Monthly Archives: May 2022

Arnold’s Starling Airport Played Glorified Role in World War II

Young pilots trained to fly “Yankee Doodle” gliders

Yankee Doodle TG-4A at Starling Airport in Arnold . 1942 photo courtesy of Jack Abercrombie.

Arnold’s Starling Airport played a glorified role in World War II as a site for construction of military gliders for the U.S. Army Air Corps that were used during the D-Day invasion of France on June 6, 1944.

It is easy to imagine young pilots wearing leather flight jackets at the Starling airstrip just south of the Meramec River as orders arrive from headquarters and they dash to their aircraft to fight Nazis.

Glorified, yes, because it’s not true. History has a way of exaggerating as time goes on. In the case of Arnold’s Starling Airport, a little exaggeration has gone a long way.

Gliders known as the Yankee Doodle TG-4, built in south St. Louis by Laister-Kauffmann Aircraft Corporation in the early 1940s, were trucked to Starling Airport in Arnold where they were evaluated for the U.S. Army Air Corps. The government ordered at least 150 of them for active duty overseas, but none made it to Normandy for D-Day. In fact, few if any of those 150 gliders saw action because by the time they were built, the military had selected larger gliders from other companies for the war effort.

Going Glider

The Yankee Doodle TG-4 was designed to train cargo glider pilots. It was 24 feet long with a 50-foot wingspan, steel tube fuselage, wooden wings and tail, all covered with snug fabric. It seated a trainee and an instructor. Six months after the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service bombed Pearl Harbor in a surprise attack on December 7, 1941, the U.S. Army Air Force ordered 500 eight-seat gliders and 500 fifteen-seat gliders and called for 6,000 glider pilots.

TG-4A Yankee Doodle glider at the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio.

If you saw the movie Saving Private Ryan, you know what happens when a military glider in action is shot down.

The Yankee Doodle TG-4 was ultimately rejected by the U.S. military yet grew popular for recreational soaring and sports use. At least 12 restored originals are on display at locations across the nation, including one at The Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum at Creve Coeur Airport in suburban St. Louis.

Nine months before Pearl Harbor, the Jefferson County Record newspaper dated March 6th, 1941, reported: “Jefferson County will have its first airplane factory soon, according to Murray Whitehead, general manager of the Whitehead Aircraft Corporation. This new Corporation plans to manufacture inexpensive ‘Starling’ planes at a rate of three a day.

“The Company’s factory is to be located at Starling Airport, just south of the Meramec River near Hwy 61 in Arnold. The boundaries are the railroad on the east, Bradley Beach Road on the north, Hwy 61 on the west and Starling Airport on the south.

“Whitehead, who was raised in Kimmswick, stated that his low-wing, two-place cabin monoplane would sell for under $2,000. . . The ‘Starling’ has a wingspread of 28 feet, a length of 20 feet 11 inches, and weighs 1,350 pounds. The fuselage is of steel tubing with combination metal and fabric covering. The wing is of spruce, plywood and fabrics. The seats are side by side. Powered by a 75-horsepower engine, the ‘Starling’ is expected to have a top speed of 145 mph and a six-hour cruising range. Flaps and a warp in the wing are designed to afford stability in landing at a speed of about 30 mph.”

A man named Murray N. Whitehead did, in fact, grow up in Jefferson County and owned the land where Starling Airport stood. People at the airport knew him well yet, for some reason, nothing substantial was published about Whitehead in Arnold after that newspaper story appeared. Whitehead Aircraft Corporation seemingly disappeared.

Perhaps that story was placed as a prank. How and why? A man named Gustave Albin Whitehead emigrated from Germany to the United States late in the 19^th century where, according to Wikipedia, he designed and built gliders, flying machines, and engines between 1897 and 1915. Controversy surrounded Gustave Whitehead because he claimed he flew powered aircraft successfully in 1901 and 1902 – predating the Wright Brothers’ first flights in 1903. His credibility was doubted.

