Charles Fern

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Charles "Charlie" Fern (1888-1990), a barnstorming Hawaii aviator and newspaper pioneer, was a University of California, Berkeley graduate and a World War I pilot. Fern lived to be 102.

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[edit] Biography

Mr. Fern, who was raised in the Madison Barracks community in Sackets Harbor, New York, arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in 1919 and, with partner Ben Stoddard. Together they barnstormed in Honolulu at Kapi‘olani Park, where they flew passengers 10 minutes for $10 each.[1] Fern’s plane, 20-gallon tank, two-cockpit, single-engine Jenny, was brought to the Islands on a Matson freighter. On February 1, 1920, Fern, who learned to fly in the Army Air Corps during World War I, carried the first paying passenger on an inter-island flight, giving him the distinction of being the first commercial pilot in Hawaii.[2]. In addition, on May 9, 1920, Fern made the first round trip between O‘ahu and Maui in the same plane and then flew on to Kaua‘i. He became known as “Mr. Kaua‘i" and was eventually inducted into the Hawaii Publishers Association Hall of Fame.[3]

In 1927, he formed the first Kauai barefoot football league. In 1938, he built Kauai's first radio station, KOWY (renamed KTOH).[4] During World War II, Charlie published the Cow Eye Sentinel, a weekly paper for soldiers stationed on Kauai. Eventually he became owner of The Garden Island, where he worked for 44 years, but sold the paper and radio station when he retired to Honolulu in 1966.

[edit] Family

Fern in 1922 married Mary Gillespie. A son, Mike Fern, went on to become an editor at the The Garden Island. A great-niece, Charlene "Charlie" Fern, nicknamed after him, also became a newspaper reporter, editor and, later, a White House speechwriter.

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[edit] References

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Hana Hou Magazine
  2. ^ Aviation History in Hawaii
  3. ^ HPA Hall of Fame
  4. ^ Kauai radio station owner plans statewide network