Son visits site of British World War II pilot training

  • Published
  • By Joy Ovington
  • Air University Public Affairs
MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. --  Maxwell's International Officer's School hosted Michael Thorpe and his wife Carole of Royston, England, as they toured the base April 23 in honor of Mr. Thorpe's late father, Henry W. "Harry" Thorpe, who was one of over 4,000 British pilots that qualified for combat duty in the Royal Air Force through the Southeast Air Corps Training Center at Maxwell and Gunter from 1941 to 1943.

Present at the luncheon for the Thorpes at the Officer's Club were Col. Michael Homan, director of International Affairs for Air University and commandant of IOS; George McCarthy, Jr., deputy director of International Affairs for AU; and Gregory Baker, AU Foreign Disclosure Policy Officer.

Colonel Homan said, "That's our business here at IOS - building sustainable partnerships that last through time. Maxwell's impact touches generations and spans the globe, and I can't think of a better example than this [hosting the Thorpes]."

Mr. Thorpe said that he looks back on his father's life as being a fantastic achievement.
"He was an ordinary guy just like me, and he must have had a struggle to do this, especially as he was one of the older chaps in his group, being over the age of 30," he said.

According to his son, Henry Thorpe was in the Royal Air Force because "it was at that point in the war when you had to do something - you had to join the war effort." He said his father "wasn't keen on walking," and he could not swim, so he decided the Air Force would be the best bet for him.

In the weeks following the Pearl Harbor attack, Henry Thorpe began his training on the PT Stearman biplane at Carlstrom Field in Arcadia, Fla. He then flew the Vultee Valiant BT13 single-wing monoplane for intermediate pilot training at Gunter Field. Once at Maxwell Field for advanced instruction, he piloted the Harvard AT6A and was awarded his American wings on July 3, 1942. He made 241 training flights in the 10 months he was here.

During his spare time in America, Cadet Thorpe documented his travels in copious letters and his pilot log. In them he especially remembered the kindness of the local Montgomery families, who would come into the camps on the weekends to meet the cadets, take them home and entertain them. One prominent family that lived in the Garden District of town befriended Henry Thorpe in particular, though it was only later that he found out that they had also sent gifts, such as food, and baby things, to his wife and baby Michael in the UK.

Friendships prevailed, especially when Henry and his good pal George went on a hitch-hiking tour to Atlanta and surrounding areas in April 1942. Through decades after the war, Michael Thorpe's parents corresponded with the Montgomery families. While the younger Thorpes were here they toured the same locales written in the letters long ago.

By the time his training neared its end, Henry Thorpe had become involved with arranging entertainment for his group of pilots-in-training. According to the younger Thorpe, the final show his father planned and emceed on June 27, 1942, to celebrate the end of training, occupied his time so much that he forgot to send a fifth wedding anniversary card to his wife back in Wembly, England.

After pilot training, Henry Thorpe went back to England and took up life with the RAF as a flying instructor who distinctly remembered American music on the radio in the planes, and how the crew would put the plane on autopilot, sit back, and listen. Soon thereafter he went back to his civilian work in the clothing trade.

During their whirlwind trip in Montgomery, Michael and Carole Thorpe also paid respects at Oakbrook Cemetery Annex's RAF War Memorial. There they found 78 burials of the second World War, all airmen who died while training in Alabama under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.

Although Henry Thorpe enjoyed life until he passed away in late 2007, he wrote of losing his comrades over the skies of Montgomery during training missions, some with just a few weeks left in the training program.

At the Officer's Club luncheon, Michael Thorpe presented Colonel Homan with the original program given out at the RAF cadets' graduation dinner and dance organized by Henry Thorpe at the Whitley Hotel, which is now Whitley Hall and part of the Troy University Montgomery facilities.

During Henry Thorpe's time in Montgomery, the cadets frequented the hotel to such an extent that one room was designated as their "club" to relax and socialize during tense times the Britons experienced during World War II.

Maxwell Field began its foreign training program in the fall of 1941 when 750 British cadets arrived for school. The last class of British cadets graduated from Maxwell's preflight school on Feb. 26, 1943.

Before Michael and Carole Thorpe, who operate a motor coach touring business back in England, left Alabama they said they enjoyed the same congenial hospitality Maxwell and the residents of Montgomery gave the elder Mr. Thorpe back during World War II, and "they'll certainly keep in touch."