Falcon Field KFFZ a personal story.

[Jon Clarke]

I was really pleased to see that Falcon Field KFFZ was included in the last Freeware airports. This airfield has fond memories for me.

At the outset of WW2 my father was just 18yrs old and volunteered for the RAF. He was designated to learn to fly the Spitfire. He was despatched to Falcon Field in Mesa Arizona for training as it was too dangerous to have the new trainee pilots do their training in the UK due to the constant air raids. He spent several months there in training with American airman and fellow UK pilots, and had described to me the friendliness shown by the local people and fellow US airmen. Fir an 18 yr old who had never been out of a rather depressed Lancashire ( a UK county ) it was an absolute eye opener for him to see how the "other half " lived. No rationing, food galore, exotic fruits, Coca Cola, Burgers, drive-in cinemas etc. He had a ball ! He also learned very quickly how to fly the Spitfire.

After his training came to an end he was sent back to the UK and the misery, and joined a fighter squadron. Just before he left Falcon Field, he was asked, along with some fellow trainees if they would like to donate any items of theirs so that the people at Falcon Field could put them in a small museum they were opening to remind them of the time they helped train RAF pilots. My father donated his flying jacket.  Dad ended up being posted to fight the Japanese armies that had invaded Burma, and he was based just over the border in India. One late afternoon his airfield was attacked by the Japanese airforce. He scrambled his plane in an effort to escape the bombing but unfortunately in his attempt to clear the jungle strip, didn't have enough room to clear the tree canopy at the end of the runway. He crashed his plane, hitting the trees canopy and was severely burned.

He then spent 3 years at a hospital in the UK call East Grinstead in which there was a surgeon called Archibald McIndoe. This man was the pioneer of what we now know as Plastic Surgery. The hospital was full of severely injured forces personnel, mainly badly burned RAF pilots and Sir Archibald ( as he became) pioneered his belief that  he could fix to varying degrees, the unfortunate disfigurements that result from burns, by doing skin grafts. The people he performed many, many hours of often painful surgery on became known as "Guinea Pigs" and as such formed a group known as the "Guinea Pig Club".

There are only a very few if any of the Guinea Pig Club members left now, but they used to hold annual reunions. After one such reunion in the 1970's it was arranged by a very generous Canadian airline owner that those who had trained at Falcon Field would be transported free of charge to there for a last look (for them) at their training field. Dad visited the little museum there and saw his flying jacket !!

Anyway, if there is anyone of our US members here on the forums that live near KFFZ I would like to know if the little museum still exists.

The end.

[Sniper31]

What a truly wonderful story! I love military history, and most especially actual true personal stories such as this. Thank you for sharing this...it would be an honor to shake your father's hand and salute him. 

[Jon Clarke]

Thanks Sniper31. Unfortunately he passed away in 96 but I know he would have appreciated your sentiments and would have  been  honoured to have shaken your hand too.

[Taph]

There was a program about Falcon Field on one of the sky channels, at that time the museum still existed and I believe it still does.

 

you might like these links

http://www.falconfieldairport.com/about-us/falcon-field-airport-history#ad-image-21

 

https://www.azcaf.org/museum/exhibits/

[Jon Clarke]

Thanks Taph. I will take a look

[Taph]

No problem, if you check the museum store there are three books they list about the History of the field, the time the RAF was there, and a picture album of that time

[Bermuda425]

Aren't we lucky duck to have such an extraordinary freeware team!

Greetings!

[VH-KDK]

I could read stories like this all night, so interesting.

I have read a couple of books about the Guinea Pig Club and some of the pictures in it are horrendous. I always think of the terror these people must have gone through even before they got to the hospital at East Grinstead.

What an eye opener it must have been to have gone from industrial Lancashire to Arizona and then to have flown the Spitfire.

My dad was in India too but he was in the Army. Was meant to be going to Java but the war ended before they left.

I can remember him telling stories about the abundance of food in India and having their own local man looking after them

[Sniper31]

11 hours ago, jjaycee1 said:

Thanks Sniper31. Unfortunately he passed away in 96 but I know he would have appreciated your sentiments and would have  been  honoured to have shaken your hand too.

I thought he might have passed on, but I surely did not want to assume anything. As someone with over 25 years of military service as a ground pounding Infantry man, I have always had the utmost respect for those up above that provide air cover, close air support, etc. I've had my bacon saved more times than I can count thanks to air power. This respect goes to all military pilots, of any nationality. It is further always an honor when I have the opportunity to meet someone from that era, to hear their stories and experiences, to see the gleam in their eyes as they recount their past. Always humbling and amazing at the same time.