Author: Hal Tacker, Mike Meier
Date: 2024-09-01T07:00:00+00:00
Description: Based on the records, notes, tapes, and photos from the family's records, this book tells the story of the 60+ year flying career of one of ag aviation's premiere pilots. This story includes Harold's adventures in Central America on the heels of the assassination of Somoza Garcia, his violent encounter with disgruntled Mexican dusters in Reynosa, and his brief but profitable career bootlegging for Louise Hathcock and the Stateline Gang. When the economies of Mississippi and Texas faltered, California beckoned, and Harold came out and dusted, sprayed, and seeded the fields of the Sacramento Val

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Blue Fires at Dawn

The Story of Harold Tacker

Hal Tacker

Mike Meier

K Street Studio

Esparto, CA

Dedication

Secretly, I have always hugged the thought that the Creator had intended to give man wings but in His preoccupation to perfect man’s soul this minute detail was overlooked. When a distressed Archangel brought the omission to His attention, He pondered briefly answering quietly, “Man shall fly.”

The Archangel marveled at such infinite wisdom for, indeed, He had given man a complex mind with which to question, search and reason; a spirit to quicken to love, beauty and freedom. He had, at the last celestial second in a moment of heavenly humor, added the insatiable curiosity and audacious daring of the eternal young at heart. Of course, concluded the Archangel, man would fly, creating wings of his own.

The Omnipotent One said, “The man who chooses to fly shall forever be closest to heaven; he shall see and feel wondrous things that those with earthbound hearts and minds can never know.”

A momentary smile lit His countenance for He alone knew, among the multitude of men who would fly, a most exceptional few would evolve...

...these would be known as agricultural pilots.

Excerpt from Blue Fires at Dawn, by Margorie Rowher, unpublished.

Copyright

Unless specifically noted all photos and illustrations are properties of the authors.

© by Hal Tacker and Mike Meier, 2024

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means, electronic or mechanical, (including photocopying, scanning, recording, or information retrieval) without the express permission, in writing, from the publisher.

Contacts:

Hal Tacker:artattack62@gmail.com

Mike Meier:mlmeier@kstreetstudio.com

Contents

Preface

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Harold's Story

Born in Corinth

Plane Crazy

Nah, I Just Like Planes

I Can Fly a Plane and Ride a Bicycle

Preface

Hal Tacker, Harold’s son, had been working on this story for some time, meaning for it to be a movie script. For one reason or another the project would stall...

Harold led an extraordinary life. He started flying by age 12, having been taught by some of the best pilots of the day. By 14 he had his student pilot’s license, and by 16 his commercial pilot’s license. During World War II he ferried planes around the country and flew transports stateside. After the war ended he joined the army of itinerant pilots roaming the country in search of flying jobs. Harold’s story is in a way the story of those other pilots, too, and the things they did to put food on the table by doing the only thing in life they could see doing, which was flying.

Foreword

Blue Fires at Dawn is a look at the yesteryear of flying, an earlier unbridled age when things were simpler, wilder, and more dangerous.

Seen through the eyes of one of its most colorful characters, this memoir pays tribute to an era long gone now, and to the fearless people who forged this unforgettable chapter of aviation history.

A true story that reads like an action novel, a saga of perseverance and love spanning a lifetime. If you long for the days when you could still feel the wind in your face, and navigate your way to adventure, this story will make your spirit soar.

Brian Shul, Gallery One

Acknowledgments

Books about real people cannot be written without consulting friends, family, and witnesses, as well as having access to photos and other materials needed to reconstruct a life. Hal’s letters, newspaper clippings, and business records, would seem to be more than sufficient, but the photos and other materials provided by friends and family also helped so much with this project. We are grateful to them and deeply appreciate their willingness to share their stories, and, in a sense, by doing so, they have become part of this story.

We would like to thank the following people...

Harold's Story

Born in Corinth

Harold Cupples Tacker was born in Corinth, Mississippi on June 28, 1926, 23 years after the Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk, eight years after World War I ended, and six years before the 18th Amendment was repealed. Prohibition was on, and surplus military airplanes were cheap. The stage was set.

Those early pilots really were daredevils, even if that was never their intent. Between the rickety airframes, under-powered and unreliable engines, and safety gear that did little more than keep the bugs and oil out of one's face and hair, just going up in one of these contraptions was an overt act of daring the devil.

During the Great Depression the Tacker boys were split up so they didn't have to go without. Harold and Jack were sent to live with Papa Daddy and Momma Granny (grandparents), while his older brother Joe and cousin Ralph Seay lived with Jewel and Joe down on Bunch Street. The kids lived within easy bicycling distance of each other and attended the same schools, so they still had plenty of opportunity to get together and cause trouble.

Jewel Cupples and Joe Riley Tacker

During World War II Harold's father worked as a civilian airplane mechanic in England, stationed near London, and at one time was on the ground crew maintaining the Memphis Bell. While he was away at war, Jewel had an affair, got pregnant, and ran off with the father. Fortunately, by then the boys were old enough to fend for themselves.

Corinth in the 1920s and 30s was much like it is today: a quiet agricultural town and the seat of Alcorn County. Back then its population was around 6,000, and it was segregated. Those were Jim Crow days. Blacks lived south of the railroad tracks, in the Wick Street and Tate Street neighborhoods. Most businesses were owned and run by Whites, and many White families had a Black maid. Blacks and Whites attended different schools, ate at different restaurants, and used different waiting rooms at the train station, among other notables of the time.

Momma Granny’s house, on 1308 Speedway Street (now Parkway Street) is where the younger Tacker boys were raised. Located on the northeast corner of town, it was within easy bicycling distance to the Roscoe Turner Airport. The house is now gone. It burned down years ago and the address is now a vacant lot.

