May 3, 1941. Hawthorne School of Aeronautics, Air Corps Training Detachment, Orangeburg, South Carolina, Class of 42-J Primary.
Ralph G. Davitt, back row, 2nd from left. He has recorded the names of everyone in the photograph on the back so in case you think you recognize anyone, I'll look them up for you.Uncle Bob told me a story and I have vague memories of Dad telling us that he survived a plane crash. Maybe it was here--in the biplane. He was flying solo and in the plane there were two gas tanks. When the first ran out of gas, you flipped a switch to bring in fuel from the second tank. When Ralph tried to flip the switch, it was jammed. No more fuel. He had to land the plane. The field he was aimed at had recently been cleared of trees, but not fully. It was a field of stumps. He put the plane down and was doing fine until one of the wings caught on a tree stump. The plane whipped around and hit a bunch more stumps until it was smashed to smithereens. He wasn't injured, but the plane was totaled.
4 comments:
Hi - My Dad was an instructor at the Hawthorne School of Aeronautics. His name was Jerry Swantek. I am sure he is somewhere in that picture!
Sorry, Anonymous, I couldn't find him. The original photo is a large one and my dad listed everyone in the photo on the back. I'm wondering if the instructors stayed out of the picture. I'd be glad to send you the list of names if you want to double check.
My uncle was an instructor at Hawthorne. His name was Frank Schreiner. I’m wondering if he’s in the photo.
Jim, I pulled the photo out and took a look at all the names on the back. Unfortunately I did not see his name. I wonder if there is any historical resource for the school. Did you look into that at all? I posted a link above.
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