Air show celebrates passage of airport bond issue

Just days after Cape Girardeau voters passed a $115,000 bond issue for the acquisition and improvement of Harris Field as a municipal airport, Mayor R.E. Beckman received an offer he couldn't refuse.

Commanders of the Naval Air Station at Lambert Field in St. Louis contacted Beckman April 25, 1947, offering to bring a contingent of combat planes to Cape Girardeau to stage an air show at the former Army pilot training base. It would be a way, the commanders said, to help the community celebrate.

Of course Beckman agreed and the following Sunday, the airfield was packed with people wanting to see the new municipal acquisition and view the simulated attack on the base.

Published April 25, 1947, in the Southeast Missourian:

NAVY AIR SHOW AT HARRIS FIELD

A Navy air show will be staged Sunday afternoon at Harris Field by 18 combat planes, weather permitting, Mayor R.E. Beckman was advised today by the Naval Air Station, Lambert Field, St. Louis. The planes -- six Hellcats, six Corsairs and six Avenger torpedo ships, are scheduled to arrive at 2 o'clock in the afternoon to stage the show in support of the 129th Naval Reserve Division being organized here and help Cape Girardeau its new air field.

The ships will com in on formation, then go into tactical maneuvers and for the entertainment of the crowd, simulate aerial attack and combat.

Commanders at the Naval Air Station, elated at the action of the people of Cape Girardeau in voting airport bonds Tuesday, readily volunteered to extend their appreciation of the community's air-mindedness and notified Mayor Beckman and the Cape Girardeau Airport Board they wanted to help the community celebrate.

A recruiting unit of the Naval Reserve will be here to assist commanders of the local Reserve division in signing up men for duty with the outfit. The division is to occupy one of the four hangars at the field.

All private flying will be suspended during the air show, as a safety measure. The Navy ships will be flown by experienced military pilots and will be under direction of Air Group Commander Jesse Taylor.

In addition to the Navy ships, a DC-3 plane, a 23-passenger type, will be flown here through an arrangement made by Farmcrest, new local dairy firm, through an arrangement with the Pevely Dairy Co. and Missouri Airways Corporation, an affiliate of Chicago & Southern Airlines. In this ship, piloted by Capt. George Persons and First Officer George Shedd, will be R.L. "Dick" Barnhouse, president of Farmcrest; Elmer and Daniel Kirchhoff, members of Pevely's board, and William Kuhn, Pevely sales manager. The plane will carry from 500 to 1,000 gallons of ice cream to be given away free to the crowd at the field.

The plane is the type used by major airlines and this particular ship is one of those used in charter service to points like New York and Los Angeles. The flight to Harris Field from Lambert Field will take about 28 minutes.

Saturday is also to be a busy day at the field, weather permitting. A large number of private planes will be flown here under auspices of the Aviation Council of Metropolitan St. Louis to advertise the St. Louis Air Fair to be staged May 9 to 18.

Published April 26, 1947, in the Southeast Missourian:

24 NAVY SHIPS IN AIR SHOW HERE

Mayor R.E. Beckman today was advised that there will be 24 Navy planes instead of 18 as first announced, here Sunday afternoon for an air show at Harris Field. The planes will be over the field at 2 o'clock, manned by Navy pilots, from the Naval Air Station at Lambert Field, St. Louis.

The ships will do formation flying and will stage a simulated attack of the flying field.

The planes are to include Hellcats, Corsairs and Avenger torpedo ships, the mayor was informed. A recruiting team is to be here to confer with applicants for the Navy Reserve.

Swan to command

Cmdr. Milton W. Swan, native of Wittenberg (Missouri) and graduate of State College, where he was a star athlete, will be in command of the Navy group, and will direct operations from the ground, with Lt. Willard Fletcher as public address announcer. In command of the squadron in the air will be Cmdr. Jesse Taylor. Cmdr. Swan and party will come here in a Navy JRB in advance of the rest of the group, which will fly in at 2 p.m.

