view - War Eagles Air Museum

Third Quarter (Jul - Sep) 2007
Volume 20, Number 3
The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum
Editorial
T
here has been a lot of excitement
around the War Eagles Air Museum over the last few months.
As you can read about in the “Featured
Aircraft” article in this Plane Talk, we recently acquired, through the Deutsches
Luftwaffenkommando (German Air Force
Command) at Fort Bliss, Texas, an immaculate Cessna T-37B Tweety Bird
twin-jet training aircraft. The T-37 served
in the U.S. Air Force as a primary trainer
for almost 50 years. The fine example
that the Luftwaffe kindly donated to the
Museum perfectly complements the three
World War II piston-engined trainers
(Boeing/Stearman PT-17, Vultee BT-13B
Valiant and North American AT-6F Texan) already in our collection.
Another new aircraft that you may
see when you visit the Museum is a redand-white 1954 Piper Super Cub that we
recently acquired. The ultimate development of Piper’s popular Cub (the Museum has the world’s oldest flyable example, a 40-horsepower J-3 built in 1937),
the Super Cub enjoys an excellent reputation for performance, reliability and for
just being “fun to fly.” This one will be
in the air a lot. Look for the full story in a
future issue of Plane Talk.
The Las Cruces Public Broadcasting
System (PBS) affiliate KRWG-TV is going to use the Museum for filming interviews with local military veterans. The
station will air these interviews in conjunction with the broadcast of renowned
documentary filmmaker Ken Burns’ epic
14-hour series “The War.” Check your
TV schedule—you won’t want to miss
this “event” when it airs in the Fall.
Featured Aircraft
E
very military pilot who has ever
flown, in peacetime or in combat,
has one thing in common—he (or
she) learned how to fly in a training aircraft. Most World War II U.S. Army Air
Corps student pilots started out in a Boeing/Stearman PT-17 primary trainer, progressed to a Vultee BT-13 Valiant basic
trainer and graduated to a North American AT-6 Texan advanced trainer. After
the War, aviation cadets in the newly established U.S. Air Force learned to fly in
a new fleet of training aircraft. One of
them was Cessna’s T-37B Tweety Bird.
Featured Aircraft (Continued on Page 2)
1
S Temporarily airborne, the Cessna T-37B
Tweety Bird hangs under a hoisting crane
near the Luftwaffe Headquarters building at
Fort Bliss, Texas, before being moved to the
War Eagles Air Museum.
Contents
Editorial......................................1
Featured Aircraft........................1
From the Director.......................2
Emmet E. Cook (1918−2007) ....5
Science-Fiction Film Stars Visit .6
Membership Application ............7
Corporate Youth Sponsors ........7
www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum
From the Director
A
s War Eagles Air Museum nears
its 18th anniversary, we are sad
to have lost yet another distinguished military veteran, Museum volunteer and good friend. Within the last year,
we have mourned the passing of Jack
Bell, Joe Russo and now Emmet Cook—
three brave men who unselfishly served
their country when needed, and who embodied key American values that we rarely see demonstrated today. Persons who
enlisted in the Service at the beginning of
World War II, if they were of legal age
(many lied about their age to get in), are
now at least 83 years old. With the average U.S. male lifespan of 74.5 years, the
veterans who are still with us have beaten
the odds by 9 years. “The Greatest Generation,” as Tom Brokaw eloquently described it, is dying off at the rate of about
1,100 per day. At this rate, World War II
will soon truly be “ancient history,” with
no one alive who actually experienced it.
This will be a profound loss.
We at War Eagles Air Museum salute these veterans and extend our sincere
thanks to the many men and women who
have, over the years, offered their time,
energy, knowledge and dedication as volunteers, mentors and friends.
Skip Trammell
Contributing Author Robert Haynes’
“Historical Perspectives” column will
return in the next issue of Plane Talk.
