Wings Over Halls

There was a real special event near my home this weekend. I know everyone was commemorating September 11th; but Halls, TN remembered World War II at the same time by hosting an air show. Halls is the closest little town to Dyersburg, situated on the north end of Lauderdale county. In fact, I live closer to Halls than I do to Dyersburg, although I am a resident of Dyer County. Halls was the site of an Army Air training base during World War II. It was the only inland site east of the Mississippi River that trained airmen to fly B-17 bombers. Quite a few of my friends’ parents met and later married as a result of that Army Air base. Congressman John Tanner, who represents our district in Washington, was born in the little hospital on the base. It was called the Dyersburg Army Air Base in spite of the fact that it was situated in Lauderdale county just outside of Halls.

Bob and Jane Little were at the air show yesterday and it was my privilege to watch the show standing beside them as they talked a bit about the history of the air base. My husband calls Mr. Bob “Captain Bob” although Captain Bob retired from the army at the rank of Lt. Col. Captain Bob will be 91 years old on November 8th. He was a flight instructor on the base. His wife, Jane, is a native of Dyersburg. As we were watching the air show, Jane pointed out a freight train sitting on a section of track about a mile from the base. Jane told me that trains carrying soldiers would stop at that very spot and let the young men off carrying duffles containing everything they owned. The soldiers would walk on over to the base from the tracks. Captain Bob said he had never owned a suit of clothes until he finished his flight training when the army issued him his first suit. After the war, Captain Bob enjoyed a long career as a pilot with one of the commercial airlines.

Bob now spends some of his time at the military museum situated on the old base. The DAAB (Dyersburg Army Air Base) Museum is the fine amenity that it is largely due to the efforts of Pat Higdon, a retired high school history teacher. Others are due credit also, but Pat has been tireless in making that museum a class act. Jane mentioned yesterday that Pat once asked if Bob had any old uniforms that she could put on display in the museum. Jane then told a delightful story about what became of Bob’s uniforms. Jane said that after the war they were living in Memphis and one cold winter she got to wishing for a rug beside her bed that she could put her feet on without stepping directly onto the cold floor. She cut Bob’s uniforms in strips and braided a rug out of them. Now the braided rug made from Bob’s old uniforms grace a section of the floor in the museum.

State Senator Mark Norris worked hard for 3 years to get Highway 51 that runs alongside the old base designated as a Tennessee segment of the Purple Heart Trail. If you are ever driving along this stretch of the Purple Heart Trail, I highly recommend taking the time to stop and visit the museum. It is a fascinating and moving experience, and a pleasant surprise to see such an astounding collection of history in a small rural area like Halls, TN.

I took nearly 700 pictures at the air show yesterday, most of which were not tack sharp; but I hope you enjoy the few I’ve picked out to share with you.

This is the B-17 bomber, also called the Flying Fortress. This style of aircraft flew most of the bombing missions over Europe. The famous Memphis Belle was a B-17 bomber. Notice that the bomb hatch is open in this photo. Very few of these airplanes are still in operation and MH believes there might even be as few as 3 that are not permanently grounded. Jane remarked that she wished there was not a stream of smoke coming from that one engine.




This is another view of the B-17. The bomb hatch is closed in this one and the smoke is not pouring out of that one engine.







I had to zoom out to get both planes in this photo but I thought it important to show them flying together. The small one is a P-51. The B-17's were escorted by P-51's on the bombing missions. There is a wealth of information on the internet about both of these planes and how they were used together on bombing missions. I believe them to have been aircraft used mostly in the European theater.





This is Jane Little holding a piece of her hand painted china. She had just been to the Dyer County Fairgrounds to pick up the china she entered in this year's fair. If you enlarge this photo, you can see the blue ribbon affixed to this piece. What you can't see is the rest of the china that was packed in a box in the back seat of her car. There was a ribbon attached to every piece of it, and each item was perfectly beautiful.







Bob Little is a very smart and interesting man who served our country and went on to a career in aviation after WWII. His hobby now is antique clocks. MH owns the old hangars on the air base. We are going to take Bob and Jane on a tour of the hangars and they are going to show us their large collection of antique clocks and hand painted china.





There were lots of wonderful pilots and many remarkable stunts on display yesterday, but getting to spend a little time with Bob and Jane as they watched the aircraft he taught young men to fly and that he himself flew during World War II was the highlight of my day. Tom Brokaw named his book well..... The Greatest Generation.