No Reason to Complain
by
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"The series of events related herein are intended to provide an outline of my 48 years as a working man."
No Reason to Complain captures Captain Henry T. Olden's thoughts, feelings and experiences of his working life, providing much more than an outline of the formative years of New England aviation. From the 1910 Squantum air meet onward, he describes the flying machines and aviation pioneers of his day, and captures the inspiration that propelled so many like him into the skies. This first hand account chronicles his own inauspicious beginnings as a student pilot at Dennison Airport, through his retirement from Northeast Airlines thirty-five years later. What lies in the pages in between is the story of a man who embraced the joy of flight and passed it on to many others. From the arctic air bases of Greenland to the small airports and seaplane bases of Massachusetts, Henry portrays the life of an aviation pioneer with all the positivity and candor the title reflects, capturing hardships and good fortunes with the same modest memorial. His family appreciates the opportunity to publish his story for the interested reader, especially those whose lives he touched.
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About the Book
"The series of events related herein are intended to provide an outline of my 48 years as a working man."
No Reason to Complain captures Captain Henry T. Olden's thoughts, feelings and experiences of his working life, providing much more than an outline of the formative years of New England aviation. From the 1910 Squantum air meet onward, he describes the flying machines and aviation pioneers of his day, and captures the inspiration that propelled so many like him into the skies. This first hand account chronicles his own inauspicious beginnings as a student pilot at Dennison Airport, through his retirement from Northeast Airlines thirty-five years later. What lies in the pages in between is the story of a man who embraced the joy of flight and passed it on to many others. From the arctic air bases of Greenland to the small airports and seaplane bases of Massachusetts, Henry portrays the life of an aviation pioneer with all the positivity and candor the title reflects, capturing hardships and good fortunes with the same modest memorial. His family appreciates the opportunity to publish his story for the interested reader, especially those whose lives he touched.
About the Author
Captain Henry T. Olden (1902-1989) was a brother, husband, father, grandfather, friend, and pioneer aviator. Born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and raised in Quincy, he held an assortment of jobs to pay his board and to make his way as a young man. Whether it was stocking the shelves at the local A&P store or riveting steel ship hulls in Quincy, Henry always found pleasure in his work. But it was a $5 flight in an open-cockpit biplane at East Boston Airport in 1927, which propelled him into a career in aviation. He began as a student pilot at Dennison Airport in a Waco-9 biplane, accumulating enough hours and expertise to earn a Transport Pilot license and a job as a flight instructor at the New Bedford-Acushnet Airport in Mrs. Bartlett’s apple orchard. This inauspicious beginning paved the way from the grass landing strips and beaches of Massachusetts to air bases across the North Atlantic, providing a wartime airlift service as a Northeast Airlines captain. It was in the service of Northeast that he continued his career until the final flight of his career on the Convair 880 in 1963. All told, Henry logged 23,000 flight hours and piloted forty-eight different makes of airplane in a thirty-six year span. This is his story, in his own words.