OBITUARY FROM SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM WALL OF HONOR:

Harold E. Thompson was born on January 14, 1921, and attended school in Hobart, Indiana. After graduation from Hobart High School in 1939, he enrolled at Purdue University in W. Lafayette, Indiana. While at Purdue University, he and several other students decided that they would rather join the Army Air Corps instead of the regular army. He took his ground instruction at Purdue from October 8, 1941 to March 19, 1942. On April 14, 1942, he flew solo in a 65 h.p. J-3 Cub (NC 29053).

On August 29, 1942, he married Carolyn Kramer, and soon after he was shipped to Spartan (Hat Box) Field in Muskogee, Oklahoma for primary training. From there he went to Coffeyville, Kansas, and then on to Moore Field, Mission, Texas, where he got his wings. He next shipped out to Randolph Field, San Antonio, Texas, and then returned to Moore Field where he instructed instrument flying. Since he had taken French in high school, he was selected to instruct French pilot cadets at Selma, Alabama.

While in Selma he became aware that the army was looking for men to train as helicopter pilots. He applied, was selected for the program, and was shipped to Chanute Field, Illinois. He took some training there, but there were very few helicopters assigned to Chanute Field. Tommy was transferred to Denver for helicopter training but actually flew C-45 aircraft for the Geodetic Survey. He then was shipped to Wright Patterson Field in Dayton, Ohio, for further training. There were no helicopters to train in at Wright Patterson either. Eventually he was shipped to the Sikorsky helicopter factory in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he soloed in a helicopter.

At this point, WWII ended. He returned to Dayton, Ohio, where he was mustered out of the armed forces. Tommy, his wife, and son returned to Hobart, Indiana. He worked as a draftsman for one year at Indiana Steel in Valparaiso. At that time, Sikorsky Aircraft called and offered him a job as a test pilot. The salary was $500.00 a month, such a large amount that his mother asked him if it was "honest money". Harold took the job offer, and by Christmas time 1946, he and his family had moved back to Sikorsky in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

During the four years as a test pilot at Sikorsky, Tommy set two world-speed records in a Sikorsky S52-1:

• April 27, 1949 Cleveland, Ohio. 129.552 mph 3 KM closed course
• May 6, 1949 Mulford, Connecticut 122.749 mph 100 KM closed speed run

Tommy had many other accomplishments to his credit:

• Performed the first intentional loops in a helicopter, doing ten in one day (May 19, 1949)
• First man to land an aircraft in the inner court of the Pentagon Building (June 17, 1948)
• Igor Sikorsky's personal pilot
• Test pilot for the only flight of Michael Gluhareff's one-bladed helicopter (1948) "It was a terrible and frightening flight." H.E.T.
• First helicopter pilot to land at Denver's Stapleton Air Field
• Member of the "Twirly Bird Club" which included Charles Lindberg among 60 others. Members had to solo in a helicopter prior to V.J. Day, August 14, 1945.
• Instructor for Col. J.C. Dyer, USMC, who later founded the U.S. Marine Corps helicopter program
• Instructor for Pat Handy, the first female licensed as a helicopter pilot (1947)
• Instructor for Rodman Wanamaker, department store tycoon
• Pilot who took up-and-coming army officer Col. Westmoreland on a demonstration flight
• Trainer of the first helicopter pilots for the Argentine Air Force
• Pilot in publicity opportunities:
  • Delivering newspapers to ocean liners approaching New York Harbor by dropping them on the deck from a helicopter
  • Providing an airborne judges' platform for a horse race -- eight horses started, four bolted and never finished!

While at Sikorsky, Tommy was the pilot for what is believed to be the first helicopter demonstration tour for the various armed forces. The tour to demonstrate the S-52 helicopter departed Bridgeport, Connecticut, on June 7 1948, and continued as follows:

• Army Field Forces, Fort Monroe, Old Pint Comfort, Virginia
• U.S. Coast Guard Air Station, Elizabeth City, North Carolina
• Army Field Forces, Fort Bragg, Fayetteville, North Carolina
• U.S. Marine Corps, Quantico, Virginia
• Army Field Forces, Pentagon Building, Washington, D.C.

This was the first landing of an aircraft inside the Pentagon Building and was arranged by a Col. Gregory. The aircraft landed at 9:20 a.m. on June 17, 1948, and was viewed by an estimated 5,000 people before Tommy departed at 2 p.m. When this demonstration tour was completed, 161 people had been flown in 19 hours of demonstration time. Twelve power-off landings were performed with the ignition turned off. At the time, it estimated that the S-52 could be sold commercially for $15,000 each if 500 were built.

On July 11, 1948, Tommy and S-52 designer and project engineer Ralph Alex departed in the S-52 from Bridgeport, Connecticut, for testing at Camp Carson and Leadville, Colorado. This was a 40-hour round trip. There were five forced landings during this round trip flight. Two mechanics, John Martin and Adolph Plenefish, followed in an automobile with all the supplies and spare parts needed for their tests. Rotor repairs were even made with scotch tape purchased from merchants along the route. After a crash in 1950 at Lake Hurst Naval Air Station, New Jersey, caused by the loss of the tail rotor, Tommy resigned from Sikorsky and returned to Hobart, Indiana, where he worked with his father in the Standard Oil distributorship. During his flying career, Tommy flew fixed wing aircraft including J-3 Cubs, Cub L4, PT 19, Vultee BT13AS, AT6 (A, C, and D), P40 (C, C1, E, F, N), P47B, P39 and C-45. He flew many Sikorsky helicopters but focused on the S-52.

Tommy retired from the Standard Oil business in 1973 and enjoyed thirty years of retirement. In his later years he spoke to several organizations about his test pilot days but had to be pressured into speaking because he was a humble man who downplayed his many accomplishments.

Harold E. Thompson died on October 29, 2003. He is greatly missed by his loving family and many friends and admirers.

This information and picture were obtained from: https://airandspace.si.edu/support/wall-of-honor/harold-e-tommy-thompson-sr.

The article below was from the April 21, 1939 Ho-Hi Life newspaper, made available by the Lake County Public Library, at: https://archive.org/stream/HOHS1939Images/.