Looking back at Malden Army Airfield and Malden Air Force Base

Do you have a story to share from your time at Malden Army Airfield or Malden Air Base? We'd love to hear from you! Meanwhile, here are some memories of Malden that have been generously shared with us and may sound somewhat familiar to you.

C-47 Aircraft towing CG-4 Troop-Carrying Gliders
Malden August 1944—March 1945
In World War II, during the European war efforts, movements of troops often were made via C-47 aircraft (commercial DC-3 at the time) carrying and dropping paratroopers into a battle area and/or towing CG-4 troop-carrying gliders, loaded with troops, which were towed to the designated battle area where the gliders would disconnect from the tow cable and land in open areas to disgorge their troops.

Huge numbers of troops were transported and effectively dropped or landed in order to meet a specific need or opportunity on the battlefront. Flights were usually in several formations of three planes flying at a very low elevation in order to avoid radar. When the drop or landing sites were sited, the aircraft would elevate to appropriate levels for paratroops to jump and for glider disconnect. Such flights were designed to surprise local enemy troops since the planes/gliders were coming in so low that they were vulnerable to ground fire; obviously, the situation could be very dangerous to planes and troops. Many times paratroopers were dropped into areas where foreign troops had been forewarned which meant encountering heavy ground fire but were often confronted with obstacles placed in the designated landing areas and, with no power other than batteries for landing lights at night, they of course were committed to land…often with dire results. Obviously, many men could be and were lost in such situations.

In August, 1944, in the Battle of the Bulge in Europe, the US lost a great number of crews and planes needed for the foregoing efforts so to meet the desperate need for flight crews to man the C-47’s, the Air Corps opened two fields for training Troop Carrier tactics—Malden was one of the fields. At that time, at Bergstrom Air Field in Austin, Texas, there existed many troop carrier crews, through with their training and preparing to depart for overseas so the first pilots of those crews were rerouted to these two new Troop Carrier training fields. I and many of my friends were thus sent to Malden and were immediately established as instructors.

The need for new crews was so desperate that many pilots who had just finished fighter-pilot training were sent to Malden to be trained as C-47 pilots and to be trained in Troop Carrier tactics. Obviously none of the trainees were too happy about being rerouted to twin engine training and dropping paratroopers or towing gliders but, of course, they had no choice in the matter.

Shortly after arriving at Malden, I married Johnie Sue, a girl from Austin and we lived off-base in a four-apartment building alongside the highway into town. It was an interesting time for a couple of newly-wed, nineteen-year olds. We had an upstairs apartment with one bedroom and a space heater, which burned coal from a small pile in the backyard. Johnie Sue had to learn to cook on a kerosene cook stove and no eating utensils could be found anywhere (plastic utensils weren’t invented yet and metal was totally restricted to tools of war) so we had to check-out utensils from the base. In spite of such minor problems, we and our friends thoroughly enjoyed our sojourn in Malden.

Mary Helen (Crane) Foster went through basic training at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, TX. After her graduation, she was assigned to Malden. When she arrived, she was given the task of checking out planes that needed maintenance or that had completed maintenance. Her log book shows mostly that she flew Vultee BT-13A’s, but some other planes also. She shared this task with a male pilot and they would typically fly each plane solo. They would sometimes fly a plane to check out a student pilot’s complaint and sometimes to see if the repairs had been made properly and that the plane was again ready for service. In July of 1944, the base changed over from instruction in the BT-13A to instruction for Troop Carrier Command pilots flying the C-47A. Her log book shows her first flight in the C-47 to have been on July 13, 1944. She flew the C-47’s for maintenance until December 20, 1944. She had gotten permission to ferry planes over the Atlantic to England and had plenty of volunteers at Malden to fly with her as crew, but the end of the war with Germany intervened. At that time, the surplus of male pilots released from Europe caused the Army Air Corps to dismiss the Wasps.

