On Thursday of this week Marion A. West, who has visited in Coldwater since last Sunday with his mother, Mrs. R. E. Hatch, and Mr. Hatch, left for his home in Los Angeles, Calif.Mr. West had gone by train to Detroit and was flying home a new 1948 Stinson four passenger plane for his company. He is in charge of Air Safety for the W. H. Coffin Air Service at Vail Field, California, near Los Angeles, one of the oldest fields in the United States.
Prior to 1918 Mr. West was a mechanic for Barney Oldfield in his auto racing days and during World War I was a first lieutenant in the First Pursuit Group in France delivering American spies into Germany. He has continued to fly and during World War II was chief engineer and test pilot for the Cal-Aero flying schools which taught army cadets everything from primary training to advanced flying. Included in the schools were British and Chinese students.
Mr. West was assigned by Jimmy Doolittle the task of training a number of crack pilots for the famous raid on Tokyo and is one of the top trainers in the United States, with more than 22,000 flying hours to his credit during the past 30 years. He was a guest of the Coldwater Lions club on Wednesday and spoke of the record of some interesting phases of modern aviation as it affects the army.
Barney Oldfield: International Motorsports Hall of Fame Member
Vail Field "This photo appeared with the caption "WH Coffin Air Service, ... The above circa-1946 photo shows that the WH Coffin Air Service was operating from Vail Field..."
Thanks to Shirley Brier for finding, transcribing and contributing the above news article to this web site!
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