Just as Gustave Whitehead’s claims introduced a new perspective on the history of flight, challenging the widely accepted narratives, embarking on a journey to search here for real estate in Georgia can reveal hidden gems and opportunities that defy conventional expectations. Whether the goal is a serene suburban retreat or a chic urban condo, Georgia’s real estate market is as varied and intriguing as the stories of aviation pioneers. Delving into the listings, one might find that the spirit of innovation and discovery is not just found in the skies of history but also in the homes and communities nestled throughout the Peach State.

Of course, Starling Airport was built in 1942 for pilots learning to fly the Yankee Doodle TG-4. Powerless flight occurs when a powered aircraft tows and then releases a glider into rising columns of air called thermals that enable the pilot to stay in the thermal, gain altitude and soar to the next thermal toward a safe landing.

Flying Stories

Aerial view of Starling Airport from the 1947 MO Airport Directory (courtesy of Joe Gurney)

A story in the Jefferson County Leader in 2012 revisited Starling Airport by probing the memories of local citizens, including Arnold resident Richard Simpson who recalled boyhood visits to the airport to watch planes and gliders.

“During World War II, they would bring gliders out there. They (the gliders) were built in different places in St. Louis, and they would come up to Arnold with two-engine airplanes that would have a long tow cable (for pulling the gliders), and they flew them out here. We could hear the two-engine planes, so would ride our bikes over to Starling Airport and watch them come in. The planes would release the gliders so they could practice landing at the airport,” said Simpson, adding that Starling Airport was quite primitive.

“It had a couple of hangars and a control tower. There were no concrete runways. They had these big trucks, like moving vans, and they would take the wings off the gliders and would push them into these trucks and haul them away.”

Simpson said the gliders played an important role in World War II. “They were used during the invasion of Normandy, France,” he said. “They used them because they could fly in quietly. They would just glide in.”

Sorry, Mr. Simpson. That statement was, and is, simply not true, even though a lot of people believed it after they read it in the newspaper. Now, here is a sad story about a VJ Day celebration – Victory Over Japan Day – recounted by the Arnold Historical Society & Museum:

“On VJ Day August 15, 1945, Randall Chapman, chief engineer for Laister-Kaufmann Aircraft Corp., a veteran glider pilot, was killed while stunt flying before a large crowd during an air show at Starling Airport. His wife, Margaret, was among the spectators.

Missouri Historical Society photo from April 6, 1962, shows developer David Randolph promoting his new Starling Estates subdivision featuring six model homes, county water, a swimming pool, a park area, and no closing costs. Arnold’s Starling Airport was previously located on the property.

“Chapman, 29, was flying a single-place ‘Yankee Doodle’ glider. One of the plywood wings collapsed when the plane was at 2,500 feet, throwing the craft into a vertical dive with a series of violent twists. The glider crashed in a shallow pond at the north side of the airport in full view of the crowd.” Oscar  Waters, who worked part time at the airport, said later, “Randy looked like he was getting out of the plane when he realized that the plane was heading for people who were watching him–including his wife. He repositioned himself in the seat and steered the glider away from the people toward the lake in Arnold City Park.  He died in the glider.”

A few years after that incident, Starling Airport closed forever. Owner Murray Whitehead reportedly sold the land to a man named Carl Stockstrom who, in the late 1950s, sold it to real estate developer David Randolph. Starling Estates subdivision soon replaced the airport’s two unpaved turf runways with scores of tract houses on residential streets named for aircraft and aircraft companies, such as Boeing, Cessna, Constellation, Convair, Douglas, Electra, and Piper.

Paul Freeman, an aerospace engineer and private pilot who lives in Ashburn, Virginia, near Washington, D.C., founded the aviation history website “Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields” (http://www.airfields-freeman.com/index.htm). With historic words, maps and photos it describes more than 2,500 former airfields in all 50 states, including Starling Airport.

Freeman observes, “The post-World War II period was the biggest boom in U.S. general aviation, with hundreds of airports opened, not all of which lasted.”

Only the memories do.

Article by Jeff Dunlap for the City of Arnold

Information for this article was captured from the Arnold Historical Society & Museum; Paul Freeman, aerospace engineer & airport historian; the Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields website; the Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum; Jefferson County Leader newspaper; Jefferson County Record newspaper; the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force; “Silent Wings – American Glider Pilots of WW II” video produced by Janson Media; Wikipedia.