Do You Recall Jimmy Doolittle...and Eureka's Airport?

Someone sent me a video of the 1942 Air Raid of Japan led by Col. James Doolittle who led the 16 B-25 bombers that took off from the carrier Hornet and bombed parts of Japan. It is hard to believe that more than 69 years have passed — as has almost all the 80 participants of the raid.

Several were killed in events of that day, including those who were executed in Japan or died making landfall in China. One crew landed in Russia and were held there for two years, but surprisingly, most made it back to the United States.

That fall, one of them visited my ROTC class at Missouri University, during a trip across the country. I don't remember his name but tried to get it from the school recently, but I guess it is a thing of the past. It was a great morale booster for our country at the time.

Doolittle feared it was a failure, but he was assured they did a good job and he was promoted to general and received the Congressional Medal of Honor, which he accepted for all those who made the raid.

During the 1930s, Doolittle worked with Shell Oil Company in a long forgotten program to bring aviation to all communities and try to sell gasoline for Shell as he called on locals across the countries to establish small airfields. This is where the area fits in.

Someone had contacted my father about such a project. It must have been Doolittle, as there was no one else.  Suddenly my brother, Bud, a former mayor of Eureka and I were told to get out our grader and prepare a site on a farm we operated right along old Highway 66, just south of Times Beach.

This we did and because it was already level and open, it wasn't a large effort. The first plane to take off to the west managed to fly right into the hill across Highway 66 from Rock City, and that was the end of the strip.

Twenty years later, I still had the flight bug and after acquiring a J-3 Piper Cub, established Weber International, "you could get any place in the world from there," but it was without the hill at the end of the runway.

It seems we had more freedom then and almost all small airports have ceased to exist, as I see St. Clair might be the next to close. 

Flying was fun and now it isn't available. We used another hay field in downtown Eureka, running along south of the Frisco Railroad where we land planes during the old Eureka Days — even had a Piper Cub on a parade float one year.  

Ah, the Good Old Days!

Kind of the story of my life. Interesting things happen and have become a part of the history of the area.