An article in The Dallas Morning News stated that Mrs. Foster flew BT-13s and C-47s and DC-3s at Malden Army Airfield, MO. She was the only female pilot on the base. “I reported in, and the commanding officer said, “I didn’t ask for a woman pilot”.” And I said, “Sir, I didn’t ask to come to Missouri”. The following picture shows Mary Helen Crane on the wing of a BT-13A. This photo was taken on her first day assigned to Malden Army Airfield.

       "I could have become the first person to solo in the T-34 in our group, but I told (my) instructor that I didn't think I was quite ready - scared to death is more like it. He seemed quite annoyed but didn't try very hard to change my mind. Later that day a cadet soloed and claimed the "first" title. I soloed the next day, second in our group. I didn't think about it at the time, but now I wonder if all the instructors had a betting pool, and the instructor whose student was first to solo claimed the money. I probably was responsible for my instructor losing a nice bit of pocket change!
        "This same instructor was an avid hunter. One late afternoon as we were winding up a training flight in a T-34 and preparing to head for the base, the instructor took the controls and dropped down almost to tree-top level, and we skimmed here and there over wetlands for several minutes. A very junior officer doesn't ask his instructor what he's doing, but the instructor (an exceptionally nice fellow) explained that he was looking for promising spots to go duck hunting that weekend. This happened at the T-34 auxiliary field - I think it was near Dexter.
        "My T-28 instructor was named Schutt (which may not be the correct spelling of his name). He was a good pilot and a good instructor, but he had the well-deserved reputation of being a masterful butt-chewer. One day I was practicing instrument takeoffs, and uncharacteristically performed the procedure almost perfectly, reaching the assigned altitude without a waiver. "Very good, Lt. So-and-so," came Mr. Schutt's voice on the intercom, using the name of another of his students. "This is Lt. ---," I replied giving him my name. "Oh," he said. Well, I counted it as a compliment, which were rare enough and valued highly, even if it was credited to someone else."
          - L.F., Class 57-A, 1955-56

            "I was an Aviation Cadet in Class 55-L at Malden AB in the summer of 1954. My instructor was Finis Barrow and I remember him as an excellent instructor. I completed 24 years in the USAF and logged over 7000 flying hours."
            - D.D., Class 55-L, 1954

           "I remember when we would be in lineup (in the) early morning and the upper classmen would haze us. One question they would always ask: "what was showing that day at the theater?" Of course, we would not have had the time to check. All of my class agreed to say "Strange Love with Boris Carloff and Shirley Temple" knowing they had not looked themselves. Then after drill, before the next formation, one of us would quickly check the theater and pass the word so when they asked again we knew the answer. This went on for the whole time at Malden for our class."
          - Guy, Class 53-B

"My instructor, Mack Hogan, was about to wash me out of instrument training. He called me into the flight shack and said in my pattern A and Bs I seemed to always be drifting up and to the right. He then asked me to go through everything I did from the time I got in the T-34 until I got out of it. In the course of explaining, I mentioned that, when under the hood, I sat back in the seat with my left hand on the throttle and my right on the stick. He smiled and said: "That's the problem." I asked him "what do you mean?" He explained how my arm would get tired extended out like it was and suggested I rest my right elbow on my knee. He was so sure we went back up and sure enough it solved the problem. From then on IFR was my favorite way to fly. What a great instructor!!! I remember going to his house and sampling honey he had gathered from a local beehive in a tree."
- D.I., Class 56-T

