aviation – TEXAS HISTORY NOTEBOOK

Jimmie Hudson Kolp

Jimmie Allene Hudson was born April 13, 1904 in Copperas Cove, Coryell County, Texas to Robert L. Hudson (1871 – 1912) and Ollie Maye Thompson Hudson (1873 – 1961). Jimmie was the middle child of three siblings. In the 1900 census, Robert’s profession was listed as “dreyman” which was a term to describe a person who drove a flat bed wagon. In 1910, Robert’s profession was listed as being a carrier for the United States mail. No cause of death is noted, but Robert passed away two years later at the age of forty when Jimmie was just eight years old. In 1914, Ollie Maye married a doctor named William Arthur Gault (1867 – 1950). Dr. Gault had been born in Travis County and was a member of the large family that included lawman Maney Gault, who was a cousin. Dr. Gault and Ollie later settled in Electra, Texas were he continued his medical practice.

Azellia and Hulon White

Hulon Lincoln “Pappy” White was a native Texan. He was born on December 10, 1912 to Henry White and Lela F. Askey White in Gonzales, Texas. He earned his pilot’s license in 1941 and between 1941 and 1945, he was a civilian employee of the Army Air Corps in Tuskegee, Alabama. At the Tuskegee Army Air Base, he was a mechanic and instructor for cadets, many of whom went on to serve in the 332nd Fighter Group, the “Tuskegee Airmen.”

Howard Hughes and TWA

Howard Hughes (1905-1976) was born in Houston, Texas and died on a flight returning to Houston from Mexico. Hughes had always had a strong interest in aviation and over the years owned either outright or a controlling interest in various aviation-related entities, including commercial airlines TWA and Northwest Airlines (briefly) and aircraft manufacturing.

Marion Stegeman Hodgson, Winning Her Wings

Marian Stegeman Hodgson was born December 16, 1921 in Athens, Georgia. She earned her degree in journalism from the University of Georgia in the spring of 1941, not quite six months prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Around that time the federal government had instituted a flight training program called the Civilian Pilot Training Program, or CPT, and during her senior year, she was selected to participate. Part of the planning was to admit one female for every ten male trainees.

Howard Hughes’ Around the World Flight

Some people may only remember Howard Hughes in his senior years as having been an unkempt, reclusive and eccentric billionaire living in a secluded hotel room in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hughes was born on December 24, 1905 in Humble, Texas to Howard R. Hughes, Sr. and Allene Stone Gano. He was an heir to the Hughes Tool Company. During his lifetime, he was also known as a successful businessman, investor, film director, record setting pilot, among his other achievements.