Huntington County History and Education Center

05/26/2026

The 250th lantern arrived today. It will be at the museum for a couple of days and then moving on to Whitley County.

05/24/2026

Remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

05/15/2026

The museum is cool! Tall a friend!! https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1NsFFUGGif/

05/14/2026

05/11/2026

Father-Son Aviation Dreams Got Off the Ground

*21st in a series
We continue this series taken from Toni Rae Mayo’s 2001 master’s dissertation, titled, “Defining Flight,” by introducing her account of the aviation experiences of DeLoss Hartley (1924-2010) and his father, Calvin Glen “Pop” Hartley (1892-1965).

DeLoss was born in 1924 in Roanoke and attended Roanoke-Jackson High School, graduating in 1942 at the height of World War II. After enlisting in the Army Air Corps, he took basic training at Keesler Airfield in Biloxi, Miss. From there he went to Mississippi State College for two months and then to San Antonio, Texas, for pre-flight training. That was followed by primary, basic, and advanced flight schools at different airfields in Texas and a five-week course at Randolph Field to be a flight instructor.

He was a flight instructor at Perrin Field in Texas in 1944, where he would work with cadets on an individual basis. He would have the cadets go to 10,000 feet where they would practice various rolls, loops, and chandelles, which is a special maneuver with a tight 180-degree climbing turn to reverse direction.

DeLoss recalled one event where his cadet — who previously had performed spins successfully — went into a spin, then completely froze at the controls and would not relinquish them. After several violent jerks on the controls, the cadet finally released them and DeLoss regained control of the plane 300 feet above the ground! As an instructor who had logged 450 hours of flight time, DeLoss knew he faced losing this cadet to fear and not death. After talking to him for a few minutes, they went back up and did some more spins without any difficulty. The cadet eventually graduated from basic flight school and went on to advanced training.

While an instructor at Perrin, he meets and marries Marilyn Wren. The Army Air Corps began reducing its training program at that location and DeLoss went into training to pilot B-29s. His comment on the change of assignment was, “It was more dangerous teaching boys how to fly than flying B-29s.”

He finished combat training at Chatham Airfield in Savannah, Ga., in preparation for the invasion of Japan when the war ended. The Hartleys returned home and DeLoss joined the Army Air Force Reserves. He eventually accumulated three years of active duty and 24 years of active reserve time.

DeLoss’s story would not be complete without mentioning where his flight DNA originated. His father, Calvin Glen “Pop” Hartley was an auto mechanic by trade but worked on anything that had a motor. He even dabbled in airplanes in 1922—only a few short years after the Wright brothers made flight possible.

Pop was close friends with Russell Hostler, a very accomplished early barnstorming Huntington County aviator. It was not uncommon for Russ to land at the Hartley’s farm and say, “Pop, let’s go for a ride” so he became Pop’s early flight instructor who influenced him to build a plane.

According to DeLoss, his father did make a biplane — without blueprints — out of materials he found around the farm. The linen sheets off his wife’s bed were used to cover the wings. The propeller was glued together boards whittled to an exact dimension and size.

He built most of the plane except for the four-cylinder engine, which was purchased from Snyder Carburetor Shop in Fort Wayne. Three bicycle wheels provided ground mobility and structural wire was used to support two pairs of wings with the top wing being longer, at about 30 feet, wing tip to wing tip.

A year later, the concoction made its maiden voyage. Thurman Hartley, Pop’s older brother, Russell Hosler, family friend Kenneth Zent, a photographer, two unidentified people, and a handful of children were on hand to witness the event.

Hosler hand-propped the blunt-ended propeller and chocks by the bicycle wheels, used to prevent the plane from moving once the engine started, were removed. Pop pointed the plane into a headwind and in approximately 30 seconds, he traveled 35-40 mph. Debris from the bean field flew in all directions as the plane reached its full momentum at 50 mph and left the ground. Pop traveled about 100 feet at an elevation of only about four or five feet so he would not have far to fall. The plane landed “roughly” at the end of the field using primitive brakes consisting of four arching skids and two downward-positioned metal spikes, welded to the tail one foot apart.

Pop taxied back to where he started to “rounds of congratulations.” DeLoss observed that his father was always elated when anything worked.

That was the plane’s one and only flight. DeLoss said his mother’s consternation about her husband’s enthusiasm for flight turned into pure joy a week later when a storm tossed the plane into a horse tank!

