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The Hagerstown Aviation Museum, Inc. is a non-

profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the pres-

ervation and promotion of the region’s more than

90 years of extraordinary aviation history.

Highlights of Hagerstown’s Aviation Past

1916-1920 Giuseppi Bellanca builds the ―CD‖ and ―CE‖ biplanes for the Maryland Pressed Steel Company in the Pope Building located in south Hagerstown.

1921-1925 Lew & Henry Reisner operate an aircraft repair business and eventually partner with local shoe manufacturer Ammon Kreider to sell Waco Biplanes. 1926 The newly formed Kreider-Reisner Aircraft Company designs and builds the KRA Midget to participate in the 1926 National Air Race in Philadelphia. 1927-1929 Kreider-Reisner develops and produces the C-2, C-4 & C-6

Challenger Biplanes that gain them much acclaim. 1929 Sherman Fairchild of Fairchild Aircraft Company, Long Island, NY purchases a majority stock interest in Kreider-Reisner Aircraft Company of Hagerstown. 1930s Fairchild Aircraft Company produces the F22, F24, F45, F46 and F92 Amphibian.

1931 Richard (Dick) Henson purchases the Hagerstown Airport and founds Henson Flying Service. 1933 Richard (Dick) Henson becomes Test Pilot for Fairchild Aircraft. 1939-1943 Fairchild develops and produces over 5000 PT19 Primary trainers for the US Army and Navy as well as the AT-21 Gunnery

Trainer and UC-61 Utility Cargo Aircraft. 1942-1948 Fairchild develops and produces over 200 of the first all metal cargo aircraft specifically designed for the task, the C82 Packet. 1949-1955 Fairchild develops and produces the C-119 Flying Boxcar of which over 1100 were produced.

1954-1958 Fairchild produces over 300 of the C123 Provider cargo aircraft. 1954-1966 Fairchild helps to develop the Fokker designed F-27 Friend-ship turbo-prop transport and produces over 200. 1962-1983 Richard (Dick) Henson begins the ―Hagerstown Commuter‖ which eventually becomes the Allegheny Commuter and Piedmont Regional Airline.

1965 Fairchild purchases Republic Aviation of Farmingdale, L.I., NY. 1973-1983 Fairchild/Republic awarded A-10 Attack Aircraft contract and produces 713 for the United States Air Force. 1984 Aircraft production ends in Hagerstown.

The New Pegasus No. 5 - 2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Hagerstown’s Aviation Past ...................................... Page 3

Museum Contact Information .................................. Page 3

Aviation History Preserved at Hagerstown .............. Page 4

A Bridge From the Sky ............................................. Page 8

My European Tour on a C-119 ............................... Page 10

Richard A Henson, The Early Years ...................... Page 12

Eight and One Half Decades Ago ........................... Page 14

Building the Martin PBM Wings ............................ Page 16

Martin PBM Mariner RC Model Donated ............. Page 18

Aviation Merit Badge .............................................. Page 19

Alvin Ray Johns, Part One ..................................... Page 22

Aircraft Donations .................................................. Page 26

Dan Frankforter Photo Collection Donation .......... Page 28

Chambersburg PA 100 Years of Flight .................. Page 30

Wings and Wheels Expo Participants ..................... Page 31

Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics ........................ Page 34

Museum Membership and Volunteers ................... Page 36

The Museum Gift Shop ........................................... Page 37

Contact Information: Museum Mailing address:

Hagerstown Aviation Museum, Inc.

14235 Oak Springs Rd

Hagerstown MD 21742

Phone: 301-733-8717

Website: www.HagerstownAviationMuseum.org

Email: info@hagerstownaviationmuseum.org Event Website: www.WingsandWheelsExpo.com

The museum is now on

COPYRIGHT 2011 HAGERSTOWN AVIATION MUSEUM, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Cover Photo:

C-119 lands at Hagerstown

Regional Airport Novem-

ber 15, 2008

4

Exciting things are happening at

Hagerstown Regional Airport (HGR) in

Hagerstown, Maryland. From 1929 to

1984 the airport was home to the Fair-

child Aircraft Company where thousands

of aircraft were produced at the com-

pany‘s plant for both military and civilian

customers. The airport is currently home

to the Hagerstown Aviation Museum,

which was founded in 2005 with the goal

of preserving the region‘s rich aviation heritage. The idea of a museum first sur-

faced in 1995 at the ―Fairchild Home-

coming and Air Show‖ when a group of

local aviation enthusiasts discussed the

idea of creating such

a museum. Among

the group was Rich-

ard A. Henson, chief

test pilot for many

years at Fairchild and

founder of Henson Aviation. This group

was responsible for

laying the early

groundwork for the museum. Much of

the momentum for a museum was lost

after Mr. Henson‘s passing in 2002 and

the idea remained dormant until 2004

when the documentary ―Hagerstown,

Remembering Our Aviation Heritage‖

was produced by Kurtis Meyers, John

Seburn and Steve Christiano. The film‘s

enthusiastic reception breathed new life

into the museum project and in January

2005 the museum was formally founded.

The museum currently has over 15 air-

craft in its collection. The Fairchild Aircraft legacy at

Hagerstown dates back to 1925 when

Lewis Reisner and Ammon Kreider

formed Kreider-Reisner Flying Service.

Two years later the company‘s name was

changed to the Kreider-Reisner Aircraft

Company and in 1929 Sherman Fairchild

bought a controlling interest in the com-

pany. During the 1930‘s several popular

aircraft were designed and manufactured

including the Fairchild Model 22 and 24.

In 1939 Fairchild Aircraft was awarded a contract to build the PT-19 primary

trainer for the US Army Air Corps and by

the end of the war over 5,000 of the train-

ers had been built in Hagerstown. The

factory continued producing both military

and civilian aircraft after World War II

including C-82 Packets, C-119 Flying

Boxcars, C-123 Providers, F-27/F-227

Friendships, Metroliners and finally A-10

Warthogs. The plant closed shortly after

the delivery of the final A-10 to the

USAF in March 1984.

While I didn‘t know much about

the museum, I had read about their im-

pressive feat of acquiring and ferrying

both a C-82A and C-119G from Greybull, Wyoming to Hagerstown. I had seen the

Packet in 1998 during its visit to the an-

nual Oshkosh airshow and had photo-

graphed both aircraft at Greybull during

visits in 2003 and 2006. While the air-

craft looked eminently airworthy during

my last visit to Greybull, just prior to the

August 2006 auction, I was impressed

that a fledgling organization was able to

raise the money and execute such a com-

plicated undertaking! I contacted mu-

seum president, Kurtis Meyers, and set up a visit to photograph the two aircraft.

Hagerstown is only a two hour drive from

my home in Southern Maryland and a

visit was set up a few days before Christ-

mas.

On August 21, 2006 museum

president Kurtis Meyers, treasurer John

Seburn and volunteer videographer Steve

Christiano set out for Greybull, Wyo-

ming, to attend the Hawkins and Powers

(H&P) auction, which was to be held on August 23. Their mission was to acquire

at least one of the Fairchild aircraft being

auctioned that day for the museum. First

on their list was C-82A Packet N9701F.

This aircraft is the sole remaining airwor-

thy C-82A of 220 produced by Fairchild

and they‘d had their eye on it for some

time. N9701F was delivered to the USAF

as 45-57814 in 1948 and, after retirement

from military service, TWA operated the

aircraft from 1956 to 1972 ferrying re-

Aviation History Being Preserved at Hagerstown

By Ralph M. Petterson

Originally appeared in Propliner

and Air Classics

PT-19

Hagerstown Aviation Museum aircraft collection, 2010

Richard A. Henson

5

placement engines to stranded airliners.

Briles Wing and Helicopter owned the

aircraft in the mid-1970‘s and Northern

Pacific Transport in the 1980‘s before it

was sold to Hawkins and Powers in 1992.

To this day, the TWA stripes and Briles markings are still visible on the sides of

the aircraft. When the museum had first

inquired about the aircraft a few years

back, a $500,000 sales price was quoted.

As time passed, the price was lowered to

$250,000 but this was still beyond the

museum‘s limited budget. In mid-July

the museum found out about the auction

and in just four weeks 100 donors con-

tributed $140,000 towards the purchase of

the aircraft. If they were not successful in

acquiring the C-82A, the backup plan was

to purchase C-119G N8093 or C-119G N15501 and/or F-27F N127HP, all pro-

duced by Fairchild at Hagerstown. In

addition to the four aircraft, the museum

was also interested in purchasing one of

the two disassembled C-82A‘s stored at

Greybull.

After sitting on airliners for the better

part of the day, the museum crew finally

arrived at Greybull in late afternoon and

immediately set out inspecting the three

aircraft of interest and a mountain of spare parts, engines and accessories that

had been accumulated by H&P over the

years. One of the first people they talked

to was Bob Stanford, president of Zenith

Aviation. Zenith Aviation was oversee-

ing the auction and they nervously ques-

tioned Bob about what he thought their

chances were on successfully bidding on

the C-82A. While discussing the mu-

seum with Bob, John Seburn mentioned

that the late Richard Henson

had been one of the first mu-

seum board members and

Bob lit up like a light bulb.

It turns out that Bob had sold Richard a Learjet back in the

1980‘s and they had become

close friends. This relation-

ship was to be a stroke of

good luck for the museum!

After a good night‘s rest,

the group spent the 22nd again inspecting

the aircraft at Greybull in the sweltering

August heat. The auction started

promptly at 11:00am on the 23rd in an

8,000 square foot hangar that had been

outfitted with large, portable air condi-tioning units. The F-27 would be auc-

tioned first, the C-82 next and the two C-

119s last thus giving the museum a

chance to bid on the C-119‘s if their C-82

bid failed. Bidding for the C-82A began

at $40,000 and proceeded in $5,000 and

$10,000 increments until finally reaching

$127,500. A last minute donation, just

before the auction, had increased the mu-

seum‘s kitty to $140,000 but $127,500

was as high as the museum could bid since there was a 10% buyer‘s premium

added to each bid. As it turned out, the

auctioneer‘s hammer fell at $127,500 and

the C-82A would be coming home to

Hagerstown. The museum also pur-

chased the fuselage, center section and

wings of C-82A N5102B the next day for

$2,750. It plans on using the fuselage for

a future ―Building the Boxcar‖ exhibit.