Plane Talk
Published four times per year by:
War Eagles Air Museum
8012 Airport Road
Santa Teresa, New Mexico 88008
(505) 589-2000
Author/Editor:
Contributing Author:
Chief Nitpicker:
Final Proofreader:
Terry Sunday
Robert Haynes
Frank Harrison
Kathy Sunday
[email protected]
www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
Third Quarter 2007
Featured Aircraft (Continued from page 1)
In the spring of 1952, the Air Force
issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for
a new, lightweight, jet-powered primary
training aircraft called the “Trainer Experimental,” or “TX.” The aircraft that
the Air Force sought was to be the first
designed from scratch as a trainer—other
trainers in service at the time, such as the
Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star, were modS This grainy but historic photo shows
ified fighters. Eight companies responded
Cessna’s boldly marked XT-37 prototype,
with test pilot Bob Hagan at the controls, in
to the RFP with a total of 15 designs. Afflight over hazy Kansas farmland.
ter a thorough evaluation, the Air Force,
in December 1952, chose Cessna’s twinengine, side-by-side-seat Model 318 as
craft have trained more pilots than those
the winner. The Air Force felt that Cessof any other company. Although Cessna
na’s aircraft would allow more effective
was not well-known for producing milistudent-instructor interaction than would
tary aircraft, it did earn a good reputation
the single-engine, tandem-seat designs
with the U.S. Army during World War II
that the other seven contractors proposed.
with its line of excellent utility, light
In early 1954, the Air Force awarded
transport and observation aircraft, and
Cessna a contract for three prototype
later with the highly regarded and capaXT-37s (serial numbers 54-716, -717 and
ble post-War L-19/O-1 Bird Dog series.
-718) and, under a separate contract, one
The XT-37 had a straight low wing,
static-test airframe.
with twin 920-pound-thrust ContinentalThe Cessna Aircraft Company had
Teledyne J-69-T-9 turbojets (actually libeen in business for 25 years. In 1924,
cense-built French Turbomeca Marboré
Clyde Vernon Cessna partnered with felengines) buried in the wing roots. The
low aviation pioneers Lloyd C. Stearman
ear-piercing shriek of these engines gave
and Walter H. Beech to found the Travel
rise to the sobriquet Tweety Bird (or simAir Manufacturing Company in Wichita,
ply Tweet), after the Academy-AwardKansas. Cessna soon disagreed with Trawinning Warner Brothers cartoon characvel Air’s concentration on building biplanes, so, in 1927, he left and formed
Featured Aircraft (Continued on page 3)
his namesake company.
Here he created what
he regarded as the ideal
aircraft—a cantileverwing monoplane called
the Phantom. From this
humble beginning, the
Cessna Aircraft Company soon came to dominate the market for
simple, relatively inexpensive, easy-to-fly
general aviation aircraft—a position that it
holds to this day. The
Cessna 172 is the most
widely produced light
aircraft in history, and
S War Eagles Air Museum volunteer Ed Murray removes screws
Cessna’s advertising
from the wing-root fairing to gain access to the wing-attach bolts
has boasted that its air- on the T-37B at Luftwaffe Headquarters, Fort Bliss, Texas.
2
Third Quarter 2007
S T-37B’s side-by-side cockpit provides excellent visibility and good communications
between the student and flight instructor.
Featured Aircraft (Continued from page 2)
ter, by which the T-37 was forever fondly
known. The cockpit was similar to that of
then-operational Air Force aircraft, with
full dual controls for student and instructor, ejection seats and a big, high-visibility clamshell-type jettisonable canopy.
