In 1916, in the early days of flying in this country, he learned to pilot planes at Halethorp, Maryland. He wrote many articles on aviation for various magazines of national circulation and assisted in establishing
landing fields on the airways, sending sketches and descriptions into the Air Service — later the Army Air Corps. All of this type work, including traveling and other expenses, were done without compensation. As a reward for his interest,
time and energies of national and local character, he was notified from Washington, D.C. by Captain St. Clair Street (who acted as escort to Lindburg) that he was made a member of the Aeronautical Hall of Fame, a coveted honor
and international in character, whose membership list contained many of the notables of America, Europe, Japan, and Australia, including the Prince of Wales, Captain Charles A. Lindburg, Commander Richard F. Byrd, and Lieutenant Maitland,
among others. In addition to flying and activities associated with it, he was associated with his father, the Hon. Alexander Parks, in the milling business at Parks� Mill.
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Alexander B. PARKS Jr., the son of Alexander Parks Sr. and Mary Ella (Nadenbousch) Parks, was one of the foremost men to promote an interest in aviation in Berkeley County. He was founder and first
President of the Berkeley Aviation Club of Martinsburg and the county and held that position for many years. His first experiment in this field was with kites, then gliders flown from the top of Berkeley Place (then known as the
Old Fair Ground), east of the southern part of the town. He was fortunate in not having any serious problems, but there were many slight ones.
Submitted by Marilyn Gouge and extracted from History of Berkeley County, West Virginia, 1928