Submitted by: Carla Haslam Herkner
This WWII Bomber with the Logan County, West Virginia nose art was one of my Dad’s, John Haslam, cherished pictures. I cannot say for sure who the pilot was. The only definite Navy pilot I know of is Dad’s good friend, Bill Denney. However, Bill was born and raised in South Charleston, WV and so his plane would have said “Kanawha County” on the side.
My Dad was in Navy flight school out of Morris Harvey College during WWII. One afternoon, he fractured his hand in a game of football. That injury kept him from continuing his pilot training and ultimately flying for the U.S. Navy. This is most likely the greatest disappointment of his entire life. However, he remained as a flight instructor for some time, before being reassigned and ultimately ending up in the Philippines with “Acorn 52″, a supply ship.
While flight training, he would fly over Logan County quite often and then on his return land his training plane with pontoons on the Kanawha River in Charleston. He loved to fly!
The is a picture of Bill Baldwin. His sister was Ruby Baldwin Lowe. Bill Baldwin was my Dad’s good friend. Bill and Dad grew up together in Logan and Monaville. I remember Dad said Bill was a navigator. The WWII Bomber pictured herein could have been Bill’s plane.
My father, Edsel C. Varney was a Navy Aviator from Logan County. He was stationed on the U.S.S. Makin Island from 1944-1945 in the Pacific. He flew a F4F Wildcat Fighter in VC-91. He was a decorated Aviator with the DFC and Air Medal. He was also intrumental in the avaition business in Logan County from 1950 until his death in 1977. He was proud of Logan and especially his home town of Chapmanville. When one of my nephews made contact with a former wingman in Florida, my nephew introduced himself and asked if he knew Edsel Varney. The man replied, “Edsel Varney from Logan West Virginia!” Thought you would enjoy this story. Thanks!
Thanks Carole! I never knew my great-grandparents, but my grandpa (Bill) and grandma (Niddie) were always great to us. Now that I have found this website, I will have to dig into my arsenal of Omar pictures, Army Air force pictures, and Logan coal mining photos and begin posting! One good one I know I have is a panoramic shot of Omar in the 30′s.
Would anyone have any pictures of the old Holden Copperas Grade School that use to be at #7/8 Holden Copperas 3rd Davis.
Thanks for posting this picture and information, I knew the Abrahams. They had a very loving family.
Carole, Galloway,Oh
That is such a cool photo! Thanks for sharing it. I never knew that we had a plane with our State name of it. Learn something everyday. Thanks again, Jeanette Sheppard
March 9, 2010
Houston, TX
Both Bill Abraham (the politician) and Bill Davies were pilots during WW II. BOTH from “Lower” Omar! Course, they’d have probably named a plane “Omar”–