Empire museum exhibit commemorates local World War II pilot

By Nick Beadleston
Sun contributor

The search for hometown heroes has a new chapter in Northern Michigan. An Empire Area Museum Center exhibit, standing front and center among the plethora of historic artifacts, tells the story of World War II pilot Col. Warren Aylsworth. It also speaks to the community’s ongoing effort to preserve its history, one remarkable citizen at a time.

Aylsworth’s aerial career spanned 34 years, during which time he logged more than 8,000 flight hours. He piloted fighter planes, bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Aylsworth oversaw the development of top-secret technology and the creation of programs pivotal to U.S. military supremacy during the Cold War.

Local historian Claude Fields recently chronicled Aylsworth’s military career. Fields’ findings were compiled in a report and embodied in the museum’s exhibit. The display includes pieces of Aylsworth’s regalia, reproductions of his flight logs and other documents and a painstakingly recreated scale model of his most notable aircraft, the “Purple Shaft,” a Boeing B-29 Superfortress.

Dave Taghon, museum curator, created the model, which is the focal point of the exhibit. He said he spent hours replicating minute details of the aircraft, like the unit insignia complete with marks denoting their mission count, from faded photographs.

Though Taghon’s efforts to recreate an important part of Aylsworth’s life are substantial, they are dwarfed by the more than six months Fields dedicated to the project.

It was a casual glance at an old news article on a dusty shelf in the museum and a cursory Google search that started Fields on his trajectory. Once he started uncovering details about the life of Aylsworth, and the men who served with him, he was unable to stop.

“I’m the kind of guy that usually goes to bed at 9:30, 10 o’clock,” said Fields. “There were times when I didn’t go to bed until after one in the morning because it was such an experience to learn what I learned.”

Fields recounted one such night, when he stumbled on an old land deed which connected the Aylsworths and the Tibbits. A family descendant, Paul Tibbits, would later pilot the Enola Gay as it dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

“Is this cool or what?” said Fields. “Over 250 years and here’s the two families serving together on the same island, both B-29 pilots.”

The Island was Tinian, a tiny dot in the vast Pacific that many Americans, including Fields prior to researching, may never have heard of. The island however, which is less than 40 square miles, proved to be a seminal location in the war, for the United States and for Aylsworth.

Wrestled from the Japanese in August 1944 during the eponymously named Battle of Tinian, the island would be come home to one of the largest base of the war. It housed more than 200 B-29 aircraft and 40,000 personnel, and served as jumping off point for bombing raids on Japan.

Among his notable wartime accomplishments, Aylsworth is credited as the first pilot to land a B-29 on the island. Colorized photos of the landing strip and black and white shots of the Purple Shaft’s crew serve as backdrop and storyline for the main section of the display.

The exhibit also chronicles the arduous efforts of the United States Naval Construction Forces (or SeaBees), who constructed ad-hoc runways which were critical in capturing the island.

For Fields, discovering and illuminating tangential stories, unknown and overlooked by many, like that of the unsung seabees was one of the more rewarding parts of the experience.

“This was a real education for me,” he said. Fields spoke to an instance during the thick of the war when Japanese citizens erected a shrine to the U.S. aircrews who were killed during a mid-air collision over their village. “You never hear that type of story, you always hear the other side,” he said.

Among the myriad of stories uncovered, not all are ready to be included in the report and exhibit, explained Fields and Taghon.

For every substantiated account of Aylsworth’s life and exploits, a dozen more exciting, but as of yet unverified, tales exist. To Fields, these stories represent a tantalizing opportunity, but at present, a bridge too far.

“What you see on the writeup and in this display is all factual information,” said Fields. “We know about different stories that have been passed around; we might talk about them among ourselves because they’re pretty damn interesting, but for this [exhibit], everything we did we can back up.”

“Validated, documented and confirmed,” added Taghon, referring to the more than 200 documents contributed by Aylsworth’s family, alone. These, used in tandem with accounts from living veterans and military unit historians, formed the frame of Fields’ research. They also gave him a deeper understanding of Aylsworth.