With ownership of the Packet

secured, the task of moving it to Hagers-

town was the next challenge facing the

museum. Although the aircraft hadn‘t flown in six years, it was in good condi-

tion and it was decided to move forward

with a ferry flight. B&G Industries,

which had taken over H&P‘s mainte-

nance operation at Greybull, was con-

tracted to make the C-82 airworthy with

an initial estimate of $25,000. As things

normally go with old airplanes, a few

more items needed fixing and the final

bill was $45,000. Another challenge fac-

ing the museum was finding a flight crew

for the ferry flight. FAA records identi-

fied 13 pilots with C-82 type-ratings but

all were either too old and/or unwilling to make the flight. Museum vice president

Tracey Potter had a friend named Frank

Lamm who had never flown C-82‘s, but

had extensive experience flying C-119‘s.

Another friend of Tracey‘s, TR Proven

was added as co-pilot with Jack Fast-

naught filling out the crew as flight engi-

neer. All three had significant multi-

engine experience, with Frank‘s logbooks

alone totaling over 30,000 hours. The

FAA was convinced and gave the crew its

blessing to make the flight! Now if they could only figure out how to pay for the

fuel required to fly the airplane to

Hagerstown.

Landmark Aviation, a major fixed

base operator (FBO), helped solve the

problem when they made a significant

donation toward the fuel for the flight. It

was just one of those serendipitous

things. Frank Lamm was at a wedding

and was telling the story about the up-

coming flight to an old friend, who just happened to be an executive with Land-

mark. The friend offered up his Land-

mark credit card which put many gallons

of gas in the fuel tanks. If only all of

C-82 is use by TWA

C-82 in Greybull awaiting a new home.

Hagerstown Aviation Museum aircraft collection, 2010

6

life‘s problems were solved so easily!

The ferry flight was almost anticli-

mactic, with the crew departing Greybull

on Thursday October 12, 2006 and arriv-

ing at Culpepper, Virginia, late Friday afternoon after fuel stops at North Platt,

Nebraska and Ottumwa, Iowa. After par-

ticipating in the annual Commemorative

Air Force Capital Wing airshow on Satur-

day, October 14th, the aircraft departed

Culpepper for Hagerstown on Sunday

morning the 15th. After joining up with

two T-6 aircraft at Winchester, Virginia,

the three aircraft formation proceeded on

to Hagerstown, where Frank gave the

large welcoming crowd a thrill with a few

low flybys. The weather was perfect on this beautiful October day as former Fair-

child workers now in their 80‘s and 90‘s

were brought to tears to see and hear the

last flight of a C-82 they had helped build

sixty years earlier. Mission accom-

plished…the C-82A was safely home at

Hagerstown!

With the Packet safely at Hagerstown,

the museum could now focus its attention

on former RCAF C-119G N8093, which had been donated to the museum by Bob

Stanford in December 2006. A week

after the auction in Greybull the museum

received a call that the high bidder on C-

119G N8093 had backed out and it was

available, again! All the money raised

had been spent on the C-82 and the mu-

seum reluctantly had to decline the offer.

The next day Bob Stanford called, know-

ing the museum‘s desire to also have a C-

119 Flying Boxcar, and offered to buy and then donate the aircraft to the Hagers-

town museum. Bob was so impressed by

the efforts to preserve the C-82 that he

felt this C-119 should also come home to

Hagerstown. Bob is obviously a true

―airplane guy‖ and deserves a lot of credit

for stepping up to the plate and saving

this historic aircraft!

C-119G N8093 was one of over

1,100 C-119‘s built at Hagerstown by

Fairchild Aircraft and was delivered to

the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1953 as

serial number 22111. After retirement from the RCAF, the aircraft was bought

by Hawkins and Powers, which used it

for aerial firefighting. Even airplanes

have their 15 minutes of fame and this

aircraft reportedly starred in the 1989

movie Always with co-stars

Richard Dreyfuss and Holly

Hunter. Having been retired

from firefighting and movie

roles, the C-119 was put out

to pasture at Greybull with over 50 of her retired peers

including PB4Y-2 Priva-

teers, P2V Neptunes, C-119

Boxcars, KC-97 Stratotank-

ers, C-130 Hercules, C-118‘s

and an assortment of other

miscellaneous aircraft in-

cluding a C-82, F-27 and A-26 Invader.

Prior to the August 2006 auction, Grey-

bull most definitely represented the fore-

most collection of vintage military air-

craft outside of Davis Monthan AFB! The museum now focused its

attention on the formidable task of mak-

ing the aircraft airworthy for the ferry

flight back to Hagerstown. They sur-

veyed the aircraft in August 2007 and,

while the aircraft was in reasonably good

condition, there were a number of issues

that would have to be addressed and cor-

rected before the flight could be under-

taken. A fundraising campaign was initi-

ated and enough money had been raised by September 2008 to allow work to be-

gin on the aircraft. As with the C-82A,

B&G Industries was contracted to get the

aircraft ready for the ferry flight. Work

performed by B&G included repair of the

right prop; replacement of a number of

cockpit windows; floorboard replace-

ment; main landing gear tire and brake

replacement; removal of the auxiliary jet

engine; engine oil cooler replacement;

fuel tank inspection/repair; left prop oil

leakage repair and bird nest and snake

removal. In addition to the work per-formed by B&G, one aileron and the ven-

tral fins were removed from the aircraft,

refurbished by museum volunteers at

Hagerstown and shipped back to Grey-

bull. Engine runs and gear retracting

testing were performed in October and by

early November the aircraft was ready for

the flight to Hagerstown.

Crew selection was a little easier

this time with C-82A ferry veterans Frank

Lamm and TR Proven volunteering to

take the C-119G east. Rounding out the crew was Galen ―Sonny‖ Seal who per-

formed flight engineer and videographer

duties. Frank and Sonny had flown to-

gether 50 years prior flying Boxcars in

Japan and hadn‘t seen each other since.

The plan was for the aircraft to arrive at

Hagerstown on Sunday November 16th,

where a welcoming ceremony was

planned. The weather wouldn‘t be quite

as cooperative as it had been for the C-

C-119 N8093 at Greybull, WY., awaiting repair for the flight to Hagerstown, 2007

7

82A flight with the crew departing Greybull at 10:20am on

November 12th, just ahead of incoming bad weather. While

they had departed Greybull in light rain, the weather was better

when they landed at Grand Island, Nebraska three hours later for an overnight stop. The next day‘s flight took them to St.

Louis, where they were held up for two days because of bad

weather. While the C-119 was fully capable of all-weather

flying while in USAF service, FAA rules stipulate that ferry

flights must be undertaken in VFR conditions and the crew was

forced to wait for better weather. It was now Sunday morning and the aircraft was still

in St. Louis with a very iffy weather forecast for the last leg to

Hagerstown. The crew reviewed current weather conditions

and forecasts for the planned flight route and decided to set out

for Hagerstown via a more southerly route through Tennessee

to skirt the worst weather. Four hours later, after joining up

with escorting aircraft at Martinsburg, West Virginia, the vet-

eran aircraft arrived safely at a very cold and blustery Hagers-

town Airport. On hand to greet the aircraft and three-man crew

were over 800 hardy souls, many of them former workers at the Fairchild plant. A total of $95,000 had been spent for the resto-

ration and ferry flight, including $12,000 for avgas. By the

time the aircraft arrived at Hagerstown 450 donors had contrib-

uted $80,000 and hopefully the balance could be raised shortly.

The museum online store has a very interesting DVD on sale

for $19.95 documenting the restoration and flight from Grey-

bull to Hagerstown. Proceeds from the sale of the DVD will go

towards the C-119 fund.

In addition to the two former H&P aircraft, the museum‘s

aircraft collection includes eleven aircraft currently housed in

hangars around the Hagerstown Airport. This collection in-

cludes a 1928 Kreider Reisner KR-31, Fairchild UC-61C, North American T-6, three PT-19A‘s and a PT-26. The museum is

looking for the donation of a Fairchild F-27 and C-123 to add to

its collection of Fairchild produced aircraft.

The museum is looking for a permanent home at the

Hagerstown Regional Airport. For more information regarding

t h e m u s e u m , c h e c k ou t i t s w e bs i t e a t

www.hagerstownaviationmuseum.org . I‘d like to thank Kurtis

Meyers and John Seburn for their assistance in preparing this

article. I look forward to great things from this fledgling or-

ganization…their accomplishments have been truly impressive!

C-119 lands at Hagerstown Regional Airport Nov. 15, 2008

Flight crew Sonny Seal, Frank Lamm and TR Proven

8

Remembering Our Aviation Heritage

Keep the Heritage Alive Share your story

The C-119 Flying Boxcar at War, “A Bridge from the Sky”, by John L. Taylor Jr. USAF

One memorable day in the fall of

1950 rumors spread through the personnel

at Sewart Air Base, Murfreesboro, Ten-

nessee, of a dramatic transition in the base

activities. We were ordered to send a tele-

gram to our loved ones indicating we would be out of touch for an indetermi-

nate amount of time. All this had to hap-

pen without divulging what we had al-

ready suspected, deployment to the Ko-

rean War Zone.

The days passed quickly as the base

prepared for the eventual move. The

flight crews were advised earlier than

most when the inevitable day would ar-

rive. Their duty was obvious, that of fly-

ing the squadron aircraft from Sewart AFB to Japan. The aircraft would be

modified to increase their fuel capacity

with the addition of auxiliary fuel tanks

installed by Fairchild in Hagerstown,

Maryland.

Since I was not a member of a flight

crew, never having been assigned to that

position when I was transferred from the

37th to the 50th Troop Carrier Squadron, I

became part of the ground support per-

sonnel. A group of us received orders to

report, with all our belongings, to the

flight line where a Fairchild C-82 Packet

awaited. We were a solemn bunch as we

boarded the aircraft, still unsure of where

we were going and as the pilot gave us a pre-flight lecture, we put our faith in his

ability and the reliability of the aircraft.

After a refueling stop at Waco AFB,

Waco, Texas, we arrived in San Francisco

and boarded a Flying Tiger Lines com-

mercial DC-4 for the ten hour flight to

Hawaii, our first stop en route to the Far

East. Our apprehension alleviated regard-

ing our destination, we settled down with

the typical rumors of the unknown future.

Our next stop for fuel and chow came another ten hours later at Wake Island, a

Pacific Ocean atoll made famous early in

World War II for the battle between the

Japanese Navy and a small garrison of

U.S. Marines that was stationed there

before the Japanese attack on Pearl Har-

bor. Although outnumbered and out-

gunned, the Marines held on without sup-

port until overwhelmed by Japanese

forces.

