A continuation of

Mr. History: Bob Carter, County Historian

Regarding the Reidsville Municipal Airport

And

The SNU– 4 Plane Restoration

Photographs from the Reidsville Municipal Airport—1945

Submitted by Bob Carter

More on the Web: Restoring the SNJ-4 Plane formerly operated in Reidsville

This is a response to Bob Carter’s research, which is printed in his “Rockingham County Historian,

Mr. History” column in the July 2016 Museum and Archives of Rockingham County Newsletter. This email

correspondence to Bob, dated 8 July 2016, is from Ben Marsh. Mr. Marsh had earlier requested

information from Mr. Carter about Falcon Airlines in Reidsville, NC.

Dear Mr. Carter,

Thank you, most sincerely, for taking the time to pass this

report along to me, very interesting!

The story of my airplane restoration is this. North

American Aviation built my airplane, an SNJ-4 (the US Navy

version of the Army Air Corp AT-6C), which is a World War

Two advanced training aircraft. My airplane was accepted

by the Navy in the Summer of 1942. It was first assigned to

NAS Jacksonville and later NAS Sanford, both in

Florida. After the war, like many surplus equipment of its

time, my airplane was sold to a private, civilian owner,

specifically Falcon Airways. Falcon owned my airplane a

relatively short time, from November 1946 to July 1948,

when Helen McBride of Apopka, Florida purchase it. Mrs.

McBride modified and raced the airplane in the 1948 and

1949 Cleveland National Air Races. Interestingly, I was able

to locate both still and filmed images of Helen and “our”

airplane in my research.

Besides the FAA documents denoting Airworthiness,

Registration and log book entries, I have very little

information about my airplane’s ownership by Falcon

Airways. In a recently published book by the venerable

aviation historian Dan Hagedorn, therein is a photograph

of a “sister ship” to mine that Falcon also owned. This is

the extent of the information I have on Falcon Airways,

until today. I should note that I was able to reference

Falcon Airways in local newspaper articles. However, your

report was much more revealing as to the history of that

organization than these snap-shot articles.

Note: There may be photographs of the SNJ-4 plane in Rockingham County

scrapbooks or files which chronicle its time in Reidsville. Please contact the MARC to

share any information you may have about this plane or Falcon Airlines in Reidsville.

Submitted by Ben Marsh

Submitted by Ben Marsh

Over the seventy plus years since my

airplane was built and flown by the Navy,

sold into civilian service, it was subject to

the agricultural business as a sprayer and

a skywriter. It was eventually modified

and painted like a Japanese Zero for

airshow demonstrations. Ultimately, it

made its way to California where it was

hangered for 25 years awaiting

restoration. I am about four and a half

years into a ground up restoration of the

airplane, with the attempt to “fully”

restore it to it US Navy configuration and

markings. On completion, it will be one

of the more historically correct

restorations of its type, one of the very

few restored from the tube frame up. It

is a major project, particularly for a “one-man band.” Still, I am most fortunate to have a couple dedicated

volunteers that help me from time to time, including some young people (16-years of age) interested in

historic aviation.

Please find a couple photographs of my airplane at various stages of it life along with a few during my

restoration. I hope to run the engine for the first time this Summer, perhaps fly it early 2017. I’ll do my best

to keep you all in the loop of my progress toward these milestones.

Thank you, once again, for your kindly article. You

brought a broad smile to me today…

Most Sincerely,

Ben Marsh

The plane, modified and painted like a Japanese Zero

for airshow demonstrations.

Model of plane as it will appear “fully” restored to its US Navy configuration

and markings. Submitted by Ben Marsh

About Ben Marsh:

Ben’s father learned to fly planes at a rural Oklahoma

airport during World War Two. Ben enjoyed spending

weekends at the airport, building models and flying

airplanes. While they flew general aviation airplanes

there, he had a keen interest in World War Two

machines, fighters mostly. As a teenager he

befriended several “warbird” pilots (some of whom

are alive, well and still friends!).

After his college years, Ben became a pilot and

became interested in historic airplane restoration.

This North American Aviation SNJ-4 is his fourth

project, at his own expense. (His other models were

a Vultee BT-13 and Yakovlev-52 and-55. He refers to

this current project as his “Masterpiece.” Its

restoration represents the culmination of his skills

and resources.

Restoring the SNJ-4, a World War Two advanced training aircraft

Left: Plane as it was dismantled.

Below left: Firewall Forward coming

Below right: Rear seat radios

Restoration photos submitted by Ben Marsh.

Top: Fitting fairings. Left below: Baggage compartment.

In the words of Mr. Marsh: “When it is complete, mine will be one of the most complete and

comprehensive restorations of its type, including several of the ultra-rare component parts used in military

service. Items like machine-gun installation, for example, are intricate and rare. These old parts were quite

common five or six decades ago, but are rare as hen’s teeth today. Folks just threw them away or scrapped

them… Who would have thought someone would want these old parts after so many years. If you can’t

find the parts, you have to fabricate them anew… And while we have to do some of this, there is still a good

network of parts suppliers, folks who made the commitment to acquire and store old parts. Believe me,

without these people and their commitment, restoring an SNJ would be a heck of a problem.

Restorers do a homage to our history and to the people who served to make our history. The passion is

the same, whether the topic is for land, sea or air. The role these old machines played in our history must

be remembered and acknowledged. It is true, restoring airplanes has great payoff, firing’m up and flying

them. But there’s more. Restoring and flying old airplanes gets us closer to our history, just as one gets

closer to music by learning to play an instrument. Few restorers are able to do so for profit. Indeed, the

utility on gains from this passion is worth more than money.”

Participating in Ben Marsh’s

research and learning about his

restoration work has been of

great interest at MARC. The

love of history is a great

connection among people and

among generations. As Mr.

Marsh said, “All this is part of

the fun!”

We wish him well in this

endeavor and we look forward

to future updates on his

progress.