Presidential Turkey. Photo Number: SI-A-33352-F2

 

Suitably clad in a custom-made flying suit and sporting a pair of goggles, President Warren G. Harding's 1921 Thanksgiving turkey, the gift of the Harding Girls' Club of Chicago, arrives at the College Park (Maryland) airport on a DH-4 mailplane. Note the rifle at the left of the photograph - why an armed escort was deemed necessary is not explained; but since the custom of granting a pardon to presidential turkeys only began in 1989, maybe the authorities thought he might try to make a break for it. Oh, and President Harding's 1922 turkey arrived by battleship... 

Related Topics Aviation Society and Culture
Twitter Comments? Contact Us
You may also like
Gene Nora Jessen: Much More than the Woman in Space Program
Celebrating Jerrie Mock, the First Solo World Flight by a Woman, and All Women Earth Rounders
An Unparalleled Vantage Point: The USS Los Angeles and the 1925 Solar Eclipse
Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Stafford
Related Objects De Havilland DH-4 Object