"A Camera Trip through Army Air Forces Navigation School, Hondo, Texas" cover   Save
Charles Walder Parke WW2 Collection
Description: Cover of 29-page picture booklet about life and training at the Navigation School in Hondo, Texas. Most pages feature one or more large, black and white photographs. The back cover states that the booklet was "planned and printed in Gravure" in Brooklyn, New York "with the courtesy and cooperation of the Public Relations Office and Photographic Department of Army Air Forces Navigation School, Hondo, Texas." C. Walder Parke trained at this school to become a navigator. Charles Walder Parke was born on July 28, 1924, and grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio. He enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces in 1942 intending to be a pilot during WWII, but spent most of his military career as a navigator on B-17 Flying Fortresses in the 94th Bombardment Group. Parke earned two Bronze Stars, an Air Medal with several Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his successful bombing missions, including some over Berlin. He is best known for being on board a B-17 which was shot down over France by German planes on June 25, 1944, during a non-combat mission. The crew managed to make an emergency landing, and everyone inside survived. After the war, Parke founded the Cleveland-based Laurel Industries Inc., which became a prominent supplier of antimony oxide to the plastics industry. He died of Lou-Gehrig’s Disease on September 15, 1996, at the age of 72. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MSS1510_B03F05_002
Subjects: Navigation School (Hondo Army Air Field, Texas); Military education; Flight navigators, Military
Places: Hondo (Texas); Medina County (Texas)