The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1953-02-27

The son of famous newspaper
editor, w. o. Saunders of Eliza
beth City, now living in Wash
ington, D. c., and in the aviation
magazine publishing business, is
rising all the time.
Keith Saunders, formerly leg
islative editor is now American
Aviation's news analyst. This tt
tie means simply that, in Keith's
capacity as managing editor of
| the American Aviation Daily,
he receives all the raw material
which comes into the office dali
| ly in the form of news releases,
newspaper clippings, wire re-
ports, and government agency
reports. His judgment of news
values is often reflected in the
magazine through the close re-
lationship of the two publica-
tons.
Keith's background of more
more than 20 years of newspaper
and magazine writing and edit
ing, including eight years of av-
iation writing, makes him unus-
ually well qualified for his pre-.
sent post.
Educated at Elizabth City
(N.C) High School and at the
University of North Carolina, he
went to work on his fathers
newspaper, The Independent,
in 1880, and subsequently work
ed for the Raleigh Times as Capt.
toll Hill reporter, the Oxford NC.
Public Ledger as editor, and the
Norfolk Virginian Pilot as gener-
al assignments reporter. He rea-
lized his initial goal of working
on metropolitan daily when he
joined the staff of the Baltimore
Evening Sun in January 1945.
Assigned to cover industry and
transportation, Keith soon be-
came a frequent visitor at the
Glenn L. Martin and Bendix Ra-
dio Division plants, and the war
time Baltimore base of British
Overseas Anyways Corporation.
Before long, he was writing avia-
ton news almost exclusively,
covering aviation events around
the U.S.A.
When Editor and Publisher
Wayne w. Parrish offered him a
job in December, 1916, Keith ac-
copied Immediately. He explain
ed his decision later as follows:
american Aviation Publications
then seemed to me to be the top
outfit in aviation publishing. I
| figured that aviation was slated
to grow into big business and
that this company would grow
with the industry"
Keith has acquired we'll
rounded knowledge of aviation in
the more than six years he's been
with us, having served as assist
ant managing editor of the mag
azine, airports editor, and legisla-
tive editor before becoming man
aging editor of the Daily.
Though his entry into aviation
writing dates back only to 1915,
Saunders had an interest in the
industry long before that. His ia
Their interviewed Orville Wright
for Golfers magazine in 1926,
and in 1927 the elder Saunders
became the founder and first
president of the Kill Devil Hills
Memorial Association, dedicated
to honoring the Wright Brothers
and furthering aviation. Kitty
Hawk was in the same Congress
sional district as Elizabeth City.
and Keith's father enlisted the
support of the Congressional
Representative from the district
in persuading the government to
build a fitting memorial to the
Wrights atop Kill Devil Hill.
Keith is a good friend today Of
three men actively associated
with the Wrights' 1908 fight: AL
pheus Drinkwater, Coast Guard
telegrapher who sent the mes
sage of the first flights to the out
side world; Harry Moore, Virgin
ian-Pilot reporter whose story
about the fight was believed by
few readers at the time; and
Capt. Bill Tate, in whose home
the Wrights boarded during their
experiments at Kitty Hawk.
A member of the Aviation
Writers Association and the Ma
tional Press Club, Keith serves
as editor of National Aeronautics.
monthly publication of the Ma
tional Aeronautic Association. He