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| Lt. Ralph O'Hair (Source:HurricaneConsulting.net) |
Col. James P. Duckworth was on base teaching a group of British fighter pilots on flying by "Instrument." After some ribbing between the pilots from both countries, Col. Duckworth bet the foreign pilots he could fly into the approaching hurricane and out again safely; doing so would prove that his teaching aircraft and his instrument flying were superior. Duckworth asked Lt. Ralph O'Hair to navigate into the hurricane with him. O'Hair had his worries. He worried about having to parachute out if the engine became waterlogged. Duckworth and O'Hair did not report their flight and took the plane "unofficially." The air traffic controllers were surprised to hear that the pair were flying into Galveston. The controllers told the men to keep them abreast of their flight path, so they would know where to send rescuers to look for their wreckage. The single engine AT-6 trainer flew into the eye and the hurricane and back out again without incident.
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| Col. James P. Duckworth with officer (Source:Hurricaneconsulting.net) |
Upon return to the base, Lt. Wm. H. Jones-Burdick, a meteorological officer confronted the pair about their excursion and asked why he wasn't invited. Duckworth then returned to the eye of the hurricane with Jones-Burdick, who took notes about the storm.
Later that same year, Col. Duckworth was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for being the first to fly into a hurricane-twice in a single day! His trip helped pave the way for further flights into hurricanes for research.
The hurricane he flew into was a category 1 with sustained winds of 86 MPH with wind gusts up to 132 MPH. There was 11 million dollars in damage done to Galveston and 19 people lost their lives.
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| Galveston, TX after the 1943 "Surprise" Hurricane (Source: Hurricaneconsulting.net) |
Sources:
Alabama Wx
Hurricane Consulting
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