Another Amazing Happenstance or Two or Three

 

Recently, a page I follow on Facebook, Old photos & stories around Bedford County, (Pennsylvania) had a post from one David Amman about an airport project that he was researching.  The airport in question was the Bedford Airport, the town where I was born, as well as my dad and many generations before him.  David was looking for photos of the four airport locations in Bedford.  He had also attached two photos that he had found. One was a newspaper ad about the Bedford Airways Flying School and the other was B & W photo of four small aircraft parked on a a grassy piece of land. This post most definitely piqued my interest because my dad learned to fly at the Bedford airport.  I had always wanted some old photos of the airport but had never gotten around to a serious search.  One of the replies to his post made me remember that I had some of my dad's aviation related things. I dug them out and there were several airport locator maps from the late 1960's to 1970, a manual flight computer and most importantly, his pilot log books. I posted a photo of a random page from his first log book. This caught David's interest and he asked if  I would search for a specific tail number in the log book, NC96309.  This is getting more interesting by the minute. Of course I would look for it! Page after page and nothing, until... Aug 12, 1947.  There it was. A T-craft Ace which he flew for 50 minutes. He practiced stalls and landings on this flight out of Bedford Airport.  Finding the number, I immediately let David know.  David then told me that he is the current owner of that specific aircraft and that it is one of the planes in the photo he posted!  Sure enough there was the same number on the plane in the photo! Now my mind is blown!  What are the chances of this ever happening!  I kept looking thru the logbook and a few days later, dad flew 96309 again for 35 minutes.  There was also another entry in the logbook for a T-craft Ace with a different number, NC96563 that he also flew as a quick 15 minute orientation flight previous to flying in 96309. I believe that that plane is also in David's photo. And here's why.  The Flying School had 4 trainer aircraft and there are 4 planes in the photo.  It's blurry but I feel that the number matches.  Just like that I have a photo of an actual plane that dad flew in 1947.  

NC96309 at Bedford and in the distance at end NC96563

                                                     Bedford Gazette, March 18, 1948

I found this ad in the Bedford Gazette, Aug 14, 1947, pg 9  -- Dad flew mainly the Aeronca Champ while taking lessons

In examining dad's log book, I realized the he did not begin his flying lessons in Bedford, instead the first 10 months or so, he flew out of the Martinsburg, Pa airport about half an hour north of Bedford in Blair county.  The reason for this was that Bedford did not have an active airport at that time, but one was being built and would open in 1947. Dad's very first flight was on June 24, 1946.  He was just a week or so short of his 17th birthday.  He flew in an Aeronca Champion NC83657 for 30 minutes.

Martinsburg Pa airport in 1953

 Being summer, his lessons occurred about 4 days a week always in the same aircraft.  When school started in the fall the lessons slowed down.  April 1947 came along and Dad began flying again, but out of the Bedford Airport this time. According to David, there was also a temporary airfield at Everett, PA that was called Bedford by many that was used while Bedford airport #2 was being built. Dad could have been flying out of there just before the new field opened and called it Bedford in his log book. 

Dad's first cross country flight would happen on June 4, 1947 about the time of his graduation from Bedford High School.  He took off from Bedford in an Aeronca Champ NC2388E (this number becomes important) flew 46 minutes to Utahville in Clearfield Co, Pa then on to Tyrone, Pa 20 minutes away and then 41 minutes back to Bedford.  He continued his lessons through the summer of 1947 and on July 22, he began prepping for his flight tests.  On Aug 12, 1947, dad received his license, coincidentally, the same day he flew David's plane for the first time.  Dad flew several days a week thru the rest of August and was able to now have passengers along.  He gave rides to family and friends. You might wonder how a high school kid paid for his lessons and flight time.  Dad did have various jobs in town, but would also tell us that he would do odd jobs around the airport to help pay for the lessons.  I remember him saying that he did some digging around the runway once and painting an identifier on a roof at the airport.  

