HomeMy WebLinkAboutDuckworth, Col. Joe - Bio
IIAnne Boxkin - WWII Bryan Air Base.doc
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BRYAN AIR FORCE BASE
and
Colonel Joe "the Duck" Duckworth
Although saving many from death by their joint efforts at the only instrument
training school of its kind in the US Army Air Force, they are remembered as the first to
fly into the eye of a hurricane.
Both the Bryan Air Base and Colonel Joe Duckworth's system of instrument
training are credited with being major contributors to the WWII aviation effort and the
Berlin airlift in 1948.
It all started with a sudden mission change early in 1943 when Bryan Air Field
was activated as Bryan Air Force Base in Brazos County, Texas, becoming a school for
instrument instructors. Weather in all theaters of operation it seems had turned out to be
far more dangerous than the enemy, with hundreds of pilots being lost because of a lack
of proficiency in instrument flying. "Losses in combat were less than those sustained
from ignorance of instrument flying alone."
"For God's sake, get all the instrument flying you can," an English pilot wrote to
his friend taking flight training in Texas. "It's the difference between life and death over
here."
Yet its head instructor Col. Duckworth, regarded as the "father" of modem day
instrument flying, never saw combat, did not fly fighters, bombers, or helicopters, and
was never in the air rescue business.
Never the less the standardized system of instrument flying developed at the
Brazos County base was one of the most significant contributions made to pilot training.
A greatly reduced worldwide weather-related accident rate became the result of the
training and its spread throughout the USAAF.
Col. Duckworth's "Full Panel" Attitude System whereby two gyro instruments
were used in conjunction with the three basic instruments plus the magnetic compass, the
rate of climb indicator, and the clock -- eventually were used in "flying" the Link trainer.
In the end; however, these significant accomplishments during World War II are
widely forgotten. But not their feat of being first to fly into a hurricane!
The story is told that on the morning of27 July 1943 British pilots being trained
on instruments at Bryan were surprised by news of a hurricane because of shutdown of
weather-related information after Pearl Harbor. (Since German U-boat activity was
suspected in the Gulf of Mexico, all marine radio broadcasts were silenced in July 1943.)
We can only imagine the dilemma facing local weather officials as the storm bore down
on Galveston Bay -- where the Hurricane of 1900 killed as estimated 8,000 and a 1915
hurricane tested the Galveston seawall and killed more than 275 people. But the
Galveston-Houston area was the location of many oil refineries crucial to the war effort
and news of a hurricane strike could have aided the enemy.
Over at Bryan Air Force Base, word spread that July morning about a hurricane
coming ashore near Galveston and that the planes at the field may have to be flown out
for safety. Many of the British pilots, "aces" from earlier battles over Europe, already felt
that they deserved to be trained in the top United States fighter planes -- not the AT-6
~ Anne Bgykin. - WWIIB~an Air Ba~e.doc
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"Texan" single engine trainer used at Bryan.
When the Brits heard that their planes might have to be flown away from the
storm, they really started gigging the instructors about the frailty of their trainer. The
problem was that few, if any European flyers had ever experienced a true hurricane and
thought it was just another big thunderstorm.
Finally Colonel Duckworth had enough of the ribbing of these pilots and bet them
that he could fly the "Texan" into the storm and back. Well, the bet was on. A highball to
the winner! Colonel Duckworth then looked across the breakfast table at Lieutenant
Ralph 0' Hair, the only navigator at the field that morning and asked him to fly along.
O'Hair was taken back but agreed to fly with him due to his respect for Duckworth's skill
as a pilot. Since they felt that Headquarters wouldn't approve the flight due to the risk of
the aircraft and the crew, they decided to do it without official permission.
The main problem that passed through Lt. O'Hair's mind was that if their single
engine quit for some reason, like being flooded out from the heavy rain, they would be in
deep trouble. As they closed on the hurricane which was now ashore, he thought about
what it would be like if he had to use the parachute. As they approached the storm at a
height of between four thousand to nine thousand feet, the air became very turbulent. He
described the flight now as like "being tossed about like a stick in a dog's mouth."
The rain was very heavy as they flew through the darkness, fighting the updrafts
and downdrafts. Suddenly they broke into the eye of the storm. (This was not the purpose
of the flight, but really an accident.) The sky was filled with bright clouds and it seemed
that they were surrounded by a shower curtain of darker clouds. As they looked down
they could see the countryside. The storm had indeed moved inland and the eye seemed to
be about nine or ten miles across. They circled inside and as they exited the eye, the dark
overcast and heavy rain again pounded them until they made their way out of the storm
and back toward Bryan Field.
As they arrived back at the field, the weather officer, Lieutenant William Jones
Burdick, asked to be flow into the storm, so O'Hair jumped out and the weather officer
flew off into the hurricane with Duckworth.
After that flight, Bryan Field became a Mecca for Allied pilots wanting to learn
the fine art of "instrument flying". That night the bet was paid and no more comments
were given on the sturdiest of the AT-6 "Texan" trainer or the value of the instruments.
That was also the last flight into a hurricane for Lt. O'Hair.
"The Duck" went on to become base commander of Hickam AFB in Hawaii. All
who took his training at Bryan and survived bad weather would probably agree that they
owe much, possibly their very lives, to this man.
Bryan Air Base kept on training pilots on instruments -- saving countless lives.
Barbara Donalson Althaus
Bryan, Texas
References: Handbook of Texas Online "Bryan Air Force Base"; TTI, Vol 40, No.3
online at tti.tamu.edu; Bill Page re www.hurricaneconsulting.net
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"Flying Into The Eye," The Weather Doctor Almanac 2003; online at www.islandnet.com
"Colonel Joseph Duckworth", Historical Albion Michigan, online at
www.albionmich.com/history
C. V. Glines, "Duckworth's Legacy",The Air Force Association (AFA)
www.afa.org/magazine/1990
WWII Bryan Air Base