“I know stuff the family didn’t know,” said Fields; a point he illustrated by explaining Aylsworth’s number four tooth on the left-hand side was missing (a fact he gleaned from medical records).

Despite the plethora of documentation available during World War II, Fields said the trail became obscured during the postwar period and throughout much of the later years of Aylsworth’s career.

“That was more difficult,” he said. “[Aylsworth] went into the Strategic Air Command; he did a lot of secret stuff that I don’t know if we’ll ever know about.”

Fields explained Aylsworth flew or was responsible for covert Boeing RB-47 Stratojet and Lockheed U-2 missions deep behind Soviet lines. He was also involved with a Vietnam-era drone program. As Aylsworth’s career began to wind down, he made the move back to Michigan, taking command of several units throughout the state. He retired in July 1972.

Even after returning to Empire, Fields indicates Aylsworth’s life was anything but ordinary. He was visited by renowned test-pilot Brigadier General Chuck Yeager, whom he had befriended some years earlier.

On another occasion, former compatriot General Regis Urschler also dropped in, unannounced, on Aylsworth. Literally. Urschler was forced to make an emergency crash landing near the Empire Airport while flying his P-51 Gun Fighter. Field indicated Aylsworth drove out to help Urschler make repairs.

According to Fields’ report, Aylsworth died in 2006 while diligently working at his family’s sawmill, just as he had before joining the Air Force nearly 70 years prior.

“What blows me away is the lack of knowledge [local citizens] had of who Warren really was and what he did in the military,” says Fields. “They knew him as a super nice guy.”

Fields said he receives daily emails and phone calls from veterans, military unit historians and friends and families of servicemen and women. Many are looking to share personal accounts or stories that have been passed to them.

“It’s given me more than I could ever imagine,” said Fields. “There are times when you sit there and you’ve got tears running out of your eyes because you’re reading some of the stories.”

“And there are other times that you’re so cheerful and happy because of some of the stuff you read,” he continued. “It was really an emotional roller coaster for me to go through that stuff.”

The Aylsworth family, many of whom still reside in Empire and were present at the dedication, are thankful for Fields’ and Taghon’s work.

“The amount of research that he did is absolutely phenomenal,” said Wayne “Soni” Aylsworth, grandson of Warren, and owner of the outfitter Empire Outdoors. “I appreciate it, my family appreciates it.”

He also praised Taghon’s B-29 replica and the display stand, which housed the exhibit.

Both Fields and Taghon see the exhibit as a testimonial to the fortitude and grit of all who served in World War II. They expressed plans to expand the exhibit in effort to include other veterans from Empire. They have already created a binder with information on dozens of men and women from the area who served in the war.

With the 70th anniversary of the end of the war in Asia (14 and 15 August 1945) approaching, Taghon, Soni and Fields reflected on the importance of preserving the history of the conflict.

“It shows our roots, our normal, homespun boys,” said Taghon.

“There were millions of guys who did what [Aylsworth] did, he was maybe more illustrious in his career than most, but the seabees that dug the damn ditches to put the runways together were as important as those flying,” he continued. “Think how many times that story is repeated. Just thousands and thousands.”

Soni explained that his grandfather had been instrumental in his upbringing, and the lessons he taught helped shape him.

“Part of learning is learning from mistakes,” Soni said. “And then again part of learning is learning from accomplishments.”

“We can hear stories and thing and catch a glimpse, but that’s about it,” he said. “The things that these guys did are truly amazing.”

For Fields, Aylsworth personifies a bygone era, one which is in danger of being forgotten.

“I think it’s important to understand how this country came together, number one, and worked together for a common goal,” said Fields, “Everyone pitched in.”

He also indicated the importance of seeing things from the Japanese perspective in order to remember humanity exists on both sides of the battle line.

“It’s important to not let that die,” he said.