Letter from Call Field

Recently, a fellow researcher discovered and alerted me to a letter in our archives from Berkeley Taylor to his friend, James D. Booth of Longmeadow. Dated July 7, 1918, and written on Call Field letterhead, the letter brings us back to the early days of aviation during World War I.

When the U.S. entered World War I, officials quickly realized that the new airplane technology could play a decisive role in winning the war. Mobilization efforts included not only building aircraft but also training pilots to fly these airplanes. The letter from Berkeley connects Longmeadow and Springfield to both of these military endeavors.

Berkeley Taylor, who grew up in Longmeadow, was eight years old when the Wright brothers first flew at Kitty Hawk in 1903; intrigued, he developed a life-long passion for flying. He joined the military two months after the U.S. entered the war and he became part of the aviation corps. Taylor learned to fly at the Curtiss Flying School and, in October 1917, he became a licensed pilot. Skilled at flying, as well as a natural teacher and leader, Berkeley Taylor became an aviation instructor, working first at Mineola, NY, then at Call Field in Wichita Falls, TX.  

Flying an airplane in 1918 was not for the faint of heart. Military pilots needed to learn showy maneuvers such as looping the loop and corkscrews so that they could avoid enemy fire during a dogfight – in an airplane with an open cockpit. Training itself could be hazardous and many men were injured or lost their lives during training exercises – there were 34 fatalities at Call Field alone. Berkeley Taylor was one of the injured. As described in the Springfield Republican, “While giving a lesson March 25 looping the loop and other difficult maneuvers the machine went into a tail-spin and not being sufficiently high in the air to make the turn crashed to the earth.” Taylor was severely injured; he recuperated in Longmeadow, returning to his duties at Call Field in June 1918. 

Several weeks later, he wrote the July letter to his friend Jim Booth back home in Longmeadow. Transcribed below, the letter gives us a lively glimpse of Berkeley Taylor’s experiences at Call Field. Undeterred by his recent crash, Taylor evidently continued to push the limits of his aircraft as he experimented with new flying techniques.

July 7, 1918

 Dear Jim:-

 I am sorry not to have answered your letter sooner but with the thermometer at 110° in the afternoon and an average of 4 hrs flying to do in a day with the cockpit 115° I am glad to be able to write you today. I’m glad to hear you have cleaned up the college exams. Here’s wishing you the best of summers.

We have no word of commissions here yet; expecting that they are coming through soon(?). I was walking out of the post last Saturday when I overheard a cadet say that there were some Springfield Curtisses just come in and I was glad to hear it. This school is equipped only with Curtiss machines now and is used entirely for advanced work; I think we will start night flying in a few weeks. The first week’s work was very interesting and the surrounding country is mapped out and suitable fields have been chosen for cross-country work and I have had lots of fun finding them and looking them over. Last week we spent teaching stunt flying and incidentally I pulled a new one for this field. It is called a corkscrew and consists of twisting completely over while traveling in a straight line; I got by with it all right although my form wasn’t proper by any means as we lost 1000 ft of altitude. These curtisses look very comfortably contrary to the opinion of the officers here, who probably try to pull them over in too much of a hurry.

To answer your questions Jim: the plate holder and film tank are yours but I prefer to retain ownership of the drawing sedan. I fully expect to have use for it later. You may however use it until I need it; certainly not for some time.

Give my regards to your mother Jim. And accept my wishes for a prosperous summer.

From your friend.

Berk.

The “Curtisses” that "Berk" was referring to were Curtiss JN-4D aircraft. Popularly known as a Curtiss “Jenny”, it was a training airplane. It is estimated that more than ninety percent of American pilots trained during World War I were trained to fly on the Curtiss Jenny. After the war, decommissioned Jennys became the principal aircraft flown by barnstormers at aerial circuses that toured the country during the 1920s. One of these airshows was held at Dunn Field in Longmeadow during Labor Day weekend in 1927. The Jenny was so iconic that it was featured on the first airmail stamps which were issued in 1918.