Family members would come and go as their fortunes ebbed and waned. Momma granny, blind since she was 50 years old, tended an elaborate flower garden in front of the house. She would weed and prune by feel. When one of the boys flew over the house, which they often did, it was said she could tell by the sound which of her grandchildren was flying the plane.

There was no airport back then, but there was a grass airstrip just a few miles northeast of town, in a field on the Suratt family's farm. The first time Roscoe Turner flew a plane it was there, and when he married, it was there. In 1935 Corinth got a $45,000 grant from FDR's Works Progress Program, and along with money the town raised, the field got turned into an airport with two sod runways, a beacon, flood lights, and a hanger. The dedication was made on Roscoe Turner Day, October 15, 1936, at which time the airport was named after Roscoe. Harold, Jack, and Ralph got their first airplane rides that day, and Harold and Jack would learn to fly at this airport.

Here is a 1930s scene from Corinth, taken on Waldron Street and looking toward its intersection with Franklin Street. These buildings are still there, as is Borroum’s Drug Store. Courtesy of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History

Plane Crazy

Harold looked out the window and saw Ralph and Jack coming. He ducked, crawled to the front door, and readied his ...

One spring morning Harold was leaning against a tree at the edge of a nearby field, eating a Moon Pie and drinking an RC cola. Then he heard it, the sound of a droning radial motor, and it was getting louder.

And then he saw it.

Harold looked up just in time to see a biplane bearing down on him. It pulled up at the last moment, dropping white dust all over him and the field. Transfixed, the Moon Pie dropped from his hand, and just stood there watching it in awe as this thing that came out of the sky made a second pass over the field. He whooped loudly, dropped his soda, and ran after the plane.

Little did Harold know that he'd just seen the great J.D. Greer, the first officially licensed crop duster. Greer would become Harold’s first hero and flying his lifelong passion.

J.D. Greer, one of Harold’s early heroes, in Lima, Peru in 1932. Photo courtesy of ]oe Greer, Jr.

The dedication of the airport was to take place the following weekend. It was to be christened the Roscoe Turner Airport, in honor of the famed aviator and air racer who had been born right there in Corinth. And, Roscoe himself was going to be there, and other famous aviators were expected to come, too. On top of that the town was expecting 20,000-30,000 visitors, three to five times its population. There was going to be parades, the mayor would speak, and even the governor was going to come and say something. None of this, except for Roscoe and the other pilots, interested the boys in the least. All they wanted to see was the airplanes, and one of them had just passed over their heads.

Thousands of these buttons were sold in Corinth on Roscoe Turner Day. This is the button Harold got that day.

“Look, the pilot is getting out,” said an excited Jack.

“Let's go talk to him,” said Harold. “Maybe he'll give us a ride,” and with that, the boys started running.

Ralph broke his stride, then stopped altogether, and the other boys did the same and looked back to see what was wrong. Ralph pointed at the pilot and said “Is that hair? Is that a girl?”

“There ain't no girl pilots, Ralph,” said Harold, practically scolding him.

Ralph slapped Harold's shoulder to get his attention, then pointed again. “I think I know a girl when I see one.”

The aviatrix who rendered Harold speechless was Phoebe Omlie, another early hero of his and the first woman he had a crush on. She had come to town to be part of the Roscoe Turner Day festivities.

Phoebe Fairgrave, shown here hanging by her teeth from her future husband Vernon Omlie’s plane, was not only the daring barnstormer featured in the Phoebe Fairgrave Flying Circus, but was also the first woman to become a licensed airplane mechanic and the first woman to be a licensed transport pilot. She also set a parachute jump record, altitude records, and she won many air races. She campaigned for Roosevelt and later served on the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. Courtesy of the Memphis and Shelby Room, Memphis Public Libraries.

Nah, I Just Like Planes

Pretty much every day after their flight with Fred Key, Harold would ride his bike out to the airport. Sometimes Ralph and Jack would come along, but most times it was just Harold. One day on his way to the airport, Harold heard, then saw, a plane coming in. It was another high-wing monoplane, a C3 Aeronca. He raced it to the airport thinking it might be Fred. It wasn’t Fred. It was Waldo Davis.

The Aeronca C-3 was a lightweight plane that some regarded as a powered glider, but it was also inexpensive, so a lot of people bought them, and with only five hours of instruction, they were flying them. It was easy to control, and its low-speed take-offs and landings suited novice flyers.

An Aeronca 100, a British version of the C-3. It used a different motor but it had the same bathtub nose, tiny wheels, and wires instead of struts to support the wings as the C-3. Courtesy of Nigel Ish, Creative Commons Attribution license.

I Can Fly a Plane and
Ride a Bicycle

Harold actually went to school that morning, and now he and Jack had the afternoon free. They were spending it bicycling around town, placing Waldo’s airplane ride flyers on cars and taping them to store windows. Near the end of Fillmore Street, where they planned to turn around so they could canvas the other side of the street, they came upon a box truck loaded with motorcycles. Two were parked on the street where people could see them, and next to them was a sign that said, “Rent Motorcycles.” A man named Tiny McPherson, smoking a cigarette and nursing a drink of some kind, was sitting in a chair in the shade of the truck. He noticed the boys ride up and stop but, paid scant attention to them.

Tiny in his van renting Royal Enfield and Harley motorcycles to Harold (right). Harold and Jack became Tiny’s best customers.

Table of Contents

- Start
- Dedication
- Copyright
- Contents
- Preface
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments

- Harold's Story

- Born in Corinth
- Plane Crazy
- Nah, I Just Like Planes
- I Can Fly a Plane and Ride a Bicycle