[WWI] Vernon Castle/Benbrook Airfield

[Brad & Merville]

   Irene Castle said that Vernon bought a monkey named "Hallad" (for: "Hallad" be thy name) in France and on his first night of leave in London left it in a box in a cold hotel room and threw his overcoat over it to keep the animal warm. The animal suffocated to death.  This of course deeply bothered him for some time after.  "Jeffery" must have been a North American replacement.  Irene Castle makes no mention of him. 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: J.R. Boye 
  To: World War I Modeling Mailing List 
  Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2007 1:15 AM
  Subject: [WWI] Vernon Castle/Benbrook Airfield


      This is an interesting site, Mike. 
       I noticed the photo of the Jennies from Benbrook displaying both types of U.S. markings. 
       The DH-4 photo is also great.
       The Astaire movie depicts Castle flying an S.E. 5 in the RFC, but movies are almost always incorrect. 
        Someone as famous as Castle was probably photographed during the war standing next to a plane. Now I'm thinking a model of one of his planes would be interesting, even to my wife. Some more research is in order. knowing the squadron he served in would help a lot.
       I found a photo of Castle with his pet monkey,"Jeffrey"(who apparently survived Castle's crash) in the "Wings of Honor" book. (This reminds me of Eugene Bullard who also flew with a pet monkey, "Jimmy")The caption claims he was killed at Taliaferro, but the memorial is at Benbrook reputedly within 50 ft. of the actual crash, so that is probably correct.
       That an Eagle Scout restored the obscure memorial makes me proud to be a scout leader!

                                                       J.R. Boye


  ----- Original Message ----
  From: Michael McMurtrey <skyking918 at verizon.net>
  To: wwi at wwi-models.org
  Sent: Friday, August 3, 2007 9:56:39 AM
  Subject: Re: [WWI] Vernon Castle Crash Site


  See:

  http://www.airfields-freeman.com/TX/Airfields_TX_FtWorth_SW.htm#benbrook

  Paul Freemans's "Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields" is an excellent 
  web site for those interested in American aviation history and airport 
  archaeology.


  Michael McMurtrey
  IPMS-USA #1746
  Carrollton, Texas






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