Page 16 - Aerotech News and Review – October 3, 2025

16 October 3, 2025 www.aerotechnews.com
High Desert Hangar Stories
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RemembeRing heRo said to Roam the foRmeR pilot school
by Bob Alvis
special to Aerotech News
Halloween comes around every year and stories of the paranor- mal become the subject of fascination. People find them an entertaining mystery because human nature is always being challenged by things we cannot see or explain.
The military is never short on yarns with more unexplained events and individuals who have crossed over into the realm of the unknown.
I have several stories of haunts and the unex- plained when it comes to the Air Force and aviators. The tale of a phantom P-38 Lightning in World War II was the one I was going to share, but another haunt from World War II made its way into my conscious- ness and tells me it’s the one I need to share.
Years ago, I wrote an article about a young RAF pilot, Cadet Meyer Ber- nard Himelstaub who made his way to America for training at Lancaster’s War Eagle Field/Polaris Flight Academy. It was a tragic story on so many levels, as the young ca- det was a World War II refugee who had escaped Poland after the German invasion. The Jewish ca- det was forced to leave his family behind in the war- torn Warsaw ghetto.
Cadet Himelstaub, wanting to make a differ- ence and fight back, found his way to England and became a mechanic in the Royal Air Force. It wasn’t long until his pilot’s appli- cation was accepted, and he was off to training via the Lend-Lease program with the United States. He came to California to train with other British cadets at War Eagle Field.
The story that started out as just another cadet training for war turned into a tragedy. About half- way through his training, March winds in the An- telope Valley were blow- ing the dust hard. As he
Courtesy photograph
An RAF Cadet Class at War Eagle Field, Lancaster, Calif., during World War II.
Photograph by Bob Alvis
Cadet Meyer Bernard Himelstaub’s headstone at the Lancaster Cemetery, Lancaster, Calif. Pioneer Section: 5-D-78.
Courtesy photograph
War Eagle Field in Lancaster Calif., during World War II.
Photograph by Bob Alvis
Royal Air Force and Royal Navy personnel visit the grave of their fellow pilot from World War II. Currently, British personnel are stationed at Edwards Air Force base with the F-35 program.
was walking along the f light line, shielding his face from the winds and dust, he was struck and killed in a very violent way by a taxiing airplane, and the haunting story of the ghost of War Eagle Field was born from the tragedy.
Many years after the war, the old airfield was sold off to become a jail facility for the county. Rumors of a young pilot roaming the quarters and halls of the old field began to be told. It was not just a few stories, but many came forward to talk of their encounters of the troubled soul who wan- dered about the field.
A while back one of those paranormal TV shows came calling and wanted to tour the old jail facility and see if they could discover paranor- mal activity from the pris- on aspect of the old field. They didn’t know that after being introduced to
me, a different story would come to life.
When I told the tragic story, I started to worry that the young cadet’s leg- acy would become more of a sideshow that would be turned into something less than honorable, and I was glad that the show content had been cut when I saw the finished product that was more about the- ater than facts.
Over the years, the ghost of War Eagle Field had been subject mat- ter for many Halloween projects and hunters, and I always felt troubled by their need to exploit the tragedy to promote or entertain. The journey of the young cadet to fight back against the evil that had imprisoned his family showed dedication— not only to his family, but to all those wronged in the communities he had grown up in.
The day he was killed, the mission of avenging
that wrong would go un- fulfilled and his spirit— knowing that injustice was still happening half- way around the world— would be the unsettling of a young cadet’s soul wandering an old airfield as his earthly mission to help family and others was cut short.
World War II did not have many soldiers’ re- mains returning home to grass-covered hills in their homelands and Ca- det Himelstaub was no exception. He was laid to rest here, in an American small-town cemetery in California with only his fellow classmates to say goodbye. The spirit so far from home was now destined to wander among strangers in a foreign land and over time I did my best to keep his memory alive and maybe put an end to the Halloween im- age of a roaming, home- less ghost.
After the war ended,
his mother and brother had survived and never heard of the death of their son and sibling, only that he was lost somewhere in service in the Pacific region of the war. They never knew there was a grave to be visited That was another sad aspect to the tragic story—they all passed away before the in- formation was passed on, many years after the fact.
The ghostly stories of
Halloween are meant to entertain but many times its best to just let the spir- its seek peace, and honor the life that is left with unfinished business.
Peace, my friends, and peace to all those who never came home. Cadet Hemilstaub, we remember you and respect your ser- vice to the world you lost on that tragic day.
Until next time, Bob out . . .