The plane purchased by the Princeton Club in 1939 with Melvin May (left) Art Kahn (center) Walter May (right).
A soar back to May’s Flying Service
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“There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots!” This bit of wisdom has been axiomatic among aviators since Orville Wright wobbled into the air over Kitty Hawk in 1903. Melvin May, a Princeton native, was always interested in flying, and in 1939, he and a group of 12 young men formed a flying club and purchased a new Piper Cub J3 trainer, powered with a 50 h.p. Franklin engine. The 12 men were Hi Piper, Tommy Ioder, Otto Bouxsein, Melvin May, Walter May, Randy Peterson, Dr. Hartley, Leo Lenihan, Len Swanson, W. Wedding, Joe Moran and Marvin May. The J3 Piper Cub had no brakes or tail wheel. Melvin took instructions from a flight instructor in the plane from LaSalle and soloed on his 31st birthday July 14, 1939. The first airport hangar was built out of old barn wood and erected just north of CityCounty Park, north of Princeton. They had talked a local farmer into letting them have an unused field for a landing
By Bill Lamb strip. This wasn’t a particularly generous gesture by the farmer, for the field was so small that sparrows had to slip into it to avoid over-shooting the field. The young pilots of the flapless, brakeless, Cub plane had an even tougher time in landing and taking off. But with the confidence of youth, a little skill and a great deal of luck, they learned to fly without killing themselves or even scratching their airplane. In time, most of the original 12 men began to drift away from flying, but the aviation bug had bitten Melvin more deeply and he was a seasoned pilot when America plunged into war in December 1941. Melvin immediately signed-up for the Civilian Pilot Training Program and was sent to Ft. Sill, Okla., to join the staff assigned to teach the third group of student aviators turned out by the Army Ground Forces in World War II. In 1942, he took a refresher course at Ft. Sill and started instructing Aug. 28, 1941. He was commissioned Second Lt. in March 1943 and rated a liaison pilot at Waco, Tx.
In 1943, Melvin then accepted a direct commission in the field artillery and remained at Ft. Sill as a flight instructor until the war ended in 1945. Flying time was built-up slowly, and by 1942, he had logged a total of 250 hours with no mishaps. May signed-up for a commercial pilot’s course under the Civil Pilot Training Program at Springfield Aviation Company and received his commercial pilot’s license in July 1942. During his tour at Ft. Sill, Piper Airport he attended a basic instrument and night flying course at Goodfellow Field in San Angelo, Tx. Melvin was instructor at the army sea plane base on Lake Lawtonka and was checked-out on the Brodie Landing System. Upon leaving the service in July 1945, Melvin decided to start a flying school in PrincSee May’s page 8
PHOTOS BILL LAMB COLLECTION, BUREAU COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM
Living magazine
Summer 2020 – 7
