Charles Lee Beucher's first flight in a light aircraft was with an instructor was on July 15, 1939, at the airport in Decorah, Iowa. The plane was a recently purchased Taylorcraft. His first solo was in September 1940, and in November, he was ready to take his future wife, Jamaine, for a ride?€¦ While practicing "spin stalls" at the airport in Cedar Falls, Iowa, on December 7, 1941, he heard that Pearl Harbor had been bombed. He knew immediately that he had to do more than fly at county fairs. He had received his Commercial Pilot's Certificate in August 1941, and on February 25, 1942, was rated as a Flight Instructor. The next month, he was in Kansas City, MO, flying the Army Air Corp's Fairchild, Pipers, and Army Pt 17's. His first record of being at Cuero, Texas, working for the Brayton Flying Service, was in May 1942. He then qualified as a Civilian Army Primary Flight Instructor on June 4, 1942, and immediately started to teach pilot candidates from ground school in groups of four ... many had never flown before. The squadrons of young men who got their wings went on to fly bombers and fighter aircraft in theaters of war throughout the world ... and that included flying "the hump" in China. By the end of 1943 and early in 1944, it was apparent that the war was winding down. In March, he received a job offer from Trans World and Western Air (TWA) in Kansas City. He was able to get an "early out" and accepted the offer from TWA. The family packed and moved north. FAA rules required commercial pilots to retire at age 60 which was in 1975 for him. His oldest son, Terry, went on to join the Air Force and fly for TWA as well. Sidebar: The DC3 on display at the TWA Airline History Museum at the downtown airport in Kansas City was flown by my father on his first commercial flight in 1944.
?€“ Charles Lee Beucher Jr., Jacqueline Kay Beucher, Patrice (Beucher) Jobe, and Terry Beucher (deceased) -- his children.

Photo: Charles L Beucher with 5 of his students in 1943. Cuero, Texas