The following is as an OCR scan which probably has some of the usual OCR 'typos' remaining. This is from a 4 page Lockheed Martin Newsletter.
See also "Lockhead Martin Newsletter"
|
|
Henry R. Poplawski
An abbreviated autobiography
Wanting to be a pilot and fly goes back to my teenage days. I flew kites and model airplanes I made. Reaching my goal was a slow process. My parents were Polish immigrants and I was the second son of three boys and four sisters. I lost both my parents by the age of 12 and was living with my younger brother and sister at my oldest sister house and her family. Hoping to go to college after high school was just a dream. I had help from an Uncle who gave me $200.00 to start the first semester, class of 1939 in my hometown at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. I worked at the college under a government program to pay for my freshman year. I did not have any money to continue and had to drop out. I enlisted in the Army Air Corps with my younger brother and went to the Air Corps Technical School and completed the airplane mechanic course and the radio operator and repair course. My next objective was a two year college equivalency exam to get an appointment as a flying cadet. I got my wings and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army Air Corps in 1939.
From here on my flying life moved on swiftly. My first assignment was to Middletown Air Depot, Pennsylvania. I got to fly all over the USA and in all kinds of different airplanes. Some were old like the Glenn L. Martin Company first all metal bomber the B10. The B-10 came from Brazil for repairs and it is now at the Air Force Museum, Dayton, Ohio. Before the US came into WW-II, the US Air Corps wanted a way to help the British in Africa. Pan American Air established an African division named PAAAfrica. The pilots for this pseudo airline came from the Air Corps. I was an assigned volunteer plus four other pilots sent to Africa by a Pan American flying boat. We pioneered an airline across middle Africa; there was a war going on in North Africa. We extended our airline over Arabia, India all the way to China. After 13 months the expanded airline was militarized and the US was totally involved in WW-ll. I returned to the US to recover from numerous tropical diseases. I started to work in October 1942 for the Glenn L Martin Company near Baltimore, Maryland.
When WW-II ended I went back to college at the University of Southern California and received my BE in aeronautical/mechanical engineering in 1948. After graduation I went back to Glenn L Martin as an aeronautical engineer in customer service. With the war in Korea I was recalled in 1951 to active duty to fly Glenn L. Martin made B-29s. The Training Command changed my orders and I went to Lowry AFB, Denver, Colorado to setup the Guided Missile Training School. I became the Director. We trained mechanics and operators for the Glenn L. Martin pilot less missiles; the Matador and the Mace.
My career field changed from flying to air/aerospace technical intelligence. My next duty was a four-year assignment to CIA in Washington, DC. I went back to the Air Force for a field assignment in Tokyo, Japan. We kept track of what the other side was doing and they kept their eyes on us. I retired from the Air Force in 1966 with 20 years of active duty and 12 years in the reserves. I changed from the uniform to Civil Service and stayed in the same job. I retired from Civil Service in 1977, at Wright-Patterson AFB.
In looking over what I have written it looks like an obituary column. I should settle for "Been there and done that!"
|
11 July 2003
Marauder Historical Society
P. O.Box788
Annandale, VA, 22003-0788
Editor: Richard P. Ellinger
Dear Sir,
I received my June copy of Marauder Thunder and enjoyed reading and reminiscing on stories of the B-26. I thought perhaps you might consider hearing about my experiences with the B-26. Should you feel some might be worthwhile for publishing in the Marauder Thunder, feel free to do so.
While I was a B-26 test pilot at Glenn L. Martin, I checked out several U. S. Navy pilots on the B-26. These were old timers who had a lot of flying time on PBY-flying boats. The Navy was getting some stripped down B-26's as tow target airplanes for their fighters. They needed a fast airplane. These were identified as the JIM-1 1. I do not believe they carried the Marauder name. The Navy pilots were scared of the B-26. It was a hot airplane compared with the PBY. After flying with them for several hours to show what the airplane could do, they were a lot more confident of their ability to fly the B-26.
Perhaps some of your readers might have heard of the term, "One a day in Tampa Bay". Eglin Field at Tampa, Florida was a training base for B-26 pilots. For a time they were experiencing take-off problems, such as run-away pitch control on the electric pitch control propellers. On take-off you had to follow correct procedure to change propeller to cruise control. If you did it wrong, you lost engine power and ditched in Tampa Bay. We sent several experienced pilots to Eglin Field to correct the problem.
At Martin, after we flew the new B-26's for about 2.5 hours on a test flight, the airplane was turned over to the Air Corps for delivery to operational squadrons. Ferry pilots from an airbase at Dover, Delaware flew in about once a week to fly out the airplanes. At times several of the pilots were women, members of the WASP. They were good pilots.
I hope you can use the enclosed material.
Sincerely,
Henry R. Poplawski
Editor: See: "Lockhead Martin Newsletter"
|
|
WHAT IF?
Some time if you stop and think about it, do you ever wonder what your life
would have been like if you made a different choice of lives many variables. All along in your lives pursuit there were many occasions of, what if?
When you think about the various stages of your life, chances are there were times where you could have changed your path in life. Focus your recall on some of the milestones along the path. Start thinking way back to your growing and developing years. Think of the missed opportunities that may have been recognized too late to change your lives direction. It was up to you to make it happen. You could have been all that you wanted to be.
It is often said by losers, if I only played my cards right, I could have been a winner. In the game of life there are always winners and losers. Some further say, it is not whether you win or lose it is how you play the game that counts. They may be right, but it feels better to be on the winning side. In a dream state of sleep you can play-out all of your could haves and perhaps you may have. Dreams can be turned into reality. Wake up, make a dream list and apply what if to it and let it fly.
Think what the world would be like if we traveled in balloons and dirigibles. The first successful flights were made in hot air balloons before the airplane was invented. Observing birds sparked mans interest in the flight of birds. Numerous experiments duplicated the flight of birds. In Greek mythology, Icarus flew, with feather wings. Progress was slow until the Wright Stuff came in place. The year 1903 was the beginning of mans flying adventure. and it only just begun. We have come a long way of what ifs.
At an early age that I had a dream, I wanted to fly. It was an impossible dream but it was my what if. I reached my dream and flew the magic sky on gossamer wing, over a world so vast it makes you want to sing.
I broke the bounds of earthly ties and flew over a sea of clouds.
In a sky so vast it covered the earth like a cotton shroud.
Planets dance along the Milky Way, pinpointed by the rays of the sun.
In quiet solitude of my what if, I think of the race I won.
Henry R. Poplawski
Lt.Col. USAF-Ret.
|