Its 14-foot-wide main landing gear track
made the diminutive aircraft easy to land
and easy to handle on the ground, and its
ramp-hugging stance made it exceptionally easy to work on without ladders and
servicing stands. Designed from the outset for good maintainability, it had over
100 access panels. An experienced
ground crew could change an engine in
30 minutes. Since they were so close to
the ground, the engine air intakes had retractable screens that covered them when
the landing gear was extended to miniCessna T-37B Tweety Bird
General Characteristics
Powerplants
Two (2) Continental
J69-T-25 axial-flow turbojet engines, 1,025
pounds thrust each
Cruise Speed
360 miles per hour
Maximum Speed
426 miles per hour
Service Ceiling
35,000 feet
Length
29 feet 3 inches
Wingspan
33 feet 9¼ inches
Range
460 miles
Weight (empty)
6,211 pounds
Weight (maximum) ~14,000 pounds
Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum
mize the chances of
foreign object damage
(FOD).
On October 12,
1954, Cessna test pilot
Bob Hagan flew the
XT-37 for the first time
from Wichita Municipal Airport. “I think
it’s going to be a real
sweet airplane,” he enthused after the hourand-five-minute flight.
The second prototype,
54-717, took to the air
on January 6, 1955,
and the third, 54-718,
flew on May 3. All
three soon took part in
a rigorous test program
of more than 1,000
flights by both Cessna
and Air Force pilots.
Unfortunately, the
program suffered a setback with the crash of
54-716 during a spin
test on its 205th flight.
Correction of the undesirable spin behavior
required several aerodynamic and structural
modifications—a longer fuselage, a bigger
vertical tail and rudder, an enlarged dorsal fin atop the fuselage and a new ventral fin under the tail. Most prominently,
Cessna added “spin strakes” to the nose.
These and other changes established the
design baseline of the initial production
version, the T-37A.
The first of Cessna’s initial contract
for 11 pre-production T-37As came off
the assembly line on September 3, 1955.
It first flew on September 27, and was officially delivered to the Air Force in June
1956. Under later contracts, Cessna eventually built 444 of them.
The Air Force used the first T-37As
in squadron service as basic, not primary,
trainers. A student pilot flew the Tweet
only after he completed his primary flight
training in a piston-engined Beech T-34
Mentor. This was not the Air Force’s
original intent for the T-37, but there was
3
considerable concern that a high accident
rate would result if students went straight
into a jet for their first flying experience.
In April 1961, the Air Force chose to accept the perceived higher risk of all-jet
training. The accident rate did not soar.
What did soar was the cost to graduate
each student, due to the higher maintenance and operating expenses of the relatively primitive jets of the time. So, in
September 1964, the Air Force began using Cessna T-41A Mescalero light aircraft to “screen” pilot candidates. After
about 14 hours in the T-41A (the military
version of the popular Cessna 172), student pilots who did not “wash out” then
transitioned to the T-37A.
Instructors and students found the
T-37A extremely pleasant to fly. It would
Featured Aircraft (Continued on page 4)
www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum
Jordan, Pakistan, Thailand and Turkey.
Cessna also built several other versions.
In 1961, Cessna took a standard T-37B
and strengthened the wings, added two
underwing external stores pylons to carry
250-pound bombs, added twin 65-gallon
wingtip fuel tanks and added provisions
for installation of a centerline General
Electric multi-purpose armament pod.
The modified aircraft was the prototype
T-37C, which Cessna intended for use as
a weapons trainer. However, the air forS The relocation crew prepares one of the
T-37B’s wings for transport.
ces of many nations, including Brazil,
Burma, Colombia, Greece, Portugal and
Peru, adopted it for light attack missions.