Only three acres of sand, the island

still held symbols of the war, with rusted ship hulks on the beaches and a Japanese

tank abandoned behind the mess hall

where we had chow. Not much real estate

for the sacrifice of the Marines lost there.

We landed at the Tokyo, Japan, air-

port after a total of fifty hours flight time

from San Francisco and immediately

boarded trucks for the short trip to Tachi-

kawa Air Base. A Fairchild C-119 Flying

Boxcar was waiting for us and after get-

ting squared away with the luggage iden-

tification and the personnel manifest, we

departed for Komaki Airdrome, a Japa-

nese fighter base during WWII, now a

staging area for the 314th Troop Carrier

Group aircraft as they arrived from the states. We had been sent there for the

express purpose of removing the auxiliary

fuel tanks from the C-119s before the

planes could be considered ready for ser-

vice. After our work was finished, we

were ordered to prepare for transportation

to our assigned stations.

The 314th Troop Carrier Group, now

designated the 314th Combat Cargo Com-

mand, aircraft were assigned to Ashiya Air Base, Kyushu, Japan for cargo deliv-

ery between Japan and Korea as required

for the support of the war.

After a side trip to Nagoya, Japan, our

first sightseeing venture, we were trans-

ported by a C-119 Flying Boxcar to

Ashiya AB for ground support assign-

ments with our individual squadrons.

Some of us, including myself, reported to

the 50th Troop Carrier Squadron area and

9

Send to: Hagerstown Aviation Museum, 14235 Oak Springs Rd, Hagerstown MD 21742

were billeted in one of the tents located

behind the regular barracks because of

space limitations. I suppose the squadron

wanted us separated since we were desig-nated TDY (temporary duty) to the base

maintenance squadron where we formed

the nucleus of the engine build-up opera-

tions.

When the Pratt & Whitney R-4360

engines that powered the C-119s required

replacement, they were removed by the

aircraft crew and flight-line personnel as

required and transported on engine stands

to the engine build-up facility. There, we

stripped the usable parts from the faulty

engine, including the exhaust system, the

electrical wiring harness, the starter, gen-

erator and other accessories, which were then tested for operational efficiency and

accepted or replaced as required. The new

engine was removed from its shipping

container and assembled to the opera-

tional configuration by the build-up crew.

After inspection, the engine was returned

to the flightline for installation on the

aircraft.

A BRIDGE FROM THE SKY

Shortly after our arrival at Ashiya Air

Base, the war escalated dramatically

when, following the surprise landing at Inchon, Korea, by our troops led by Gen.

Douglas MacArthur, a counter attack by

the Chinese Communist Army at the Yalu

River shocked the Americans and the

Republic of Korea Army (ROK).

Undetected by the U.S. Forces as they

advanced toward the 38th Parallel, the

Chinese Army assault forced a with-drawal to the area of the Chosin Reser-

voir, where the U.S. Forces were unable

to contain the Chinese advance. Supplied

by C-119s from Ashiya, Japan, and

Yonpo, Korea, the American Forces held

as long as they could. However, it was

inevitable that they would be forced to

withdraw to the Hagaru-ri, Korea, area to

regroup. The extreme cold caused many

casualties despite supplies coming by air.

A small airfield had been scratched out of the frozen ground near Hagaru-ri and Air

Force and Marine cargo aircraft evacu-

ated the wounded, saving thousands of

lives. To make the situation worse, the

road south of Kot‘o-ri, near Hagaru-ri,

was blocked by damage caused by the

Chinese Army in their attempt to prevent

the American, British and ROK from

reaching the coastal town of Hungnam

and safety.

Realizing the problem they faced, the

1st Marine Regiment contacted Combat Cargo Command and asked for help. The

Air Force, realizing how crucial the situa-

tion was, immediately dispatched eight C-

119 Flying Boxcars from Ashiya AB to

Yonpo, Korea, each aircraft carrying a 30

foot, two ton Bailey Treadway Bridge

span. Army personnel rigged the bridge

repair sections with parachutes and one

section was test dropped to insure proper

operation.

At dawn on the morning of December 8, 1950, the C-119s left Yonpo for the

Hagaru-ri, Kot‘o-ri pocket where the em-

battled troops awaited relief. Flying at

800 feet altitude, the aircraft flawlessly

dropped the eight spans to the Army engi-

neers who, within a day, repaired the

bridge and opened the road to Hungnam

where ships waited to evacuate the esti-

mated 15,000 trapped Marine and Army

troops. The bridge from the sky saved the

day.

C-119s continued dropping supplies as needed and also were utilized for mass

airdrops of airborne troops as required by

Gen. Mathew Ridgway who, in March of

1951, replaced Gen. MacArthur when

MacArthur was recalled by President Tru-

man. The fighting escalated back and

forth in the vicinity of the 38th Parallel

with the ROK capital of Seoul changing hands four times. Areas such as the Punch

Bowl, Heartbreak Ridge and Pork Chop

Hill became infamous as the war pro-

gressed through 1952 and into 1953. Fi-

nally, on July 27, 1953, the Armistice

Agreement was signed ending the war.

For the Air Force personnel who were

stationed in Japan, with the exception of

the Combat Cargo Command crews that

flew missions back and forth to Korea,

the war seemed distant. However, it can-not be denied that ground support is al-

ways required for aircraft repair and

maintenance and no less pride was in-

volved in the accomplishments of the

personnel who kept them flying.

I returned to the states for discharge

on the troopship U.S.S. General Wm.

Mitchell, and an enjoyable cruise it was.

With my discharge pay, I chose to fly

home from California and I welcomed

luxury afforded by the beautiful Lock-

heed Consellation, the Queen of the Sky in 1952 cross country to New York City

and then a bus from NYC took me home.

I moved to Hagerstown, MD, in 1962

and started work at FairchildAircraft as an

inspector in 1966. When the A-10 pro-

gram ended, I decided to continue work-

ing in the bonding facility at Plant 12, and

when Fairchild sold the plant to Rohr

Industr ies in

1987, I retired.

I came full circle from my military

service with Fair-

child C-82 Pack-

ets and C-119

Flying Boxcars

back to where

they were con-

ceived.

10

Remembering Our Aviation Heritage

Keep the Heritage Alive Share your story

My European Tour on a Fairchild C-119

By Ron McAllister Sr.

Clear Spring, MD

During a recent fly-in at the

Hagerstown Airport I met John Se-

burn at the C-82 exhibit and showed him some pictures I took in Europe

while doing my overseas tour with the

USAF. Being in my seventies, I thought it

was about time someone other than

friends and family saw them. I joined

the Air Force on September 22 1952 and took my basic training at

Sampson AFB, Geneva, New York.

The training at that time was twelve weeks. The base, located on Lake Ge-

neva, was on the edge of the lake and

in November it was a bitterly cold

place to be.

After a 30 day leave I reported to Sheppard AFB, Witicha Falls,

Texas ,where I spent 6 months learn-

ing the basics of an aircraft mechanic.

At graduation I was assigned my per-manent duty station, Donaldson

AFB, Greenville, South Carolina. The

base held two wings of aircraft with

one having the C-124 Globemaster, a four engine, two decked plane and the

other, the 465th Troop Carrier Wing,

whose primary aircraft was the Hagerstown-built C-119CF.

The wing was to deploy to Europe

at the end of 1953 and was supposed to take everything they needed to op-

erate with them. We did maintenance

on our planes during the day, and at

night we worked in what we called

the ―Box Factory‖ packing everything

we needed to operate in Europe.

At the end of November, 1953, we left Donaldson for Europe and flew

from there to Dover, Delaware,

spending three days waiting to get into Goose Bay, Labrador. At Goose

we were weathered in for another

three days. From there we flew to Ke-

flavisle, Iceland, stayed over night and left there for Prestwick, Scotland.

We were fogged in there almost a

week before leaving for Wiesbaden, German.

On leaving Prestwick we flew into

a flock of seagulls and were afraid

one would go into the carburetor air intake which may have caused us to

crash, but lucked out in that respect.

We arrived in Wiesbaden Christmas Eve of 1953.

Because our permanent Air Base

was still in the building stage by the Army Corps of Engineers, our wing

11

Send to: Hagerstown Aviation Museum, 14235 Oak Springs Rd, Hagerstown MD 21742

was split up. We went to Toul-

Roseires AFB, Nancy, France. The 782nd Squadron went to Wiesbaden

and the 781st went to Munich Ger-

many. On arriving at Toul-Roseires it

was like living the day after the war

had ended. We slept in 8 man huts, heated by a tent stove and ate in a

mess hall where we were given World

War II ―C‖ rations. We bathed in wa-

ter heated in galvanized water buck-ets.

We were part of the 12th Air Force,

322 Air-Division, part of the then U.S.A.F., Europe. Our mission was to

help train our Army in Europe. We

hauled troops and their equipment

while they were on maneuvers. We would fly into abandoned

Luftwaffe bases, pick up sol-

diers, fly around for about a half hour and land at the same

base where they would capture

that base. Our other job was to sup-

ply, or re-supply NATO bases

all the way from Bodo, Nor-

way above the Arctic Circle to air bases in the then French

Morocco. I was what was

termed an in- flight mechanic. My job was to refuel the plane

and, when needed, repair them if a mechanical problem arose. It was a

great job for a 19 year old county

boy! As an example, one of our trips

started at one base in France, flew to a

depot at another; loaded and flew to

Madrid Spain then the next day flew to Casablanca, French Morocco. We

then went onto Wheelers Field, Trip-

oli, Libya and on to Athens, Greece, Rome, Italy and finally to Munich,

Germany. One last leg over the Eng-

lish Channel to Burtonwood, England and a short hop back to our base in

France found us home again.

I lost an engine on only 2 trips,

one in Oslo, Norway, the other over the Mediterranean between Athens

and Libya. They sent me new engines

in a can, which I exchanged on the airplane. It took me two weeks for the

engine changes.

Our version of the C-119 had two Pratt & Whitney R4360 Cubic inch,

28 cylinder engines. Later aircraft had

Wright 3350 compound engines with

power recovery turbines. They were a great aircraft built for the job they

were doing. I enjoyed every day I

flew on them and felt thankful to the people in Hagerstown for their great

job!

Coming in the Next Issue!

The amazing career of James Mar-tinez, Fairchild Industries last Test

Pilot will be explored in the next

issue of the New Pegasus maga-

zine. Jim Martinez, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy went on

to become one of a handful of Na-

val aviators that became official Navy Test Pilots, flying some of

the fastest and most advanced air-

craft of the 1960s. His career in the Navy and a few years flying com-

mercially culminated in being

named Chief Test Pilot for the

Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt II in 1977. Look for the full story of this

highly talented man in the next

issue of the New Pegasus!

