Mechanical Engineering then: These 1915 ME students are using a plane from WWI to practice their skills.
As our astute readers have pointed out, it is a World War II era P-38 Lightning. In the Fall 2012 issue of the magazine, it was mislabeled as a plane from World War I.
As editor of the magazine, I take full responsibility for the mistake. The photo was labelled 1915, but I should have doubled checked. However, the mistake was almost worth it, because I got so many wonderful emails from our alumni. It’s always nice to hear that people read and appreciate our magazine, but the best part was hearing stories from former students who were familiar with the airplane in the picture.
Austin Bollen, BSEE ’47, was there when the photo was taken.
“As I remember, this aircraft was donated to the ME Dept. by the US Air Force with the requirement that the University would be responsible for getting the plane to Fayetteville. A pilot who had flow P-38’s (and was a student at the University during the spring of 1946) during WWII was recruited to fly the plane to Drake Field. My memory is that the pilot was Ed Penick. A short time after the plane arrived, several of us were recruited to be in photographs of the plane. I don’t remember what was the purpose of the photographs, but five or six of us went to Drake Field to be in the photograph. There is a photograph on Page 143 of the 1947 Razorback which shows two ME’s and an EE near the front landing gear so I know there were at least two EE’s in the series of photographs.”
Joe Connolly, BSCE ’65, MSCE ’67, wonders if the plane was same one he remembers sitting on campus.
“An identical plane w/o wings or tail [might have been this one] sat in the draw just south of what is now the ‘new’ ME building in the late 40’s and early 50’s. I think the last time I saw it was 1952, but I am not sure. When I returned to the campus in 1960 it was gone.”
Larry Jones, BSME 1964, has a theory about the fate of the plane.
“I suspect most of the aluminum die cast Razorback hogs cast in shop class for years after the plane was disassembled had traces of that aircraft’s aluminum. I always thought mine did.
“The P38 was gone by the time I got to the U of A, except for the scrap aluminum that went into the die cast hogs. If only that plane had survived it would be worth well over a $1,000,000 today.”
Thanks to everyone who sent emails. I’m tempted to include a mistake in every issue in order to hear from you again, but hopefully that won’t be necessary. Please send your stories and memories any time!
Camilla Medders, editor.