Air refueling pioneers honored in ceremony at Scott

Published Sept. 27, 2010
By Master Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
Air Mobility Command Public Affairs

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- The air refueling pioneers responsible for the United States' first air refueling flights in 1923 and 1929 were honored in a ceremony Sept. 23 at Scott AFB's "Walk of Fame" as part of a presentation by the Airlift-Tanker Association Hall of Fame.

Gen. Raymond E. Johns Jr., Air Mobility Command commander; retired Gen. Walter Kross, former AMC commander and A-TA chairman; and Dr. Ted Hine, a World War II Navy veteran and nephew of one of the original air refueling aircrew members, were the main speakers for the event. They also unveiled a two-sided bronze medallion highlighting "the pioneers of air refueling" who were the 2009 A-TA Hall of Fame inductees.

"This completes a dimension in air mobility pioneers being recognized," said General Kross to start the ceremony. "As we unveil this today, you will see that they didn't just push the envelope -- they established the envelope.

"It was a truly unknown set of feats when they did it in 1923 and 1929," General Kross said.

The "feats" General Kross mentioned are the first time anyone, anywhere had completed air refueling missions. In 1923, four air refueling missions were flown using DeHavilland DH-4 and an unidentified receiver aircraft, the A-TA Web site shows. With each mission, they were making history.

The four 1923 missions were flown by two tanker crews and a receiver crew. The members of the first tanker crew were 1st Lt. Virgil Hine, Dr. Hine's uncle, and 1st Lt. Frank W. Seifert. The members of the second tanker crew were Capt. Robert G. Erwin and 1st Lt. Oliver R. McNeel, while the receiver crew included Capt. Lowell H. Smith and 1st Lt. John Paul Richter.

"To me, Virgil Hine was not just a name -- he was my precious uncle Virgil," said Dr. Hine, who spoke on behalf of all the family members represented in the presentation. "Every night, in my childhood prayers growing up, I would say, 'Please God, take care of my uncle Virgil when he flies.'"

Dr. Hine, who resides in Muskogee, Okla., said he knows his uncle would have been honored by the A-TA presentation, and he always knew uncle Virgil was bound for greatness. "I'm sure that my uncle Virgil would have been one of those famous World War II generals," he said, "had he not retired and died at the age of 44 in 1939."

The ceremony also honored the historic "flight of the Question Mark" from January 1929. Beginning on New Year's Day 1929, and ending on Jan. 7, a tri-engined U.S. Army Air Corps Fokker C-2A, appropriately named the "Question Mark," with a crew of five, and two Douglas C-1 aircraft -- each with a crew of three -- took to the skies, the A-TA Web site states. They flew "for the sole purpose of proving that the range and endurance of an aircraft are only limited by the people who fly them, or the engines that propel them."

The widely recognized crew of the receiver aircraft "Question Mark," emblazoned with a large "?" on its fuselage, endured 150 hours and 40 minutes aloft, flying back and forth on a 110-mile racetrack course between Los Angeles and San Diego, Calif., history shows.

The aircrew honored as part of the ceremony included the crew of the first refueling plane, pilot Capt Ross G. Hoyt, and fuel system operators, 1st Lt. Auby C. Strickland and 2nd Lt. Erwin A. Woodring. Honored from the second refueling plane was pilot 1st Lt. Odas Moon, and 2nd Lts. Joseph G. Hopkins and Andrew F. Salter who were fuel system operators.

General Johns said what the air refueling pioneers accomplished forever changed the way flying was done and built the foundation for how the Air Force operates today.

"To take a simple act that started so many years ago with visionary people, and to let our wonderful Airmen develop and evolve it to a national capability is huge," General Johns said. "To honor them is truly special."

Every year, the Airlift-Tanker Association inducts an individual or a team of people into its hall of fame during its annual convention. In October 2009, the convention was held in Nashville, Tenn., where many additional family members of the hall of fame inductees participated. For 2010, A-TA is holding its annual convention in Orlando, Fla.