this photo and story was sent to me and i hope you will enjoy it as much as i have. Lonnie, Im amazed at all the old photos you have amassed. You may find the one Ive included here of interest. You may even know something about the event. The time, Im guessing, was around 1935. I was only a couple of years old then. Let me include here an extract from an email i received recently from my 89 year old cousin, Robert Arnold, a 1944 graduate of Norton High School: You probably dont remember but your dad was into flying, and he and Duke Massey had planes that they barn-stormed all over Southwest Va. I don t know how much actual piloting he did, but Im sure he was a part owner. They even hauled a monoplane into the garage in pieces one time, assembled it, and then on a Sunday morning, had traffic stopped on Park Ave, and starting about 11th St. took off west to east. Can you imagine the influence your dad had to have Old Dominion move wires out of the way, and the police stop traffic? I happened to find the photo in my sisters album. My dad, Ben Arnold or his close friend Duke Massey piloted the plane and actually took off from Park Avenue. The photographers back was to Clark and Sherards, so yoiure looking across the street toward Virginia Avenue. The house with the cupola roof in the upper left background is still standing today. My dad later helped start Super Service Garage, and died when he fell through the roof when shoveling the heavy snow of March, 1942, to prevent the roof from caving in. He was also Chief of the Norton Fire Department and was instrumental in building the towns fire truck. I have seen another photo of this plane sitting in front of Hotel Norton. Presumably, it was taken on the same day as the one Ive included. I hope it shows up again in family relics. Just thought, being the historian you are, that you would find this very interesting.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 23:31:06 +0000
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