      "Unlike most of the fine folks that have posted here, I was not a pilot at Malden. Indeed, I was one of the little brats playing in the dirt while those bright yellow airplanes circled endlessly overhead. My dad, Ernie Hartland, was a mechanic at Malden from about 1953 until its final closing in 1960. I have many, many fond memories of those days.
       We lived on the base in the cinder block barracks that had been converted to civilian housing. My Dad would occasionally sneak us into the mess hall on Sunday as a special treat or let me “fly” a Link Trainer (with the hood up), or maybe take a ride out to the dump in an old WWII Jeep. I remember a C-47 making an unscheduled landing on the officer’s golf course. Later, when the base was closed and we were one of only about five or six families left, running naked across that golf course through the sprinklers in the middle of the day – wild and free and all of nine years old!
      There were three irrigation ditches (Ditches 1, 2 and 3) to the east of the base, past the Cotton Hill Grocery store, where I used to walk alone and barefoot down that dirt road to catch sun perch off the bridge with my cane pole. Mom would make me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a Mason jar of Kool Aid to take with me.
      Those were sweet, innocent, carefree times. I often wish I could go back. Before TeleStar, The Beatles, Kennedy, Vietnam, acid rock, acid rain, global warming and the hideous face of modern subculture. Malden Air Base will forever occupy a special place in my mind."
           - K. Hartland, Son of Mechanic Ernie Hartland

"There was a cafe across the highway from the MAB entrance that some of us visited occasionally when we wanted an alternative to mess hall food. One day I ordered a hamburger and told the waitree to "cut the onions." In Texas that means don't put onions on the burger. What the waitress brought me was a hamburger with the onions shredded like cole slaw!"
- L.F., Class 57-A, 1955-56

"I was a student in Class 54 Quebec. We were at Malden from September 1953 through March of 1954. I went from there to Webb AFB, Texas, and wound up flying fighter-interceptors for most of my career. I retired in 1972. I have many fond memories of Malden. I recall a pretty young girl who I dated while I was in training there. I recall that W.S. lived on a small farm near Dexter. Nostalgia demands that I know if she is still around and what may have happened to her. Like everybody whom I met in Malden, she was a fine person." (Note to W.S. - contact MAAPS and we'll try and get you and J.C. together to catch up on old times!)
- J.C., Class 54-Q, 1953-54

"During my stay at the base I recall Missouri had free grazing laws which meant that cattle could freely cross the highway and if hit, had to be paid for by the driver. On numerous occasions students during their night time weekend driving would hit a cow. The following Saturday at the weekly meeting of all the students in the base theatre, that student would be called to the mike to explain to the group why and how he hit the cow!"
- H.D., Class 56-B, 1954-55

I did all of the shorthand (verbatim) no machines, nothing but a pen or pencil and Major Voss told me if they got too fast on their explanations of what happened that I should kick his shins lightly. One Monday morning I was having a bad day (remember I was a teenager then and catting around a lot at night) so I just kept kicking his shins. About l0:30 he asked for a break and called me aside and wanted to know "what in the hell is wrong with you today", I shaped up after that. I have a lot of fond memories of that base and it was certainly a new experience for a little old country girl that had made a few trips over Riddle Hill into Malden and that was about the extent of my traveling

I distinctly remember one of the cadets crashing in a woods west of Malden (near Riddle Hill) and I had to go out with the aircraft accident investigator and we talked to farmers and I put my old typewriter on the top of a hay trailer and I took statements and typed them up in the barnlot and the people signed them and we went on our way and held our investigation later.

I worked on the flight line again after Mr. Anderson came there. I worked for the Director of Flying and the Aircraft Investigations Officer until I left there in 1953.

My father, Maj. Joe Valles, was a young Air Force Lt. and instructor at Malden in the early 50s, and my mother, Annette, was well known on the base for her vivaciousness and practical joking (as well as her long hair and Southern accent). She often recalled how she dressed up one Halloween in a flight suit and visored helmet, then visited all the married cadet's homes where she pawed all the cadet's wives! After the initial shock, there were laughs all around when she took off the helmet!
I came along later, but I remember we often returned to Malden in the early 60's to visit the base cafeteria's chief, Giz Blanton and his wife Sophie, who were old neighbors.

