I received a call last night from Jack Tacker who was calling to
thank me for the article I had sent him from 1929 pertaining to the
Tacker child being hit by a truck.  Jack said that was his brother Joe,
who was born in 1924 and is a well known dog show judge, now retired and
living in Carmel, California.  Jack was born in 1928.

        Jack informed me that he had written a screen play based on
Roscoe's racing days with his daughter.  Jack's daughter is an actress
and is secretary for the Screen Actor's Guild there in Las Vegas.  She
has an extra's part in the current movie, Indecent Proposal.  Jack said
the screen play had been turned down by 2 producers because it "didn't
have enough sex and violence."  Jack said he told them Roscoe's career
was an adventure that wasn't marked by sex and violence.

       Jack told me several stories but the most interesting to me was
his recollections of Roscoe Turner Day in 1936 when the original airport
was dedicated.  Jack had worked at a lemonade stand for months to earn
money for that day.  He also shined his father's shoes for church every
Sunday for a dime.  He had saved up $2.00, which was a considerable sum
for that time.  Jack, who was 8, lived on Tate Street and he, along with
his first cousin, Ralph Seay, who was 9, and Harold Tacker, his brother
who was 10 walked all the way to the airport on Shiloh Road.   Jack
remembers how dusty and dry it was that day.  He remembers going all the
way to the front of the crowd where the speakers' platform was set up on
a flatbed trailer.  He was just tall enough to peer over the edge of the
platform and he remembers being transfixed by Roscoe's shiny boots.  He
wondered how much he could earn by shining those boots.   Jack also
remembered seeing Roscoe cry during the ceremonies, overtaken by his
emotions, but at the time, Jack remembers this being confusing to him.
After the festivities, Jack and the 2 other boys took a ride with Fred
Key in his Curtis Robin airplane. Rides were $1.00 and the plane had a
seat for 2 passengers in back. Because the boys were small, he took all 3
at one time.  This was all the boys first airplane ride and was a
lifetime memorable experience.

        Jack told me his brother Harold is still today flying as a crop
duster.  His brother, Harold learned to fly earlier than he did.  Harold
learned to fly from Waldo Davis, who came to Corinth in 1938 or 1939 and
set up a flying school.  He used an Aeronca C-3 which was known as a
flying bathtub and had a 37 hp, 2 cylinder engine capable of 90 miles an
hour air speed.  Jack recalls wanting to learn to fly so bad at that
time and asking if he was old enough for lessons.  Waldo told him you
were old enough if you could reach the rudder pedals.  Jack couldn't
reach the rudder pedals but with a cushion in the seat, he could.  A one
hour lesson was $6.00 and Jack, demonstrating early deal-making skill,
asked if he could buy a 1/2 hour for $3.00.  Jack cut weeds with a scythe
for several weeks earning enough for a 1/2 hour lesson.  When he finally
persisted, Waldo took him up for about a 8 minute ride, letting Jack take
the stick and make one turn.  When he got back to the ground, Jack
questioned whether that was 30 minutes and got a long explanation of how
much gasoline cost and how much they had burned while they were in the
air.  Jack still thinks he got the short end of the deal but it was a
thrilling flight.  Jack later soloed, got his private license, then
his commercial license, all from C.D. Lemons.

        Jack's family was always associated with the automobile business.
Jack's father worked as a mechanic for Robert Heyer Motor Company.
Jack's uncle, Bill Tacker- born in 1908, was a salesman for Robert Heyer
and now lives in Savannah, Tennessee.  Jack's uncle Bill remembered
Roscoe driving up the courthouse steps but couldn't place the date.
Harold remembered the company manufacturing Gray automobiles did not stay
in existence very long.  Jack's uncle by marriage to his father's sister
Lila Tacker, Dick Sasser, also worked for Robert Heyer as a salesman.
Before Jack was born, in the 1920's his father had owned the first tire
recap shop in Corinth. Jack's mother was the bookkeeper for the company
and recalls having to put the pressure on her husband to collect the
money Roscoe owed on a set of tires for over a year.  Jack's father
called Roscoe and told him he had to have his money. Roscoe said he would
get dressed the next morning and be down to pay him. Jack's father said
he would be at his house before he was dressed.  He was there the next
morning before Roscoe was dressed and they both went downtown and Roscoe
got the money and paid him the past due bill.

