Ben Epps Air pilots--Georgia--Athens Airplanes--Georgia--Athens Flying helmets--Georgia--Athens Men--Georgia--Athens Inventors--Georgia--Athens Safety goggles--Georgia--Athens Epps, Ben, 1888-1937 Photograph of Georgia aviator Ben Epps, sitting in the pilot's seat of an airplane. He wears a flying helmet, and goggles are perched on his forehead. In 1925 Ben Epps unveiled his "light monoplane," a small single-seat aircraft. He wanted to make flying available to the average person. The father of the state's aviation, Ben Epps--inventor, mechanic, and aviator--was the first Georgian to build and fly an airplane. Over a thirty-year career Epps was an innovator who instilled a love of flying in many young Georgians, including his own children. New Georgia Encyclopedia Black-and-white photographs http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Multimedia.jsp?id=m-1446 http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-770 Forms part of: New Georgia Encyclopedia 1925 Athens (Ga.) Clarke County (Ga.)