My father later was a command pilot flying B47s at Schilling with the 40th Bomb Wing and then flew MATS missions to Vietnam and finally ran Base Ops at Yokota AFB, where he sometimes encountered his old Malden cadets as they passed through on their way to Vietnam. He passed away in 1982, and my mother in 2005. I hope they are not forgotten.

Joseph Valles, Son of Maj. Joe R. Valles, USAF

-J. Contino

As we all know it started with the Korean thing in 1950. A forgotten war, so some would say, but it was pretty real for many. As for me, I wanted to be in the first instructor class at Malden but due to prior commitments didn’t get in until the third class. So on we went to Craig AFB for Pilot Instructor School (affectionally called, PIS), where one of the things I did was to teach my instructor how to make wheel landings in the T-6. By the time the 6 weeks was over he was pretty good. So it was back to Malden around the first of December 1951 and introduced to our first students. Hmmm, what an interesting time!
December of 1951 was a cold sucker—much freezing rain and plainly miserable. The airplanes were literally frozen to the ramp and conditions were unflyable of course--- the ready rooms, being reconditioned WW-II buildings—wooden one story things-with asphalt shingles or tar paper on top and sides—heated by an oil fueled (or maybe propane) stove which would have been welcomed by Daniel Boone, but which would only heat a limited spot in an otherwise very cold space, were quite an introduction not only the students but to the instructors also.
We spent time—oh so much time hoping for a break in the weather but it only stayed that way for days. Base Colonel put out an edict: “we will get a flight on each student before the Christmas break (morale purposes of course)”. And so it was when one day there was a slight reprieve and with much clearing of ice off the planes, but no removal of ice off the ramp and runways, we got things moving. I had 4 student assigned, 2 American Cadets and 2 NATO; one French and one Belgium. Foreign students were supposed to be able to read, write and understand English. But neither of the later two comprehended very much about what was going on. So with very careful taxiing and preparations out to runway 13 we waddled. We had about a 45 degree right cross wind--with ice covered runway—brand new students—brand new instructors and pucker time was on. Around the pattern the first two Americans went for their first flight with a landing that was “acceptable” under the circumstances. Next was the Frenchman—canopy open, which he would never close—so we both froze and then next the Belgium. He did close the canopy for the short flight but when it came time to land, I put the gear handle down—but the student would immediately pull it back up. He remembered the handle must be moved but he was confused as how it should be used and for what purpose. Nor would he understand my intercom instructions to either put the darn thing down and leave it alone or let me handle the thing. All I got was him turning around and giving me a big grin and a thumbs up. So it went –handle down—handle up, gear down-gear up for 2 or 3 times—on the way to landing. I guess that landing was the one of the most challenging of my life up to that time. Good stiff cross wind—ice covered runway—and I had my left knee braced against the landing gear handle while trying to put the thing on the ground. Somehow it turned out OK. The students had their first real flight in an Air Force airplane, most enjoyed it, and away they went for their Christmas break to brag about their exploits. For the instructors the day was a frustrating one, one they probably wouldn’t forget and wondering what they had gotten themselves into.
For some this is old stuff, but as far as the situation at the time and place the following is offered:
The airplanes, re-manufactured North American AT-6’s and renamed T-6 were fantastic. Some I’m sure were, old D and F models, I had flown previously back during WW-II and great airplanes for their time. The ones we had were for all practical purposes, brand new planes, with refurbished interiors and state of the art (for the time) instrumentation, and were a pleasure to fly. The T-6 was a very honest plane if flown properly, but would eat you for breakfast if you abused it—fly it properly and it would do what you wanted—an excellent plane all around. Students who learned on that plane, in my estimation, were much better airman over all, than the planes that replaced the T-6. I would like to say here however that the T-28 was also a pleasure to fly. I must say when I got close to my first T-28 I noticed it had a Wright engine, an Aeroproducts prop and I think manufactured by the Chrysler or Kaiser company. Didn’t sound too good to me, but still I liked the plane even though I had two complete engine failures at night, versus never having an engine failure with the T-6, a Pratt and Whitney engine. The T-28 was great—the engine???.
Malden as you know is located in an ancient flood plain of the Mississippi river. Level and with much sandy soil, which tends to blow with any appreciable wind, so actual sandstorm type conditions could be experienced at times. Being in what was called the Boot heel of Missouri it was an area that got very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter—seasonal weather to say the least. Thunderstorms, snow and ice and frost on the 100 or so airplanes parked overnight were constant problems. With the T-6, you could operate with the canopy open—sweat like the devil but at least have wind in your face and on your body if you wanted. In the T-28 at low altitude in the summer, it was beastly hot since you could not operate with the canopy open so you were wringing wet at the end of a period.
Some events are more notable that others. Like one dual night cross country from Malden-Paducha-Dyersberg below a wintry 5,000’ ceiling, in and out of snow, truly dead-reckoning.. This mission should have been called off (had to stay on schedule you know—however the students told me later they got a kick out of watching the snow stream past by the passing and position lights). But the following solo cross-country operation came off without a hitch. I suppose the involved students took the dead-reckoning navigation system to heart.
