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Billy N.
Blackwell, a 1941 graduate of Memphis Tech High School, became
a Navy Fighter Carrier Pilot during World War II.
He later
became known as one of the "Hellcat pilots" involved in what
became known as "The Cotton Carnival Mission."
The Navy at
Millington agreed to stage a mock battle with the Air Force,
involving seven Navy fighter planes (three F6F Hellcats and
four F4U Corsairs) on Riverside Drive. The pilots were members
of Flight VF 792 at the Naval Air Stations and were also
"Weekend Warriors."
In the
Cotton Carnival Mission, believed to have been flown in 1951,
the planes flew very low over the Mississippi River. They came
into Downtown Memphis from the north and flew under the
Harrahan and Frisco Bridges in formation of twos. Six Navy
planes zoomed under the bridges and one decided to fly over
the bridges instead, due to the turbulence.
The King and
Queen of Cotton Carnival and their Court arrived at the foot
of Beale Street on a barge that had come up river from the
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south, amid a massive
fireworks display. The air show preceded the barge landing and the
exciting episode was witnessed by thousands of Memphians sitting on the
bluffs above Riverside Drive.
The pilots included
Billy Blackwell; John Marvin Carney, a graduate of Southside High; Jack
Foster; Frank Flanigan, a Central High graduate; Benny Benson, an active
duty reserve pilot who lived on the Millington base; William Bell for
Arkadelphia, Ark. The name of seventh pilot, a Marine, can no longer be
recalled.
Billy Blackwell, 85, now
lives on a farm in Martin, Tenn., and still works daily in the window
manufacturing company he owns in Martin.
Ricka Deaton Blackwell is
the wife of Billy Blackwell
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Billy Blackwell,
Tech 1941 |
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