Jake Lodato brings Clyde Pangborn to life

Clyde Pangborn enthusiast Jake Lodato brings to life the aerial stunt pilot best-known for achieving the first nonstop trans-Pacific flight in a living history program. A $5 donation is requested.

It’s a role Lodato first played earlier this year as part of the museum’s “People of our Past” program.  A retired Air Force Reserve jet pilot, Lodato moved to the Wenatchee Valley in the mid-1970s with his wife, Kathy. While working locally as a fruit broker, his interest in all things aviation led him to Pangborn’s story.

Lodato is a charter member and chief pilot of the Spirit of Wenatchee Project, a group of builders and flyers of the Miss Veedol, a replica Bellanca aircraft the group flies to air shows and fly-ins in an effort to raise the profile of Pangborn and Herndon’s remarkable achievement.