Featured Aircraft (Continued from page 3)
Then there was the further improved,
higher-performance A-37 Dragonfly varnever be considered “overpowered,” but
iants that were deployed to Viet Nam and
it was agile and responsive, handled well
flew thousands of missions in counter-inand could pull all of the aerobatic maneusurgency, close air support, helicopter esvers that students had to learn. However,
cort, forward air control and night interthe Air Force wanted more power, and in
diction roles. The full story of the Dragearly 1959 awarded Cessna a contract for
onfly’s distinguished combat career over
a T-37B variant with two 1,025-poundthe steaming jungles of Southeast Asia
thrust J-69-T-25 turbojets that were more
would take up much more space than we
reliable, cheaper to operate and less dehave available. A-37s today still fly in
manding of maintenance than the original
the air forces of many South American
engines. The -B also had improved comnations, a testament to Cessna’s original
munications and navigation equipment
brilliant, adaptable design that evolved
and a revised instrument panel. Cessna
and grew over nearly 50 years into roles
delivered the first of 552 T-37Bs on Novthat its designers had never envisioned.
ember 6, 1959, and produced them until
New turboprop-powered Raytheon
1973. The company eventually modified
Beech T-6A Texan IIs have now replaced
all T-37As to the -B configuration.
all T-37Bs in the primary trainer role for
T-37Bs served with the air forces of
U.S. Air Force and Navy student pilots.
several nations, including Chile, Greece,
With the Texan II, student and instructor sit
in tandem, as they did
“back in the good old
days,” with less interaction than they had in
the Tweet’s side-byside design. To compensate for this apparent
backward step, today’s
students have to log
more hours of flight
simulator time before
they earn their wings.
Since a T-6A has better avionics, costs less
to maintain and burns
less fuel than a T-37B,
S The reassembled T-37B awaits the finishing touches in the War it seems to be a smart
Eagles Air Museum shop before going on display. “Lightning,” the tradeoff economically.
furry Quality Control Inspector, wanders off after a job well done.
www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
4
Third Quarter 2007
S Luftwaffe Hauptfeldwebel (Master Sergeant) Reinfried Fürgut helps transfer the
Tweety Bird fuselage from a flatbed trailer
into the War Eagles Air Museum shop.
Our T-37B, serial number 66-7966,
rolled off of Cessna’s assembly line in
Wichita and was officially accepted by
the U.S. Air Force on November 23,
1966. Its first assignment was with the
3630th Flight Training Wing at Sheppard
Air Force Base (AFB), near Wichita
Falls, Texas. On October 4, 1972, the Air
Force transferred the aircraft to the Luftwaffe unit at Webb AFB, Big Spring,
Texas, for the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot
Training Program, where it served for the
next 16 years. In 1988, it went back to
the 80th Flight Training Wing at Sheppard AFB until December 17, 2003,
when the Deutsches Luftwaffenkommando (German Air Force Command) at Fort
Bliss, in nearby El Paso, Texas, received
it to place on outdoor display at its Headquarters building. At that time, it had accumulated 17,129.2 hours of flight time.
It was removed from Air Force inventory
on January 14, 2005.
War Eagles Air Museum got this
T-37B thanks to the generosity and initiative of Lieutenant Colonel Bernhard Prohaska, Senior Logistics Officer with the
Deutsches Luftwaffenkommando. With
major growth forecast for Fort Bliss in
the next several years due to the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process,
real estate will soon be at a premium on
the base, and LTC Prohaska became concerned about the fate of the Tweety Bird
on display. He thought War Eagles Air
Museum would be a perfect new home
for the diminutive jet, and thanks to him,
his staff and the Museum staff and volunteers, it is now in place and on display.
Third Quarter 2007
Emmet E. Cook
March 5, 1918−July 15, 2007
E
mmet E. Cook, a respected pilot,
World War II combat veteran, El
Paso Aviation Hall of Fame inductee, avid golfer, War Eagles Air Museum volunteer and close friend, passed
away at the age of 89 in El Paso, Texas,
on July 15, 2007.
Emmet was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on March 5, 1918. He studied Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University from 1936 to 1939, then joined
the U. S. Army Air Corps in 1940 and attended the Allen Hancock School of Aeronautics in Santa Maria, California, for
pilot training. He returned to Texas in
1941 and earned his commercial pilot’s
license. With the U.S. not yet in the War,
he accepted an invitation to fly with the
Royal Canadian Air Force. He was on a
northbound train on December 7, 1941,
when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
The Air Corps recalled him to duty and
he reported to Ellington Field in Houston
for bombardier training on December 10.
