HomeMy WebLinkAboutWWII Prog Bryan Air BaseBRYAN AIR FORCE BASE
Brazos County, Texas
The only one of its kind in the Unites States Army Air Forces. Although its primary objective was to avoid crashes, the instructors were first to fly into a hurricane.
Activated in 1943, the Bryan Air Force Base (originally Bryan Army Air Field) was an instructors' school for developing a standardized system of instrument flying. The Full Panel Attitude
System developed at the base was one of the most significant contributions the base made to pilot training.
Yet another of its significant accomplishments is widely forgotten. Instructors of the BAAF were the first to fly into a hurricane!
Word spread on the morning of 27 July 1943 among British pilots that a hurricane was coming ashore near Galveston and that the planes at the field may have to be flown out for safety.
The Brits being trained in the new field of "instrument" flying at Bryan Field by lead instructor, Colonel Joe Duckworth, really started gigging the instructors about the frailty of
their trainer when they heard the planes may have to be flown away from the storm. 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 ribbing from these pilots and bet them that he could fly the "Texan" into the storm and back, showing that both the plane and his instrument flying
technique was sound. Well, the bet was on. A highball to the winner! Colonel Duckworth then looked across the breakfast table at Lieutenant Ralph O' Hair, the only navigator at the
field that morning and asked him to fly with him.
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.
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 schooling of instrument flying. That was also the last flight into a hurricane for Lt. O'Hair.
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
WWII Prog Bryan Air Base