us. Neil recognized it immediately as one of the trainers from the Wapak Flying Service. Some student was practicing takeoffs and landings in a field near the road. Then he must have dipped too low over the telephone wires, because suddenly the airplane was in trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh no!\u201d I whispered.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt nosedived into the field, and at the same time Neil yelled, \u2018Stop the car!\u2019 and before I knew it, he had climbed over the fence and was running toward the plane. Then we all got out and ran over to help too. Neil was lifting a young fellow out of the cockpit, and just as we got there he died in Neil\u2019s arms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh Stephen, how awful! That poor boy and his family.\u201d Then a terrifying new thought seared my brain. \u201cIt might have been Neil.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, Viola, it could have been.\u201d My husband\u2019s voice roughened with emotion. \u201cInstead it was a young man from Lima whom Neil knew. Neil is staying with him until the ambulance comes.\u201d<\/p>\n

A car door slammed, and I heard slow footsteps coming up the front-porch steps. Then suddenly Neil and I were in each other\u2019s arms, tears streaming down our faces.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was my friend, Mom. And he was only twenty!\u201d I could hardly bear the anguish in his voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know, honey.\u201d I released him, with a mother\u2019s sudden awareness that her son was no longer a boy. I forced my voice to sound cheerful. \u201cDo you want some supper?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, thanks. I\u2019m going up to my room.\u201d He stopped on the landing and tried to smile. \u201cDon\u2019t worry, Mom. I\u2019ll be all right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know you will, Neil.\u201d I watched him walk up the stairs and quietly close the door as dry sobs tore through me.<\/p>\n

Stephen and I both thought it best to let him alone for a while. But we could not help wondering if Neil would want to keep on flying. Both of us agreed he must fight this battle himself.<\/p>\n

The next two days were the hardest of my life. As all mothers know, whatever hurts your children hurts you twice as much. And yet I knew he had to make this decision himself. Had our closeness with the Creator and the nightly prayers through the years prepared him to find the help he needed so desperately now? At this stage, it was out of my hands. All I could do was wait.<\/p>\n

I tried to carry on a normal family life, but my heart and mind were always in that back bedroom with the iron bed, yellow wallpaper, the single overhead light fixture and the bureau covered with model airplanes. What was he thinking? What would he decide?<\/p>\n

Finally, near dusk on the second day, I couldn\u2019t stand the silence and separation any longer. I baked oatmeal and raisin cookies<\/a> and took a plate of them and a glass of cold milk upstairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeil, may I come in, please? Here are some cookies still warm from the oven.\u201d<\/p>\n

He opened the door, and I walked into the stuffy little room and put the cookies on the bureau. What I saw made my heart leap. Next to a model airplane was an old Sunday-school notebook with a picture of Jesus on the cover. It was now turned to the page where years before Neil had written in his large childish hand, \u201cThe Character of Jesus,\u201d and had listed ten qualities of His. Among those that caught my eye were: He was sinless, He was humble, He championed the poor, He was unselfish. But the one which struck me the most was number eight\u2014He was close to God<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Suddenly I felt like singing hosanna. \u201cHoney, what have you decided about flying?\u201d I asked him.<\/p>\n

Neil\u2019s eyes held mine in a steady gaze, then he said firmly, \u201cMom, I hope you and Dad will understand, but with God\u2019s help, I must go on flying.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a minute I was jolted as I thought of that other mother only a few miles away in Lima, brokenhearted and perhaps standing in her son\u2019s empty room at this very minute. I asked God for strength and the right words, and He gave them to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll right, son. Dad and I will go along with your decision.\u201d My heart was pounding. \u201cAnd, Neil,\u201d I said, \u201cwhen you get your license in a few weeks, may I be your first passenger?\u201d<\/p>\n

Read More: When Buzz Aldrin Took Communion on the Moon<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n