UP FORWARD
Captain W. C. Bowden, Jr.
First Officer J. W. Berryhill, Jr.
Way back in Dermott, Arkansas, in 19??, CURLEY BOWDEN drew his first breath.
Mechanically inclined, Curley, as a kid, worked summers and after school in auto
garages, played a little football, and when the school burned down, graduated. For
the next five years, he did just about everything with a wholesale grocery company.
Then CPT came along.
To enroll in CPT, Curley had to drive from Dermott to Pine Bluff each day, round trip,
about 150 miles, but he mode it. After completing primary, Curley went to LittleRock
to finish up, where he first met Screechy Clement and Roy Brown.
After working as an instructor for the Army awhile, Curley joined the Air Transport
Command, training in the same class with Zeke Saunders, Frank Nicholson, Hoss
Dobbins, Jack Pierce, Al Kyle, and others. After completion, he was assigned to the
Battle of Dallas, ferrying fighters around the U.S. and Alaska. Luck ran out for Curley
and he caught China duty, where he spent another year. At 6000 feet above sea level,
take-off performance of C-47s loaded to 29,000 pounds wasn't exactly spectacular,
breathtaking, maybe, but definitely not spectacular! Anyway, he made it, returned
to the States, was discharged.
Back to the garage he went, not too well satisfied, but content, content until a letter
from Clement and Dobbins put the gasoline smell in his nostrils again. Next thing
Curley knew, he had a handful of throttles again, this time for Piedmont.
A Methodist, Scottish Rite Mason, Curley married a hometown girl, Mildred, spends
much of his time tinkering with his Crosley, riding herd on his two future Captains,
Walter III, 3, and Warren, 2. Curley has about 10,000 hours total time, 7,000 in
DC-3s.
JOHN BERRYHILL was in aviation from the beginning, for the dairy farm on which he
was born is now part of the Charlotte Airport. This must have been an omen, for in
1943, Berrypatch joined the Navy, started in Cadets in '44. When he graduated in
1945, the war was over, and he was released to inactive duty.
Then it began. He flew a year for Southern
Airways Fixed Base in CLT, sold insurance
for a couple of years, flew copilot for a
non-sked, worked as an agent for Eastern,
and flew with a CLT Naval Reserve unit.
Finally, in 1951, he came to PAI, was
sent to Wilmington, where he has been
ever since.
Johnny is married, and he and Jane have
three youngsters, Rebecca, 7, Johnny, 4,
and Arthur, 6 months. He has about 3,300
hours, 2,300 of it in Dougs. Johnny's a
stocky, sandy-haired guy, serious looking,
but with an infectious grin.
The Piedmonitor greets two nice guys,
Curley Bowden and Johnny Berryhill.
HAMS HAMMER HURRICANE
RADIO BUGS JOHNNY ON THE SPOT
The value of the amateur radio fans to
America was more than amply demonstrated
on October 15, when Hurricane Hazel
clobbered Wilmington. As is the case with
most high wind storms, the first thing to go
was the long lines, leaving Wilmington
without telephone or teletype communica
tions. Driving to work on the morning of
the 15th, Walt Rollick was monitoring the
North Carolina Network Control Frequency
3854kc, and learned of the communications
washout. Walt contacted Captain Forrest
Shelton, who also has a mobile unit, and
Forrest, in turn, contacted W4VWN, the
network control station in Wilmington. A
mobile unit, W4AWQ, was dispatched to
the Wilmington airport, so that instpjCtions
for the care of ship 46V could be relayed.
There was serious concern for the safety of
the airplane when winds rose to 115 mph,
but the instructions relayed by the impro
vised radio network saved the day with the
loss only of a rudder. Worried Piedmont
personnel, concerned for the safety of
friends and relatives in Wilmington, checked
on their situation through Shelton's cooper
ation .
One radio amateur in Raleigh had a mobile
unit in his car which was in his garage.
The garage blew down while he was on the
air. His plugs got wet, shorting out his
power supply, so he got out, dried off his
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