In 1942, Second Lieutenant Cook set
off for England as a bombardier with the
301st Bomb Group, a B-17 unit that was
one of the first to arrive in Europe and,
along with the 97th Bomb Group, was the
Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum
first to fly combat missions in the Theatre. In November 1942, the 301st and 97th
were reassigned to the 12th Air Force in
North Africa, which was commanded by
Major General James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle. Emmet’s unit supported Operation
Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa, and flew missions in support of General George S. Patton in his desert battles
against Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps.
Emmet was shot down on April 22,
1943, on his 32nd bombing mission, over
Palermo, Sicily, when a German antiaircraft shell exploded between the left inboard engine and the fuselage of his Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, setting the fuel
tank on fire. Ordered to “bail out,” Emmet pulled the emergency release cable
that was supposed to pull the pins out of
the lower hatch hinges, but the cable was
jammed. He released the regular latch
and stood on the hatch, trying to use his
weight to push it open against the slipstream. He got the hatch partly open, but
not far enough for him to get out. At that
moment, the left wing burned off and the
mortally wounded bomber went into a violent spin, pinning Emmet helplessly to
the deck. Seconds later, the B-17 exploded. Emmet was blown free and was surprised to find himself falling through the
air unharmed. He was lucky. Five of his
crewmates didn’t make it out.
After landing safely beneath his parachute, Emmet was picked up by Italian
farmers and turned over to the Germans.
He soon ended up in Sagan, Silesia (now
Poland), at the infamous Prisoner of War
(POW) camp named Stalag Luft 3. Everyone who has ever heard of “the Great
Escape” should recognize that name.
All POWs had a duty to try to escape
from enemy hands. With his engineering
knowledge, Emmet helped map the camp
in preparation for an escape attempt. Using a homemade sight and a transit made
from a protractor, he made good maps
that the POWs could use to dig escape
tunnels. Thanks to Emmet’s accurate and
detailed surveys, the escapees knew that
their tunnels would have to be at least
280 feet long to reach the tree line of the
surrounding forest.
The men were amazingly ingenious.
They used empty milk tins and a home-
made bellows to force fresh air into the
tunnels. With scrounged wiring, they set
up electric lights. To get rid of the tons of
dirt that they dug out, they sewed drawstring bags into their trouser legs and
then walked around the camp and let out
the dirt a little at a time.
Emmet once tailed a German guard
for several days while covertly measuring the guard’s rifle. One of the camp’s
British POWs sewed up a fake German
uniform and carved a “rifle” out of some
scrap lumber. One day, while other prisoners distracted the guards, the British
officer, dressed in his “German” uniform
and carrying his wooden “rifle,” marched
some POWs out the front gate to temporary freedom—they all were soon caught.
In January 1944, the Germans transferred Emmet and other American POWs
to a new part of the Stalag Luft 3 compound. On March 24, 1944, 76 POWs—
none of them Americans—crawled out
through tunnels from the original compound in “the Great Escape.” An Allied
air raid on Berlin on that night cut off the
electricity that supplied the lights in the
tunnels, which prevented more POWs
from escaping. All but three of the escapees were soon recaptured, and the infuriated Gestapo later murdered 50 of them.
Freed in April 1945, after two years,
one month and 7 days as a POW, Emmet
separated from the Service and returned
to Fort Worth, where he went to work for
the Globe Aircraft Company as a production test pilot. He flight-tested nearly
every Swift that Globe built in 1946 and
1947. His is the first signature in the logbook of the Museum’s GC-1B Swift.
After Globe folded in 1947, Emmet
spent a few years delivering airplanes for
Temco-Vought. Then, in 1950, he left the
flying business for a sales job in El Paso
with the Hobbs Trailer Company. He also volunteered for many years at the War
Eagles Air Museum, where he specialized in crafting unique, exquisite bookends from P-51 Mustang engine pistons.
