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MEMORIAL ARTICLE
Published Assembly WI '58
William Theodore Bowley No. 16151 Class of 1946 Died
July 29, 1957, in an Aircraft Accident near Stewart AFB Newburgh,
NY .
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On the 29th
of July 1957, four miles west of Newburgh, New York the explosion
of a T-33 Jet Plane flying in the midst of a thunderstorm took
the life of William Theodore Bowley, Captain, United States Air
Force. Bill died as he might have wished, in an instantaneous
flash above the ground, though indeed he had much to live for:
a successful career as a pilot in the Air Force, a lovely and
loving wife, and after ten years of waiting a baby son. Bill
had the rare good fortune to have seen each of his goals for
life achieved, one by one-an experience not given to many.
Certainly his success, for he was a successful man by any criteria,
should not be credited entirely to good fortune. Bill set
his sights high and aimed for goals that by their very nature
minimized luck and stressed perseverance, determination and hard
work. His amazing display of these qualities indicates in some
small way the nature of his loss to the nation and the service.
Bill's career began, as it ended, at West
Point, on March 9, 1924. His father, Freeman Wate Bowley,
Class of 1911, was stationed at the Academy as a Tactical Officer
and artillery instructor. Apparently the environment was impressive,
for Bill and his two brothers subsequently determined to obtain
their education and commission from the United States Military
Academy, and to spend their careers in the Army Air Corps.
Brother Freeman (Major Freeman W. Bowley, USAF) entered the Academy
in 1939, and John (Colonel Albert J. Bowley, USAF) entered in
1940, both of them to graduate as members of the class of June
1943. Colonel Bowley, their father, was retired for disability
in 1940, to return to active duty and West Point in 1941.
Bill was graduated from the Highland Falls High School, then
attended Millard's Prep School in Washington, D. C. An
appointment to West Point from North Carolina in 1942 allowed
Bill to enter the Academy on July 1, 1943, as a member of the
Class of 1946. The first of his self-set goals was within reach.
Bill was a quiet, friendly and thoroughly
serious cadet dedicated to the task of getting through the Academy
and into the Army Air Force, yet alive to the richness of the
traditions and values of West Point. As a member of E-1
Company he settled down at once into the routine of cadet life
and never took his eyes off the objectives that he had set for
himself. He accepted the system and tempered it with a good-natured
humor and a willing manner. His friendship was valued by those
who knew him and something of his quiet cheerful determination
tended to infect his associates. Academics gave him trouble from
the beginning and kept him close to his books. The death of his
father while on duty at West Point in March of 1944 caused Bill
to become even more quiet and serious. Musically inclined,
he sang in the Cadet Choir, the informal "E-Co" groups
at picnics and the Yearling "Color Line" at Camp Popolopen.
A good athlete, Bill confined himself to Company Intramurals,
squash and weight-lifting in order to insure proficiency for
the cadet flight training of First Class Summer, and eventually,
graduation.
The first serious set-back occurred when an overly-conscientious
Flight Surgeon ruled that a temporary and minor physical defect
would prevent his taking cadet flight training in the Summer
of 1945. To others suffering the same disappointment, this
spelled the end of a flying career in the service, but Bill never
lost his love for flying and his determination to serve as a
flying officer. Graduation in 1946 found him safely tucked
inside the end of the class and commissioned a Second Lieutenant
of Artillery.
Graduation leave was the first opportunity to
fly, so Bill spent his leave earning a Private Pilot's
license at the local airfield outside Hendersonville, North Carolina,
in a 65 HP Aeronca "Champion". The usual schools followed
rapidly: The Artillery School at Fort Sill, The Anti-aircraft
and Guided Missile School at Fort Bliss and The Airborne School
at Fort Benning.
While at Fort Bliss, Bill met Miss Claire Bradley
Parker of El Paso, Texas, a petite, lively and lovely red-head.
They were married in the Fort Bliss chapel a short week after
Bill earned his parachute wings on June 29, 1947. A perfect complement
to Bill, Claire shared his life and enthusiasms, even to the
point of acquiring a Private Pilot's license of her own.
In August of 1947, Bill sailed for Korea and
occupation duty. After a six month tour as a battery officer
in an Automatic Weapons Battalion, he transferred to the Seventh
Division and served as an Intelligence officer, Aide de Camp
to Major General William Dean, and as a Platoon Leader.
In the Summer of 1949 he submitted his request
for transfer to the United States Air Force and pilot training.
In February of 195O the request was finally approved and for
one month Bill served as an Infantry Platoon Leader in the Air
Force.
Pilot training began at Randolph AFB in April
1960 and the long-cherished silver wings were pinned on
at Vance AFB in May 1951. The second of his major
goals had been realized. An assignment to Bolling Field
in Washington, D. C., followed as a transport pilot with the
1111th Special Air Missions Squadron. In October 1952, assignment
to combat crew training in B-26 type aircraft ended this present
tour, with weeks of training at the USAF Advanced Flying School
(Light Bombardment ), the B-26 Transition School and the
SAC Survival School.
April 1953 found Bill ferrying a B-26 from California
to Korea via the island chain, for combat duty with the 90th
Bombardment Squadron of the Third Bomb Group. The end of the
Korean combat tour came after 26 combat missions in B-26's and
the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal.
Christmas Day 1953 Bill flew out of Tokyo for
a reunion with Claire, and a tour at Vance AFB in Oklahoma as
an instructor. A final school, the Squadron Officer School
of the Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB, preceded his
assignment to West Point as Assistant Public Information Officer
in the Summer of 1955.
West Point was a happy assignment for CIaire
and Bill. His duty left time for further training in jet
transition, and even more flying in his private sailplane, "Clairevoyant",
from the Wurtsboro, New York, airport. He became an Associate
Member of the Soaring Society of America and so outstanding were
his qualifications as a pilot, a soarer and a leader that he
was elected President of The Sail Flight Soaring Club in 1956.
Bill entered the annual "Snowbird Meet" of the Elmyra
Area Soaring Corporation in New York in 1956 and placed second
among the leading sail-pilots of the nation.
Bill was eagerly looking forward to competing
against the best in the soaring game again in the early part
of July 1957, but was delayed by a high priority project that
Claire was producing. The birth of his son on July 2, 1957, was
the apex of his happiness and young William T. Bowley, Jr., the
focus of the pride that only a father who has waited for ten
years can possess. Yet, Bill did manage to get to Elmyra
and enter his plane in the Endurance Flight to log his longest
flight and place third in that test of skill to stay aloft without
benefit of engines.
Surely this is a chronicle of perseverance, determination,
hard work and the pure gleeful unadulterated love of flying.
It is impossible to record here all of the facets
of Bill Bowley's fine personality and character.
We, his friends, know the value of the man who left us and we
can be grateful that it was given us to live and serve beside
him. A fine soldier, airman, husband, friend and man and a credit
to the young son who bears his name. A man who was born at West
Point, died while on duty at West Point and represents the finest
and the best of the essence of West Point!
-C.M. Simpson, III
Classmate.
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