Virgil Hine, Pilot
Long-time resident, Dr. Ted Hine, inspired this article. It is the story of his favorite uncle.
Virgil S. Hine majored in sports at Muskogee's Central High School. In 1911, he started playing second base position for the school baseball team. He played baseball the next two years as well.
The 1913 season began with no funds, no field and borrowed suits. The good news was the team had a new ball and bat. That season the team won seven games, lost three and tied the Oklahoma City game. The team had one home game with Checotah. All of the other games were out of town, with the last four being games on consecutive days. He also lettered in football all three years and basketball in 1912.
Virgil enrolled at the University of Oklahoma in the fall of 1916 as an Arts and Science major. After declaration of war by the United States on April 6, 1917, Virgil dropped out of college and enlisted in the US Army.
His first destination was the University of Texas where he attended ground flight training. Virgil next attended a six-week course of flight lessons at Chanute Field outside of Chicago. The field opened the Fourth of July as the first military flight training field in the United States. He passed his aviation examinations with five other Oklahomans.
He was commissioned a lieutenant in the US Army's Signal Corps. His first assignment was the Army's aviation section that would one day become the Army Air Corps. In these early days, there were few planes, mostly civilian instructors and much danger in flying, even without combat hazards.
Lt. Hine sailed to Europe and served in France during World War One. At the end of the war, the United States demobilized its military forces. Virgil opted, instead, to remain in the flying service of the US Army. The following years were difficult as all branches of military service were underfunded and understaffed. Lt. Hine persevered because of his belief in the future of air power.
Lt. Hine served in San Diego under Major Hap Arnold in 1923. In April, a fellow officer proposed the possibility of refueling a plane in flight. The idea, however, faced many technical difficulties.
The first attempt to prove it was possible to refuel another airplane occurred on June 27, at an altitude of 500 feet above Rockwell Field. Lt. Hine piloted the tanker biplane. It was a converted WWI bomber first introduced in October, 1918, but never it saw combat because hostilities ended too soon.
Lt. Hine's aircraft had a hole cut into the bottom for the feeding of a 48-foot long steel wire-encased rubber hose. At ninety miles per hour, it took two minutes to funnel fifty gallons of aviation fuel to another modified bomber. The trial run proved the theory.
On August 27th and 28th, the US Army conducted an endurance test using two tanker planes, one again piloted by Lt. Hine. With fourteen refueling efforts that transferred both fuel and oil, another bomber remained aloft for 37 hours and fifteen minutes. In setting this world endurance record, the test plane flew 3293.26 miles and broke thirteen more world records. All branches of American military use in-flight refueling techniques pioneered by Lt. Hine.
Virgil S. Hine retired from the US Army in 1935 with the rank of Major. He moved back to the Muskogee area as a widower with two sons to raise. Four years later, at age 44, Major Hine died of a heart attack while in his home near Okay. He is buried at Memorial Park Cemetery.
*** *** This blog begins a new schedule. Blogs will appear every other Thursday. *** *** ***
Virgil S. Hine majored in sports at Muskogee's Central High School. In 1911, he started playing second base position for the school baseball team. He played baseball the next two years as well.
The 1913 season began with no funds, no field and borrowed suits. The good news was the team had a new ball and bat. That season the team won seven games, lost three and tied the Oklahoma City game. The team had one home game with Checotah. All of the other games were out of town, with the last four being games on consecutive days. He also lettered in football all three years and basketball in 1912.
Virgil enrolled at the University of Oklahoma in the fall of 1916 as an Arts and Science major. After declaration of war by the United States on April 6, 1917, Virgil dropped out of college and enlisted in the US Army.
His first destination was the University of Texas where he attended ground flight training. Virgil next attended a six-week course of flight lessons at Chanute Field outside of Chicago. The field opened the Fourth of July as the first military flight training field in the United States. He passed his aviation examinations with five other Oklahomans.
He was commissioned a lieutenant in the US Army's Signal Corps. His first assignment was the Army's aviation section that would one day become the Army Air Corps. In these early days, there were few planes, mostly civilian instructors and much danger in flying, even without combat hazards.
Lt. Hine sailed to Europe and served in France during World War One. At the end of the war, the United States demobilized its military forces. Virgil opted, instead, to remain in the flying service of the US Army. The following years were difficult as all branches of military service were underfunded and understaffed. Lt. Hine persevered because of his belief in the future of air power.
Lt. Hine served in San Diego under Major Hap Arnold in 1923. In April, a fellow officer proposed the possibility of refueling a plane in flight. The idea, however, faced many technical difficulties.
The first attempt to prove it was possible to refuel another airplane occurred on June 27, at an altitude of 500 feet above Rockwell Field. Lt. Hine piloted the tanker biplane. It was a converted WWI bomber first introduced in October, 1918, but never it saw combat because hostilities ended too soon.
Lt. Hine's aircraft had a hole cut into the bottom for the feeding of a 48-foot long steel wire-encased rubber hose. At ninety miles per hour, it took two minutes to funnel fifty gallons of aviation fuel to another modified bomber. The trial run proved the theory.
On August 27th and 28th, the US Army conducted an endurance test using two tanker planes, one again piloted by Lt. Hine. With fourteen refueling efforts that transferred both fuel and oil, another bomber remained aloft for 37 hours and fifteen minutes. In setting this world endurance record, the test plane flew 3293.26 miles and broke thirteen more world records. All branches of American military use in-flight refueling techniques pioneered by Lt. Hine.
Virgil S. Hine retired from the US Army in 1935 with the rank of Major. He moved back to the Muskogee area as a widower with two sons to raise. Four years later, at age 44, Major Hine died of a heart attack while in his home near Okay. He is buried at Memorial Park Cemetery.
*** *** This blog begins a new schedule. Blogs will appear every other Thursday. *** *** ***
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