Frost: A frosty T-6 is not to be flown without either removing it or smoothing it to contour with the airfoil. Well, due to schedule pressure one frosty morning one instructor (I won’t mention his name) had to fly an airplane off a red dash or some such, so he got in a rush and scooted out to the runway, got slightly airborne, the left wing dropped followed by a roll to the right and then back to the left very rapidly when the pilot decided he’d had enough, chopped the throttle and the plane pancaked into a water soaked area to the left of the runway, still gear down, and in a level attitude. A great geyser of water and mud completely engulfed the plane and surprisingly the plane came to a stop upright and I think basically undamaged. It was suspected by the accident investigators that he had attempted a takeoff without clearing the frost—but where was the frost after the incident?---gone, completely washed off by the bath. Everyone should be so lucky. Another scheme to remove the frost and get back to flight system was to utilize a fire truck to spray water onto the ready-for flight aircraft with engines running, which would thus remove the frost. Many, including myself, didn’t like this because we feared that while removing frost, the water might run into parts of the flight control systems and freeze during the ensuing flight and create a potential flutter or restrict flight controls. As it turned out the system worked perfectly and as far as I know, no one had any problems. I suppose the temperature just above ground level was not conducive to freezing.
White-Yellow (maybe Red?)-Black flags: These flags were hung from the central control tower, backed up by radio announcements. As I remember, white was for unrestricted solo, yellow (or red) was for discretionary solo and black was the signal for all you cats to come home or stay on the ground.
Geese: Migratory wildfowl flying thought the area, especially at night were always a problem in the fall season. I know of two planes that were damaged by goose strikes. And speaking of waterfowl, the extensive swamp to the northwest of the base provided a number of us with fantastic duck hunting along with hunting on the Mississippi river
Accidents: Ground loops and cartwheels were part of the T-6 program causing no fatalities to my knowledge but more serious were two dual flights, which resulted in fatal injuries to the instructors and students. And I believe there was one midair collision between two solo students in the T-6. The T-28 had its share of problems but mostly due to hydraulics and engine. I believe the T-34 had relatively few accidents. Several PA-18’s busted bungee cords and had nose up situations.
The Union thing: Ok, so some didn’t like the fact that we all were getting some $50 or $100 pay less than most of the other 8 bases. Dissatisfaction got a bit out of hand and a vote to organize a union was taken for the purpose of demanding more pay—a slight majority voted to organize. Well that didn’t go over well with management and next thing you know General Dissoway (?) was up to Malden from Headquarters in his T-33, an all hands meeting was held in the base theatre and the General who delivered a very short speech stated in so many words, “gentlemen if these students aren’t flown as scheduled there will be C-47’s here in the morning and they will be flown to bases where they will get training. The war demands it.” With that he stomped out through the center isle, jumped into his jet and blasted off. Inside the theatre you could hear a pin drop—and so ended any threat of any formal organization.
Local things to do: Malden had it’s Blondell’s beer joint and Pop Warner’s for entertainment and local color. Bernie had it’s Hobes for beer and Joe Haw’s drug store for sore throats and splinter removal and a shot of Wild Turkey if you hung around and had a few minutes to hear some funny stories from Joe. Dexter, a few miles further up the road had its Hob Nob emporium. If you really wanted to get out you could go left from Dexter and end up in Poplar Bluff or turn right to Sikeston or even Cairo. That was about it locally off base. But on-base there was the OFFICERS CLUB, known simply as the CLUB or the “O club”. I don’t know the buildings original use during WWII, might even have been a mess hall or club, since it was built in the traditional H shape, which was normal for that time. It wasn’t very pretty but served the purpose; bar at one end, band stand at the other (one of the mechanics a fellow by the name of Dorsey I believe, provided music with his little band—served the purpose well)
Round one at Campbell auxiliary field: Landing practice always provided some congestion but one day it got a little out of hand. One instructor (name will be provided by those who know) would constantly crowd the aircraft ahead and the Flight Commander at runway control would repeatedly send him around for that reason. Well, apparently he finally got enough of that so even tho told to go around, he didn’t and after landing taxied up to control and jumped out of the plane with the student in the front cockpit with the engine running. Up to the Flight Commander he went with arms waving and much yelling which evolved into him delivering an uppercut, decking the Commander. Needless to say that was a no-no. I was in my plane near by and was called over to take over control while the Flight commander flew back to the main base in the pugilist’s plane and with his student. By the time, this unnamed pilot got back to the base his paycheck was waiting for him and he was gone by sundown.
Anyway, these were a few things to remember about a very interesting time in a person’s life. How could it be otherwise? Here we had the best group of students in the world, darn good airplanes, a job that most of us loved all for around $450 a month, a bunch of highly skilled coworkers, a long weekend every other weekend, a week off between each 6 month class, a frozen turkey at Christmas from the boss and in an area of very friendly local people. Yep, we had our problems with a few grumpy persons but that goes with the territory any place in life.
Take care and good luck

