W. E. Easterwood, Jr. was a wealthy Dallas businessman who became known for his philanthropy as much as for his enthusiasm for aviation. Easterwood had been born in 1883 in Wills Point. After serving in World War I, he returned to North Texas to earn his wealth in various businesses he started in Wichita Falls. Easterwood later moved to Dallas and became an ambassador for his adopted city.
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British Flying Training Schools in the WWII Era
Prior to the United States’ entry into World War II, a number of joint agreements were instituted between the United States and the United Kingdom, including the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, the British Flying Training Schools and the Arnold Scheme. Each one involved training airmen from the U.K. at facilities in the United States. The British Flying Training School involved seven locations where training was carried out. From west to east, they were Lancaster, California; Mesa, Arizona; Sweetwater, Texas; Terrell, Texas; Ponca City, Oklahoma; Miami, Oklahoma and Clewiston, Florida. The school at Sweetwater was only open a few months, but the school at Terrell was in operation from 1941 to 1945.
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Pyote Army Air Field, the “Enola Gay” and “The Swoose”
(Image credit: aircraftboneyards.com)
The origin of the name of Pyote, Texas is unknown, but possibly derived either from a mispronunciation of the word “coyote” by foreign railroad workers or it was a variation of the word peyote, the name of a local cactus plant. Pyote is located roughly about halfway between Pecos and Monahans in Ward County, Texas. It has had two notable “boomlets” in its history, the first after oil was discovered in the area around 1920 and a second during World War II.
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Lt. Col. William E. Dyess
Lt. Col. William Edward “Ed” Dyess was born August 9, 1916 to Richard T. Dyess, a judge, and Hallie Graham-Dyess in Albany, Texas. Dyess grew up working on the family farm and also held a number of odd jobs. He was a Boy Scout, but had trouble attending meetings while he was also working. The story is told of him that one week, a carnival had performed in Albany about the same time as he brought home a poor report card from school. He is said to have told his parents that it was all right, he was going to join the carnival anyway when he got older.
Wiley Post
Wiley Hardeman Post was born November 22, 1898 near Grand Saline, Van Zandt County, Texas to William Francis and Mae Quinlan Post. His family were cotton farmers and moved to Oklahoma when Wiley was five years old, finally settling close to Maysville. He was exposed to flying at a local county fair when he was about twenty years old. It inspired him to take flying lessons, though he did not begin flying on his own until later but took a construction job.
Texas History Notebook 