Below is an article I wrote for Terrell Living on an item of interest, hopefully, to many of you entitled ‘Terrell’s High-Flying Past.’ Since the magazine was mailed out last Friday, I can finally release it. For those unaware, Terrell is in Texas near Dallas, but the article really highlights a former British WW II pilot and the program designed across the States to train British pilots, not just in Terrell.

Nestled away on the confines of the Terrell Municipal Airport is a treasure showcasing Terrell’s past and highlighting how the Terrell community embraced a group of outsiders sharing a future common goal. Within a hanger-like pale blue structure and a fallen off letter ‘M’ is the No. 1 British Flying Training School Museum, home of historical artifacts documenting a relative unknown part of America’s history in World War II.

The flight school in Terrell, one of only six in the United States, opened up officially in August 1941 and hosted classes of 50 British student pilots who were first decommissioned by the Royal Air Force, sent to Canada and then given visas to enter the United States due to the official United States policy of neutrality before Pearl Harbor. After the United States entered World War II, classes were expanded to 100 student pilots.

Neutrality was a tricky issue during the late 1930s and early 1940s. It is well known President Franklin Roosevelt circumvented United States law to aid England before the United States had officially entered the war, but it was after the Defense Act passed into law, essentially cutting Congress out of the loop, that enabled Roosevelt to help England build flight schools at the request of England Prime Minister Winston Churchill following the Battle of Britain.

Over 2,300 British students traveled through the Terrell flight school in the nearly five years of operation, and it was local Terrell civilian residents who taught these young Brits to fly, embraced them as members of the community and in the case of 40 British students, even married the young men who faced the grueling task of defeating the Nazi war machine ahead.

If one were to simply look at the artifacts the museum holds, including a World War II era flight simulator, a map of Texas and surrounding states with a map of England and Europe drawn on top to illustrate the training runs taught in the school and several photos and uniforms to pique the interest of any World War II enthusiast, they might miss the real treasure of the museum, former flight school student and museum curator Henry Madgwick.

Madgwick’s journey from a young British teenager living in the Welsh region of England to the caretaker for a glimpse into history’s past is not unique in itself. Having never been to the United States prior to flight training, Madgwick has embraced Terrell by moving to the United States following the end of World War II to be with his wife.

It is Madgwick’s knowledge of the flight school, the history of World War II and the transformation in military aircraft from surveillance balloons during early World War I to the F-16 and his hospitality that makes the museum well worth the visit.

A visitor wading through the museum’s many artifacts without Madgwick will lose the importance of the museum to Madgwick, whose excitement to show visitors exhibit after exhibit rivals that only of a mother with a new-born baby wanting to show it off for the world to see. It is Madgwick’s zeal for the flight school and the history of military aviation that pierces through the rather nondescript facade of the museum.

The ever-present vision of Madgwick in what he wants to do for the future of the museum transcends all historical memorabilia as a visitor pictures with Madgwick the future of a flight museum in Terrell that will host exhibits on the No. 1 British Flying Training School and exhibits on military aircraft in World War I.

Indeed it is the future 15 acres on the premises of the Terrell Municipal Airport that Madgwick is envisioning.

“When our new home is built,” said Madgwick, “this will be more of a flight museum that hosts memorabilia on the flight school and shows just how much we loved Terrell and called it our home for six months.”

The future site of the No. 1 British Flying School Museum is scheduled to start breaking ground in 2008 and completed in 2010, built from the ground up just as the training center was.

As deeply connected to the history of Terrell the No. 1 British Flying School is, so too is Terrell deeply connected to the student pilots that went on and fought in France, Germany, Italy, North Africa, Japan and India. The museum is owned and operated by former students of the No. 1 Terrell Flying School who see it as a historical marker for their past and a term of endearment for the graciousness of Terrell residents.

Within the museum is a makeshift church displaying the alter groups of students prayed at after marching in formation to a local church. Adorning the walls of the makeshift church is the name of every student who traveled through Terrell for flight training, though Madgwick concedes he is still uncovering the names of students who attended the school to this day.

“Every once in a while I’ll get a call from someone who states their father was in the flight school here,” said Madgwick. “They’re looking for more information on both Terrell and the flight school. Sure enough, after I look over documents we continue to get in and in response to these calls, I find out there are many more student pilots who learned to fly in Terrell.”