-Bill Fredrick

I was an aviation cadet a MAB in December 1943 and January 1944 then went on to Stuttgart and stayed most of '44 as an instructor in twin engine advanced flying training. I was teaching students that came from Malden and other basic training fields. I think that Malden was feeding cadets to us all during '44.

- L. Moore Class 44-C

I was an Aviation Cadet with 55-A Class, the best time of my life was in Malden AFB. I remember one funny thing--I was the first Cadet to be a member of the Malden Ladies Club. I was graduated with 57B Class in Reese AFB. This year we have our 50th Anniversary. I am retired from the Peruvian Air Force with the rank of Colonel.

-R.V.M. Class 55-A

Looking south from the tower at Malden Air Base.

         "I remember doing tail spins over a field of people who were picking cotton, and watching them hurridly run for cover as the downward spiraling plane approached the point of recovering from the spin."
          - H.D., Class 56-B, 1954-55

             "In 1953 and 1954, Malden was a small, rural town of mostly mature, and friendly, genuinely good people. We were a bunch of young men, eager to become something to be respected, if only in our own analyses, and we were fortunate to have lived for about seven months among these good people of Malden, Bernie, Dexter, Poplar Bluff. We were treated well, and hope that there were but few times the locals wished that we actually weren't among them.
          It was never hot while we were in Malden. We did experience some of the cold. Remembering the requirement for us to "shoot" landing qualification "stages", where we flew the traffic pattern solo with the canopy fully open for the entire flight, and we practiced for grade purposes repeated landings and takeoffs for periods up to three hours, in January, with the temperature hovering around eight degrees Fahrenheit and a 100 mph wind in your face. It might better be described as damned cold. Maybe even frigid.
          But we made up for it on Friday night. And again on Saturday night. We covered much of the local and not-so-local areas on those occasions. It was never cold on Friday night. Or on Saturday night.
         You know, we were never bored during our brief stay with you. And we never met a person in the Malden area that we didn't like. You treated us well. Missouri has some mighty fine folks. We were young then, but hopefully we always tried to be gentlemen. We hope we didn't cause you too much concern. Thanks for having us!"
          - J.C., Class 54-Q, 1953-54