Dad in 1947

Dad went away to school at Parks Air College in St Louis for a year but managed to get in flight time at Bedford on visits and the summer of 1948. He then transferred to Lock Haven Teachers College, Pa in the fall of 1948.  He flew many hours the summer of 1949 at Bedford and that fall began getting in some flight time at Lock Haven's airport, also home to Piper Aircraft.  One log entry on Sept 24,1949, he said that he and a friend flew from Lock Haven to State College, Pa and flew over the Penn State vs Villanova game at half time in the new Beaver Field that had opened that year.  Penn State 6 - Villanova 24.  At Lock Haven, dad was flying a Piper Vagabond.  Dad flew as often as he could through college until 1952 when he entered the Army for a two year enlistment. His longest cross country trip was July 26 - 30, 1950, when he and a brother flew from Bedford to St Louis. One of those flights during college included my mom, whom he had met in Lock Haven.  She was visiting Bedford with him and on July 26, 1952 she took a 30 minute ride over the Bedford area. She wasn't a fan of flying but did it that day.  When dad returned from the Army, one of the first things he did was to take a check flight at Bedford on July 9, 1954. His log book says he did not do the medical because he was getting married the following month.  

Penn State trip and what he would have seen

                                                          Cross Country trip - Bedford to St Louis

Carole, John's future wife flies

Bedford #2 Cessna runway and offices and Hanger in 1959

Bedford County Press & Everett Press - Aug 6, 1959, pg 9

Bedford Airport #2 aerial view in1958

Dad did not pilot a plane again for 13 years. But in those years, we were able to fly with dad's brothers once in awhile at Bedford.  One of those rides was in summer 1965.  I did find a photo taken from a cockpit where dad's brother Gene was the pilot and the photo was marked as Weidman's Bedford.  Weidman's was a name of the 3rd Bedford airport location.  

Bedford Weidman in 1967

 Weidman's Bedford  - 1965

Dad had three brothers, all of which held their licenses for awhile.  One brother in particular, Gene, flew all his life. Along with his wife, they did air shows and competed in aerobatics.  In late 1967, dad decided to renew his physical and get his license current again.  By this time, he and our family were living in Pottsville, Pa and dad was a professor for Penn State's local campus in Schuylkill county.  His first flight was on Nov 9, 1967 at the local airport, Zerbey, near Pottsville Pa. He flew in a Piper PA-28 140 Cherokee.  

         Dad's return to flying and his manual flight computer for flight planning 

                                                      April 1968 - Zerbey Airport - Piper Cherokee

1967 Zerbey Airport

By March of 1968, he was checked out and began flying around the area.  On April 2, 1968, I had my first airplane ride with Dad. I had five rides in all with dad by Aug of 1970.  There could have been more that he didn't note me in his logbook.  I enjoyed the rides but not enough to want to learn to fly, I guess. Dad always wanted me to solo at 16. I was 15 at the time and had other interests, plus I could not even learn to drive a manual shift car! How in the world would I have been able to handle all that stuff in an airplane! Rudder, Throttle, Instruments and of course, the "Houses get bigger, Houses get smaller" yoke!  Mom was probably relieved, she would worry every time my sisters and I flew with Dad. I was on Dad's last flight which was on Aug 23, 1970.  He had to stop flying due to a medical issue.  A sad ending to something he loved to do. 

 

                                                       My first ride with Dad

                                                                       and his last flight


Side Stories

Now, in getting back to my conversations with David. He sent me many news clippings he had collected for his project. I searched old photos to see what I may have had to share as well. It's hard to believe that there was not one photo of dad with any airplanes during the time he was learning to fly!  In dad's log book, I noticed a signature of the same person on almost every page.  Woodrow Clapper.  Of course, me and my curiosity, searched him at newspapers.com and started finding some of the same clippings that David had sent me.  It turns out that, Woody as he was known by, was one of three former WW2 army  pilots who formed a company, Bedford Airways, and were building a new runway for Bedford just 2 miles north at Cessna, PA and opened a flying school marketed to veterans and their GI Bill benefits.  This airport would be the 2nd of 4  locations of an airport at Bedford.  It was open from 1947 until sometime between 1958 and 1962, when a 3rd location replaced it. However, there is information that says the 2nd location continued operating as a private airport until around 1965-68.    The school appealed to more than veterans tho, as many others, men mostly but there was at least one woman who completed her training there, enrolled. So that all made sense.  This was all around the time that dad was taking his lessons.  

