Old Missoula

4 Killed Over Missoula – 1943

Missoula’s first fatal plane crash occurred on September 10, 1943. It happened when 2 airplanes met mid-air; each carrying an aviation student pilot from the University, and a local flying instructor from Johnson Flying Service in Missoula. These aviation students were part of the new Army Air Force training detachment (CTD – 317^th) which was placed by the War Department at Montana State University campus (U of M) early in 1943. The urgent need for producing combat ready pilots required an accelerated program for training students across the whole country and Missoula was not unique. “By April 1943 over 60,000 men were in aircrew college training detachments at more than 150 institutions.”[1]

At a much slower pace the University began an earlier civilian pilot training program (CPT) in 1939. Close to 250 students took courses in this flight training program by 1942. Upon completing a series of classes, actual flight instruction was given by pilot trainers working closely with Johnson Flying Service, based at Hale field. Until 1943, no one was seriously hurt while taking these initial flight programs.

Within a few short months in 1943, the entire University, many of its faculty, and staff were focused on the duties required to provide the programs necessary to train more of these budding Army pilots. Two of these students didn’t survive.

A Daily Missoulian article below described the 1943 accident:

Missoula Planes Crash – 4 Killed

Four Killed in Air Training Accident Here

Four Persons – two instructor pilots and two aviation student pilots – were killed Friday morning in a mid-air crash of planes of the Johnson Flying school while on routine flying maneuvers.

The dead:

Instructor Pilot Clyde Reynolds of Missoula.

Instructor Pilot Stanley Hillman of Missoula.

Army Aviation Student William T. Richards of Tarrytown, N. Y.

Army Aviation Student Robert N. Schwenter of Detroit.

Both of the instructors have lived here for years. The student pilots were members of the 317^th college training detachment of the Army air forces stationed at Montana State University. The accident was the first in the training of students by the Johnson school, and the first in the history of Johnson Flying service.

Wreckage of the two planes was spotted from the air by Instructor Pilot Warren Ellison, who was making a routing flight, and fixed the time of collision at about 7:30 o’clock. He had been over the flight course a few moments earlier and had detected no sign of the accident then.

The crash occurred over the old Buckhouse ranch, north of the old Bitter Root road. One plane hitting the ground in a weed patch on the Buckhouse ranch and the other crashing across the road into a wheat field on the Dan Maloney ranch. Both planes were badly smashed but no fire resulted.

The bodies of the victims were removed from the ships and those of the students were taken to the Lucy mortuary, that of Mr. Reynolds to Powell & Johnson and that of Mr. Hillman to Stucky’s.

CAA officials would make no official statement as to the cause of the crash, or give details in regard to the flight, stating merely that an investigation would be made and a report given when it was completed.

Major George E. Heikes, commanding officer of the Army air force college training detachment at the State University, had little comment to make, stating that it was a military matter and that information would be released as soon as possible.

Stanley Hillman’s father, W. P. Hillman, of the office of operation of the Forest Service at Missoula, was in Kalispell on an inspection trip when notified of his son’s death. He left immediately for home, in company with J. E. Ryan, assistant regional forester, and arrived here shortly after noon.

Stanley Hillman

Stanley Hillman was born in Spokane September 29, 1921, and would have been 22 years old had he lived three weeks more. He resided with his parents at Sandpoint, Missoula, St. Maries, Idaho, and again at Missoula, his father being an official of the Forest Service. He attended grade schools here for a part of his elementary education and also attended Missoula county high school from which he was graduated in June, 1939.

After receiving his high school diploma, he entered the Anderson Trade school of Los Angeles, and from there went to work in the Douglas Aircraft plant at Los Angeles. Then he went into the glider service of the United States army air corps and continued in that work at various fields, including Albuquerque, until this branch was curtailed, when he was given an honorable discharge. He became an instructor at the Missoula airfield last April. He remained in the Air Corps Reserves, after being discharged as a sergeant.

He is survived by his parents, a brother, Robert, who is in California, and a sister, Mary, at the family home, 220 Brooks Street.