Emmet Cook never failed to impress
everyone who met him with his boundless enthusiasm, broad knowledge, endless curiosity and selfless dedication. All
of us who were fortunate enough to know
him will miss him very much.
5
www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum
Science Fiction Film
Stars Visit Museum
F
or fans of classic science fiction
movies, Memorial Day weekend
is a special time in El Paso. Again
this year, as before, thousands of people
chose to forego their traditional holiday
picnics, barbecues and sporting events to
attend the fourth annual “IT! Came From
the ‘50s” science fiction film festival at
the Chamizal National Memorial. Sci-fi
cinema fans of all shapes, sizes and ages
filled the 477-seat Chamizal theatre all
weekend to see “on the big screen” some
of the finest films in the genre.
Each year, War Eagles Air Museum
supports this festival by donating funds
to sponsor the presentation of a movie.
This year, the Museum sponsored the critically acclaimed 1957 British film Quatermass 2. This taut, cerebral thriller centers on a huge, mysterious factory in rural
England, and a conspiracy to conceal the
fact that its real purpose is to serve as an
advance base for an imminent alien invasion of the Earth. Filmed in stark black-
S In what is surely one of the most iconic
images of the paranoia that dominated the
Cold War, Dana Wynter, as Becky Driscoll,
and Kevin McCarthy, as Dr. Miles Bennell,
try in vain to escape from the pursuing “pod
people” in the classic 1956 film Invasion of
the Body Snatchers.
www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
Third Quarter 2007
and-white on location
at a Shell oil refinery,
Quatermass 2 was entitled Enemy From Space
for its U.S. release. It
stars Brian Donlevy as
Professor Bernard Quatermass, the only man
standing in the way of
the hostile aliens’ nefarious invasion plans.
Three well-known
guests from Hollywood
made this year’s festival even more memorable. Renowned movie
director Joe Dante (61),
and distinguished act- S Long-time War Eagles Air Museum volunteer Guy Dority (l.)
ors William Schallert talks with distinguished actors Kevin McCarthy (on rear of golf
cart) and William Schallert (r.) during their visit to the Museum.
(84) and Kevin McCarthy (93), were on hand for the weekend
Mr. McCarthy likewise has hundreds
to tell stories of their experiences in the
of movies, stage productions and televimovie business, to share anecdotes about
sion series episodes to his credit, but he
the films shown, and to answer the quesis perhaps best known for his starring
tions of their many dedicated local fans.
role as the energetic Dr. Miles J. Bennell
It was the first visit to El Paso for all of
in the 1956 Cold War paranoia classic Inthem, and by all accounts they enjoyed
vasion of the Body Snatchers. Younger
the experience immensely.
moviegoers may be more familiar with
Mr. Dante directed such well-known
the 1978 remake, which starred Donald
movies as Piranha (1978), The Howling
Sutherland and featured Mr. McCarthy in
(1981), Gremlins (1984), The ’Burbs
(1989) and Small Soldiers (1998) and one
Movie Stars (Continued on page 8)
segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie
(1983). He also directed many other movies
and television series.
Although he was born
too late to make movies
in the 1950s, Mr. Dante
said that he was greatly
influenced by films of
that era, and specifically by several of those
shown at the festival.
Mr. Schallert has
appeared in over 650
movies and television
series episodes, including feature roles in four
of the nine films shown
at the festival−The Incredible Shrinking S William Schallert (l.) plays an ambulance driver, here seen reMan, The Man From acting to the blood-chilling sounds of atomic-mutated giant ants,
with Sandy Descher as the little girl and James Whitmore as the
Planet X, The Monolith New Mexico State Police officer, in 1954’s classic THEM!, which
Monsters and THEM!
spawned an entire genre of atomic mutation monster films.
