Retired American soldier reflects on early beginnings of Guyana's international airport
Written by Demerara Waves
Friday, 04 May 2012 08:22
Reproduced from Kokomo Perspective
By Joyce Alpay
Isaac “Ike” B. Tharp of Kokomo, Howard County, Indiana, United States was with the 8th Pursuit Group, 36th Squadron as an airplane mechanic. Later he was part of the 309th Service Squadron stationed at the 2123 Army Air Force Base unit “Atkinson Field” in British Guiana (Guyana) doing reclamation and salvage of airplanes.
In Jan. 1940, he enlisted in the army at the age of 23 due to economic conditions from the “Great Depression.” His basic training and advanced training for airplane mechanics were both at Langley Field, Hampton, Va. He then went to Groton, Conn., for gunnery practice. Later he was transferred to Mitchell Field, N.Y., and worked as an airplane mechanic on P-40 aircraft and AT-6 transport planes.
From Brooklyn Army Base, N.Y., he boarded an Alcoa guide ship for Puerto Rico. He stayed at a dockside camp for two weeks and then sailed on a Dutch freighter to Atkinson Field, located about 25 miles from Georgetown, former British Guiana (currently Guyana).
In June 1941, after a brief stop in Puerto Rico, Ike arrived at Atkinson Field. They were still building the runways when he arrived. In fact, the only facilities completed were their screened in barracks. He saw the construction of a hospital and a $2 million (valued then) hotel where overnight crews would be staying. The land for Atkinson Field was leased from the British government through the “Destroyers for Bases Agreement.” Atkinson Field was to be a major U.S. base and stopover point for transshipment of airplanes to the European and China/Burma/India Theaters of operation.
Atkinson Field’s mission was to protect the coastline of northwest South America by preventing submarine landings by the Axis forces. It became a major hub for incoming and outgoing airplane traffic with planes coming and going all hours of the day and night. This air supply system transported aircraft personnel and cargo, and linked the U.S. with West Africa and the Middle East. This “South Atlantic Air Ferry Route” generally included trips to and from Palm Beach, Fla., Puerto Rico, Brazil, Acension Island, Libya, Dakar, Morocco and sometimes England.
Ike said that Atkinson had a major fueling depot with 19 fuel tanks containing 250,000 gallons of gas, located adjacent to the airstrip in a nearby jungle. There was an underground siphoning system which could siphon fuel directly from the tanks into the airplanes on the runway. In addition, there were also 20 50-gallon drums of fuel buried in the sands for emergencies.
Ike’s primarily job at Atkinson Field was salvaging and repairing airplanes. Many salvage jobs took him and his six-man crew into the hot and humid Guiana jungle, where they had to work as well as fight the flies and mosquitoes.
Generally each overhead cloud produced rain, and when the rain hit the airplane’s hot metal, it would make popping sounds, which he can’t forget. He salvaged a B-25 and recalled taking miles of wire from this aircraft. In addition, he salvaged P-40s, P-38s, and his unforgettable Brazilian PT-19s.
Two PT-19s owned by the Brazilian Air Force accidentally collided enroute to Atkinson Field. One PT-19 crashed in the jungle, while the other PT-19 managed to land at Atkinson Field with a 30-inch hole under the left wing. After pilot rescue, Ike and his six-man crew went into the jungle to salvage this PT-19. It took them two to three weeks to dismantle this plane.
With the help of local natives and their canoes, they carried the airplane parts down the Pomeroon River where they were loaded on a steamer. At Georgetown they hauled the parts by trucks to Atkinson Field. Ike then went to work on the other PT-19, spending days patching the 30-inch hole under the wing until it looked like new. When it was finished a young lieutenant asked if he could fly the plane. Ike told him that he would have to get authorization from the ATC (transport command). Somehow, with or without approval, the lieutenant took the plane up and crashed it in the jungle, but he survived. Ike was so frustrated that after all his work this plane would still have to be scraped with the American government “footing the bill” to the Brazilian government.
Ike was the first on scene after a plane accident on the runway. He noticed that a B-26 (bomber) plane was trying to take off, and it didn’t look right because the left wing was tilted downward. The plane hit a caterpillar tractor on the runway. The pilot and co-pilot were blown through the roof of the cockpit, and the plane caught fire, killing the rest of the crew. Ike helped rescue the pilot and co-pilot who were badly burned.
Immediately the base got a B-18 filled it with as much gas as it could hold and rushed them to the Boston Massachusetts Burn Center. Investigations later revealed that the aircraft had previously been under repair and that the mechanic had forgotten to re-insert the “piano hinge pin” which caused the air to flow through the wing instead of over the wing, therefore not allowing the left wing to elevate.
Ike is now 94 years old. He said he enjoyed his job while serving his country. Ike feels that WW II taught him many things: how to trust in God, how to lead, the importance of being vigilant and how to never accept defeat while there is a chance for victory.