I rarely post in the main hangar, but felt this might warrant doing so. For those looking for a warbird connection, Henry is a Navy vet from 1934-1938 who didn't make the cut into flight school...
For the last decade or so I have done a lot of work with and for the Tulsa Air and Space Museum. Much of that work has focused on researching Spartan Aircraft Company, its history, and the various aircraft that company produced. As a consequence, I have had the pleasure of meeting numerous folks who studied at the Spartan School or who worked at the Aircraft Company many decades ago. One of those folks is Henry Miller.
Henry grew up in Virginia in the early part of the 20th century, and eventually enlisted in the Navy in 1934. His service took him around the world as a radio operator. During a port call in NYC, while stationed on the USS Memphis, a tall, lanky guy kept trying to get his attention and was interrupting him as he tried to complete some of his assigned tasks. He told the guy to quit bothering him. His fellow crew members were stunned, and after the man left told him he had just "shooed" away Charles Lindbergh. While on the USS Richmond, Henry was part of the crew that rescued the crew of the wrecked USS Macon off the coast of California.
In 1938, upon discharge from the Navy, Henry started looking into flight schools. He settled on the Spartan School of Aeronautics here in Tulsa, mostly because the school could promise him a job in the factory during his flight training. Henry came to Spartan in 1938 and got married and had two children. Finances kept him from being able to finish flight training, but the school's director, Jess Green, allowed him to finish up his semester at the school with flight time on the school's Spartan C3-120 and C3-165 biplanes.
In 1941, still working for Spartan, Henry entered a contest sponsored by Wings Cigarettes that, through a national radio program, gave away a new Piper Cub every week throughout the year. He won, and walked with his family a few blocks to the Tulsa Municipal Airport that Sunday to collect his prize. After flying it a couple of times, he sold it to the local Piper dealer and promptly bought his first house. Over the next several decades, Henry finished working at Spartan, and worked for Lockheed and other aerospace companies before retiring. In 2007, he moved back to Tulsa and wandered over to the museum with his son to see if we had anything about Spartan. He was overjoyed to see exhibits on Spartan, and was most interested to know that the museum's C3-225 was undergoing restoration by the Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology. Off-hand, he made the comment that he hadn't flown in one since 1939 and would love to do so once again.
Henry kept in touch with us at the museum, and last year, as his 100th birthday approached, a few of us hatched a plan to once again put him in the cockpit of a Spartan C3. Spartan jumped onboard with the idea, and turned a little low-profile flight into a media event. TV and print media were invited, along with Henry's family and a number of folks from his retirement community. Henry turns 100 this coming April 22, and so this past Saturday, on April 12, Henry came to Spartan to celebrate. He blew out birthday candles and was made an honorary graduate of Spartan- never having graduated 75 years ago, Spartan decided to rectify the situation. The crowning moment, however, was always going to be his flight in the Spartan. Henry is in great shape, and with the help of a little step stool and two Spartan pilots, he was able to climb up onto the wing and into the front cockpit. It was a little windy, and thus bumpy. When he got back, his first question- "Is there a chiropractor in the house?" It was my pleasure to play a very small part of making this happen, and was pure joy to watch him take to the air once more. A reporter asked him if it was his last flight. He simply responded, "I sure hope not! Can we do that again?" The pilot told him to come back the same time next year, and he can go once more. I just hope and pray I am in such good shape, and good humor, when I am 100. Many thanks to Spartan, to Kim Jones, and to Chad Clark for taking the following photos he allowed me to share. Click on the link at the end to see some "moving pictures" of the flight.
kevin
Before the flight:
The neatest balloon "animal" I've ever seen...
Waiting to get started...
The graduate.
The next generation listens
Got his jacket on...
With the pilot, ready to climb in.
Even at 100, able to climb in...with a little help from his friends!
Ready to go!
Prop turning
Chase/photo plane
Taxiing out
And up!
Henry, circa 1938...
The local paper did a story, which was quite nice. And the photographer stitched together some of the footage he took, plus some Go-Pro footage. They had a camera on the right wing strut and one on the small dash at the bottom of Henry's instrument panel.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/tu ... 1f0fd.html
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