Havelock, Cherry Point should celebrate

The city of Havelock is Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point’s copilot. Through its close association with the sprawling Marine Corps airfield and the economic and social impact the air station has had on the city — as well as the surrounding region — it is inextricably linked to Marine Corps aviation.

Those living in or visiting Eastern North Carolina can’t help but experience this link. Turning eyes skyward, the tools of America’s military might taking off from and returning to MCAS Cherry Point can be seen flying by every day.

Many of us live our lives vicariously though the experiences of these "magnificent men (and women) in their flying machines" and therefore, even if we’ve never experienced flight ourselves, we subconsciously understand Leonardo da Vinci’s sentiments: "When you have once tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you will always long to return."

This year the Marines celebrate the 100th anniversary of their own first taste of flight in May 22, 1912, less then 10 years after Orville and Wilbur Wright’s historic first flight from Kitty Hawk. Almost to the day, only 30 years after the birth of Marine Corps aviation in 1912, Cunningham Field — MCAS Cherry Point — was formally commissioned on May 20, 1942, and named in honor of the Marine’s first aviator, Alfred A. Cunningham.

The Marine Corps History and Museums Division publication, "Marine Corps Aviation: The Early Years" by Lt. Col. Edward C. Johnson, describes Cunningham’s inklings of becoming one of America’s first military aviators. Johnson writes that "Cunningham’s interest in aviation and path toward making history as Marine Aviator #1 was likely cemented with an ascent in a balloon in 1903 (interestingly, the same year the Wright’s were hopping in their "Flyer" off the wind-swept dunes of Kitty Hawk)."

Later as a second lieutenant in the Marines assigned to the Marine Barracks in Philadelphia, " … Cunningham whet his appetite for flying by joining a group of aviation enthusiasts and, using his own money, he rented an airplane from its builder and persuaded the Commanding Officer of the Philadelphia Navy Yard to use an open field on the base for test flights. But even Cunningham’s enthusiasm for flying couldn’t overcome the deficiencies of ‘Noisy Nan’ as he called the experimental aircraft, which he never got off the ground except for an occasional hop into the air," Johnson wrote.

Cunningham described his days of frustration with "Nan" writing in language that, for its day, was "salty"… Marine-like … risqué in its sexual innuendo: "I called her everything in God’s name to go up. I pleaded with her. I caressed her, I prayed to her, and I cursed that flighty old maid to lift up her skirts and (fly), but she never would."

Cunningham received orders to report on May 22, 1912, the officially recognized birthday of Marine Aviation, to the U.S. Naval Academy (which meant the fledgling U.S. Navy aviation camp at Greenbury Point, Md.).

But his dreams of flying were again delayed, this time not by a reluctant, anthropomorphically feminine airplane but by being almost immediately reassigned to expeditionary duty, for what we might call today an "individual augment" or "IA."

When Cunningham returned to Greenbury Point, Md., from his IA in July 1912, no aircraft was available to him to fly. They had all been damaged during early flight training events and were being repaired.

But Cunningham’s place in history as Marine Aviator #1 was set. The lack of planes wouldn’t stop him.

He finagled orders to the Curtiss factory in Marblehead, Mass., that built the Navy’s Wright aircraft. They had aircraft and civilian instructors. After just over 2 1/2 hours of flight training (his spurned affections toward "Nan" obviously more helpful to him than he realized), Cunningham soloed on Aug. 20, 1912, and went on to lead Marines into the modern aviation era.

He later wrote about the brevity of his training: "There being so few civilian flyers, the factory had to pay them a huge salary to teach us and they were anxious to make it short and snappy … I had only attempted to make two landings in rough weather when one calm day they decided to risk the plane rather than continue to pay the instructors’ large salaries."

Friday night, the Eastern Carolina Aviation Heritage Foundation, whose mission is to "celebrate the evolution of aviation in Coastal Carolina," is hosting a gala at the Havelock Tourist and Event Center. At this event, and during the next 4 1/2 months, the Marine Corps’ 100 years of flight and the aviation history and culture shared by the people of Havelock and the Marines will be rightfully celebrated.

Barry Fetzer is a columnist for the Havelock News. He can be reached at fetzerab@ec.rr.com.