12

Remembering Our Aviation Heritage

Richard A. Henson - Part 1, The Early Years Richard A. Henson was born in 1910 in Hagerstown, Md., and

was raised in the village of Paramount by Frank and Ora Belle

Henson -- both of whom were business owners. Their influence

upon their third child stayed with him throughout his lifetime.

From Ora Belle, who owned a ladies hat and dress shop, he

learned to appreciate fine clothing and

the art and value of dressing well. From Frank, who ran a coal and ice

business and applied his accounting

education to bookkeeping for the dress

shop, he learned to put all of his tal-

ents to good use and to work hard.

From both parents, he learned deep

and abiding religious beliefs that he

practiced in his daily life.

By the time young Richard (Dick)

was 17, he knew he wanted to pursue

a career in aviation. After completing advanced mechanical

training at Mountain Park Institute in North Carolina, he re-

turned to Hagerstown. The Kreider-Reisner Aircraft factory

where Dick had planned to work had ceased production due to

the Depression. Not dissuaded, he convinced three friends to

help purchase a Kreider Reisner C-2 Challenger airplane for

$1500. For his part, he had to obtain a loan, co-signed by his

mother, to raise the $375 he needed. Immediately after taking

possession of the airplane he began taking pilot lessons and so-

loed in 1930. The next year Dick acquired his commercial li-

cense which allowed him to fly passengers for hire.

While Dick was pursuing his newly found aviation love, the Kreider-Reisner Aircraft Company had been purchased by Fair-

child Aircraft Corporation that quickly began, on a small scale,

to manufacture aircraft again. Sherman Fairchild, founder and

president of the newly arrived company, asked Dick to accept

the position of test pilot for the aircraft that the company was

producing. For forty dollars per week he tested and made reports

for each aircraft that came off the line. Although Dick was mak-

ing very good money, especially good during the Depression, he

continued to offer charter flights and rides to paying customers.

Somehow, he also found time to manage the Hagerstown Air-

port's grass field as a sideline business.

In 1932 Dick purchased the Blue Ridge Flying Service and

renamed it Henson Flying Service, managing the operations from the airport while continuing test flights for Fairchild. As

his flying business increased, Dick built a small white and green

building to house his center of operations on the field and added

several airplanes to his stable: a used Brunner Winkle ―Kinner‖

Bird biplane in 1934 and an Aeronca C-3 just a short time later.

Four owners of the C-2, Henson, second from left, 1931

Henson Flying Service shack, 1932

13

During this time, his combined flight hours at Fairchild and those with his flight business allowed Dick to quickly earn the

government‘s top rating of an Airline Transport Pilot. In 1936 he

became a member of an exclusive group named ―The Caterpillar

Club‖ ,a dubious ―badge of honor‖ to which admission was re-

served for those who were forced to bail out from an aircraft and

parachute to earth.

Throughout the 1930s Dick continued to make most of the

first flights on aircraft that Fairchild

produced, suggesting modifications

and improvements on many. Dick

had the final say whether an airplane was fit to be delivered and he took

his job very seriously!

By the end of the 1930‘s Dick had

a vibrant business both at Fairchild

and managing the Hagerstown Air-

port. The beginning of war in Europe

in the summer of 1939 set both Fair-

child and the Airport on a different

path, one that would lead Fairchild to

develop a much needed primary

training aircraft and the airport to

become a training center for pilots…Dick Henson had positioned himself

at the center of it all!

A Happy Customer Takes his First Airplane Ride

Henson at desk

in the shack.

1932

Interior view of

Henson Flying

Service shack.

1932

1934

Richard A. Henson - ‖The War Years‖, Part Two of

the series, will appear in the next issue of the New

Pegasus magazine.

Henson in PT-19, 1940

1933

14

Eight and One-half Decades Ago………A Time Remembered

Eighty five years ago fifteen year old Thelma Alexander was

hired by Ammon Kreider to come to work for the Kreider-

Reisner Aircraft Corporation. Thelma left the business college

she was attending in downtown Hagerstown and joined the of-

fice staff at the aircraft manufacturing business. At sometime

during 1926, a panoramic photo was taken of Kreider-Reisner

employees, but Thelma did not see the finished photo before her

employment ended. When Thelma turned 100 years old, the museum discovered

that she had worked for Kreider-Reisner and an appointment for

an interview was scheduled for February 16, 2011. The museum

had in its collection an undated panoramic photo of Kreider-

Reisner employees taken sometime during the 1920s and it was

possible that Thelma was in the picture. We were also hoping

that Thelma could provide us some first person recollections of

the company that has not existed for eighty-two years. An ex-

cerpt from the interview follows:

Museum:‖ Would you tell us something about your time at Krei-

der-Reisner.‖

Thelma: ―I don‘t have too much I can tell you. I was only fifteen years old when I went to work for Kreider-Reisner. Mr. Kreider

came to the school to pick out somebody to work in his office.

Lew Reisner had the drafts for an airplane and Mr. Reisner fur-

nished the money. There were only three of us in the office but

there were a lot of people who worked there at the time, many of

them really young boys. The boys started at fourteen years old

and their wages were fourteen cents an hour. Fifteen year olds

got fifteen cents an hour and I got eight dollars a week. There

were only a few older men at the time. Mr. Lew Reisner‘s daddy

was the stockroom boss and he gave out tools as they needed

them. They would come to him for them. And Henry Reisner was the boss in the painting department. And the boss over the

shop, the superintendant, was Mr. Seiler. I think he got seventy-

five dollars a week. The first test pilot was Clever…Clever…

Clever… I don‘t know why I can‘t recall his last name. There

were several older men and they were getting thirty-five cents an

hour. But of course no one was getting too much money at that time. That was in 1926.‖

Thelma continued recounting in great detail her time at Krei-

der-Reisner, providing the museum superb first person, primary

source material. At the conclusion of the interview, the pano-

ramic Kreider-Reisner employee photograph was placed in front

of Thelma:

Museum: ―We are trying to date this picture. Do you recognize

anyone in the photo?‖

Thelma: ―No………I really don‘t.‖

Museum: ―Of the young ladies dressed in white, do you recog-

nize the center one?‖

Thelma: ―I…….. think……… so……….maybe‖. Museum: ―You think

so?‖

Thelma:‖Yep…………

that‘s me!‖

Thelma continued to

identify familiar faces in

the picture and connect

people to jobs. When she

came to the test pilot, her

face lit up,

―Reynolds!!!...Clever Reynolds!!‖ Even after eighty-five years, her memory did not

fail her.

After her time with Kreider- Reisner, Thelma held other jobs,

married Cecil Brown, raised four children and has reached the

century mark. The museum profusely thanks Thelma Brown for

permitting us to probe her memory and record, first hand, a part

of Hagerstown‘s aviation heritage that happened eighty-five

years ago.

15

Thelma

Alexander

Brown

Ammon

Kreider

Lew

Reisner Fred

Seiler

Henry

Reisner

1926

Clever

Reynolds

1926 2011

Mrs.

Spielman

Drafting Room

16

Women workers at Fairchild Aircraft in Hagerstown

build wings for the PBM

PBM wings are painted at Fairchild Aircraft

17

Building the Martin PBM Mariner

Special trailer designed by Sullivan Trucking to haul fin-

ished PBM wings from Hagerstown to the Martin Aircraft

factory in Baltimore, MD

PBM’s being assembled during WWII in the Martin Aircraft fac-

tory in Baltimore, MD, awaiting wings from Hagerstown.

Martin PBM Mariner wings being assembled in the Fairchild Aircraft factory at the Hagerstown Airport during WWII.

18

1974

1938

2009

Martin PBM Mariner RC Model Donated to Museum The beautiful radio controlled model of the famous WWII Martin Mariner PBM was

donated to the Hagerstown Aviation Museum in November, 2009, and a short time later

John and Ruth Nicolaci of Marion, MA, arrived to present the model to the museum.

John began building models around 1930 and progressed from rubber band powered

balsa and paper models to highly sophisticated and superbly engineered models.

John flew the PBM for thirty-four years around the United States and also interna-

tionally. Always a crowd pleaser, the PBM was often flown at naval aviation reunions

where it brought back many memories for the naval aviators of WWII and post-war

years. Although the museum does not plan to continue flying the PBM, you can go to the museum website, HagerstownAvia-

tionMuseum.org, and watch John putting the Mariner through its paces.

While John was from Massachusetts and PBMs were built at Martin Aircraft in Baltimore, Maryland, both John and the plane

are connected to Hagerstown. During WWII Fairchild Aircraft in Hagerstown had a subcontract to build the wings for Martin‘s PBM. Initially they were constructed in the large poultry exhibition hall at the Hagerstown Fair grounds. Later they were con-

structed in a new Fairchild factory. Regardless of where they were built, transporting them from Hagerstown to Baltimore was a

daunting task. Sullivan Transportation devised a trailer that transported the wings to Baltimore. Once the wings arrived in Balti-

more, John was responsible for inspecting them. Not long after John and Ruth donated the PBM, John lost his battle with can-

cer.The museum is honored to continue to present John‘s superbly crafted model of the famous PBM to the public in recogni-

tion of John‘s outstanding craftsmanship and his life-long love of aviation.

1938

19

By Scott Schneider

Photos by R. Mike Schaefer

A stunned silence falls over the group.

None of the adult leaders or volunteer

pilots expects a twelve year old boy to

answer the question, ―How does a wing

produce lift?‖ with the reply, ―Bernoulli‘s principle‖. This young boy is a member

of Boy Scout Troop 2 of Hagerstown who

recently visited Hagerstown Regional

Airport to fulfill requirements for the

Aviation Merit Badge. The Scouts of

Troop 2 spent several of their weekly

meetings in classes learning about the

principles of flight, navigation, pilot certi-

fications, famous aviators and aviation

careers. To complete their requirements

they needed to visit an aviation museum, take a flight in an airplane or take a tour

of an actual airport. Little did I know, as

Aviation Merit Badge Counselor, that the

Hagerstown Regional Airport community

would come together with such enthusi-

asm to help these boys earn one of the

least earned merit badges in the Mason-

Dixon Council.

To attain the rank of Eagle Scout, the

highest rank in Scouting, boys are re-

quired to earn twenty-one merit badges

throughout their Scouting career. These

merit badges are divided into two catego-

ries, required for Eagle rank and non-

required for Eagle rank. The required

merit badges are those that most non-scouts would think of - First aid, Camp-

ing, Emergency Preparedness, Hiking and

Citizenship. The non-required merit

badges consist of more career oriented,

hobby and sport interests. These non-

required merit badges are intended to

keep the young boys in good physical

fitness, mentally sharp and introduce

them to several different career opportu-

nities that they may not be exposed to as

thoroughly in school. Among these non-required merit badges is Aviation.

