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.