MANAGEMENT IN AVIATION HISTORY BENCH MARKS
BENJAMIN H. “BUD” HADLEY
[1913-1997] THE AIRCRAFT MECHANIC WITH A PLAN PART II OF II “THE MAJOR AND THE CHIEF”
During the 1930s at municipal airfields and military bases across the US, aviation-related trade schools became big business. In sunny Glendale, California, the Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute (CWTI) campus resided at the glamorous Grand Central Air Terminal (GCAT). The CWTI campus was headed by Major C.C. Moseley, a retired Air Service officer who was once under the command of Gen. “Billy” Mitchell, and by 1929, an executive for Western Air Express and later for American Airlines. The US financial system crumbled in 1929, leaving millions of Americans to suffer great losses through the early 1930s. Hope for recovery dwindled among the tycoons of industry. But Moseley remained optimistic and undeterred. Aviation was his life and, in his view, one of the few commercial businesses which could survive, even flourish, through the Great Depression. I recently toured the newly restored GCAT building which now serves as
16 |
DOMmagazine.com | may 2016
administrative offices for the Disney Company. The original 1930 design has been replicated to look as it did before the airport was closed in 1959. Amid vintage photographs on display was a vaguely familiar picture of aircraft mechanics. Four years prior, I had received copies of A&P licenses for Benjamin H. “Bud” Hadley (1913- 1997). Included in the images sent to me by Bud’s son, Bob, were copies of the CWTI brochure. This was a story that had chased me until I caught it. I often write about early American pilots and mechanics who have made headlines. There were famous aviators and movie stars who trained at GCAT. However, most students were known only to their family and community. And now, we know about Bud Hadley.
BUD MEETS THE
MAJOR AND THE “CHIEF” Bud Hadley was born during 1913, in the newly incorporated city of Corona, CA, situated between that
BY GIACINTA BRADLEY KOONTZ
Following WWII, Bud manufactured aircraſt and rocket parts aſter forming the B.H. Hadley Company, and later took over Schwien Enginnering Company, both in Pomona, CA. The photo above of Hadley in his office during the 1960s is courtesy of his son, Bob Hadley.
state’s southern mountain forests and the Pacific Ocean. Much of the surrounding area depended upon agriculture transported to market by truck or train. Bud’s parents were George and Ella, who soon moved to nearby Pomona, where he grew up. Ella was from a large Latino family typical of the region’s diverse cultures then, as it remains today. George’s roots are less easy to trace, and his adult years are a trail of remote locations as an oil prospector from Canada to Mexico. As a “wildcatter” George’s business was “boom or bust.” The senior Hadley spent years speculating on land which he hoped would yield a profit. He was tenacious, and hands- on, ignoring ridicule and doubt from others. He drove miles in a beat-up car and worked back-breaking hours with little hired help on his rig. Bud and his older brother, George Jr., were sometimes part of that labor force, learning about drilling machines and other equipment.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68