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Ernie Hall Aviation Museum honors local aviation pioneer
By Bob Jackson
HOWLAND
Ernie Hall Aviation Museum
Gallery
Fly-in/cruise-in celebrates the opening of the Ernie Hall Aviation Museum on North River Road in Howland.
He flew with the Wright Brothers, gave Neil Armstrong his very first airplane ride and trained military pilots for both World Wars.
And as of Saturday, local aviation icon Ernie Hall has a museum to honor his life and accomplishments.
A fly-in and cruise is this weekend at SLOAS Airfield on North River Road to mark the opening of the museum. It began Saturday and continues from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today. Admission is $10 for visitors 13 and older, with proceeds going toward museum operation.
Bill Griffin, airport owner, said some 100 airplanes are expected to fly in to the airfield today, a fitting tribute to Hall, who is considered an aviation pioneer and was a longtime flight instructor.
“Ernie died in 1972,” Griffin said. “It’s been so long that a lot of people have started to forget about him.”
Griffin, 50, is a pilot and said he remembers growing up next door to Hall’s airplane hangar in Warren. The museum is designed to look like that old hangar.
“I used to walk over and ask him all the time for an airplane ride, and he always said ‘no,’” Griffin said, laughing. “I was only about 10 years old, so when I knew him, he was a crabby old man.”
But he said Hall’s contributions to aviation are important and deserve to be honored. He said Hall served as a flight instructor for military pilots in World War I and World War II, even though he never actually served in the military himself.
“I don’t think anyone else ever did that,” he said.
At one time, Hall was the oldest living pilot and the longest- tenured flight instructor in the United States, and he gave Neil Armstrong his first airplane ride. Armstrong, of course, is famous for being the first astronaut to walk on the moon.
Bill Hunter of Howland, 76, is the museum director and has fond, vivid memories of the museum’s namesake.
“I took my first airplane lessons from Ernie Hall,” Hunter said. “I think I took about a half-dozen lessons back in the late 1960s, and then I had to stop to raise a family.” He picked up his aviation training some 15 years later and is still a pilot.
Hunter remembered Hall as “quite an extraordinary gentleman” who instilled confidence in his students.
“He was a little, white-haired old man who sat in the front [seat] of his J-3 Cub. That’s what he taught you in,” Hunter said. “He meant a lot to people who flew.”
In those early days of flight, there were no radios to communicate instructions from the front seat to the student sitting behind him, so, Hunter recalled, Hall would have to turn his head, cup his hand around his mouth to block the wind noise, and shout out his instructions.
“That was just how it was done,” Hunter said, laughing.
“Ernie was a quiet man,” Hunter said. “He might be humbled, maybe even a little bit embarrassed by all this today. But he would certainly give it a thumbs-up.”
Hunter said he was surprised to learn recently that, despite Hall’s contributions to flight, he is not a member of the Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton. So he nominated Hall and learned some three weeks ago that Hall is among about a dozen people being considered for induction this year.
Griffin said he wants the museum to honor not just Hall but all men and women from the area who have ties to flying. There’s also room for those whose contributions are known nationally and even worldwide.
Among the items on display are a letter to Hall from aviation pioneer Orville Wright, written May 7, 1913, and some fabric from an airplane once flown by notorious German flying ace Baron Von Richthofen, better known as the Red Baron.
“Needless to say, we’re thrilled to have that,” Hunter said.
“Ernie frequently visited with and flew with the Wright brothers. There is a deep history about Ernie that we hope to get out more and more and more so people will see it,” said Hunter.
Lisa Orlando of Poland attended Saturday’s events with her 9-year-old grandson, Beck Hartley, who was visiting from Washington, D.C. Beck said he loves airplanes and was hoping to see some of them take off and land while he was there.
“I want to be a pilot someday,” he said. “I just think airplanes are cool, and I’ve been reading a book about how to fly them. I want to fly big commercial jets for an airline. I think I’ll apply to United first.”
Today’s activities will include airplane rides for $40 per person, as well as food and live entertainment. There also will be classic cars and airplanes on display.