Having trained as a pilot during World War II on a P-40 Warhawk airplane, Charlie Ball remembers them well.
Ball, 94, of North Little Rock went to the city's airport Friday to see a vintage P-40 that is to be one of the featured aircraft at today's Wings Over the Rock Air Show and Car Show at the airport.
He even wore a green cap with a P-40 Warhawk on it.
But Ball wasn't surprised when he wasn't able to see the aircraft after all. It was having a maintenance issue and was still on the ground in Louisiana when Ball was at the North Little Rock Airport early Friday afternoon.
"That's typical," Ball said when told the plane was having problems and running behind. "We used them as a trainer."
The P-40 is described as "often slower and less maneuverable than its adversaries," according to the website airplanesofthepast.com.
"They were when compared to what we have now," Ball said. "Back when we were flying in the 1940s, they were good. They were all we had."
The P-40 Warhawk was considered the United States' best fighter plane available at the start of World War II, according to the website. The aircraft carried six .50-caliber machine guns and 700 pounds of bombs externally.
Pilots able to get into the air to engage the Japanese during the attack on Pearl Harbor were flying P-40s. The planes also flew with the famed Flying Tigers in China in 1942.
Originally from Batesville, Ball entered the Army Air Corps in the fall of 1942 and trained as a pilot in 1943, the last time he saw a P-40 up close, he said. He did his flight training in Texas.
"The P-40 wasn't much more than a trainer," he recalled. "We flew exercises. We played with each other, combat chase each other around. Then one would pull a tow target behind it and we'd shoot at that."
Ball said he left Arkansas Tech University, then a two-year college, to join the war effort. He received his degree in social studies after finishing his classes by correspondence five years ago, at age 89, he said.
"I'm the oldest student to ever graduate from Arkansas Tech," he said.
Ball served during World War II in Europe during late 1944 and early 1945. His squadron flew P-47 Thunderbolts, not P-40s, he said, but he didn't engage in any air combat.
"They were worn out when we got there," he said. "Those German aces, they were all dead."
Ball said all he went on were "milk runs."
"If you didn't fire your guns, it was called a milk run," he said.
In the summer of 1945, Ball's squadron was heading back to the states for 30 days before they were to be transferred to the Pacific Theater, but fate changed those plans.
"We got weathered in in Iceland. That's where I was on Aug. 6, 1945, when Harry dropped that bomb," he said, referring to President Harry Truman's decision to drop the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. "When Harry dropped that bomb, it was all over. We were headed to Texas then."
Ball said that once the war ended, he was asked if he'd like to stay on as a military pilot.
"I said, no, send me back to Batesville," he remembered.
Gates will open at 9 a.m. for today's air and car show, which will feature vintage planes like the P-40 that Ball had hoped to see.
Admission is $5 for adults, and children 8 years and younger are free. The event will also include formation flying, a pickup with a 12,000-horsepower jet engine, antique cars, muscle cars and helicopter rides. The airport is at 8200 Remount Road, but attendees are to use the Maryland Avenue entrance.
Even though he missed seeing the P-40 plane Friday, Ball said he doubted he would be able to make it to the air show today.
"It's so crowded," he said. "I still drive. But it's going to be too much traffic for me, I think."
Metro on 09/23/2017