It was at a Scouting banquet around

Christmas when Tom Hoover, Scoutmas-

ter of Troop 2 based at Otterbein United

Methodist Church in Hagerstown, asked

me if he could bring his boys out to the

airport some Saturday to have a look at

the museum‘s aircraft collection. I told

him, ―I think we can do better than that.‖

We began the discussion of having the

entire Troop take Aviation Merit Badge

in the spring, with the culmination being

a visit to the airport complete with mu-

seum aircraft tours and airplane rides for

all the boys. ―Wait a minute! Airplane

rides for the boys? How am I going to

pull that off?‖ I said to myself. I was sure that the rest of the museum board would

be OK with having the Scouts come out

and go through the two ―Boxcars‖ and

some of the smaller airplanes, but where

was I going to come up with rides?

That‘s when I contacted Mark Hissey of

the Experimental Aircraft Associations

(EAA) local chapter to inquire about

Young Eagle Flights. The EAA sponsors

Young Eagle Flights for kids eight to

seventeen years of age to receive a free airplane ride. Mark was happy to assist

with my request and after trading several

e-mails back and forth, Mark, Tom and I

were able to get all of the paperwork

straight so that the EAA lawyers and the

Boy Scout lawyers were both happy. We

also decided on a date to have this avia-

tion extravaganza. May 14th was chosen

because of the likelihood of more favor-

able weather conditions. Little did we

Boy Scout Troop 2 Aviation Merit Badge

20

know that Mother Nature had other plans

for that particular day. The next step was

to get the official OK from the Hagers-

town Aviation Museum Board of Direc-

tors to have the Scouts come out and tour the airplanes.

I had spoken to Jack Seburn, Secretary of

the Hagerstown Aviation Museum,

through e-mails and he had told me that

the museum would enjoy helping the

boys earn their merit badge. One of the

museum‘s goals is to introduce local

young people to aviation and local his-

tory. Who better than a local Boy Scout

troop. At the next board meeting the

Scout visit was on the agenda to be dis-cussed. I thought I was going to have to

really ―sell this‖ idea, but I was wrong.

The board was very excited to have the

troop come and tour the aircraft. The

discussion of the scouts visit continued

when Tracey Potter,

president of Hagers-

town Aircraft Services,

offered to give the

boys a tour of his

maintenance facilities. It was really starting to

come together. The

entire idea of Aviation

Merit Badge is to

show young boys the

vast career opportuni-

ties available in the

aviation industry.

Most people don‘t

think of all the mainte-

nance and administra-

tive positions available in aviation. This will give the boys that

exposure. Tracey also said that he had a

contact at Cape Air, the shuttle service

that provides flights from Hagerstown to

Baltimore. ―We may be able to get them

rides in their airplane‖, said Tracey. This

is great! Not only will I have lined up

one ride, but the possibility of two rides!

This is turning out to be a good day.

That same evening, Tracey gave me con-tact information for Todd Willman, the

Mid-Atlantic Regional Marketing Man-

ager for Cape Air. I explained what I was

planning and Todd, a former Scouter

himself, was very enthusiastic about hav-

ing the boys come up to the terminal,

experience ticket counter procedures, go

through TSA screening and take a ride in

their Cessna 402. A lot of the boys have

never flown commercially let alone at all.

This would be a rare experience for these

boys.

In between all the Scout meetings, Board

meetings and e-mails, I stopped by the Pittsburg Institute of Aeronautics‘ open

house of their Hagerstown campus at the

Top Flight Air Park. As I was walking

through the facilities, I began to think,

―This would be great to have the scouts

come through here.‖ What college would

say no to a group of local middle school

and high school kids coming through

their new campus? I was told to speak to

Mel Williams, the campus director. I

introduced myself and began explaining

what I was working on. Before I could finish he replied, ―I want them to come

visit us‖.

With that I had all the pieces together.

We were finally ready for May 14th to

arrive.

All of the participants had been watching

the weather all week. The forecast was

not looking good for flying. Saturday

finally came with low level gray clouds

and the feel that it could rain any second.

So, unfortunately the boys‘ flights had to

be cancelled, but we would soldier on

with the tours as planned.

We gathered first at the Top Flight park-ing lot to begin our tour of the Pittsburg

Institute of Aeronautics (PIA) Hagers-

town Campus. Mel was very welcoming

and took the boys through the school‘s

facilities. All of the boys enjoyed sitting

in the small helicopter and airplane that

PIA has for demonstration purposes. It

gave the boys a chance to see the control

surfaces of the airplane move and how it

affected the direction of flight.

During our time at PIA, the skies finally

opened up and the rain started.―Well, we

are definitely not flying now‖, I said to

Gary Hill, one of the Assistant Scoutmas-

ters. He said that he has a cousin who works at the control tower and, if he‘s

working today, he might be able to give

the boys a tour. That would be perfect!

There are few people who get to see the

inside of the control tower. I think this

would be a suitable replacement for an

airplane ride.

As Gary made his phone call, we thanked

Mel and pressed on to Hagerstown Air-

craft Services where we dodged the rain

drops as we ran for the relative dry of the

hangers. There I met up with Mark His-

sey and Curtis Berry of the Experimental

Aircraft Association. The consensus be-

tween the three of us was unanimous that

there would be no flying today, but the

pilots agreed that if the rain stopped

within the next half hour they would go

over the pre-flight checklists with the scouts. The timing would be perfect,

because Tracey said that his tour of the

shops would take about a half hour.

Tracey took the boys around his shops

and explained about the different materi-

Scouts learn how a propeller works at the PIA Hagerstown

Campus.

Boys were able to inspect the museum’s

PT-19 up close during their visit to

Hagerstown Aircraft Services.

Curtis Berry of EAA Chapter 36 goes

over pre-flight inspections with a

group scouts

21

als aircraft are made of, special tools re-

quired for repairs and stories of how

some of the planes in the shop got there.

We were lucky enough to have one of the

museum‘s PT-19‘s in the shop for its an-nual inspection. This gave the scouts the

opportunity to see inside the cowling and

get a close up look at the Ranger engine.

At this point, the rain had stopped enough

for us to venture out from under the hang-

ers. We divided the boys into two groups

and turned them over to Curtis and Mark

so that they could show how to pre-flight

an airplane.

Both groups were shown how to inspect

control surfaces for freedom of move-ment, sample fuel for type and to deter-

mine if any foreign material or liquids

were presen,t and to determine if the fuse-

lage had any damage or weak spots.

After pre-flighting was finished, we

moved on to the pride and joy of the

Hagerstown Aviation Museum, our two

―boxcars‖. The C-82 and C-119 sat

across the ramp from Tracey‘s hangers,

so they were in view the whole time we

were there. ―When can we go see the big

ones?‖ and ―Are we going to get to go

inside those?‖, were the questions I had to

redirect while we were supposed to be

listening to Tracey, Curtis and Mark.

―Yes, now we can go look at the big

ones‖, I said. Most of the scouts were

overwhelmed by the size of the two air-

planes. Many of them had never seen an airplane of this size close up. They really

are big airplanes! The boys took turns in

the cockpits and were quizzing each other

on what the instruments were and what

they were for. It also brought back

memories for some of the adults who

remember sitting in a similar cargo bay of

a C-130 in combat seating getting ready

for deployment for Desert Shield. While

the boys were enjoying the ―boxcars‖, we

got the message from the control tower. ―Sure, come on over, I can work you in.‖

With the weather the way it was I wasn‘t

surprised. He probably wanted some

company. After taking a few photos and

thanking everyone, we mounted up and

headed for the other side of the airport.

We arrived at the control tower around

noon. The controller said that he could

take about seven people at a time, and if

there was any traffic they would have to remain quiet. So, as a group of seven

went up, the rest of the boys dug into

their lunches. We were actually lucky

that there was some action going on. As I

recall, I think each group had something

happening during their visit. There were

a few instrument flights flying through

the airspace, a departure and the arrival of a Cape Air flight. Those not in the tower

at the time were able to listen in on my

hand radio that I had tuned into the tower

frequency. After the last group came

down we, once again, piled into the cars

and headed for our last leg of our tour, the

Terminal.

Todd Willman greeted us at the Cape Air

desk and explained to the scouts about

their next experience. The boys would be

given a ―one time‖ boarding pass at the

Cape Air desk. They would then go

through TSA screening and then be es-

corted out to the ramp to check out the Cessna 402. The distribution of boarding

passes went smoothly enough, except for

the Scoutmaster‘s son who had somehow

ended up on a watch list! After that was

straightened out, we headed for security.

We had told the boys to leave pocket

knives at home and to leave their back-

packs in the car, so minus the re-tying of

hiking boots, TSA screening went well.

The boys were then able to go out on the

ramp where the two Cape Air pilots gave

the scouts a tour of the aircraft. Many of the boys got a chance to sit in the pilot

and co-pilot seats and have their picture

taken. After one last group photo, we

said thanks and good bye to the folks of

Cape Air.

All in all, a successful, although wet,

Aviation Merit Badge tour. Aside from a

few last minute reports to be turned in, all

of the scouts of Troop 2 have earned their

Aviation Merit Badge and have learned more about the aviation industry and local

aviation history then they would have

anywhere else. Not only were we able to

award merit badges that day, but we were

able to give a group of young people a

look at the inner workings of a live air-

port and show them the heritage of this

particular airport. A heritage that we as

locals can be proud of.

I enjoyed my experience as Aviation

Merit Badge Counselor and look forward to doing it again in the future, possibly

having scouts from multiple troops com-

ing together for classes from the local

council and even neighboring councils. It

would bring some well deserved attention

to our airport community and an aware-

ness of our local aviation industries. But,

as I have found out, it can only be suc-

cessful with the support and generosity of

the airport businesses and the continued

support of the local community.

Shawn Schaefer sits in the pilot’s seat of

the C-119

Quinn Hoover, Mike Rudisill, Jared

Boppe, Patrick Vandercruyssen, Timmy

Kofoet and Levi Hoover watch air traffic

controllers guide aircraft in.