The show will continue for about 40 minutes, and the other planes will not land, being too fast for the 2,000-foot runways. All maneuvers will be demonstrated, said Cmdr. Swan, who came here today with Lt. Cmdr. Bart Slattery, public information officer, to arrange for the show. Both Navy and Marine Corps pilots will take part.

Published April 28, 1947, in the Southeast Missourian:

These photos show a portion of the crowd attending the Navy air show Sunday afternoon at Harris Field. Above the throng crowds the fence near the runways, in the center three Marine Corsair fighters sweep low in “strafing” the field, and at the bottom a small private plane takes off in front of the crowd after the air show, the control tower (is) in the center background. (G.D. Fronabarger ~ Southeast Missourian archive)

THOUSANDS SEE AIR SHOW; JAM HIGHWAYS FOR HOURS

A big Sunday afternoon crowd, taking advantage of perfect weather and a yen for a thrill, converged on the Harris Field area, completely blocking traffic for miles on Highway 61 and crowded the air field to witness the hour of thrilling battle maneuvers staged by Navy and Marine Corps pilots from the Naval Air Station, Lambert Field.

Police and city officials, placed various estimates on the crowd ranging past the 10-,000 mark, and a goodly portion of which was in automobiles parked on both sides of the highway and in cars trying to move down the pavement in between the parked lines. It was estimated that more than 5,0000 persons were able to get onto the field, and, following the air show, it was a matter of nearly two hours before all traffic was cleared from the field and highway. Hundreds could not get within a mile of the field.

Biggest crowd

The event, a sort of celebration marking the successful passage last Tuesday of the bond issue, permitting the city to acquire and develop the former Army air base as a municipal airport, drew the largest crowd ever congregated in that area.

The combat airmen left Lambert Field and arrived here in formation at 2 o'clock, the "attack" on the field being directed from the ground by Cmdr. Milton W. Swan, formerly of Cape Girardeau. First a squadron of Navy Hellcats peeled off and screamed down and over the crowd in a strafing maneuver, then came a squadron of Corsairs, followed by Avenger torpedo bombers, patrol bombers and Catalina flying boats. The airmen, evidently glad of an opportunity, now that their combat is over, to again spread their wings, took advantage of ever liberty and pulled hair-raising stunts which left the crowd awed. One stunt was shooting down a (Japanese airplane). This drew a particular peak of reaction from the crowd.

Severe traffic jam

The traffic jam was probably as much talked about today as the air show. Chief of Police John Penn and only one of his officers could be spared from the city force to handle traffic, which was too much for two men. Mayor R.E. Beckman said that the State Highway Patrol had promised four men to assist in traffic direction.

Traffic at one time was jammed from near the cement plant on Highway 74 to Highway 61, a distance of about six miles. Estimates of the number of automobiles in the area ranged from 3,000 to 5,000.

Quite a large number of cars were parked in the limited available space in the air field, and many persons left their cars on the highway shoulders and walked into the field. Thousands of others remained in their cars after being unable to get to the field.

Cape Girardeau Airport Board members were on hand and got a glimpse of one of their future problems, providing adequate parking space on the field for crowds attending such events in the future.

The DC-3 airplane mentioned in the first story can be seen in one of the Missourian archived photos that didn't make it into print in 1947.

The large craft can be seen in the top center of the photograph, along with two Pevely Dairy Co. trucks.

Mentioning the newly established dairy here offers a glimpse of another story that was playing out at the same time in Cape Girardeau. Local dairy operations were under attack as being unsanitary, and there was a strong public movement for the city and county to hire a milk inspector. Adding to that push was a ban by the U.S. Public Health Service of all locally produced milk and milk products to boats plying the Mississippi River. That was a serious blow not only to dairy farmers, but to the grocery companies that sold supplies to the boats. It was estimated that 800 boats annually bought provisions in Cape Girardeau, including milk.