The Warhawk of Marshall County

In 1939, there were less than 3000 military aircraft manufactured in the United States. UponAmerica’sentry into World War II, every business possible joined the War Machine to build aircraft as well as other war machines.

By the end of the war, America had produced 295,959 aircraft. Those included bombers, fighters, reconnaissance, trainers, transports and communications aircraft. During the war, 65,160 of those aircraft were lost due to combat, training accidents, test flights, and ferrying aircraft to their destinations.

WhenWWIIendedonSeptember 2, 1945, the United States owned a surplus of over 150,000 aircraft. Airplanes left overseas were buried, bulldozed or sunk at sea. However, huge numbers of planes returned home to America for either for storage, sale of entire aircraft or parts or scrapping.

Toward the end of the war, the US Government created The War Assets Administration (WAA) and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC). Those agencies were tasked with handling the storage, sales and scrapping of WWII aircraft. By summer 1945, the RFC had at least thirty sales-storage depots and twenty-three sales centers operating, with 117,210 aircraft transferred as surplus by November.

Commercial airline companies bought many DC-3s and C-54s to shore up their fleets of airliners. Transport planes and trainers were sold for civilian use or to U.S. Allies. The trainers were sold for $875 to $2,400. Except for Warbird preservation, aviation museums and some later aerial firefighting uses, fighters and bombers were of little use. Prices for the warbirds ranged from $1250 for a P-38 Lightning, to $3,500 for a P-51 Mustang, and $13,750 for a B-17 Bomber.

Communities and schools were offered some aircraft for free, or for a minimal cost, with the stipulation that those planes were not ever flown, but instead used for display or educational purposes.

Shortly after George S. Henry was hired as Superintendent of Kingston Schools in 1928, one program he wanted to create for students was an aviation program to train the students in theories of flight, how to fly and aircraft construction and maintenance. In the early 1940s, Henry was able to purchase a Link Trainer for the aviation program. The Link Trainer was a groundtraining device for training pilots and aircrew in the use of flight instruments. The program was very popular withthestudentsatKingston High School.

Near the end of WWII, Henry learned of the WAA/ RFC surplus war plane sales program, and he reached out to the RFC to see if the Kingston High School could purchase a plane for the flight program. The RFC agreed, and a Curtiss-Wright, TP-40 Warhawk was offered to the school for the minimal price of $100.

The TP-40 was a two-seat flight trainer version of the single seat P-40 Warhawk fighter. The Warhawk was used by most Allied powers during World War II and remained in frontline service until the end of the war.

It was the third mostproduced American fighter of World War II, after the P-51 and P-47. It was also theplaneflownbythefamous Flying Tigers squadrons.

The “P” in P-40 stood for “pursuit” fighter plane. The “TP” in the TP-40 stood for “trainer pursuit” fighter plane.

Each seat in the TP-40 cockpit had a full set of controls and instruments enabling either pilot to fully control the plane. Both the P-40 and the TP-40 were equipped with six .50 caliber machine guns, and railings to carry bombs. Both were powered by a twelve-cylinder Allison V-1710 engine capable of producing 1,150 horsepower.

During the war, 13,738 P-40s were manufactured by the United States. Of those, 40 were two-seat, TP-40s.

In early August of 1945, the RFC notified Henry that the Kingston School TP-40 would be delivered on August 29, 1945. The RFC agreed to ferry the plane to Eaker Field in Durant but it was up to the school to get the plane to Kingston. Eaker Field was a Naval Air Base during the war that today is the Durant Regional Airport.

To find a way to get the plane from Durant to Kingston, Henry began looking for a pilot who could fly the plane to Kingston. He contacted numerous individuals in Marshall County as well as media outlets and people in the community, but he could not find anyone who was able to fly such a highperformance airplane.

After a few weeks with no results, Henry was about to give up on his plan and was about to notify the RFC that the school could not take the plane when Madill resident Marvin Gordon heard about the call for help.

Gordonwasaveteranwho served for seventeen months in the Pacific Theater, during WWII. He was also a pilot who flew P-40s during his service in the Army Air Forces.

When Gordon heard of Henry’s plea for help, he volunteered his services. In truth, Gordon, who was then the Post Commander of the Charles B. Burke Post 99 of the American Legion in Madill, was excited to get back in the cockpit of a warbird.

Planning for the transfer of the plane to Kingston, Henry and Gordon began looking for a place to land the plane. The landing speed of a P-40wasarecommended130 mph and therefore it needed about 1700 feet of runway to safely land.

