Page 10 - Aerotech News and Review July 1 2016

High Desert Hangar Stories with Bob Alvis
Special to Aerotech News In a control tower on the coast of New Jersey Lou in desperation’ voice told the tower “This is
Mary Lou had acquired a shiny new Lockheed the operations crew had no idea the trouble that Lockheed P-38 declaring a fuel emergency, I’m a
Spending time with the Aerotech crew this P-38 Lightning to ferry from the West Coast was heading their way in a mass migration of women and I’m nine months pregnant!”
weekend at their production retreat to plan for to New Jersey where all the planes being sent hundreds of brand new warbirds.
the future I was inspired by all the great ladies overseas were being prepared. So off she went After a moment of silence a voice came on
that make the publication what it is today — a heading into one of the greatest stateside aviation With topped off tanks, Mary Lou was confi- her radio and said, “Lockheed P-38 declaring a
success! nightmares of World War II. dent that this flight would be no different from fuel emergency this is the base commander and I
the others she had flown but she never expected want to know who authorized you to fly in your
So in their honor here’s a story I hope they As she was approaching Kansas City, all planes the insanity that she was about to get into on the condition?”
will appreciate, and make them smile along with were being instructed to land anywhere from Chi- East Coast.
you the readers! cago to New Orleans. There was a complete blan- A frustrated Mary Lou pushed her mic but-
keting of the East Coast from the Mississippi to Calling in for landing instructions, she was told ton and replied, “With all due respects sir, but
Driving down Highway 14 from the Antelope the Atlantic with a thick cloud covering! to hold in a pattern a great distance from the field I wasn’t in this condition when I entered your
Valley to the LA basin, you will pass the Eternal and to be aware of heavy air traffic in the vicinity damn endless landing pattern!”
Valley Cemetery in Newhall. Looking up to the Days came and went, and frustration set in as of the airport.
very top of the hill, right under the American flag pilots wanting to get back in the air were stuck on Mary Lou was cleared right in and, as she
and as close to the sky as you can get, rests one the ground with clipped wings. After four days, The tower was now trying to get hundreds coasted to the end of the field in a sea of tired
great lady that was born to fly; and boy did she the weather finally cleared and Mary Lou took to of aircraft on the ground and they were being pilots and their planes, a jeep showed up to take
ever fly! the skies to complete the last leg of her journey, overwhelmed. Quickly the landing pattern was Mary Lou to headquarters for what she thought
as did hundreds of others! expanded to three — with an inner pattern and was going to be very sharp dress down. But that
Mary Lou (Colbert) Neale was born Oct. 6, two outer patterns — and the pilots were to fly never happened and, not wanting to push her
1914, in Alaska to Rear Adm. Leo Colbert, and from one to the other until they ended up in the luck, found the next quickest flight back to the
his wife, Florentine. From her very first breath, home pattern. This worked great except just get- West Coast!
Mary Lou was setting herself on a path for a life ting the pilots into the outer pattern was just as
of adventure and daring. much a nightmare. Mary Lou is typical of those women pilots of
World War II that, even though they were short-
In World War II, Mary Lou became the first Mary Lou kept calling in for landing instruc- changed by the system, managed to get the most
Wasp (Women’s Airforce Service Pilot) to sign tions with the answer continuing to be “hold posi- out of those few years of flying the very best of
up for flight training and before long she found tion we will advise.” American production and being a part of a pro-
herself in the cockpits of all the hot American gram that would define them for the rest of their
fighters rolling off the production lines. This went on for quite a while and Mary Lou, lives.
keeping an eye on her fuel gauges, started to get
Not able to fly combat missions, she and her nervous and was now calling in more often — So next time you’re stuck on the “14” in the
stable mates had the task of getting those fighters always being told the same thing. Newhall Pass and your frustration starts to get the
to the front lines. As such, all those planes leav- best of you, look over to the top of that hill and
ing for war torn Europe had to get to the East So the time came where fuel was now a real that American flag at Eternal Valley and remem-
Coast so they could be packed, put on ships and problem and she made the call she didn’t want to ber the best of our nation, Mary Lou, and how,
sent on their way. make, declaring a fuel emergency. Thinking this even under pressure in a desperate situation, a
was her ticket to get down, she was still met with humorous line saved the day and generations later
So here is where our story starts. After her the same response and now the sweat was really put a smile on our faces.
funeral, her lifelong Husband Ray (who was an starting flow in that Lightning’s cockpit.
instructor in the Army Air Corps) shared a story Till next time Bob out …
of his love Mary Lou that left us all with a smile. Desperation and a thirsty airplane put Mary
Lou into a “Whatever it takes” mentality and so
she keyed her microphone and in a true ‘Mary

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10 Aerotech News and Review July 1, 2016

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