Berkeley Taylor also mentions that the “Springfield Curtisses” had just arrived at Call Field. What were “Springfield Curtisses”? They were Curtiss Jenny airplanes which had been manufactured in Springfield, Massachusetts by Springfield Aircraft Corporation. Founded in mid-1917 to help the war effort, Springfield Aircraft Corporation leased and retooled the Wason Manufacturing plant to build Curtiss JN-4D airplanes. The Wason Manufacturing facility, which was located on Wason Avenue in the Brightwood section of Springfield, had previously manufactured street railway and trolley cars.

Curtiss JN-4D aircraft were originally built in Buffalo, NY, but wartime demand for the training planes rapidly overcame production capacity in Buffalo. Contracts to build the airplanes were awarded to six other American manufacturers: Fowler Airplane Corporation, Liberty Iron Works, St. Louis Aircraft Corporation, U.S. Aircraft Corporation, Howell & Lesser, and the aforementioned Springfield Aircraft Corporation. Why would Springfield be considered a prime city to build airplanes? According to the Springfield Republican, “…one of the chief reasons for locating the aircraft factory in this city is the large number of highly-trained mechanics to be found here.”

The JN-4D airplane in the National Air and Space Museum (pictured below) was one of the aircraft built by Springfield Aircraft Corporation. According to the Smithsonian Institution’s website, the plane was one of 585 JN-4D Jennys built at the Springfield plant; it cost the government $4,954.34 to build.

Government funding for new training aircraft ended abruptly with the November 1918 armistice. Used Jenny airplanes were widely available for purchase and demand for new aircraft vanished. Springfield Aircraft Corporation was unable to survive and it closed its doors in 1921.

For more information on the airshow at Dunn Field or on the very interesting life of Berkeley Taylor, please see our History Notes articles on the Longmeadow Historical Society website at www.longmeadowhistorical society.org.

Sources:

Longmeadow Historical Society archives

Smithsonian Air & Space Museum

Springfield Republican: September 22, 1917; April 11, 1918; June 18, 1918

Parsons & Atwater, Charles Parsons, and Endicott & Co. Wason Manufacturing Company of Springfield, Mass. - railway car builders, car wheels and general railway, work / sketched & on stone by Parsons & Atwater. Massachusetts Springfield, 1872. [New York: Endicott & Co. Lith. 57 Beekman St., ?] Photograph.

Jonathan Hale Goldthwait: Engraver of Maps

The Goldthwait family of Longmeadow had several talented and artistic members: Jonathan Hale Goldthwait (1811-1870) was an engraver, creating many detailed and beautiful maps; his niece Martha Chapin Goldthwait (1862-1934) was a talented watercolorist, producing delightful illustrations of Longmeadow homes, and Flavel Goldthwait (1799-1836) was a cabinetmaker and maker of musical instruments.

Longmeadow Historical Society is very fortunate to have a collection of early maps--from the 1831 map of Longmeadow, an 1833 map of New England, and an 1855 geological map of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, among others. One of this author's favorites is a small map titled "A Miniature County Map of the United States, 1842." The map, measuring a modest 15" by 12 1/2", indeed has all of the counties at the time written out in minuscule text onto a map of the then United States.  Surrounding the map are small vignettes of famous places, including Niagara Falls and the State House in Boston. To the right is the proud signature of the map's engraver--J. H. Goldthwait, for Jonathan Hale Goldthwait. We had always wondered about the small size of the map, and the paper it was printed on--a glossy, cardboard-like material.

Goldthwait also created maps of railways, bridges, and other local towns such as Chicopee. He advertised a business location at the Springfield Hotel in 1834, and the state census of 1865 lists his occupation as "engraver of maps." 

The Longmeadow Historical Society's collection includes the 1831 map, the Miniature map of 1842, and a map of Springfield from 1835 by George Colton, engraved by Jonathan.  

According to a 2017 blog by Historic Deerfield's now-retired Librarian and Curator of Maps, David Bosse, Jonathan Hale Goldthwait traveled to Boston c.1828 at the age of 17. He planned to learn the trade of engraving by apprenticing to a bank note engraver.  J.H. Goldthwait returned to the Longmeadow area by 1834 to engrave the George Colton map. 

