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Famed astronaut Armstrong left strong imprint on Mahoning Valley
SEE ALSO: Mourning an American hero
WARREN
Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, took his first airplane ride in Warren.
Armstrong, who died Saturday at 82, spent about two years in the mid-1930s as a young boy in Champion. His father, Stephen, worked for the state auditor’s office and moved frequently.
On July 26, 1936, Armstrong, at age 6, took that first flight in a Ford Tri-Motor, also called the “Tin Goose,” at Warren Airways, off Parkman Road NW in Warren, according to Vindicator files and NASA’s website.
“From that time on, he claimed an intense fascination with aviation,” according to NASA.gov’s biography of Armstrong.
Pete Perich, who lived in Warren and Champion before moving to Tampa a couple of years ago, was an admirer and friend of Armstrong.
“He was a wonderful person and a good friend,” Perich said. “He’s an important person in history. He went all the way up there [to the moon.] It was a great and important accomplishment for America.”
Perich, an aviation buff and retired photographer, started a campaign in 2003, to build a replica of the Apollo 11 landing site at the Warren Airways location as a tribute to Armstrong.
Apollo 11 landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, with Armstrong, its spacecraft commander, being the first person to step on the moon’s surface.
The Warren project finished in 2008, and includes a half-scale replica of the lunar excursion module.
Armstrong visited the replica site in 2009, according to Perich and his brother, George, who lives in Champion.
Armstrong said of the module replica, “This one is better than the one I rode in,” George Perich said.
Elected officials from Ohio praised Armstrong Saturday after learning of his death.
U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson of Marietta, R-6th, said Armstrong’s “first step on the moon showed the world that Americans can do anything. I still believe this, and I will always remember Neil Armstrong’s life and his visionary accomplishments.”
U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican, called Armstrong “a true American hero, both because of his extraordinary service to his country and the honorable life he led.”
Portman also said Armstrong was “the world’s most famous astronaut” and “a dear friend whose ready smile, quick wit and thoughtful gestures will be greatly missed.”
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, wrote on his Twitter account: “Saddened to hear about the death of Neil Armstrong — with one step he became one of mankind’s greatest explorers.”