David also shared a link to a page where you can search for aircraft tail numbers. He searched one of the other numbers that he had seen in the log book and came up with a match.  Remember NC2388E that I said was important?  Well, it is another plane that is likely still flying today.  So now we have a photo of a second plane that dad flew back in 1947.  It's last owner is listed as living in Woodbury, PA which is very near Bedford.  Both of these planes were manufactured in 1946.   David bought the T-Craft Ace N96309 in 2019.  

Aeronca -AC ---  NC2388E  today

David's Taylorcraft Ace NC96309 today - note the Bedford Airways Logo on the fuselage

T-Craft is actually a short name for Taylorcraft, the plane's manufacturer.  I have one more happenstance here.  Awhile back , I was  researching former residents of my grandfather's address in Lock Haven, PA.  I was amazed to find out that in 1940,William T Piper, owner of Piper Aircraft was living with his son at my grandfathers's address.  Grandad bought the home a few years after this.  I can only imagine some of the aviation conversations that took place in my grandad's living room. Why I bring this up, is because Piper Aircraft was born of  Taylor Brothers Aircraft Corporation. William Piper bought Clarence Taylor's share of the company, of which Piper was an investor, and renamed it Piper Aircraft in November 1937.   Clarence Taylor formed another company, Taylor-Young Airplane Company, which was renamed Taylorcraft in 1939, the maker of David's plane. 

Three of Bedford's Aviation Pioneers
Woody Clapper was a local pilot before WW2 and flew gliders in the war and later after the flying school in Bedford, was an officer in Bedford County's Civil Air Patrol, and also was Bedford's postmaster for 40 years. My curiosity was not yet satisfied tho and being related to ALOT of Bedford county families, I turned to Ancestry.com and searched for Woody's family.  I did find it and was able to connect to Woody in several ways.  1st, we are related to his first wife, Dorothy Calhoun, through our common Border family ancestors, as 7th cousins. 2nd, my daughter in law who has many Bedford connections, is an 8th cousin of Woody through the Brumbaugh and Hoover families. And 3rd, we are related to Woody himself through the Brill, Maurer and Amick families as our 5th cousin.  One of the trees on Ancestry that Woody Clapper is part of  had some additional news clippings attached to him that pertained to the airport and school. I finally had something new to share with David.  I think dad would have liked knowing of his relationship to Woody.  Woody passed away on April 19, 1991 in Bedford at age 78.  

Bedford Gazette reprint, May 1994

One of the other partners who built the 2nd Bedford  Airport was named Jack Henry Pepple.  He too was a glider  pilot in WW2.  His name appears in my Dad's log book on just one page, in August of 1947. Tragically, Pepple, age 26, was killed in an air crash less than a year later on July 16, 1948 over West Virginia in bad weather. At that time, Bedford Airways offered a charter service and it was one of these flights that crashed, piloted by Pepple. Prior to this crash, Bedford Airways  had a very good safety record. 

Everett Press, April 23, 1948 pg 10

The third partner in Bedford Airways, Frank Grazier another WW2 pilot, bought Woody Clapper's share of the business in 1951 and in 1956 combined the Blair county airport with Bedford Airways and operated as Blair-Bedford Airways. 

