When hurricanes head into the Gulf, we all start to wonder when, where and how bad will landfall be. The storm updates and forecasts we keep up with have a lot to do with the legacy of Col. Joseph Duckworth.
Duckworth arrived at Columbus Army Air Field (originally Kaye Field) in early 1942 as a major and director of training. He became a popular figure in Columbus where he was known as “Joe Duck” and resided in a northside antebellum home, Magnolia Hill. On base he was known simply as “The Duck.” Before he left the Columbus base in 1943, he had become a lieutenant colonel and group commander.
Prior to the 1940s, devastating hurricanes could surprise coastal communities, such as the Galveston hurricane of 1900 and the Pensacola to Gulfport hurricane of 1916. Other than warnings from ships at sea, horrendous storms could strike with little notice. That all changed after Duckworth bet some British pilots a “highball” (traditionally whiskey and carbonated water or ginger ale over ice) he could fly a T-6 “Texan” single engine trainer through a hurricane. It became an adventure that changed the way we look at weather forecasting.
In 1943, Lt. Col. Duckworth became commander of the Army Air Forces “Instructors’ School (Instrument Pilot)” at Bryan, Texas. On the morning of July 27, 1943, a hurricane was making landfall near Galveston, Texas. Duckworth and Lt. Ralph O’Hair were having breakfast with some veteran British pilots who were at the base learning the finer points of instrument flying. The British were kidding Duckworth because American airplanes were being flown away from the storm’s path and they made jokes about the frailty of what they considered the unreliable AT-6 Texan.
Duckworth got tired of the ribbing and bet the British a “highball” he could fly through the storm in a T-6. No pilot had ever intentionally flown through a hurricane before as it was considered too dangerous. The British took Duckworth up on the bet and he and O’Hair went for the ride of a lifetime.
They took off from Bryan Field and headed for Galveston in an AT-6 trainer. As they approached Galveston, the air traffic control tower at the Houston Airport asked them on the radio if they realized there was a hurricane. When informed of their plans, the tower asked where to send the search parties to find their wreckage.
O’Hair later recalled “being tossed about like a stick in a dog’s mouth” until they entered the eye. They completed the flight and returned to Bryan Field, the first pilots to intentionally fly through a hurricane.
Upon landing they were met by the base weather officer, Lt. William Jones-Burdick, who wanted to fly back through the storm and collect data. He climbed into the airplane and Duckworth flew through the storm a second time. Lt. Jones-Burdick made observations and those observations showed the importance of the weather data gained through the flight.
An idea was born for the use of aircraft in studying and tracking hurricanes. One of today’s most important tools for tracking tropical storms and gauging their strength and potential are the Hurricane Hunters of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi. The first aircraft to fly through the eye of a hurricane and make weather observations was not a four engine WC-130J “Super Hercules” as flown by the Hurricane Hunters. It was a single engine AT-6 “Texan” trainer flown by “Joe Duck.”
However, his hurricane flight is not what Col. Duckworth is most known for. His innovations in training instructor pilots and in instrument instruction led to his being known as the “father of Air Force instrument flying.” It also resulted in Duckworth and base commander Col. L.C. Mallory being featured in a Nov. 30, 1942, Time Magazine article, “Teaching the Teachers.”
During early 1942, the Army Air Forces was experiencing an excessive rate of pilot training accidents and fatalities at all of its training bases. At the twin engine advanced flying school the Army had just opened at Columbus, base commander Col. Louie C. Mallory decided to do something about the problem. He assigned his training director, Maj. Duckworth, to figure out the problem and fix it. Duckworth, a pre-war long time Eastern Airlines pilot, had 12,500 flight hours.
Duckworth found most of the problems centered on the twin engine A-29 Lockheed Hudson. Instructor pilots hated it and said it was “full of green dragons.” It was the transition trainer to the B-26 bomber which combat pilots “loved.” What Duckworth found was the instructor pilots were not sufficiently trained to teach cadets how to fly a trainer-bomber that was “mighty hot to fledglings.”
In 1940, Air Corps pilot training was for a period of one year but by November 1942 it had been reduced to six months. In addition, a pilot in 1940 was not assigned to a multi-engine bomber until he had at least 1,000 hours flight time. In 1942, Duckworth found multi-engine bomber instructor pilots who only had three hours of multi-engine bomber instructor flight time before becoming instructors.
Duckworth realized the instructor pilots were not being properly trained to teach cadets how to fly the A-29 trainer-bomber. Duckworth reported back to Mallory and the qualifications to become an instructor pilot at Columbus were upgraded. In addition, a “Flying Evaluation Board” of four officers to evaluate and retrain instructors was established. He also found a deficiency in instrument flying training and started the “full panel attitude system of instrument flying.”
Between May and October 1942 the number of students at Columbus doubled, but the number of accidents decreased by 44 percent. Soon instructor pilots from bases as far away as the Pacific Coast were sent to Columbus to be evaluated. Then in November 1942, Major Gen. Ralph Royce put newly promoted Lt. Col. Duckworth’s system in place throughout the entire 56 station Southeast Training Command.
In 1943, Lt. Col. Duckworth became commander of the Army Air Forces “Instructors’ School (Instrument Pilot)” at Bryan, Texas. Col. Duckworth retired from the Air Force in 1955 and served for a time as the head of the safety bureau of the Civil Aeronautics Board in Washington, D.C. He died in 1964 in Battle Creek, Michigan.
The significant innovations in pilot training developed by Col. Duckworth began at Columbus Army Air Field. His legacy remains at Columbus Air Force Base with the continued training of the world’s best pilots. His legacy is remembered in the naming after him of the Base Operations Building.
Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.