Years later, DeLoss’s experienced aviation eyes examining photographs of that plane raised serious questions about its ability to defy modern aviation. There was some question about whether his father had a stabilizer on the rudder to keep the plane flying straight. The photos also seemed to show that the rudder, which turns the plane, and elevator were connected. In addition, ailerons — used for flight control near the wing tips — did not seem properly located.

His father’s wisest decision was probably only flying five feet above the ground for the length of their bean field. However, he must be given credit for making a plane with crude materials found only around the farm that flew. DeLoss concluded, “Overall, my dad had the right idea. … ” It was Pop’s way of “Defining Flight.”

You too will have “the right idea” if you taxi on over to YOUR History and Education Center for more “sky-high” exhibits.
— Researched and compiled by Dr. John Regan

Volunteers are always welcome to help us preserve the part for the present and future at the Huntington County History and Education Center, 315 Court Street, in Huntington. Visit the Center from 10-a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and Saturdays by appointment. More information on the Center’s collection, tours, room rental, and how to become a member of the Huntington County Historical Society is available from Executive Director Barbara Rupley at (260) 356-7264 or www.huntingtonhistoricalmuseum.com

05/06/2026

Local Flight Was Not Strictly a Men’s Pastime

*20th in a series
This week’s installment focuses on a couple of Huntington County’s female pilots — or “aviatrixes,” as they were once known. Phyllis Williams Kline (1928-2010) was the first to draw attention from former Huntington resident Toni Rae Mayo in her Ball State University master’s dissertation, from which this information is taken.

Phyllis’s first flying experience was with Logan Hensley, a Navy flight instructor, in 1940 when she was only 12 years old. He recalled that, “He did it all up there (meaning stunts) and every time he turned around to see how I was doing he would give me a ‘thumbs-up’ and I would give it right back to him. I did not get sick.”

She went on to say, “After we landed, Doctor Brubaker held out his hand to a group of men standing around him. He had made a bet with Van Bailey that I would not get sick. He was right.”

As a 16-year-old, Phyllis was already interested in flying when she became part of the Civil Air Patrol Cadet Program which was an adjunct to the war effort. This program had several goals, which included identifying enemy aircraft and mapping out buildings in Huntington County with prominent rooftops that could be marked with directional information to the nearest airport for aviators.

Phyllis admitted that she never thought she would fly, until she met Dean Wakefield in the Cadet Program. He later became her instructor. The program offered the cadets a ground school in a flight simulator. Phyllis recalled that she learned to fly at night in a Link Trainer that “was like a coffin.”

In August of 1945, the girls in the Cadet Program were offered the opportunity to visit Sturgis Army Airfield in Sturgis, Ky. For two weeks they rubbed shoulders with women in the Army Air Corps, whose superior officers taught classes in meteorology and navigation. Phyllis recalled that “They treated us like we were in the air force which was pretty exciting except the part about getting up at 5 a.m.”

A memorable experience included seeing the surrounding states from a C-47 transport plane. It was a no-frills flight in a hollowed-out airplane. There were barrels throughout the plane, and if a girl got sick, a soldier hurried a barrel to her.

When 16 years old, Phyllis worked at McClellan’s dime store and used her paychecks for flying lessons and “proper flying attire.” To her this meant emulating Amelia Earhart’s jodhpur pants and a snappy, light-green Eisenhower jacket, cropped at the waist. She noted that her mother had a fit over her spending $9.95 at Gass’s ladies store but shared, “If I crashed, I was going to look good!”

One day a week, her father, Ed Williams, drove her to Hosdreg Airport to practice take-offs and landings with Dean Wakefield,. Flying certainly was not a normal thing 16-year-old girls did in 1945, but the Cadet Program and flying with Logan Hensley made a difference in her life.

She and Dean wore parachutes on their flight but were seldom above 3,000 feet, which would be the required distance for a parachute to open properly. She now laughs at the comments men at the airport teasingly made for her to “...bring it back for a new one if it did not work.”

Phyllis described her lessons as learning how to hand-prop a plane, take-offs and landings, keeping the plane straight and level, and performing spins, stalls, and dives. Not the normal 16-year-old girl’s Saturday!