Joseph Wolfensberger and Alex Wilson

check out the cockpit of a Cessna 402

with the staff of Cape Air

22

Part 1 – ―The Green Demon‖

By Joseph E. Boyle

Excerpts from an article by

Kent A. Mitchell

Alvin Ray Johns was born on November 30, 1917, to Cecil and Dorothy Johns in Orrstown, Pennsylvania. He grew up on

his parent‘s farm and was always interested in things mechani-

cal. As a teenager, during the long Pennsylvania winters, Ray

had fun building propeller-driven ice sleds that were pushed by

Model ―A‖ Ford engines and laminated wood propellers that

Ray carved himself.

It seemed the natural progression that his thoughts turned to

flight as Ray was infatuated with stories of WW1 pilots,

Lindberg, Wiley Post and the other famous aviators of the era

and their exploits. He decided to design and build his own air-

plane. His power plant was a 1928 Harley-Davidson V-twin

motorcycle engine.

He

completed

and taught

himself to fly in this

plane in

1934. He

had several

accidents

with the

plane on

short hops

around the family farm and scrapped it after shearing off the

landing gear and damaging the wooden fuselage beyond repair

during a hard landing. The Harley-Davidson engine only pro-duced approximately 25 horsepower, which was marginal to say

the least, for a plane that Ray admitted was ―overbuilt‖ due to

his lack of knowledge and experience. It flew because of Ray‘s

small stature but probably never got out of ground effect.

By 1937, Ray was working in a machine shop in Chambers-

burg, PA, and started flight instruction in a forty horsepower J-3

Cub. He funded the lessons by skipping meals. Ray now de-

cided to build another plane that would have adequate power.

The power plant of choice for this new plane was a used Model

―A‖ Ford engine that he modified with a full flow oil system of

his own design that provided pressurized lubrication to the main and connecting rod bearings. He cut weight everywhere possi-

ble and got the engine weight down to about 180 lbs.

Ray ran the completed engine, named the ―Tornado F-4,‖ for

hours to test endurance. He then completely dismantled the en-

gine and painstakingly inspected every part. Ray said that after

completing the inspection, ―I knew that I had an engine that I

could trust my life to in the air‖. The 200 cubic inch engine

produced about 65 hp at 2000 to 2100 rpm. That much power

was adequate for a two place airplane.

Ray filled the second seat before the plane was built when he

married Rachael Cramer on January 3, 1938. ―Peaches,‖ as she

was affectionately known, was to be Ray‘s lifelong partner. Ray designed an all wood, open cockpit, high wing parasol

plane with side by side two place seating that was similar to the

Pietenpol Air Camper that also used a Model ―A‖ Ford engine.

First Ray made a wing rib jig, then the ribs. The fuselage was

laid out on the basement floor of his parent‘s home. During this

time, Ray was visited at his shop by Paul Witmer, who became

interested in the project and became Ray‘s regular assistant and

lifelong friend. When the project outgrew Ray‘s basement shop,

it was completed in a vacant storeroom below Paul Witmer‘s

apartment. After many late night work sessions over 13 months,

the plane‘s component pieces were covered in fabric, doped, painted green and the landing gear, engine and the propeller that

Ray had carved were installed on the fuselage. The plane had a

wing span of 32 feet, was 17 feet 6 inches long and weighed 550

lbs.

After taxi tests in a field adjacent to the store room, the

wings were removed and the plane, now fondly named the

‖Green Demon‖, was moved that night to a field next to Ray‘s

home.

The wings were re-installed by headlight and the plane was taxi

tested again, then tied down for the night. Ray remembers as he

was having breakfast the next morning and he and Paul were

discussing the upcoming first flight, his mother warned them to be very careful as Ray had very low hours to be test flying a

plane that had never been flown before. ―Mother always had

faith in me as I had made many things before and they always

worked out all right.‖

At the field, Paul and Ray checked the ―Green Demon‖ over

and. After putting on the motorcycle helmet and goggles that

Ray had bought ―for flying in an open cockpit job‖, Ray climbed

in and buckled the safety belt. Paul pulled the prop through until

the ―Tornado F-4‖ fired. Ray then ―charged up and down the

field a number of times to check if it would really fly - once ac-

tually at about two feet off the ground.‖ Once satisfied that the controls were effective and the rigging OK, Ray taxied to the far

eastern corner of the field, turned west and ―gave her the gun

full power.‖ The tail came up and after going over a bump, the

―Green Demon‖ was airborne. ―I climbed out of the field at a

slight angle until I had 1200 feet altitude and then banked

around very shallow to come back over the field. As I circled

Alvin Ray Johns and His Experimental Airplanes

Propeller Driven Ice Sled

First Airplane

23

overhead, I could see Mother and Dad standing in the front yard.

I throttled back and, with power off in a fifty mph glide, was

losing altitude very rapidly down to 200 feet. I went directly

over Mother and Dad. They were waving to me as I opened the

throttle wide and climbed for altitude and headed for the landing field. I circled the landing field, came around the corner of the

woods and lined up with the strip. On the approach with power

off, the ship would descend very rapidly. Power had to be used

during the glide to touchdown and once it was down it stayed

down.‖ After additional flights, Ray claimed that the ―Green

Demon‖ would fly at 110 mph full power and cruise at 100 mph.

―The 100 mph cruise was due to the thin airfoil that I designed

and used in the wing section‖ Ray said.

It also produced a violent stall and inhibited low speed per-

formance. Ray said that ―the stall felt like the props had been

kicked out from under you. I also found that the aileron control

was a little sluggish below 60 mph but you could keep it from spinning very easily with the rudder. This craft had no relation

to the Cub I had been flying.‖

Paul was checked out as well after several flights and began

flying the ―Green Demon‖. The two friends logged many hours

during 1940 – 1941.

December 7th, 1941, brought changes to the quiet Tuscarora

valley where Ray, Paul and the ―Green Demon‖ had been flying.

The Government was now operating a huge installation called Letterkenny Army Depot less than three miles from Ray‘s flying

field. All civilian aircraft were grounded. The little green air-

plane with no tail numbers was arousing great suspicion when

seen flying near the Depot. ―One evening when I got home, I

was told that two airplanes with red, white and blue stripes on

the tails were circling over our field. They tried to land but the

strip was too short.‖ Ray decided to make one more flight in the

―Green Demon.‖

―After supper I went over to the field, fired up the ―Tornado

F-4‖ and took a long flight down the valley. During the flight I

thought to myself, ‗this is the last flight till the war is over‘. This gave me an empty feeling inside to think that I would be com-

pelled to put the pride of my life in an old barn to collect dust

and cobwebs, maybe to never fly again. The next evening I was

told that the two airplanes with the striped tails were over our

field again. That was enough. I went over to the field with my

father, pushed the ship up to the old barn that was not in use,

removed the wings and pushed it in on the barn floor….at least it

was out of sight.‖

As Ray tells it, ―The next day I was on the job running a

milling machine when the Superintendent came to me and told

me I was wanted in the front office – something or another about

my plane. I knew about what was coming. As I

entered the office, I was introduced to a Mr. Anderson of the

Civil Air Patrol. He asked if I would show my aircraft to him.

After work I took him to the field – he looked the craft over, complimented us on the work we had done and took notes for

his report. Next we went to my home where I had the machin-

ery and tools that we had used to build the craft. My father fol-

lowed us and on overhearing what was said, told him to be light

on me – with a war raging in the Pacific and in Europe they may

need boys like me before the war was over. Mr. Anderson only

said that he would turn over his report to the Civil Aeronautics

Authority for their evaluation.‖

―In a few days, I received a letter saying I was to appear be-

fore the CAA at the Harrisburg State airport. The next day I

appeared as ordered at the CAA office and was introduced to a

Mr. N.J. Rogers and two other gentlemen. Mr. Rogers asked to see my pilot‘s license. The only thing I had to give was a stu-

dent pilot permit. He stared at it for a long time and then said,

―I‘ll keep this‖ and placed it in his desk drawer. Rodgers looked

up to me and said to sit down and tell him all about why I built

this plane. I told him the whole story – that my ambition was to

fly and this was the only way I saw that I could do it.

He told me to go home and write the same story and

send it to the CAA in Washington, DC. This I did

with the help of my father. Weeks went by and I

heard no word – I was in hope that it was all forgotten

but finally I received a letter from Washington telling me how many regulations I had broken. However, the

CAA said that they would not take any action at this

time but in the event there were future violations, the

Authority would take action on all violations. They

did advise me that if I wanted to continue flying, I was

to report to the local CAA office to discuss the re-

quirements for having my student pilot permit rein-

stated. This I did the very next day – before someone

changed their mind.‖ Part of the deal was that, if

Johns liked airplanes so much, he was to report to the Fairchild

Aircraft factory in nearby Hagerstown, Maryland for assignment

to a job in support of the war effort. As Ray related the story to me, he appeared on the appointed day for his interview and was

taken to the office of Armand Thieblot, the Chief Design Engi-

neer for Fairchild. During the interview, Ray told Mr. Thieblot

that he had designed and built an airplane and had a set of plans

to the ―Green Demon‖ in the inside breast pocket of his jacket.

Mr. Thieblot asked to see the plans and they spent the balance of

the interview looking over the plans and talking about the plane

and how it performed. Mr. Thieblot was impressed enough to

hire Ray and he was given a job in the experimental section as a

fabricator. Ray spent a long, interesting and rewarding career at

Fairchild until his retirement in the early 1970‘s.

Part 2 will feature the Aeronca K and the RASON Warrior X-3.

References:

(Some quotes and information are from interviews with Ray

Johns done by Kent A. Mitchell for his article in 1994)

(Interview by the author with Gary and Bonnie Johns)

(Photos on loan from Gary and Bonnie Johns, son and daughter

in law of Alvin R. Johns and from the archives of the Hagers-

town Aviation Museum)

The Green Demon

24

25

26

27

1943 Fairchild PT-19A Donation

1943 Fairchild PT-19, N46199, returned home to Hagerstown on March 20, 2009. Piloted by TR Proven, the PT took off from Fort Myers, FL., and three cold days later touched down in Hagers-town. The PT was donated to the museum by its owner Bob Haas. Bob owned, maintained and flew the PT for over thirty years prior to its donation. Since its arrival back home in Hagers-town, the PT has been admired by the public at museum events and air shows and has participated in a number of special event fly-overs. The museum is most grateful for Mr. Haas’ donation to the mu-seum’s collection of Hagerstown built aircraft.

