Well known Liberty Photographer Otto Hillig, left, and his pilot Holgar Hoiriis. 
This model of Hillig's historic "Spirit of Liberty" airplane now sits on the lawn of the Liberty Sullivan County Golf & Country Club. Vincent Cracolici who did most of the painting of this model stands next to the model. Club members help build this model aircraft.
This is the actual tablet with the "official starting point" of Otto Hillig's historic flight.
The tablet shown on this large bolder at the first tee and the ninth fairway at the Liberty Sullivan County Golf & Country Club states that this location "marks the official starting point," of Otto Hillig's historic flight in June of 1931 to Copenhagen, Denmark.Liberty Golf Course Holds Place In History
The nine-hole Liberty Sullivan County Golf & Country Club is the site of the start of an historic airplane flight on June 24, 1931 which took well-known Liberty photographer Otto Hillig and his able pilot, Holger Hoiriis from what now houses the 9th fairway of this golf course to an airport in Copenhagen, Denmark.
This past June 24th was the 80th anniversary of this flight.
At the time Hillig was a middle-aged German photographer and Hoiriis was a youthful Danish farmer-turned-aviator
In Hillig's words, we were just a couple of immigrants going home.
A tablet or metal plaque is located on a large bolder at the first tee of the Sullivan County Golf & Country Club and reads, "This tablet is dedicated by the citizens of the Town of Liberty, New York to one of it's honored townsmen, Otto Hillig and his able pilot Holger Hoiriis to commemorate their successful airplane flight June 26-27, 1931 to Copenhagen, Denmark in the airplane "Liberty." This tablet marks the official starting point of this memorable flight--Erected July 21, 1931.
History has it recorded that the flight of some 32 hours across the Atlantic was not as easy as Hillig and Hoiriss had planned. They first landed in St. John, N.B. where they settled down to await a break in the weather.
I remember as a youth talking with Otto Hillig about this flight at his famous Hillig's Castle where my father installed the electricity in the Castle. Hillig noted that the airplane which was used in this flight was built by money he received from a lawsuit after Hillig lost his rights to a seat he had purchased on the Graf Zepplin.
The Hillig airplane was a Bellanca J-300 monoplane powered by a 300 hp Wright engine. This airplane had the name Liberty painted across the fuselage.
History records the facts that the two had planned to fly directly to Copenhagen but heavy fog and rain took them off their course and after almost 20 hours of flying they spotted land and it was Spain and not England.
Correcting their flight and getting the right bearings Hoiriis landed the plane after 32 hours in Krefeld, Germany.
Hillig phoned Copenhagen and was told that large crowds were at the airport waiting for his arrival. The flight was taking it's toll on the pilot and they could only make it to Bremen as Hoiriis needed some sleep. After getting some rest they flew on to Copenhagen where over 50,000 people greeted them.
Parades took place in Copenhagen and both Hillig and Hoiriis received medals and Hoiriis was Knighted.
The building housing Hillig's Photography store still stands on Liberty's Main Street with the name still on the building.
Otto Hillig was a wizard of a photographer in his time and his famous Hillig's Castle will always remain a part of Liberty history.
The Sullivan County Golf & Country Club has built a model of the Spirit of Liberty and it sits in honor of this historical event on the lawn outside the clubhouse.
Golf & Putting
Tips Will Return
In Next Column
Due to the length of this lead story and the accompanying photos the Golf Tip and Putting Tip will return in next week's column.
This column is written by Ed Townsend, a public relations consultant to the amateur and professional sport of golf and to several golf writers associations. If you have a topic that would make good reading or have league standings or tournament information, Ed can be reached by phone at 845-439-8177 and by email at edwardctownsend@hotmail.com For a more expanded version of this column please visit out Web site at http://bght.blogspot.com/ This column is also available on Facebook.
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