U.S. ARMY AIR CORPS Herb Jones As a pilot in the Army Air Corps, Herb Jones logged more than 800 hours in the skies over the China-Burma-India campaign during World War II. He had no way of knowing at the time that the hours he spent in the cockpit of World War II transport planes would pale in comparison to the hours he would log during his career in aviation. A 1941 graduate of Stonington High School, Jones tried to enlist in the Air Corps in 1943 but was rejected when his pulse would not return to normal during his physical examination. The doctor in charge told him he’d never fly a plane for the Army in that war. He was working at a defense plant in Southington, Conn., when his draft notice arrived months after he tried to enlist. When he was drafted, the same doctor admitted him into the Army with a recommendation that he receive pilot training. After enduring two rounds of basic training, Jones was classified for pilot training and sent to Arizona. He graduated from fighter pilot school in June 1944. Unhappy with the Army’s plans to make him a flight instructor in Arizona, Jones volunteered for duty with the Air Transport Command. He was sent to Long Beach, Calif., where he ferried aircraft, an experience that involved a wide variety of planes. After that, he was stationed in Reno, Nev., where he helped transition C46 planes for the war effort. Known as Curtis Commandos, the transport planes resembled the big DC3 commercial airliners. One night in Reno, Jones reluctantly went on a blind date. The only one more apprehensive about the meeting his friends had arranged was his date, Colleen West. Twelve days later, he and West were married in Reno. On Nov. 16, they will celebrate their 62nd wedding anniversary. Jones left for his overseas tour on Christmas Eve 1944, leaving his bride with family in Detroit for what would turn out to be two Christmases apart. Initially he was stationed in Africa, then Karachi, India, before being transferred to Burma, where he served most of his overseas duty. He flew missions into China, transporting items ranging from gasoline, which was contained in steel drums that were dropped from planes, to Chinese mules and military troops. While stationed in India, Jones made two successful flights “over the Hump,” a 530-mile long passage over the Himalayan Mountains. The “Hump” claimed nearly 1,000 U.S. servicemen and 600 Air Transport Command planes throughout the China-Burma-India Theater. Jones said the weather posed the biggest problems for pilots in the Air Transport Command. The primitive navigation equipment aboard World War II planes further complicated navigating in near-constant rain, fog and monsoon-level winds. “We had nothing to navigate with but an automatic direction finder,” Jones said. “It was a low frequency radio that would give you your bearings and point to a thunder shower just before you fly into them. Even real small planes today have more sophisticated equipment.” Navigation charts, too, were of little help when crossing the “Hump.” Jones said some charts he used failed to designate large areas of the landmass below him, simply referring to the territory as “uncharted.” Though he flew over combat zones regularly, Jones said he escaped the hardship that many of his comrades experienced. “I was lucky,” he said. “I never had to bail out. I never even lost an engine.” He recalls one night when it was nearly impossible to land because the fog was so thick. He said flight officials allowed him one attempt to land the plane. “It was so foggy you couldn’t land,” he said. “Then the fog opened up for a minute and then closed again.” Jones seized the brief moment of opportunity and landed safely. The pilot landing directly behind Jones missed the runway. Jones was discharged in January 1946. He and Colleen moved back to Stonington to start a family and launch Jones’s career in aviation. “I always wanted to learn to fly,” Jones said. “I took my first lesson while I was working at the defense plant in Connecticut. Without the Army, I probably would have, somehow, learned to fly.” Jones was working in a shipyard and working part-time as a flight instructor when he started the Stonington Flying Service, transporting passengers, mail and freight to Maine’s islands. He moved the business to Thomaston in 1970 and continued there until 1986 when he retired and returned to Stonington. Jones and Russ Devereaux of Castine built the Stonington Airport and eventually gave it to the town. Jones said he was flying float planes and spotting herring for a local cannery when he saw the wooded area that he and Devereaux would transform into an airstrip. As a civilian, Jones logged more than 35,000 flying hours. He and Colleen raised seven daughters and five sons, whose ages today range from 38 to 61. The Joneses have 27 grandchildren, 40 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandson. —James Straub