She also offered an explanation as to why Dean was bald-headed — it took courage to go up with a 16-year-old! At the beginning of her senior year in high school, Phyllis soloed, a highlight in any flyer’s life. In retrospect, she offered, “Flight meant one thing for me: freedom.”

Our next aviatrix of note in Mayo’s dissertation is Wanda E. Leonard. Many will recall that Willard Leonard Jr. and Wanda operated Leonard’s Grocery and Appliance Store in Lancaster from 1949 until 1962. They later purchased Southside Furniture.

In 1955, Wanda asked Willard Jr. what he wanted for Christmas. His immediate reply was “… eight hours in your logbook.” Wanda would eventually exceed that in 1956 by receiving a two-foot-high, gold-plated trophy — the Woman’s Fight Achievement Award — from the Piper Cub Company for 120 hours of flight time. “Back then it was really something,” she said.

It did not come without a struggle as she was initially “very disgusted with myself” for not grasping the basics. She recalled that Walt Snider, Huntington Municipal Airport manager, changed her perspective by admonishing her to “Go back … and get your plane out and just sit in it and imagine a new angle. Remember you are flying a tail-dragger — tail down nose up.”

Those words did change her perspective and two lessons later, her instructor, Walt Snider, had her solo. By March of 1956, she was ready for her cross-country, from Huntington to Hartford City, which she completed without difficulty.

Two years later while flying with Hersil Scott, she noticed a mile of country road at Salamonie Road and CR 300 South. She sized up the area to see how much room she would have beyond her wingtips if she landed on the highway. A couple of days later, with a bit of delightful mischievousness — and no one obviously looking — she did a perfect touch-and-go landing on that road!

Arriving home full of personal satisfaction, Wanda was informed by Willard that the FAA had called and was pulling her license for landing on a public highway. He also told her she had been reported by the famed at the end of the road because his chickens were so scared they ran their heads into the side of their coop, killing some and destroying numerous eggs. As a final straw, Willard told her the man would be suing for damages.

Wanda spent the rest of what started as a wonderfully successful day fretting over losing her license and the impending lawsuit. Willard went about his business nonchalantly until bedtime when he revealed the truth. It was their Holsum bread man who happened to be on that road and reported her landing to Willard — much to Wanda’s relief.

Willard Jr. was well known for his pranks while in the air and on land, but that one could have resulted in justifiable homicide.

Wanda reminisced, “On windy days I would take off. Let the plane go. Relax. Drift. Play in the air currents … I felt as if I were on cloud nine and closer to God.” That is really “Defining Flight.”

Taxi on over to YOUR History and Education Center, where you can “take off and play in the clouds” of many sky-high exhibits.
— Researched and compiled by Dr. John Regan

Volunteers are always welcome to help us preserve the part for the present and future at the Huntington County History and Education Center, 315 Court Street, in Huntington. Visit the Center from 10-a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and Saturdays by appointment. More information on the Center’s collection, tours, room rental, and how to become a member of the Huntington County Historical Society is available from Executive Director Barbara Rupley at (260) 356-7264 or www.huntingtonhistoricalmuseum.com

05/01/2026

A young pilot’s dreams and a world at war

*19th in a series
John Fettinger’s 19-by-8-foot mural on the west wall of the Center’s V. Jean Gernand Auditorium, which includes three airplanes flying over Huntington, has stimulated an interest in our aviation history and some of the pilots who climbed into our fair skies. Most of the accounts in this series were taken from former Huntington resident Toni Rae Mayo’s Ball State University master’s dissertation, “Defining Flight.” Unfortunately, some of the stories did not end well, and it is therefore especially important that they be remembered for the sacrifices pilots made on our behalf.

Philip Brewer, the oldest of six children born to Fred and Charlotte Brewer, graduated from Huntington High School in 1940 at the age of 17. He then began working for Lawson “Baldy” Zent, spot-welding parts for bicycles that were being sent to Marion.

As youngsters, Phil and his younger brother, Tom, shared a bedroom together and stared at model airplanes dangling from a string attached to the ceiling. Phil also had the experience of helping Ralph “Brownie” Brown when he needed an extra set of hands aloft with his aerial photography. “Brownie” flew a 40-horsepower Piper Cub over Huntington and, on more than one occasion, Phil piloted the plane. Phil always called Brownie his ‘first unofficial flight instructor.”