Finding a suitable pasture with over 1700 feet of flat, open space was almost impossible. No such location existed anywhere near Kingston.

The longest pasture available was one about one and a half miles south of Kingston. The field was approximately 2,500 feet long. After looking at the field, Gordon said it could make it work.

On Wednesday, August 29,1945,HenrydroveGordon to Eaker Field in Durant. Others going along for the trip were Henry’s sons, Skippy, Tommy and Walter Bruce.

When they arrived at the airfield in Durant, Navy airmen were removing the belly tank from the bottom of the plane. The belly tank held extra fuel for the flight from Texas to Durant. ears later, Skippy Henry wrote that “it was my first time around Navy men, and I heard the most profane language that day that I had ever heard.”

After the belly tank was removed, Gordon took the plane for a test flight since it had been a few years since he hadflown.Aftermakingafew passes around the airport, Gordon landed the plane and he then told Henry he was ready to head to Kingston.

After watching Gordon take off for Kingston, Henry and his sons headed back to Kingston. Upon their arrival at the landing site, the plane was nowhere in sight. Everyone was surprised the Henrybeatthehigh-powered war plane to Kingston.

No one knew exactly where Gordon went with the airplane, but clearly, he was having a good time. He finally arrived and was able to land the plane on a landing strip withabout1,000feettospare.

At the landing site, a large crowd arrived to watch the plane land. After landing, those in attendance were given an opportunity to walk around the plane, take pictures and even climb up into the cockpit.

During this time, some men took down about 50 feet of fence along the road so the plane could taxi out of the pasture. The P-40 had a wingspan of about 38 feet, so a large section had to be removed. After everyone had a chance to view the plane, and the fence was down, Gordon climbed back into the plane, started the engine, and headed to town. Gordon had to taxi the plane about a mile and half to get to town.

When Gordon got to town, he taxied the plane across the railroadtracks,thennorthup Main Street. When he got to the tracks, Main Street was lined with spectators waiting for his arrival.

Hundreds of people showed up from all over Marshall County to see the Warhawk’s arrival. Also present was the Kingston High School marching band under the direction of Ervin Finley. The band was to accompany the plane up Main Street to the school yard where it was going to be displayed.

When Gordon began to taxi up Main Street, he had to increase the power of the plane because Main Street rose in elevation from the railroad tracks to the school. As he continued up Main Street, Gordon had to keep increasing the power to make it to the school.

Since all the streets in Kingston were dirt in 1945, the prop wash from the plane created a horrible dust storm. The marching band was covered in dust and pelted with gravel.

All the homes and businesses along Main Street were also covered with dust, andthosewithopenwindows or doors had dust throughout the inside. It was reported that it took some folks days to clean the dust out of their homes.

Gordon taxied the plane to the school yard, turned it around in the front yard, facing back south toward downtown. He then revved the engine one last time blowing dust and debris all over the school, before shutting off the engine for good.

The plane became a fixture on the front lawn of the Kingston school where it was visited thousands of times by

residents and travelers. It alsobecamethemostpopular photositeinMarshallCounty over the days and weeks after its arrival.

It could be said that thousands of “selfies” were taken with the Warhawk. One can only imagine how many pictures would have been taken if folks had cell phones with cameras back in 1945.

The P-40 also became a favorite plaything for the kids of Kingston. Unknown hours were spent playing in and on the Warbird.

Many air battles were fought and won by the boys of Kingston and thousands of miles were flown in the imaginations of the kids who climbed into the cockpit and operated the controls. The P-40 was a treasure to the folks of Kingston and everyone was proud of the plane and what it represented.

Sadly, in October of 1948, the Kingston School Board quietly sold the plane to a salvage yard in Madill for $100.Theplanewasremoved early on Sunday morning, October 10.

Mosteveryoneintownwas upset and saddened when they realized their Warhawk was gone. It was reported in the Madill Record that upon its sale to the salvage yard, the plane was still airworthy.

Today, only one original TP-40 Warhawk exists. The remaining 39 were scrapped. Only about twenty of the original 13,738 P-40s are still airworthy and flying.

Today, a single seat P-40 is worth about $1,500,000. If the Kingston Warhawk were

still in existence, it would be worth millions of dollars.

The Kingston Warhawk may have only lasted three years, but she lives on in the memories of the kids who soared above the clouds, on missions of the imagination, fighting for the glory of Kingston and America. Long live the Kingston Warhawk.