Arizona Republic du lieu suivant : Phoenix, Arizona • Page 91

October 2007 The San Tan Monthly M- Dean Peterson stands near a desplay he put together showing the history of Williams Gateway Airport jjj "Tffl 1-ITTTt-TTlniOniMIM I jm' i FOn MORDf I Charles Linton Williams "But evaluations after each of (Williams) successive crashes painted a little less rosier picture of his abilities." Dean Peterson Historian I 1 hi, mi. 1 Pat ShannahanThe Republic Historian's research on Lt. Williams helps unravel airport name mystery By Art Thomason art.thomasonarizonarepuboic.com Finding the pieces wasn't easy. But once assembled some of them cast a novel light on controversy that surrounds the renaming of Williams Gateway Airport. The namesake of the military base that became the civilian airport was a crash-prone pilot who survived several misadventures with his aircraft until the collision that took his life in September 1927, according to records compiled by retired educator and historian Dean Peterson.

For months a debate raged over changing the airport's name to Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, identifying it with its location and ending any reference to its past as Williams Air Force 'Base and the pilot for whom it was named. "But evaluations after each of his successive crashes painted a little less rosier picture of his abilities," he said. Williams' death occurred in a crash near the Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Oahu. He had been flying In a squadron that was providing escort for an Army captain, Peterson said. Wheeler Field at Oahu as one of the Air Corps stations at the time.

The fatal crash also played a role in Williams' name being approved decades later as the moniker for the Mesa-based Air Force base. Dying in the line of duty was one of three requirements for the honor, Peterson said. Williams also was in the correct branch of the military and being born at Ft. Hua-chuca, where his father was stationed with a cavalry unit, made him a native son of "These people are dying," he said of the base's early alumni. "Some of the memorabilia is being pitched.

I just want their grandkids to know that there is a way to ensure the legacy of their grandfather." Most of the collection is in a museum at the airport campus of Chandler-Gilbert Community College campus where Peterson served as manager of the computer lab and an assistant to provost John Schroeder. Some of Charles Linton Williams' records were acquired by Peterson from the United States Military Academy at West Point, where the young pilot; like his father, graduated. The retired educator said he also reviewed evaluations of Williams by his commanders, including those after his mishaps with Army aircraft. Early assessments of the young pilot were positive, Peterson said. The base, which was closed in 1993 to become a civilian airport, was home to aviation pioneers, including 24 of the nation's astronauts, and amassed a history of milestones in military flying since its development in 1 94 1 to train pilots for World War II.

Some of the historical data acquired by Peterson takes a look at Army Air Corps Lt. Charles Linton Williams, a portrayal of the pilot's military career that had remained relatively obscure. It also unravels a mystery for many as to how hisYiame was selected to identify Williams Air Force Base. The records are part of a large collection of the military installation's memorabilia, from official documents to letters written by the airfield's alumni, that Peterson, has been gathering for years. And he's pleading for more to fill empty spaces in the story of Willie and the people who cultivated its legacy.

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