Phil’s family lived across the street from Russell Hostler, another aviation pioneer highlighted in a previous installment in this series. As neighbors, Phil frequently helped Russell with projects on his airplane. On one occasion, Russell offered Phil, Tom, and two of their friends a ride in a noisy old two-seat, single-wing craft, which was most certainly overweight. Tom reflected he was too thrilled to be able to fly with Hostler to be afraid.

From Huntington, Phil moved to Detroit to follow his girlfriend, Evelyn Cox, whom he would eventually marry. Evelyn and her family had left Huntington to work at a defense plant in Willow Run, Mich., that manufactured B-24s for the Army Air Corps. Defense plants were offering much better wages at that time than anything available in Huntington.

Phil found a job with Timken Axle in Detroit and took flying lessons that earned him his pilot’s license in 1942. A year later he and four high school buddies enlisted in the Air Corps after receiving permission from their parents. Back in Huntington, Tom also got his pilot’s license. Dean Wakefield was his flight instructor, and Tom earned $7 an hour relieving “Brownie” of his nighttime Civil Air Patrol duties guarding the airport during World War II.

Several months after enlisting, Phil, age 19, was assigned to begin training at Biloxi, Miss., followed by a year of classes at the University of Alabama. He advanced through primary flight school training at Brady, Texas and basic flight school at San Angelo, Texas. His advanced flight training was at Goodfellow Airfield, in Victoria, Texas, where, in 1944, he received his wings and commission as a second lieutenant.

During that period, Evelyn and her family had relocated to California to work at another B-24 plant. Phil chased her one more time to California and they were married in 1944.

Phil was then sent to Richmond, Va., and Dover, Del., for advanced fighter-pilot training. He was eventually stationed in Italy where, on his 15th mission, November 7, 1944, his planereceived a direct hit from anti-aircraft guns. Phil was listed as missing in action.

With no grave to mark, it has been difficult for the Brewer family to attain closure. During the 2001 Huntington County Memorial Day Ceremony, County Veterans Service Office representative Tom Applegate presented Tom with a lithograph that displays Phil’s name and others on a monument in Florence, Italy. The American Battlefield Monument Commission has established this cemetery and others like it for the American men and women who fought and died on foreign soil.

Be sure to taxi over to YOUR History and Education Center for more sky-high accounts of local aviation history.
— Researched and compiled by Dr. John Regan

Volunteers are always welcome to help us preserve the part for the present and future at the Huntington County History and Education Center, 315 Court Street, in Huntington. Visit the Center from 10-a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and Saturdays by appointment. More information on the Center’s collection, tours, room rental, and how to become a member of the Huntington County Historical Society is available from Executive Director Barbara Rupley at (260) 356-7264 or www.huntingtonhistoricalmuseum.com

04/24/2026

First Communion May 1937 at St Mary Catholic Church, with Father Dillon. No names on this photo from our Rickert Studio Collection.

04/22/2026

The Same Last Name, but Different Experiences

*18th in a series
Robert Fettinger’s mural painted on one of the Center’s interior walls, which depicts airplanes over our fair city, has stimulated an interest in local pilots.

Former Huntington resident Toni Rae Mayo’s 2001 Ball State University master’s dissertation, titled “Defining Flight,” listed 19 of the county’s early pilots and their exploits. Unique among them was John A. Mills (1918-2008), because he liked to fly a helicopter. His son, Louie Mills, recounted the following story about his father and grandmother to Ms. Mayo.

Louie said his father was an excavator by trade — he called it “ditching” — and was an Army pilot trainer during World War II. Louis recalled that his father was known to use his “chopper” to keep thes business going. On one occasion, when a critical piece of machinery broke down, John flew to Ohio for parts and landed back in the field where he had been working. By 4 p.m. he was back o the job.

As a member of the Flying Shriners in Fort Wayne, John Mills participated in the group’s annual charity breakfast each year to raise funds for Shiners Children’s hospitals. Besides serving food and other duties, his main contribution was flying the funds raised to one of the Shrinersfacilities.

On July 13, 1968, John gave his mother-in-law, Bertha Day, most frequently called “Granny,” a unique gift for her 92nd birthday. He planned a special flight over Huntington in his Brantly helicopter. He wanted her to see familiar places like the home where she and her husband, Leslie, had raised four children and operated a “healthy milk route in the horse and buggy days.”

