Tulsa World: WWII British fliers eyed

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WWII British fliers eyed
Thousands of Britons came to Oklahoma for fighter pilot training.

Brandon Holland (the plane's owner) and Pilot Bob Prater fly over Royal Air Force Day at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum in a BT-13 plane on Saturday. MIKE SIMONS / Tulsa World

By DAVID HARPER World Staff Writer
Published: 7/19/2009 2:32 AM
Last Modified: 7/19/2009 4:13 AM

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

That's what Winston Churchill said of those whose bravery saved the free world while he served as the British prime minister during World War II.

On Saturday, some of those few were remembered at a "Royal Air Force Day" ceremony at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and Planetarium, 3624 N. 74th E. Ave.

During World War II — and even for several months before the United States entered the conflict — thousands of young British men streamed into Oklahoma to receive the flight training in Miami and Ponca City that would make them Royal Air Force fighter pilots.

Graham Coe, 72, said that Saturday's ceremony "brought back memories of my father and really all of the people who served in the RAF."

Coe, a native of Wales, said up until he was about eight years old he didn't see much of his father, who was stationed on the ground crew at an RAF base in Manston, England, during World War II.

Coe was lucky. Unlike many British boys, his father eventually came back from the war.

He got to hear his father's stories of surviving the continuous German air raids and of the Allied forces who staved off and defeated Hitler.

The fact that so many British pilots received their training in Oklahoma received some renewed publicity in 1995 when many of the veterans visited the state as part of an event tied to the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Still, many Oklahomans are perhaps more familiar with the tales of German prisoners of war that were held in Oklahoma than with the flight training that took place in Miami and Ponca City.

Paula K. Denson, 64, said that when she was a girl in Ponca City, she would hear her mother point out "where the British trained."

However, she said it wasn't until later that she became fascinated with the historical significance of it, which resulted in her writing the book, "The Royal Air Force in Oklahoma: Lives, Loves and Courage of the British Air Crews Trained in Oklahoma During World War II."

Oklahoma contained two of six British pilot schools in the United States as a product of the Lend Lease Act, which came into being in March, nine months before the U.S. entered the war in the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor.

Kim Jones, curator of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and Planetarium, said that the schools — also located in California, Arizona, Florida and Texas — allowed British trainees to obtain flight instruction away from bases in England that were needed for the ongoing war effort there and which were under constant threat from Hitler's Luftwaffe.

Jones said Saturday's event was planned "to bring up awareness" of a little-known chapter in Oklahoma history.

David Harper 581-8359
david.harper@tulsaworld.com By DAVID HARPER World Staff Writer

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Few Clothes, Austin, TX (7/19/2009 11:01:23 AM)

A big Thank You to the RAF pilots.

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