Sheriff's Notes

It’s already Fall.  Where did the year go?  The monsoons are over, the summer heat has given way to calm evenings and fall colors.  What hasn’t changed is the need to be “Semper Gumby” — always flexible.

Got a call from Melissa Ruffner indicating she wouldn’t be able to make the October Corral meeting — time for another ‘replacement’ guest presenter at the last moment.  It’s become the “norm” — not the exception.

Out guest presenter for our October 6 Corral meeting will be Gunnar Buzzard, senior vice president of the Thunderbird Field II Veterans Memorial.  The Army Air Corps training field was opened six months following the Pearl Harbor attack that launched U.S. involvement in World War II at the request of Generals Hap Arnold and B.K. Yount. Two years, three months and 24 days later it was deactivated — but not until pilot-trainees had logged (flown) nearly 26.5 millions miles (more than 3,000 times around the world at the equator).  

Throughout WWII, the field was devoted to the training of pilots;  by November 1943, 615 cadets flew an average of two hours a day, making 1,845 separate takeoffs and landings.   In ten weeks, students logged 65 hours of flight training and 109 hours of ground school.  The training center graduated more than 5,500 pilots, many of whom saw military action in Europe and the Pacific.

The memorial and museum commemorates the rich history of the Boeing-Stearman PT-17 plane (centerpiece of the field’s training craft) and Arizona’s contribution to WWII as a tribute to all veterans.

 Become a Corral member

 Have you become a member of the Prescott Corral?  If not, please click here to download the member application and return it to the address noted with your payment.  Join us at our monthly meeting and enjoy becoming immersed in the history and heritage of the American Southwest.

As devotees of Western history, many Corral members know there’s a new twist coming for the Arizona History Convention. The three-day event is set for April 13-15, next year at the Tempe History Museum and Library Complex. A “Call for Papers” and program suggestions was announced recently by Heidi Osselaer, executive director for AHC, long-time friend of the Prescott Corral and frequent presenter at the Western History Symposium. Deadline for all paper and session submissions is September 30, and can be submitted online at https://arizonahistory.org/2023-proposal-submissions/.

The three-day conference will be a hybrid — sessions held both in-person and online, allowing
presenters and attendees to choose how they wish to participate. Proposals for papers and
presentations are welcome on any topic related to Arizona or southwestern borderlands history.

Sessions are planned for 90-minutes in length allowing for three presentations of an expanded 25-minute time segment… and each of these sessions will be available in-person AND online. Again, deadline for submission of all presentations, workshops and papers is September 30, so get your quills aquiverin’ and let’s showcase the literary and historic research prowess of our esteemed Prescott Corral of Westerners members.