Bedford Gazette, Nov 13, 1951

That ends this story of my Dad and his flying chapter. I could go into more history of the airports but I will leave that for others to research. Aviation gets into your soul, I believe.  It has always been a part of my life in one way or another beginning with my Dad and his brothers.  Then I met my husband.  His dad was a WW2 nosegunner in a B24.  His brother had his pilot license and was building his own plane.  I had a ride with him in his Luscom once.  Quite the experience compared to flying in a brand new Piper Cherokee with my dad. My husband was an Air Force Veteran where he learned his craft as a mechanic.  Later he worked for McDonnell-Douglas as a factory rep on contract to the Navy.  And lastly retired from USAirways/American Airlines as a Maintenance Foreman  in the Ops Center in Pittsburgh. We also have other pilots and aviation professionals in both of our families.   So as I say, it's in our soul and blood.   As I sit here and write this story, I can hear aircraft approaching Pittsburgh International.  I do not mind the sounds at all.  Some protest the noise, but I look at it as just part of my life.  Our bread and butter I always say and sounds of freedom.   Look up.... 

Special thanks to David Amman for his post! Thanks for reading!

SOURCES:

David Amman

https://flybedfordpa.com

https://flyaltoona.com

https://www.taylorcraft.com/history.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylorcraft_Aircraft

https://www.piper.com/blog/piper-history/

https://www.airfields-freeman.com/PA/Airfields_PA_SC.htm#bedford1

aerialvisuals.ca

Newspapers.com

Ancestry.com

Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2025. All rights reserved

Planes - (Week 27 - 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks)

 If you live anywhere near a major airport or military air base, you know it can be a love/hate relationship at times.  Some look at it as alot of annoying noise but others, such as my family, view it as their bread and butter or the sound of freedom.  Or even dream of escaping to the air or taking a Sunday afternoon drive to watch planes take off and land at the airport.  Air shows even became an outing .  All of which our families enjoyed, except thinking the noise was annoying!

Both my family and my husband's have aviation present in their lives.  On my husband's side, it seems to have started with his dad, Gary Sr, who before WW2 worked at Middletown Air Depot in the engine  section doing repairs and engine tests. When it became his turn to join the war, he chose the Army Air Corps and became a nose gunner on a B24 over the Pacific. (There is a detailed history of his experiences on my blog).  This led to an interest in aviation and after the war he studied to become an aeronautical engineer at a university in Chicago.  He graduated and had positions at several different aircraft manufacturers. First Martin Aircraft, where he worked on the Martin 404 and the Mercury Project, then at Jacobs Aircraft working on the Convertiplane. His final aviation job was with McDonnell Aircraft where he worked on the F4 and F101 projects.  His interest in aviation continued tho and was passed down to his sons.  Gary's brother also chose the US Air Force as his service during the Korean War.  I do not know what he did while there tho.

Gary Sr  front and center

His oldest son Gary Jr joined the US Air Force and was stationed in Vietnam as an airplane mechanic. He learned to fly while in the Air Force and held a private pilot's license.  He also took on a project of building his own airplane.  I remember flying with him once in an old 2 seater Luscom plane. The seat was a wooden plank. A new experience for me as far as the seat was concerned, but I had flown in small airplanes before. 

  

Gary Jr's plane - that's me in the back seat!

                                                

A visit from family

His youngest son, Bill's interest was "smaller"  because his hobby became flying and building model airplanes and helicopters.  He is a member of a local model airplane flying club.