After the United States entered World War II, non-U.S. citizens were not allowed on the Pacific Coast because this area was thought to be the primary Japanese attack point within the United States homeland. The British school in Lancaster, Calif. was closed down for this very purpose and some of those flight school students were transferred into Terrell, though they do not appear on official records or the several photographs showing each class that passed through.

It was after Pearl Harbor when the Flying School, paid for and built by England, started to train American pilots and British pilots. American pilots trained at the British flight schools had both the American and British wings adorning their uniforms, and it was the British system of aviation which Madgwick credits for building the United States Air Force we see today.

“In World War I,” said Madgwick, “the United States had around 135 military aircraft but only 35 pilots. England helped the United States recognize the need for air superiority in combat.”

All British owned flight schools were built in the Southern United States after having learned the lessons of American student pilots fighting the cold in Canada where previous American and British flight schools operated.

The field in Terrell is unique in that it was the first field opened in the United States, but it was also one of only two fields that were built from the ground up. Lend-lease laws in the United States allowed the construction, but the British first hesitated to build the schools because of United States law requiring certain amenities on military land.

“The Americans wanted the British to build swimming pools, housing for married couples and other things the British weren’t interested in,” said Madgwick. “[Winston] Churchill told [Franklin] Roosevelt, ‘we’re in a war’ and that the flight schools didn’t need these extra amenities.”

All British student pilots that passed through the United States did so without their families and were decommissioned to satisfy the United States Congress official position of neutrality in the war making the students civilians in a foreign land not under military rules, yet there were no desertions in the over 17,000 student pilots who learned how to fly in the United States.

“We British knew the future of our nation depended on our ability to fight,” said Madgwick, “and we wanted to learn how to fly so we could defend [England].”

Another hidden gem within the museum is a map showing all burial sites of British soldiers who died in the United States, be it from fighting in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 or the training deaths that claimed 19 British servicemen in Terrell and 1 student pilot who lost his life due to natural causes.

The imprint upon Terrell left by the flight school is embedded to this day, and the No. 1 British Flying School Museum is a testament to that lasting impact.

If the British government had not have built what is now known as Terrell Municipal Airport, Terrell would likely be without the current five Fortune 500 corporations calling Terrell home. Steve Abraham, Municipal Development Director for the City of Terrell, credits the airport with giving major corporations better access to their facilities.

“The airport started the industry park in Terrell,” said Danny Booth, President of the Terrell Chamber of Commerce. “There are corporate jets in the hangers today.”

The No. 1 British Flying School also brought Madgwick to Terrell. Madgwick served as Mayor of Terrell for three years after moving to the United States to be with his wife, or his girlfriend as Magdwick charmingly calls her, whom he met during his training days.

While both Terrell and the flight school have left lasting impressions upon each other, Madgwick leaves a lasting impression on anyone who is lucky enough to visit with him.

Sadly, after a visitor looks through the guest book where visitors from far and wide may sign their names, it is apparent not many Terrell residents have had the distinct pleasure to meet Madgwick or catch a glimpse into Terrell’s past. Far more British citizens’ names adorn the guest book than Terrell residents, a fact Madgwick hopes will change.

“The flight school was just as much Terrell as it was British,” said Madgwick.

The most common questions the sons or daughters of former student pilots ask, according to Madgwick, are questions about Terrell and inquiries into what their father was like. Madgwick finds himself explaining the history of the flight school and the history of military aviation, though he’s quick to negate his own experiences and talk about the heroes of the Royal Air Force who flew through Terrell and other British schools in the United States.

Many World War II veterans do not talk about their own experiences, and Madgwick is of no exception. Almost always speaking in third person, Madgwick wants to stress what others did for the school and what others did during the war to help tell a story that is both local and global.

“It’s sad really,” Madgwick said in response to being asked why World War II veterans do not often tell of their own experiences. “There is so much to tell and I fear the deeply personal stories of former pilots and soldiers will be washed away with time.”

Madgwick and the No. 1 British Flying School Museum are trying in earnest to tell those washed away stories, even if he would rather talk of his fellow British and American student pilots than his own story. Madgwick is the ultimate treasure of the museum, and it is his engaging personality that should be considered one of Terrell’s landmarks.

Not published but worth a mention is that when I walked into Madgwick’s office, there was a photo of President Bush directly over his chair.  While we never discussed politics, Madgwick did respond to my smirks and subtle comments regarding how things were during WW II when compared to what has caused the American Left to cry foul today.  The money quote after I questioned the passing of the Defense Act was: “Back then Americans realized they were at war even before She entered.”