1942 Fairchild PT-26A Donation Joining the museum’s three PT-19s is a 1942 closed canopy version designated the PT-26. Fair-child PT-26s were developed for training in colder climates and many, including this one, were used in Canada. This PT-26, N67949, was donated to the museum by Mrs. Sandra Brown and family of Lake Ridge, VA in memory of husband and father Pasco Brown. Mr. Brown was a retired Air Force Colonel who acquired the PT-26 in 1989 and en-joyed many years of flying this Hagerstown built aircraft. The museum thanks the Brown family for this generous donation.

Homebuilt Aircraft Donations

The BD-5 Micro is a small single-seat home-built kit aircraft created in the 1960’s by air-craft designer Jim Bede. This BD-5 was built by Walter and June Green of Hagerstown MD and donated to the museum in April, 2010. Walter is a former Fairchild employee and both are members of EAA Chapter 36 and the museum.

The Varieze is a composite, canard aircraft designed by Burt Rutan. It is a high performance homebuilt. This Varieze was built by Robert Woodall in 1979 and was donated to the museum in Sept. 2010, by his grandchildren Christopher Wells of Centreville, MD. and Pamela Stockard of Louisville, KY

The Monnett Moni is a sport aircraft developed in the U.S. in the early 1980’s and marketed for homebuilding. This aircraft was built by Thomas Keefer and donated to the museum in March, 2010 by his wife Sally Keefer of Lucketts, VA.

28

C-119 assembly line in the Fairchild Aircraft factory, Showalter Road, Hagerstown, MD 1951

Fairchild C-119 Fairchild C-82

29

Historic Collection Donated To Museum

The A. Daniel Frankforter col-lection of aviation photographs,

documents and artifacts was re-

cently donated to the museum by his sons Daniel and David Frank-

forter. Dan was employed by Fair-

child Aircraft from 1942 until his

premature death at the age of 40 in 1955. At the time of his death he

was chief photographer for the pub-

lic relations department. The mu-seum is grateful that Dan‘s sons

donated their father‘s collection to

the museum. Dan‘s superb photo-graphs document a significant part

of Fairchild history and the museum

is honored to preserve his work.

To Donate Historic Artifacts Call 301-733-8717

Sherman Fairchild

Jimmy Doolittle in C-82

Fairchild XNQ Trainer C-82 gets a kiss

XC-120 Pack Plane

USAF C-82s

30

100 Years Ago – September 23, 1911:

Pilot Paul Peck's Rex Smith Flying Ma-chine Takes to the Skies Over Chambers-burg, Pennsylvania – Twice! 2011 is the year that marks the 100th Anniversary of Flight in the

Cumberland Valley.

On September 23, 1911, Col. Paul Peck of Ansted, Virgina, a

daring young pilot in his early 20s, came to Chambersburg, Penn-

sylvania.

At the start of his career as an aviator, Peck learned to fly within

just two weeks (when Lindbergh was only 9 years old), and was

among the very first pilots ever hired for the 'new' U.S. Airmail

service. He worked as a test pilot for the Rex Smith Aeroplane Company of College Park, MD.

On August 5, 1911, he was the first person ever to fly over the

U.S. Capitol Building, down Pennsylvania Avenue, and circle the

Washington Monument, thrilling crowds and covering 24 miles

in 25 minutes, setting a speed record. (Later, he became known

for his American duration record on May 24, 1912 when he re-

mained in the air for 4 hours, 33 minutes and 15 seconds – partly

in a windstorm and blinding rain (remember, this was in 1912!).

Just eight weeks after his dramatic flight in Washington and fol-lowing an air exhibition hosted by The Patriot News newspaper

in nearby Harrisburg, Peck was lured in late September to Cham-

bersburg by an offer of $1,000 (a princely sum in those days),

paid by the local Chamber of Commerce to fly a new type of

'airship' as a public exhibition for the local townspeople.

He launched his bi-plane from a farm field northeast of down-

town Chambersburg (near what is now the mall at Chambersburg

Crossing at Norland Avenue). A few minutes later, he landed in

another field on the southern outskirts of town (in a large pasture

known as 'Brandon', near what is now the Wayne Avenue area).

Paul Peck's plane is readied for its flight; he is seen

crouching at the left.

Some time later he took to the skies again – this time flying di-

rectly over the town's Square – encircling the tall spire of Central

Presbyterian Church in the town's center and again landing in the

same field where he had initially taken off. The next day follow-

ing its disassembly, Peck's plane was taken by railcar to Wash-

ington, DC, while he and his wife also rode along.

Tragically, Peck was killed while piloting a bi-plane less than a

year later (on September 11, 1912) while representing the United States in an aerial trophy race in Chicago. He was not yet 24 at

the time of his death.

Very few photos were taken by the local Chambersburg newspa-

per to record these historic local flights (and few photo postcards

still exist). The three original images below show

Peck's preparation and flight over Chambersburg that day.

As you can see from the image depicting him in the cockpit,

seated atop an old wooden crate for a seat, this truly was a case of

Paul Peck the aviator being one of those 'magnificent men in their

flying machines!'

With a steering wheel and few other controls, Paul Peck sits

in his cockpit, while in the photo below, an airborne Peck flies

over the town's Square.

Photos are provided courtesy of Maurice Marotte III of Cham-

bersburg, PA, noted local historian and author of several books

on Chambersburg's past. His web site and information can be

found at www.vintagefranklincountypa.com.

31

1911 Ely-Curtiss Pusher

Bob Coolbaugh, owner and builder of the 1911 Ely-Curtiss

Pusher replica, is planning to fly it to Hagerstown for the Wings

and Wheels Expo 2011 weekend event.

Visit the Expo and see the only flying replica of Eugene B Ely‘s

1911 Curtiss Pusher on its 2011 journey across America, celebrat-

ing the Centen-

nial of Naval

Aviation. The

Pusher will

also help celebrate Franklin County, Pennsylvania‘s 100th

Anniversary of Flight.

Flight demonstrations are planned each day. Andrew King

and Steve Roth, both friends of the Hagerstown Aviation

Museum, are part of the 1911 Ely-Curtiss Pusher Crew.

Bob and Andrew take turns flying the aircraft.

ElyCurtissPusher.com

The aircraft and organizations on the following

pages are planning to participate in the

Hagerstown Wings and Wheels Expo 2011 on

October 15 & 16.

Expo info: www.WingsandWheelsExpo.com

32

Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Helps Young People Into The

Skies

Members of local Chapter 36 of the Experimental Air-

craft Association (EAA) are

part of an effort to make dreams of flight come true for young

people.

The Hagerstown EAA Chapter 36 is participating in

Young Eagles Flights as part of EAA‘s on-going program to in-

troduce young people to aviation. Since the program was

launched in 1992, more than 1.5 million young people have taken

a free airplane flight.

During each flight, the pilots demonstrate how airplanes fly

and the proper preparations for a safe flight. After a short intro-

ductory airplane ride, each Young Eagle receives their own log-book to record their flight and a certificate signed by the pilot

commemorating the event. The certificate is also co-signed by

current Young Eagles Chairman, Captain Sullenberger and First

Officer Skiles of the US Airways Flight 1549. Both are active

EAA member and Young Eagles pilots who have personally

flown Young Eagles.

In addition to the certificate, each Young Eagle is en-

tered into the World‘s Largest Logbook housed within the EAA

Air Adventure Museum in Oshkosh, Wis. The logbook records

the Young Eagle, the participating pilot, the date of the flight and

the aircraft used.

―Many chil-

dren are curious about

flying and would wel-come a first-hand ex-

perience,‖ said Po-

berezny. ―There‘s no

other program that

does that like EAA‘s

Young Eagles.‖

For more information on the program, contact Chapter

36 coordinator, Mark Hissey at 717- 349-7191 or the EAA

Young Eagles Office at 877-806-8902. Volunteers and contribu-

tions from aviation-minded companies and individuals support

the Young Eagles program. Young Eagle information — includ-

ing an on-line version of the World‘s Largest Logbook — is also available via the World Wide Web at www.youngeagles.org.

The purpose of this Chapter is to is to foster, promote,

and engage in education through an environment that fosters

safety and high standards in the design, construction, restoration,

and operation of all recreational aircraft, as well as encourage-

ment to facilitate an atmosphere where all are welcome to join-in

and become a part of recreational aviation.

For more information contact:

Hagerstown, EAA Chapter 36,

Young Eagles Coordinator,

Mark Hissey@ 717-349-7191 EAAChapter36.org

Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a

Congressionally chartered, feder-

ally supported, non-profit corpora-

tion that serves as the official civil-ian auxiliary of the United States

Air Force (USAF).[2] CAP is a vol-

unteer organization with an avia-

tion-minded membership that in-

cludes people from all back-

grounds, lifestyles, and occupa-

tions. It performs three congressionally assigned key missions:

emergency services, which includes search and rescue (by air

and ground) and disaster relief operations; aerospace education

for youth and the general public; and cadet programs for teenage

youth. In addition, CAP has recently been tasked with homeland security and courier service missions. CAP also performs non-

auxiliary missions for various governmental and private agen-

cies, such as local law enforcement and the American Red

Cross. The program is established as an organization by Title 10

of the United States Code and its purposes defined by Title 36.

While CAP is sponsored by the USAF, it is not an operating

reserve component under the Air Force or the federal govern-

ment..

Membership in the organization consists of cadets ranging from

12 to 20 years of age, and senior members 18 years of age and

up. These two groups each have the opportunity to participate in

a wide variety of pursuits; the Cadet program contributes to the

development of the former group with a structured syllabus and

an organization based upon United States Air Force ranks and

pay grades, while the older members serve as instructors, super-

visors, and operators. All members wear uniforms while per-

forming their duties. Na-

tionwide, CAP is a major operator of single-engine general avia-tion aircraft, used in the execution of its various missions, in-

cluding orientation flights for cadets and the provision of signifi-

cant emergency services capabilities. Because of these extensive

flying opportunities, many CAP members become licensed pi-

lots. The hierarchical and mili-

tary auxiliary organization is headed by the National Headquar-

ters (with authority over the national organization) followed by

eight re-

gional com-

mands and

52 wings

(each of the 50 states

plus Wash-

ington,

D.C. and

Puerto

Rico). Each

wing supervises the individual groups and squadrons that com-

prise the basic operational unit of the organization.

Hagerstown Civil Air Patrol meets every Tuesday evening,

behind Nick's Airport Inn, from 7 to 9 PM. Our address is 18621

Jarkey Drive and if you would like more information please call Lt Col Barry McNew, CAP at 717-762-2962. At the pre-

sent time we have 40 Seniors and 60 Cadets at our squadron.