Goldthwait owned a copy of George Bickham's "The Universal Penman," from which he may have learned how to create beautiful and intricate fonts. This edition of the book, published in London in 1743 was later owned by Jonathan's half-brother Flavel, and later by William Goldthwait. 

It may be seen today in the Library at Historic Deerfield, having been donated by Trustee Emeritus Joseph Peter Spang.

 See more articles about the Goldthwaits on our website at:

 https://www.longmeadowhistoricalsociety.org/post/the-lives-and-legacies-of-the-william-goldthwaits, 

https://www.longmeadowhistoricalsociety.org/post/martha-chapin-goldthwait-1863-1934

https://www.longmeadowhistoricalsociety.org/post/the-1831-map-of-longmeadow

https://www.longmeadowhistoricalsociety.org/post/stop-thief-the-mystery-of-the-missing-gun 

Great Guns!

Fourth of July Fireworks in downtown Springfield are a treasured part of people’s holiday celebrations. But you may be surprised to learn that they have a history dating back to the years of the American Revolution - and not just in July. Fireworks, cannons, and rockets marked celebrations then as well and were important in a time before modern media and WiFi as a way to let people in surrounding areas know there was news to be shared.

An aged Reverend Stephen Williams of Longmeadow recorded many details of life in the greater Springfield area during the war years. Its location on the Connecticut River made the area a busy place for military recruiting, deployments, and weapons storage and repair. It was during this time that the Springfield Arsenal - the precursor to the Springfield Armory - was a hub of military activity.

On the night of October 17, 1781, Reverend Williams sat to record in his diary, “this day the Great Guns were fired at the Town, & in the Evening Sky rockets were played off & other fire works. This in remembrance of General Burgoyne’s surrender. I am sorry such measures were gone into…”  In Williams’ diary any mention of “Town” means Springfield - not Longmeadow - as Longmeadow was a precinct of Springfield and not an independent town until 1783. From his parsonage located next door to the meetinghouse on the green, it was easy to hear the “great guns” firing just a few miles up the road in what we know now as the Court Square area of Springfield.  

In a turning point of the American Revolution, British General John Burgoyne surrendered to American General Horatio Gates near Saratoga, New York that October day back in 1777, and clearly it was a day worth remembering in Springfield. As for why Reverend Williams was “sorry such measures were gone into,” that had less to do with any supposed Tory leanings on his part and more to do with the fact that celebrations inevitably wound up in taverns, and drunken revelry and taverns went hand in hand. Few things upset the pious religious in New England more than drunkeness because one sin so easily begat another.

Less than a month later on November 6, 1781 more news of victory caught Reverend Williams’ attention: “this day was kept at Town as a day of rejoicing upon account of Earl Cornwallis’ being taken. The Great Guns fired (Bells at Town and here were rung) in that Evening the rockets played off the Court House, and the Taverns illuminated -”

It’s exciting to imagine what those guns, rockets, and fireworks might have sounded like across the border in Longmeadow, and how curious residents likely stepped forth from their homes to try to figure out what the guns were signifying. The news was just as likely to be spread by word of mouth by a passerby on foot or horseback as it was by letter or print. How many children were sent out as messengers by their parents to run along and spread the word to neighbors and cousins up and down Longmeadow Street?

Sadly, Reverend Williams passed away in June 1782 before decisive victory was ever declared in the war that set the colonies free from Great Britain. If anyone knows what THAT celebration looked like in 1783 after the signing of the Treaty of Paris please let us know!  

-Contributed by Melissa M. Cybulski, Longmeadow Historical Society

Sources:

King, Moses, ed. King’s Handbook of Springfield, Massachusetts. Springfield, MA: James D. Gill, 1884. 

Williams, Stephen. Diary Vol. 10.  (Manuscript) accessed at https://www.longmeadowlibrary.org/stephen-williams-diary-online/