The middle son, my husband Tom, made a career of aviation.   He joined the US Air Force and became an Avionics mechanic.  He was stationed at Scott AFB in 1975 and primarily worked on the Douglas C9B which were based there. They were an Aeromedical Evac Squadron.  But being a mechanic, he would also work on any kind of aircraft that came thru the base.  After his initial 4 years were up, he reenlisted but as as active Reservist at Scott AFB and doing the same work that he had done while on active duty. After two years as a reservist, a job opportunity came up that he pursued and won.  In 1981, he became a  Field Technical Rep for the Douglas Aircraft side of the McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Company.  They sent him to be the Field Rep at the Norfolk Naval Air Station who flew the C9As.  While there, he finished his college degree in Professional Aeronautics and graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.  He also attained his A&P license and his FAA Radio Operators license, all of which helped him greatly in his job.  A story he liked to tell was that while he was testing for his A & P license, he had to know how to repair the fabric that the older first airplanes were covered with.  This required hand sewing and he asked me to teach him some stitches that he would have to use. Another story was that once on a test flight for the Communications system on the plane, they happened to fly over Tom's hometown and the test call on the flight phone was made to his dad as they flew over his house.  His dad was thrilled.  His years with this Navy squadron, VR-56,  would take him all over the world.  The squadron was tasked with taking one of their C9s and making it into an executive transport for the Secretary of the Navy and some other high ranking Naval personnel.  As the manufacturer's field rep, Tom was part of every step of this transition.  The plane was affectionately known as ET (Executive Transport)  by it's flight crew. Tom was part of this crew and flew as such, flight suit and all even tho he was not "in" the Navy.  He was to fly on any trip that took a VIP passenger, mostly the Secretary,  out of the country.  Just like in the military, this job could be transient, and the day came when the contract with the Navy was ending and that would mean a cross country move.  Tom decided to look for a job with a more permanent location for his family.  He ended up getting a job with USAir as a Maintenance Foreman in the airline's Operations Department, a management job. This ended the days of hands on repair of aircraft but Tom still enjoyed his job in aviation.  After several mergers and weathering a strike, Tom retired from what had become American Airlines in 2015.  One more in this line is our daughter, Amy.  Ever since Junior High School, she had wanted to be an aeronautical engineer.  She did attain this and graduated from Penn State with her degree.  She started a job with the Sikorsky Helicopter company in Bridgeport, Ct. Surrounded by mostly men in this position, she gained respect.  Her focus was on mating the engines to the fuselage on the S92 helicopter project.  Eventually she left her job, but aviation still shows up in her job now as a preschool teacher. She shows her 4 year olds simplified aerodynamics of how airplanes can fly.  

Basic Training, the start of a long career

Scott AFB  C9Bs

US Navy's C9A "ET"

doing his avionics thing

On the flight line

                           

A visit to the First Flight location

The S92 chopper

My family's connections also seem to start with my Dad.  As a youngster, he was interested in planes and worked to get his private pilot's license at the age of 16.  He was able to pay for the lessons by doing odd jobs around the small local airport.  One of which involved painting the airport name identifier on the roof of the hanger at that local airport. After high school, he was accepted into the ROTC program at Parks Air College in St Louis.  But after one year he decided that that was not for him and transferred to a teacher' college.  He was away from aviation for some time and his license expired.  Later, in the 1960's sometime, he tested once again and was able to fly once more.  He would periodically take us up for rides, which I enjoyed very much.  He thought that I would one day fly at 16 also ,but  I just liked the rides.  Unfortunately, the hobby became quite expensive for a family man and he had to stop flying.  My Mom, on the other hand, was afraid of flying.  She held her breath each time we went up with Dad. But she finally took her first and only flight when she came to help out after our second child was born. We lived too far away to drive but she survived. Dad had three brothers who all had their private pilot's licenses.   Joe was  hobbyist like Dad, Jim went to college for an Aeronautical Science degree and worked for Grumman for a time. The third one made a career of aviation as well.  After  his US Air Force enlistment, Gene became an aeronautical engineer and worked for the US Army in St Louis.  He was also an aerobatics pilot. He and his first wife Kit, also an aerobatics pilot, loved flying and owning their own planes.  Sadly, Kit passed away when the small plane that she was flying crashed. Dad's nephew, Kevin, is a career US Air Force Officer  working as a Flight Surgeon.   Another nephew, Rich, has made a career as a corporate pilot. Rich's dad was also a corporate pilot.  Rich's sister, Carolyn, even made a skydive jump or two.  

Dad's first pilot license

One of the first planes Dad flew, the Aeronca Champ

New Piper Cherokee that Dad was recertified in

So as you can see, aviation is in our blood. In my own immediate family, we seem to have a noticeable habit as well. Not long after our future son in law  came to us, he remarked that every time an airplane flew overhead we all looked up at it.  He thought it somewhat peculiar but it is just something we unconsciously do.   Every single time to this day. I even go outside to look sometimes. Living near a large commercial airport with a  US Air Force Reserve unit attached to it, we  see and hear aircraft at all times of day and some fly low over our house. I have come to learn to identify a few by that sound.   Yes, it does interrupt conversation at times, but we just wait it out for a few seconds and continue on. No problem with the noise. Aviation has been our bread and butter.  Something that you can love forever as well.