Clyde Reynolds

Clyde Reynolds, a veteran of the First World war, had been a flying instructor since the early spring, when he gave up his duties at The New Mint, where he had been employed by Orin Dishman for almost twenty years, the latter said. Reynolds had worked the night shift at that business establishment while perfecting himself in flying during the daytime.

Born in 1900 in Oklahoma, Reynolds came to the Bitter Root with his parents, who still maintain the family home at Darby. He served in both the Navy and the Army, and was severely wounded in an explosion during the First World war. Afterward he was a patient at a veterans’ hospital for an extended period while his injuries were healing. For a long time he was required to wear knee braces. After recovering, he came to Missoula to work for the Hart Refinery for a while, then went to the New Mint.

He was married, residing with his wife on Sussex avenue. Besides his parents there are two brothers, Raymond of Missoula and Claude of Enumclaw, Wash, and three sisters, Mrs. Chris Boding and Mrs. John Barthlu of Missoula and Mrs. Campbell of Bremerton.

Student Records

Student Pilot Richards was born in 1923 at Tarrytown, N. Y., where his mother, Mrs. Margaret Richards now resides. He has two brothers in military service, one in the Army and one in the Navy. Officers at the training center state that he was an excellent soldier and had but one desire, that of becoming a top pursuit pilot.

Student Pilot Schwenter was born in 1916 at Detroit, Mich., and is married to SPAR Leora Jane Schwenter, who is stationed at New London, Conn. Like Richards, Schwenter was considered a top soldier and his great desire was to become a bomber pilot. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Schwenter, reside in Detroit.

 

The above article appeared in The Daily Missoulian on September 11, 1943.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/349322277

 

An article in The Daily Missoulian on May 6, 1943 briefly explained the new Montana State University Aviation program:

1,700 Pilots Being Trained In State Now

“Four Civil Aeronautics administration war training service centers in Montana are currently training approximately 1,700 Army, Navy and service pilots, the Civil Aeronautics administration in Washington D. C. has announced.

“Included in the list of 400 training centers throughout the United States are the Johnson Flying service here, the Morrison Flying service at Helena, the Gillis Flying service at Billings, and the Lynch Flying service at Bozeman.

“Since the beginning of the program under CAA in 1939, three classes of men have been trained at Missoula, A. S. Merrill, Montana State University coordinator, said. From 1939 to July 1942, civilians were trained. From July until the arrival of the Army air force college training detachment at the University two months ago, college Army and Navy reservists received pilot training at the Johnson Flying service. Now Army aviation students are receiving some preliminary work at the field.”

https://www.newspapers.com/image/349337595/?terms=aviation%2Bstudent%2Bpilots

 

Announcement of an Army Air Cadet Program at the University in Missoula occurred in February of 1943. The War Department at that time began to induct thousands of cadet students in schools and colleges across the country. Regular campus students in Missoula were notified in February that they were required to vacate all residence halls and dormitories in preparation for the arrival of the Army Cadets. Major George F. Heickes was assigned to take over the program in Missoula. Dr. E. O. Melby, president of the University, welcomed the program, stating, “Montana State University welcomes this opportunity to put its facilities and staff into direct national service to the country.” A Kaimin student newspaper editorial from February 19, 1943, stated, “The armed services which are soon to be stationed on our campus have but one duty – to win the war and to win it as quickly as possible.”

 

What was life like for the student pilots at Missoula? One of them wrote a telling letter to his mother that appeared in The Daily Missoulian in April of 1943:

Missoula, Mont;

April 26, 1943,

Dear Mom:

I’m sorry I’ve been so slow in writing, but the schedule here at Montana State University has been plenty tough. Incidentally, the correct name of this outfit is the Army air force college training detachment.

For military reasons I can’t tell the number of men in training here, but I can give you an idea of my life in the Army for the last nine weeks.

We weren’t aviation cadets but aviation students and will not become cadets until we go to an Army pre-flight school. We now are privates in the Army and receive a buck private’s pay. Montana State University is a pre-pre-flight school, where we are trained mostly in academic subjects. Actual flying time in Cub trainers at the Missoula airport probably will be limited.

How long I will train here or where I will go when I finish, I don’t know. But I do know that some of the men will be leaving ahead of the others. Apparently the school will operate on a rotation plan, with the more advanced students finishing courses sooner than others.

