The Coolest Piece of Asheville History You've Ever Heard

I am not especially interested in war. At. All. BUT...this is pretty darn cool, mostly because it’s local history and ILOVE local history. I suppose this would have been better suited to be shared on July 4^th...so I am 5 days late. Memorial Day would have been even better. Six weeks late. Oh well. Anyway, here goes. The Memphis Belle, a famous B-17, WWII bomber and subject of a 1992 movie, was the first to complete 25 missions against Nazi forces. The cool part about that is that the pilot, Colonel Robert K. Morgan was from right here in Asheville, NC, The town I love to call home.

 

1992 Movie Poster

The really cool details don’t end there...Colonel Morgan named his plane, The Memphis Belle after his girlfriend at the time, Margaret Polk who lived in Memphis, TN. Originally wanting to call the plane Little One after his pet name for her, he changed his mind after he and his co-pilot saw a movie called Lady For a Night. They changed the name to Memphis Belle after the lead character’s riverboat with the same name, figuring it would make a good name for a plane. That detail would later prove a really good idea. They got up with artist George Petty who designed pin-up girls for Esquire Magazine and had him design the nose art. Another artist, Tony Starcer, painted the design onto the plane. He painted "Belle" in a blue swimsuit for the left side and a red suit for the right. The art work was later joined by 25 bomb shapes, one for each mission completed and 8 Swastikas, one for each Nazi plane the Memphis Belle shot down.

Left side nose art. Note the bombs and Swastikas on the right.

 

Nose art on the right side

 Apparently the ”first to complete 25-missions detail” is cloudy. Supposedly there is likely another plane who hit the milestone first but that plane, flying with a group called Hell’s Angels wasn’t named after a hottie in Tennessee, and wanting to boost morale, Washington gave The Memphis Belle the credit. So the name prevails! And deservedly so since the Hell’s Angels plane had lost most of its crew during combat and the Memphis Belle’s 10-man crew did not lose a single man and did not incur a single major injury. Among an 80% shoot-down rate, that is pretty stinkin’ cool!

The best part of the story, I thinkis yet to come but to set the stage, I will tell you about an incident in Florida. According to Morgan, he had been patrolling the shores of St. Petersburg Beach and out in the gulf on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. He spotted a big party down on the beach and took his plane down for a look. At 500 feet off the shore it wasn’t close enough to adequately see the party so he flew even lower without a care or a thought about it. The next morning he reported for duty and upon arrival, was sent straight to the General’s office. With an angry and very stern look, General Olds looked at Morgan and said “were you flying a Lockheed Hudson number so-and-so yesterday afternoon? Yes, sir. Did you happen to buzz a cocktail party that I was at? I didn't know you were at it, sir.” Apparently General Olds was not pleased and said “you know, I'd kick you out of the Army Air Corps right now if we hadn't spent so much money on you. I hear you're a pretty damn good pilot, so we'll let you stay in. But I'm going to tell you this, if I had my way, you'd be the oldest second lieutenant in the Army Air Corps."So I guess this Robert K. Morgan was a real character.I am not surprised.Most people from Asheville are real characters.

So because The Memphis Belle had earned the honor of being the first plane to complete 25 missions it was sent on a victory tour of sorts across the country to boost morale among Americans.General Henry “Hap” Arnold, the only 5 Star General in the Air Force gave Morgan permission to fly as low as he liked, knowing what a solid pilot he was. Morgan may have taken that a bit too literally. While visiting his hometown of Asheville, for a special event, he told his co-pilot that he wanted to buzz up over the mountain to give folks a goodbye salute”. He took the plane east down Patton Ave and right into downtown headed straight for Asheville City Hall and the Buncombe County Courthouse. The buildings are 50 feet apart at the bottom and 74 feet apart at the top and the plane has a wingspan of 103.9 feet…definitely not going to fit. About to crash into city hall, he banked the left side of the plane 60 degrees and flew between the buildings with perfect precision. At the time the city hall housed an AAC weather detachment whose commanding officer complained immediately to the Pentagon but was “advised by a duty officer that ‘Major Morgan has been given permission to buzz by General Henry Arnold.’” Supposedly people on the ground claimed the pilot of the plane “ought to be court-martialed”. Nah...this guy’s too cool for that!

Buncombe County Court House on the left, Asheville City Hall, being renovated on the right taken 7/7/13

Colonel Robert K. Morgan maintained a pilot’s license right up until his death. After flying home from an air show in Lakeland, Florida at the age of 85, Morgan slipped and fell at the Asheville Regional Airport and fractured one of his vertebrae. He spent the next several weeks at Mission Hospital in Asheville and died from complications from his injuries, including pneumonia on May 15^th, 2004. His ashes are buried at the Western Carolina Veterans Cemetery in Black Mountain, North Carolina.

The Memphis Belle itself had a rough life following its wartime honors. Nearly destroyed by vandals, it was restored to its full glory and is now on permanent display on Mud Island in Memphis.

The Final Resting Place on Mud Island, Memphis, TN

The other cool thing about this story is that I gave a copy of Colonel Morgan’s book, The Man Who Flew the Memphis Belle to my dad a bunch of years ago. He loved it and called Mr. Morgan shortly before he died and told him how much he enjoyed his book. I think that is the coolest thing ever.