Granny, who nicknamed herself “Granny-go-day,” was excited for the trip as John moved the chopper out of a modified two-story barn at his home in Majenica, where he had built a large concrete landing pad. He carefully lifted the barely 90-pound “Granny” into the front seat of the craft for the best view and fastened her safety belt. From the air, Granny marveled at how Huntington had expanded, seeing her former home at 737 E. Taylor Street, and so many other sights that she did not want to stop flying!

Louie explained that his father favored helicopter travel because he “loved the freedom of being able to go whenever and wherever he wanted.” We’ll bet “Granny-go-day” would agree!

Thomas A. Mills — not a relative of John A. Mills — had flying experiences that were quite a bit more harrowing. Mayo extracted these episodes from his 1999 booklet titled, “My Part in World War II.”

On June 6, 1944, Tom (1918-2008) was among 60 pilots flying B-17s in tight formation from Italy to the oil fields of Ploesti, Romania. Nobody realized they were taking part in the Allied invasion of Europe that day. Bombardier Harry Filcorn dropped 500-pound bombs on camouflaged storage tanks and Tom turned the bomber around. As he did, flak hit the first engine. At 40 miles from the target, the tail-gunner yelled, “enemy fighters at 6 o’clock.” Five or six bombers received direct hits. Tom’s bomber continued to receive flak until the second engine was hit, dropping the plane another 2,000 feet. With no choice left, Tom rang the bailout bell.

As pilot, Tom was the last to leave after admonishing the crew not to pull their ripcords at a high altitude because “enemy fighters often shot men after they bailed out.” His booklet noted, “At six miles up, I pulled my ripcord and the shock was severe … my sheepskin flying boots (fell) into the clouds.”

When Tom hit the ground, he was surrounded by Romanian peasants who kept him at bay. He later learned that several Romanians had helped another crew member escape to Turkey and six Romanians were then executed by the Germans for aiding in the escape.

Tom got into a straw-filled horse-drawn wagon and asked where he was being taken. The driver said one word, “prisoner.” A few miles later, Tom’s co-pilot, Charles Whiteside, was picked up and crew member Sgt. John Williams was also located. They were taken to a jail. All needed medical attention and Tom was able to convince the jailer to get a doctor.

After two nights behind bars they were moved to Bucharest, where nine Americans were held prisoner. The POW camp was no more than a schoolhouse surrounded by a 10-foot-high fence. The senior officer at the camp, a Lt. Col. Gunn, organized an escape but before it occurred a rock was thrown over the fence with a note tied to it which read, “Be patient, the revolution will be soon.”

Tom’s journal noted that at 10 p.m. on July 18, 1944, one month after being captured, someone came into their room and shouted, “Romania is at peace.” Their government had changed and had declared war on Germany. The next day the prisoners were turned loose and given rifles. They tried to leave Bucharest, but machine-gun-wielding Germans blocked the roads. German fighters began dropping bombs on the city as they stood defenseless in the street until a group of people motioned for them to come upstairs to an apartment. Tom noted they accepted the invitation and spent the night as “The family served us the best they had.” The following day, they made it back to the schoolhouse where they learned, “Arrangements were being made to fly us out of Romania … as the sound of artillery fire came closer.”

German soldiers left the city on September 4, 1944, and several P-51s from the 15th Air Force “buzzed the airport” to provide protection for the B-17s coming in to take them home. Tom’s notes said, “Seeing those P-51s gave me a feeling of pride, which I cannot describe.”

The B-17s landed six at a time and POWs scrambled aboard until 400 of them were evacuated. Commander of the 15th Air Force Base in Italy, General Twining, greeted the war-weary soldiers home. The final sentence in Tom’s booklet reads, “After a short visit to each of our bomb groups, we returned home to the states.”

Tom completed 25 years as a pilot in the Air Force and retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1965. We sincerely thank him for his service.

Taxi over to YOUR History and Education Center for more sky-high tales and exhibits.
— Researched and compiled by Dr. John Regan

Volunteers are always welcome to help us preserve the part for the present and future at the Huntington County History and Education Center, 315 Court Street, in Huntington. Visit the Center from 10-a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and Saturdays by appointment. More information on the Center’s collection, tours, room rental, and how to become a member of the Huntington County Historical Society is available from Executive Director Barbara Rupley at (260) 356-7264 or www.huntingtonhistoricalmuseum.com