33

Warrior Aviation is comprised of a team of individuals and assets assembled

together to bring rewarding opportunities to those who have served their country and

sacrificed tremendously in the process, yet still strive to give even more of them-

selves. Sgt. Neal Duncan put it best when he said, ―I can provide the will and strength but there has to be opportunity.‖ Warrior Aviation aims to be the provider

of that opportunity, allowing Sgt. Duncan and his fellow veterans to return to a pro-

ductive work life and solid economic citizenship. As an experienced team of aviation

enthusiasts and business leaders, we have assembled a five-part program designed to

create and deliver opportunity: 1. Enrollment 2. Training 3. Mentoring 4. Job

Placement Assistance 5. Recruitment.

The Warrior Flight Team provides both the Enrollment and the Recruitment portions

of our program. These components are designed to expose new candidates to their

options and potential career paths, and ultimately enroll them into our empowerment programs. We reach out to veterans groups

who have interested wounded veteran participants and solicit their participation in our public awareness campaigns and honor ceremo-

nies.

We conduct these campaigns at large well-attended events like air

shows and sports contests where millions of people can publically

recognize and honor the veterans for their sacrifices. The wounded

warriors can enhance their own healing process through the social

networking aspects of these large public events and through renewed

camaraderie with fellow veterans who have had similar experiences.

We work with many veterans organizations to solicit participation

from their registered members so they may be included in the oppor-

tunities we provide.

For more information: Phone; 240-397-9750,

Website; www.WarriorAviation.org

Dedicated to Preserving the Memory and Legacy of the Berlin Airlift of 1948-1949 The Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation is dedicated to preserving the memory and legacy

of the greatest humanitarian/aviation event in history, The Berlin Airlift.

Our Mission is to preserve this memory by preserving several aircraft used in the great event

and creating "Flying Memorials and Classrooms" with the purpose of educating the public

about this pivotal, yet forgotten, event in world history.

Founded in 1988, the Foundation has obtained and restored to flying condition, a Douglas C-54E transport aircraft, that

helped support the C-54's which carried out this great mission. Named "SPIRIT OF FREEDOM", the aircraft is painted

to represent the 48th Troop Carrier Squadron, one of the many groups which carried out the event. Inside, the "SPIRIT", is a genuine museum dedicated to the Berlin Airlift, filled with artifacts, displays, and information explaining

this all important event in recent history.

Sincr 1996, the Foundation has also taken on an even BIGGER challenge: The Boeing

C-97. This large 4-engined aircraft is one of

only 2 left flying in the world today. The Foundation purchased this aircraft in 1996, and

is planning to create a flying exhibit dedicated

to the Berlin Airlift and the Cold War.

For more information: Phone 732-818-0034

Website: www.SpiritofFreedom.org

34

Branching Out in Hagerstown By J. Mader

Every organization defines itself by establishing its mission

and by setting the goals it needs to achieve that mission. By its very nation, Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics (PIA) operates

with three specific goals in mind. First and foremost, as a private

-non-profit entity, PIA must be able to sustain itself without ex-

ternal assistance. Stories of high quality organizations that failed

financially and no longer exist are legendary. Second, the school

must be able endow its students clients with the skills needed to

be successful in the career field of their choice. PIA prides itself

in its alumni, the people who afford the school the reputation it

currently enjoys. Graduates, in turn, benefit from quality educa-

tion received. Third, PIA must avail its industry clients of the

human resources necessary to be successful. If the technicians

acquired from PIA are valuable assets to the organization and there are no enough of them to be effective, all parties involved

suffer.

Enrollment at the Main Campus in West Mifflin, PA has

reached and maintained a plateau in recent years. And although

the school is sustaining itself financially and continues to present

a quality education, it is not achieving its third goal of providing

the aviation industry with the requisite number of entry-level

technicians. Thus, PIA has decided to pursue a policy of expand-

ing its student population by adding more locations. The

Youngstown-Warren Campus, which opened its doors in August

2006, continues to grow, and is reaching the enviable problem of running out of space. Another branch campus has recently

opened in Maryland.

The Hagerstown Branch Campus is situated on the Hagers-

town Regional Airport. It currently occupies 11,000 sq. ft. in the

Top Flight Airpark, a building that formerly housed the Fair-

child Aircraft Company‘s A-10 Thunderbolt II production line.

The new location‘s immediate neighbors include Sierra Nevada

Corporation, Augusta-Westland Helicopters, and Rider Jet.

These on-field employers are eager to reap the harvest of techni-

cians who will flow from PIA‘s newest affiliate. The school

began classes on April 29, 2011 and this first group graduate on August 17, 2012.

Opening a new location is always a major endeavor. First,

the necessary approvals must be obtained, in this case from the

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Maryland Higher

Education Commission (MHEC) and the Accrediting Commis-

sion of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC). The approval

process for each of these regulating agencies is divided into two components, an initial phase when a great deal of planning and

operational procedure is revealed, and a second phase when the

final details, including an onsite inspection, are realized. PIA

completed the initial phase for each entity and received the ac-

companying approvals to continue from all three agencies. After

the initial endorsements were received, equipment and staff was

acquired. Most importantly, experienced and qualified staff

members have been hired and are helping to build out the facil-

ity.

PIA‘s Hagerstown Campus offers both full-time and part-

time training for aviation maintenance technicians in the form of

a 1900hour, FAA-approved curriculum. The full-time program can be completed in 16 months, and the part-time course of

study in 32 months. Completers will receive a diploma and au-

thorization to test for their Airframe and Power Plant Certifica-

tion. Students will be able to use federal financial aid to help pay

for tuition and living costs. Those who wish to acquire an asso-

ciate degree can transfer to the Main Campus for only six

months and add that credential to their resumes.

PIA looks forward to the addition of this high quality learn-

ing site where it can provide its two most important clients, stu-

dents and the industries they serve, with the skills and resources

that they both need to be successful, and in so doing, continue to achieve its mission.

Maryland Governor Mar-

tin O’Malley speaks at the

Grand Opening of PIA’s

Hagerstown campus.

Dr. James Mader,PIA’s

Director of Education,

speaks to audience at the

April 30 Grand Opening.

35

Support The New Pegasus magazine by sponsoring a

display ad in the next issue! Call 301-733-8717 for

more information

HagerstownFlight School

HagerstownFlightSchool.com

CraigPaving.com

36

The Hagerstown Aviation Museum, Inc. is a 501C3 non-profit corporation The New Pegasus, No. 5 2011

Request “The New Pegasus” for a friend:

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HAGERSTOWN AVIATION MUSEUM

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Hagerstown MD 21742

301-733-8717

DONATIONS You are invited to become a supporter of the Hagerstown

Aviation Museum, an IRS 501(c)(3) tax exempt, non-profit or-

ganization, by making a financial donation to the museum. Since

the museum is staffed entirely by volunteers, your donation di-

rectly supports the operation and continuing activities of the mu-seum. Your financial donation will contribute to the preservation

of Hagerstown‘s aviation heritage and ensure that future genera-

tions will learn of the men and women who created that

heritage.

VOLUNTEERS The museum, an all volunteer organization, greatly appreciates

the time and talent contributed by its past and present volunteers.

It is only with their loyal support that the museum has been able

to continue its mission of preserving and presenting Hagers-

town‘s rich aviation heritage. Additional volunteers are always needed, and you are requested to consider joining the museum‘s

volunteer ranks. Help is needed to catalog and index the mu-

seum‘s collection, to keep the office running smoothly, to assist

in marketing and promotion, to help at events, to help move and

maintain aircraft and a host of other activities. If you are able to

donate some of your time, please contact the museum by phone,

301-733-8717, by letter or by email,

info@hagerstownaviationmuseum.org

Support The Museum !

Support the Hagerstown Aviation Museum by becoming a member!

See the past four issues of the

New Pegasus magazine online at:

www.HagerstownAviationMuseum.org

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Gift Shop Order Now !

Fairchild Aircraft embroidered logo. Mu-

seum name on back. Tan & Maroon $15.00, Blue & Gold $20.00 (Additional hats available online)

To order: Call 301-733-8717 or order online at www.HagerstownAviationMuseum.org

“HAGERSTOWN– REMEMBERING OUR AVIATION HERITAGE”

3 DVD COLLECTION Companion book to the documentary.

164 pages. $22

C-119 Hagerstown Homecoming This commemorative DVD highlights the C-119’s dona-

tion by Bob Stanford in 2006, the extensive inspection

and repair required to make the Flying Boxcar ready for

its flight, ride along with the crew and the emotional

Hagerstown Homecoming on November 16th,

2008. See the excitement of the long journey home with

over 60 minutes of video footage and still images pro-

vided by over 20 volunteer videographers and photogra-

phers. This historic flight was only possible by the gener-

ous contributions of over 450 individuals throughout the

Hagerstown community and beyond. DVD $20

"Hagerstown During World War II - Images of the Maryland Homefront" With over 370 pages and over 650 images this book will take you on a nostalgic journey to meet the people, tour the workplaces and experience life in Hagerstown During World War II. This book show-

cases major industries, civil defense, fund drives, education, transportation and so much more. $35

Or send check or money order plus $5.00 shipping to: Hagerstown Aviation Museum, 14235 Oak Springs Rd. Hagerstown, MD 21742

DVD #1: Hagerstown, Maryland, has played a significant role in the history of aviation. For more than eighty years, local men and women designed and built aircraft that made Hagers-town one of the leading centers of aviation manufacturing. Recently discovered images and rare local film footage document the pioneering days of Bellanca, Kreider, Reisner, Fairchild and Henson. See how the massive expansion of Fairchild Aircraft during WWII, the development of the C-119 “Flying Boxcar” and the world fa-mous A-10 Thunderbolt II shaped the Hagers-town community and the world of aviation. Fol-low aviation historian Kurtis Meyers on a journey to discover the people, places, planes and events that shaped Hagerstown’s aviation heri-tage. This film preserves a vital part of the com-munity’s aviation history and commemorates the hard work and dedication of those who lived it! DVD #2: Included in this Collectors Edition set is a Bonus DVD of rare, original films of the C123H STOL, F27, Porter, FH1100 helicopter, the A10 “Warthog”. These promotional films show Fair-child’s amazing aircraft in operation and highlight the abilities that made them unique. Interviews with Richard “Dick” Henson are also included. NEW BONUS DVD #3: See Hagerstown Aviation Museum activities. Last flights of the museum C-82 and C-119, ride in the PT-19 ans more. 54 minutes Broadcast on Maryland Public Tele-vision (3 DVDS) $30

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RC Airplanes, Helicopters, Cars, Boats, Model Supplies

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For All Auto Body & Paint Needs

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