6/17/2009 6:00:00 PM
VICKERS/Roscoe Turner: an aviation icon
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By OVID VICKERS
When people think about Mississippians who have made a name for themselves in the field of aviation, Al and Fred Key of Meridian immediately come to mind. In 1935, the Key brothers generated a great deal of publicity for themselves and for the state with their endurance flight when they stayed in the air over East Central Mississippi for almost a month in their plane christened the "Ole Miss."
Any list of Mississippians who have distinguished themselves as pilots should include the name of Roscoe Turner. Turner, one of the most colorful and talked about aviators during the 1920s and '30s, was featured in a recent issue of an American Legion publication. He was born September 29, 1895, in Corinth. Ask any aviation historian for the names of the two individuals who were the most talked about and written about flyers in the 1930s, and the answer will most likely be "Roscoe Turner and Jimmy Doolittle."
Turner and Doolittle were the only pilots to win both the Thompson and Bendix Air Race trophies. (The Thompson Trophy was awarded yearly to the fastest plane in racing a prescribed course. The Bendix Trophy was awarded for the fasted cross-country flight.) It is indeed interesting that Turner not only won the Thompson trophy, he won it three times. Everyone who remembers World War II knows that Doolittle is the pilot who led the famous air raid over Tokyo in 1942.
Turner joined the United States Army in 1917 and served in France. Soon after joining the military, he was commissioned a second lieutenant, and by 1919 he was promoted to first lieutenant. Originally, Turner did not serve as a pilot. However, he was in the air because he acted as an observer in the sky from the basket of a balloon. After the war, he served in the National Guard from 1929 until 1933 as a Lieutenant Colonel.
After World War I, Turner bought an airplane, learned to fly, and joined a great number of pilots known as "barnstormers." These pilots flew from town to town, often landing in pastures or along open roads, and for a small fee took people up to fly over the town and countryside. They also put on flying exhibitions during which they did stunts in the air.
In the 1920s, there was a great deal of interest in long-distance and endurance flying. In 1929, Turner set a new speed record for flying across the continent. After this flight, he became something of a showman among those pilots who were making names for themselves on the " air race" circuit.
Turner acquired a pet lion cub called Gilmore. The cub became his trademark, and wherever he went the cub, often out of its cage, could also be seen. He took great pride in his personal appearance, performing or not, he almost always wore tan breeches, a sky blue jacket and highly polished black riding boots. He always maintained that people gravitate to the persona created by an individual just as much as they do to a person's personality.
Turner also worked as a stunt pilot in motion pictures. He flew in the Howard Hughes film "Hell's Angels" which was made in 1930 and is considered, even today, to contain some of the most thrilling aerial acrobatics ever filmed. The film is considered a landmark in films dealing with air warfare.
By 1932, turner had won the Bendix and Thompson trophies. The following year he was honored as "America's Premier Aviator" by the league of International Aviators. In 1938 and 1939, he again won the Thompson Trophy. In 1940, he retired from aviation competition and made Indianapolis, Indiana, his permanent home.
At age 55 Turner, having only given up competition, not flying, operated a flying school called the Roscoe Turner Aeronautical Corporation. As soon as the United States became involved in World War II, turner began training pilots for the U.S. Air Force. He wanted to join the military and fly but was told by the government that he was more valuable to his country as a trainer of pilots than he would be flying combat missions.
In 1952, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by congress for his contributions to aviation. In 1975, he was elected to the National Aviation Hall of Fame. In 1952, Gilmore the pet lion died. Turner had him stuffed, and he is on display today at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Turner died June 23, 1970.
Air racing was a dangerous activity, and many pilots who had a passion for racing lost their lives flying. In fact, newspapers soften wrote an obituary for a pilot before a big air race took place. Turner was one pilot who beat the odds. This Corinth, Mississippi, native spent his life engaged in three things which brought him pleasure and great fame: air racing, stunt flying, and the U.S. Military. He once said, "Flying is a great thrill, but you are still a man inside. Yes, I have a certain fear that is always with me when I am in the air."
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