          "During one solo night flight a student pushed the T6 prop control forward (like for takeoff) and quietly glided down toward a drive-in theatre. When he came to the theatre, he pushed the throttle of the T6 forward and, of course, the engine roared like it did on take-off. There was pandemonium at the theatre, rumor had it he was so low that the silouete of the plane appeared on the screen as he flew off. No one was caught."
          - H.D., Class 56-B, 1954-55

         "Landing in one piece at MAB after the T-28 night solo cross-country to Paducah!"
          - L.F., Class 57-A, 1955-56

Lt. Lemuel Foster, July 1954, Photo Courtesy - Ben Foster

"I remember that whenever someone did something stupid, a silence would fall over the cadet mess hall at dinner and there would begin a tinkling of spoons on glasses. Then the name of the guilty party would be chanted by all present until the guilty party stood on his chair for all to see, and announced his error for all to hear. I remember it well because I stood on a chair one evening.
- R.R., Class 54-K, 1953

"Remember the place like yesterday. Especially the cadet barracks that were like converted motel rooms. Remember the rooms housed four cadets to each and had windows that went sideways until Uncle Andy, Mr. Anderson the contractor, had the place redone and then the windows went up and down. One of our class also got a small radio station started there with a range of about five miles that we found the AF Tac Officers were listening to since we played Kenton, Brubeck and the like. That is, until one night they were having a party with Mr. Anderson and one of our guys said something disparaging about the old man!"
- A.D., Class 57-J, 1956

          "Our class had several Italian students and they loved the soft American bread. I can still remember them in the mess hall with their trays stacked high with many slices of bread. And I remember the woman (Ma) who ran the mess hall."      - H.D., Class 56-B, 1954-55

    Class of 54k- "Mean" Gene Sackey was our instructor. I will never forget our first meeting and his short speech. "My name is Gene Sackey and I have about 10,000 hours and have never had an accident, any questions?" I took one look at him and said to myself this hillbilly is going to teach me to fly. Well he went on to bigger and better things. As for myself, I retired after 20 years and most memorable part of my career was flying 100 missions over North Viet Nam in the F-105 (thud). - F.S. 54K

    I was at Malden in 1944 for C-47 transition training and while there i met my wife. She was from Kennett. We married on Oct 16 1944 and we are still married. I returned to Malden as a ground school instructor in 1951 and left in 1959. I also owned and operated Polly's Jewelry, next door to Willy Millers Men's Store. Memories..... Bill Norrid bought my house when i left.     - J.C. Instructor

     I went through Malden as an aviation cadet in class 56-B.
I was at Malden from Oct 54 until April 55 before transferring to Bryan Texas for single engine training. My instructor was named "Doc" Edwards. I certainly tried his patience as I had not even driven a car before soloing the PA-18 and the T-6. His instructions were apparently great as I went on to survive 20 years as an Air Force pilot. - G.W. Class of 56-B

I arrived at Malden Air Base in July of 1954, Class 55R, as a Foreign Cadet from the Honduras Air Force. My Instructor was Mr. Widner, cigar smoker, excellent Pilot and human being. I left for Bryan AFB in January 1955. I have great memories of the old Base. I flew for 30 years (military and commercial) and logged over 24,000 hours. I am now a proud Citizen of the USA, my Country that I learned to love while I was undergoing training with the USAF. C.G. Class 55R