J. D. Lodato is author of the Pang publication by Directed Media Inc. Lodato, an English major, graduated from Stanford University in 1965, earning a B.A. in English. He was an outstanding running back for the Stanford football team. A retired Air Force pilot and reservist, Lodato did some freelance writing after leaving California for Washington State in the 1970s.

After moving to the Wenatchee Valley Lodato took a keen interest in the story of aviators, Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon and their record setting transpacific flight in the Miss Veedol. Passionate about flying and airplanes, Lodato was eager to write their story. Thus the Pangbooklet is Lodato’s contribution in the efforts of sharing the historic story about these heroes of aviation history. Since the original publication in 1981, interest in these two historic figures and their amazing feat, the first transpacific flight, has gained much national and international recognition.

Lodato became an active participant in the immense Spirit of Wenatchee project in which replicas of the Miss Veedolwere constructed. Century Aviation and the Experimental Aircraft Association chapter at Pangborn Memorial Airport in East Wenatchee, Washington built a Miss Veedol replica with plans to reenact the flight across the Pacific. With the resurgence of interest in this story the booklet, PANG: 50th Anniversary First Non-Stop Trans-Pacific Flight Second Edition Copyright © 2003 was published in 2003 by Directed Media Incorporated. Likewise, the Japan Science Foundation, the City of Misawa, and Aomori Prefecture built a museum dedicated to aviation, with a replica of the Miss Veedol, constructed by Century Aviation, as the museum centerpiece.

Publications:

Pang: 50th Anniversary First Non-stop Trans-Pacific Flight