The average age of the men is around 21. Some are members of the Army enlisted reserve and were called recently to active duty while others were enlistees. Most of the men are from the West coast states.

Missoula residents and the University have entertained us royally. Montana Masquers gave a special showing of “Liliom,” winter quarter dramatics production which had been presented to the University and townspeople. A University dance was planned for the following week-end but we were placed under quarantine again and an Army talent show was whipped up for us by Larrae Haydon, University dramatics director who worked last year as an Army recreational director.

Except for eight hours in San Francisco, the week-end of March 20 was our first general leave since our induction into the Army. We were released Saturday at 3 p.m. and were off until Sunday at 5 p.m. A USO dance was given Saturday night downtown.

On March 27 we were granted another general leave and were introduced to the University co-eds at a party given at the Student Union where we could dance, play cards, ping pong, billiards, or just sit and chat.

That afternoon and Friday night the Army-University show, “Air Force Antics of 1943,” was presented. This show featured both campus and air force detachment talent. The high spot of the show was a masculine interpretation of the Conga with 10 fellows clumsily prancing around the stage.

Well, enough of the morale element and more of our schedule. Because two shifts are served for each meal, the schedules for the men vary. However, my schedule is fairly typical. Everyone is aroused at 5:25 when the C. Q. sounds the bell. The sun hasn’t started to peek its head over Mount Sentinel, rising 2,000 feet above the campus.

Reveille comes at 5:40. The first breakfast is served at 6:30 and the second is at 7:15. Between reveille and mess we must clean our rooms. These quarters are the best Army barracks I have seen. They are really first class, especially after the one at the reception center. We are quartered in the regular University residence halls. University students were moved into sorority and fraternity houses and private homes previous to our arrival.

For those who eat first breakfast, classes start at 7:15. Mine start at 8 with a math class. I have classes straight through until 6 p.m. with one hour out for lunch. From 9 to 10 I have physics followed by a two-hour lab period. From 1 to 2 I study medical aid; 2 to 3, geography; 3 to 4 English; 4 to 5, physical education, and 5 to 6 military drill.

Our training is done in flights which correspond to the normal Army platoon. We march to and from class in these flights, counting cadence or singing as we swing along. When we enter the classroom, we stand at attention until the instructor puts us at ease. Our instructors are treated as commissioned officers and the class is conducted according to military standards.

Evening mess is served at 5:30 and 6:05 and chow is really good. No beefs have arisen over treatment here. Of course there is the usual kidding and banter which is always present but means little.

Every evening immediately following mess we stand at “retreat.” This colorful event brings all aviation students together in formation. When the detail for the day has been given, we are dismissed and are free to spend the next hour at the Student Union, providing we have not been assigned to supervised study. This is the hour for which the majority of us have been waiting. The lounge, game room and fountain provide relaxation and a chance to enjoy a few minutes with the coeds or our wives.

By 8 p.m. we are back in our quarters waiting for mail call. Right after mail call comes two hours of study. Lights go out at 10 p.m. as taps echo across the campus.

Courses here are very intensive. Every class has been streamlined to a point where we are expected to cover work that normally would require two years of regular college study. In history it is not uncommon to cover four centuries of material in one class period. One of the fellows dropped his pencil in class the other day and while he was picking it up, his class had covered three centuries of vital historical events.

Members of the academic instructional staff include University professors carrying extra loads, high school instructors, and former teachers hired by the University to instruct the air force men. Military personnel is responsible for military instruction and discipline.

Don’t worry about my health. It is carefully watched over by an Army medical officer and his staff. Our recreation is directed by Army personnel and Larrae Hayden, University social director for the Army. A barber shop, exclusively for Army use, has been established on campus. Now if we had a movie theater, everything would be complete. All kidding aside, mom, the setup here is perfect. No worries, except for keeping the uniform clean, straightening up the room, studying, wondering how long we will be here, where we go from here, and how the family and girl back home are getting long.

Will try and drop a line again soon, but please write to me often, Love,

BOB.

The above author was not identified. The letter appeared in The Daily Missoulian on April 27, 1943.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/349335192

Kaimin editorial – 2/19/1943

https://scholarworks.umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3049&context=studentnewspaper