6
Third Quarter 2007
Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum
Membership Application
War Eagles Air Museum
The War Eagles Air Museum collects, restores and displays historic aircraft, mainly from the World War II and Korean War time
periods, to encourage awareness and appreciation of military aviation history through exhibits, educational programs and special
events. The Museum is a nonprofit organization as defined by the United States Internal Revenue Code. Operated by staff and
volunteers, the Museum is supported by funds obtained from admissions, memberships and contributions. All dues and contributions
are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.
War Eagles Air Museum memberships are available in six categories. All memberships include the following privileges:
Free admission to the Museum and all exhibits.
Free admission to all special events.
10% general admission discounts for all guests of a current Member.
10% discount on all Member purchases in the Gift Shop.
In addition, a Family Membership includes free admission for spouses and all children under 18 living at home.
To become a Member of the War Eagles Air Museum, please fill in the information requested below and note the category of membership you desire. Mail this form, along with a check payable to “War Eagles Air Museum” for the annual fee shown, to:
War Eagles Air Museum
8012 Airport Road
Santa Teresa, NM 88008
Membership Categories
NAME (Please print)___________________________________________________
STREET ____________________________________________________________
CITY ______________________________ STATE _____ ZIP _________—______
TELEPHONE (Optional) _____—_____—____________
E-MAIL ADDRESS (Optional) ___________________________________________
Individual
$15
Family
$25
Participating
$50
Supporting
$100
Benefactor
$1,000
Life
$5,000
Will be kept private and used only for War Eagles Air Museum mailings.
W
ar Eagles Air Museum sincerely thanks
the following individuals and organizations for their
donations to the 2007 Corporate
Youth Sponsors Program. This
program educates local student
groups about the contributions
of military aviation to America’s history. For many students,
visits to the Museum funded by
these generous donors kindle an
interest in aviation and related
technical career fields.
War Eagles Air Museum Corporate Youth Sponsors
Bronze
Silver
Gold
Platinum
Diamond
($50−$249)
($250−$499)
($500−$999)
($1,000−$2,499)
($2,500 or more)
Alamo Industries,
Inc.
El Paso Aero, Inc.
El Paso Electric
Company
El Paso Community
Foundation
Jonathan Rogers
Frank and Susan
Borman
Jon T. Hansen
William H.
Gardner, III
Coronado
Cleaners
C. F. Jordan, L.P.
SWIFCO, Inc.
7
www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
War Eagles Air Museum
Doña Ana County Airport
at Santa Teresa (5T6)
8012 Airport Road
Santa Teresa, New Mexico 88008
S Kevin McCarthy, stage and screen actor
since 1944 and star of the classic 1956 film
Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
way (“You’re next! You’re next!”). Both
Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Schallert are still
working in the movie industry.
With some spare time off from the
festival, Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Schallert
visited War Eagles Air Museum. The visit was uniquely interesting for Mr. Schallert, who trained as an Army aviator during World War II, although he was too
late to see combat. As did most aviation
cadets at the time, he had learned to fly in
a Boeing/Stearman PT-17 primary trainer, a Vultee BT-13 Valiant basic trainer
and a North American AT-6 Texan advanced trainer. He had 10 hours of transition training in the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk
at Luke Field, Arizona, when the War
ended. The Museum has flyable examples of all four of the aircraft that Mr.
Schallert flew in the service. Long-time
Museum volunteer Guy Dority, a decorated World War II aircrewman, talked
with the distinguished guests about his
experiences as the radio operator/gunner
aboard Jarrin’ Jenny, the first Americanmanned Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress to
land in England in 1942.
www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
8
Movie Stars (Continued from Page 6)
a memorable cameo role as the hysterical, disheveled running man on the free-
S William Schallert, stage and screen actor
since 1947 with more than 650 movies and
television shows to his credit.
For more Museum information, visit:
www.war-eagles-air-museum.com