MtnMagic
New member
Few outside NH's North Country know about Carmen Onofrio (from Milan, NH) and his 43 successful landings and take-offs from the summit of Mt Washington. All flights were during the 1940's, in his Piper Cub, carrying people, equipment, and supplies. Most landings were on a 40' by 125' strip in a parking lot on Home Stretch, near the tank farm and the turn on the Cog RR track.
Actually he made a 44th flight, crash landed and walked away from it. After his plane was repaired, Onofrio took off from the summit and almost crashed in the Great Gulf. The cause being snow blew into the entire tail section during repairs and no one realized this. He wisely retired from these summit landings.
A memorial at the Berlin Airport (in Milan) reads, "I can say with a good deal of joy that I have seen the great and wonderful work of our creator from the vantage point of a high flying eagle."
It was difficult for me to believe when the locals told me until I read articles sent to me by a generous and knowledgeable staff member from Mt Washington's Observatory. Articles were published in Yankee Magazine (March 1978), Jean Batchelder's History and Hero's of NH Aviation, Northern NH Magazine, The Berlin Daily Sun and in the Mt Washington Observatory magazine Windswept (Summer 1997 & Spring 2002). It is still difficult for me to believe, but it is absolutely true.
I also was told, but have not seen it with my own eyes, that this accomplishment was outlined on a plaque during the last year or two in the restaurant or in the museum areas.
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One more fact to know about the Rock Pile!
Actually he made a 44th flight, crash landed and walked away from it. After his plane was repaired, Onofrio took off from the summit and almost crashed in the Great Gulf. The cause being snow blew into the entire tail section during repairs and no one realized this. He wisely retired from these summit landings.
A memorial at the Berlin Airport (in Milan) reads, "I can say with a good deal of joy that I have seen the great and wonderful work of our creator from the vantage point of a high flying eagle."
It was difficult for me to believe when the locals told me until I read articles sent to me by a generous and knowledgeable staff member from Mt Washington's Observatory. Articles were published in Yankee Magazine (March 1978), Jean Batchelder's History and Hero's of NH Aviation, Northern NH Magazine, The Berlin Daily Sun and in the Mt Washington Observatory magazine Windswept (Summer 1997 & Spring 2002). It is still difficult for me to believe, but it is absolutely true.
I also was told, but have not seen it with my own eyes, that this accomplishment was outlined on a plaque during the last year or two in the restaurant or in the museum areas.
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One more fact to know about the Rock Pile!