       

Looking up.... 

Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2024. All rights reserved.

Why not Wiley!

Thursday, an article about Wiley Post came up in front of me.  Today, July 22, is the 90th anniversary of Wiley's becoming the first pilot to go around the world solo.  He also set a speed record on the trip.  

Wiley Post

Wiley Post was born Nov 22, 1898 on a cotton farm near Grand Saline, Texas.  His mother was said to be of mixed Cherokee heritage.  Wiley finished 6th grade and he and his family moved to Oklahoma.  This is where Wiley saw his first airplane in 1913.  He enrolled in an aviation school in Kansas City for 7 months.  He wanted to become a pilot for WW1 but the war ended before his training was over.  Bad luck followed Wiley with jobs and he ended up in a reformatory for a year after he resorted to armed robbery.  By 1926, he was a parachutist on a barnstorming circuit.  He worked for awhile on an oil rig but was blinded in one eye after a piece of metal pierced it.  He used the settlement money he received to buy his first airplane. It was also about this time that he met and became good friends with Will Rogers, a well known entertainer, humorist and newspaper columnist.  

Will Rogers

Wiley became the personal pilot for a few wealthy oilmen which allowed him to have access to some of the faster aircraft of the time.  This was also a time when many aviation records were being set.  Wiley set several. His first one was a speed record, NY to LA in 9 hours, 8 minutes, 2 seconds on Aug 27, 1930. On June 23, 1931, Wiley and a navigator set the record for an around the world trip in a fixed wing aircraft. 8 days, 15 hours and 51 minutes.  15,474 miles.  His next record was another around the world trip but this time solo in 7 days, 18 hours and 49 minutes on July 22, 1933. 

Jul 22, 1933 record

But Wiley wasn't finished yet, In 1934, his attentions turned to high altitude flying and helped develop the first viable pressure suit. His first flight in the suit enabled him to reach 40,000 ft.  and later 50,000 ft.  This suit is on display at the National Air and Space Museum. Apparently, the jetstream was discovered during his high altitude flights as well.  In 1935, Wiley attempted 4 high altitude non stop flights from LA to NY but all failed due to mechanical difficulties.  

Wiley in his pressure suit

Pressure suit at the National Air and Space Museum

Wiley Post and Will Rogers in Aug 1935

Wiley's final flight came on Aug 15, 1935, when he took his friend Will Rogers on a trip from Seattle to Alaska.  They came upon some bad weather and landed in a lagoon near Point Barrow, Alaska to fix their location and get directions.  ""On takeoff, the engine failed at low altitude, and the aircraft, uncontrollably nose-heavy at low speed, plunged into the lagoon, shearing off the right wing, and ended up inverted in the shallow part. Both men died instantly.""  Wiley was 36 years old.  And he accomplished all of this as a one eyed pilot. 

Aug 1935

I thought "I think I have some Posts in my family tree, let's check Wiley's family out".  So I did and did not find him related to any of the Posts that I had, BUT he did end up being related to me.  This frequently happens when I look into some of the interesting people that I read about.  This time we go all the way back to the year 1474 to find the common ancestor!  I know that is stretching the envelope a bit for a connection, but the search is fascinating.  We can track our connection thru Great Grandad Ralph Arnold to his mother Elnorah Amos, then to Sarah Mower (wife of our only Civil War ancestor), and back 13 more generations to a couple named Sir Thomas Sayre born in 1474 in Podington, Bedford, England and his wife Margaret Fairfax born in 1476 in Yorkshire, England.  All this making Wiley a 12th cousin 5 times removed to us.  

Images found at Wikipedia.

 Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2023. All rights reserved.