       Jack told me a variation on the story about Dr. Davis which I had
heard.  He said Roscoe walked out on the wing to fix an air speed
indicator which was a home-made device Roscoe had installed himself.
According to Jack, Dr. Davis had said he would never go on another
airplane ride if he could just reach the ground safely after that flight.

       Jack said an adventure of his was mentioned in an aviation column
written for the Daily Corinthian called "Wings over Corinth" in 1946 or
1947.  It involved his having to land one night at New Albany and
spending the night with a farmer's family there.  It turned out that the
farmer had an 18 year old daughter and Jack made several more visits to
New Albany after that.  Stephanie and I will be on the lookout for the
article.

        Jack told me that he heard the full story about Art Starnes from
an old gentleman in Florence in 1951.  According to Jack, he understood
Art Starnes was partners with Roscoe buying their first Jenny for $400
and performing first with Roscoe in or around Raleigh, North Carolina.
Art Starnes was an early stuntman for Roscoe who was killed when he fell
from the plane into Lake Wilson and drowned.   I will try to follow up in
Florence/Sheffield newspapers for any accounts of this.  Stephanie will
check cemetary records to try to determine a date, if he was buried
locally or in Lauderdale county, Alabama.

       Jack told me he had visited the Wedell museum in Patterson,
Louisiana.  Jack said Roscoe spoke there when the museum was dedicated
and some of his remarks had been misinterpreted by local people there.
Jack also said he had 2 hours of interviews with Carline Stovall.  Jack
indicated he was not sharing his information with Col. Glines, who is
writing a biography of Roscoe.

       I asked Jack about the picture which he has marked as being a Star
automobile given to Carline as a wedding present.  Jack said Carline did
not remember Roscoe's having any car dealership.  I informed him I had
ads showing Roscoe was a Gray dealer as late as December, 1923 and he was
very interested in that.  He said the information about the Star might be
incorrect.

       Jack said he was planning on coming to Corinth again in July of
this year and would contact me then.   Jack said Herbert Brady had a
videotape of the airport rededication he spoke at in 1990 and suggested I
get a copy from him.

        Jack mentioned a story about Roscoe in a book by "Upside down"
Pangborn.  The story was about Roscoe appearing with the Gates Flying
Circus in 1920 or 1921 with a dobberman dog.  In this story, Pangborn
called Roscoe a liar when Roscoe arrived at the air field in a touring
car with a couple of girls and was showing them around when Pangbord
overheard him refer to all "his" planes.  This incident did not prevent
him from later chosing Pangborn as his copilot and navigator on the
London-Melbourne race.                                         

       Jack asked me if I was sending the material I collected to Colonel
Glines.  I told him that I was and that I was confident Colonel Glines
would write a good book about Roscoe Turner.  I told him that I thought
if Colonel Glines' book was successful, it would be very helpful to him
selling his screenplay.  I told him that the motion picture industry
right now is making more clean-cut movies than at any time in the last 30
years and if there was an opportunity, it should be right now.  I told
him I thought it would be in his best interest to cooperate any way he
could with Colonel Glines.  Jack said he agreed.  Jack said he had been
offered 10% of the proceeds if his book, The Speed King- about Roscoe's
racing exploits, were published by Jim Horne of the Historic Aviation
Publishing Company.  This was based on a one chapter proposal and he was
told that he would have to have a lot of original pictures.  He also said
he understood Tony Leveer at the University of Mississippi had been
working on a film documentary on Roscoe but he hadn't heard anything from
him in a while.

        Jack also told me that the Owen's book about the Key brothers
was the source of the statement about Roscoe stealing the publicity from
the Key brothers.  I told him I had pretty conclusive proof that was not
the case from research Stephanie and I did in Meridian newspapers this
weekend in Jackson.  I told him I would send him copies of that
information as soon as I get it typed up. 

        Jack told me he had done a great deal of research on Roscoe's
history with his Nevada airline.  Jack gave me some additions and
corrections to Herbert Brady's account.  Jack remembered a story about
James Galyean and also corrected the name of Josephine Depoyster.  Jack
remembered all of those people because he worked at the airport as the
"official gas boy" carrying gas for the planes in 5 gallon cans.


    Jack Tacker to Milton Sandy, Jr. -  May 20, 1993 and May 26, 1993