Northeast Mississipi Daily Journal, Tupelo, MS, Tues, April 18, 1995:
p. 1 -

BOOK COMMEMORATES 100TH
BIRTHDAY OF COLORFUL CORINTH
NATIVE
By JANE CLARK SUMMERS
Daily Journal Corinth Bureau

        CORINTH - A new biography of aviation pioneer Roscoe Turner
has been released in what would have been the 100th anniversary of the
birth of the flamboyant pilot from Corinth.

        "Roscoe Turner: Aviation's Master Showman" was written by
noted aviation writer Carroll V. Glines and was published by the
Smithsonian Institution Press in Washington, D.C., as part of the
Smithsonian History of Aviation Series.

        The book went on sale this week at the Northeast Mississippi
Museum and in Waits Jewelry Store in Corinth as well as bookstores
nationwide.  Placing the book on sale at the historic jewelry store
would have pleased Turner, who died in 1970.

        In October 1933, Turner flew to Corinth on his way to
California and brought the Harmon trophy which he was awarded for
outstanding achievement in aviation by the International Aviation
League. At stops along the way, he refused to take the 200 pound
bronze trophy from his plane, telling crowds who greeted him at
airports that "the first place the trophy will be shown is in the
window of E.F. Waits Jewelry Store in Corinth."  Waits was one
Turner's closest personal friends and was an aviation pioneer in his
own right. In l91O, Waits and Max Weisner built and flew one of the
first airplanes in the South at Corinth.  The Demoiselle monoplane was
built of bamboo from plans published in "Popular Mechanics."

        Waits' widow, who still operates the jewelry store, vividly
recalls when Turner's lion cub Gilmore visited the jewelry store.
Turner's flying companion came into the jewelry store and laid on the
floor like a house cat, she said.  "He didn't bother anyone or
anything in the store." Turner flew with the 450-pound cub as an oil
company promotion until the animal got too big to fit in the cockpit.

        Turner was the only recipient to win the Thompson trophy three
times.  He and Jimmy Doolittle are the only two people in history to
have won Both the Bendix, a cross-country race, and the Thompson Race,
which is more like a stock car race in that the plane flies around and
around the same area. In 1934, he and his two-man crew were the only
Americans to finish the grueling London-to-Melbourne race. He appeared
on the cover of "Time" magazine on Oct. 29 1934.

        Turner symbolized the adventure and excitement of aviation to
young boys growing up during the depression era.  After serving as a
hot air balloon pilot during World War I, he became a barnstorming
stunt man, wingwalker, parachutist, creator of his own flying circus
and a pilot in Howard Hughes' World War I epic feature, "HELL'S
ANGELS," Hollywood's most expensive movie before "Gone With the Wind."

        A showman and smart businessman, Turner believed that pilots
should dress properly to instill confidence and receive respect. He
wore a pencil thin mustache and dressed in a military-type uniform
with a blue tunic, cavalry twill riding britches, beige officer-style
cap, polished black riding boots and a pin of diamond-studded wings.
It is believed that airline pilots today wear uniforms for the same
reasons as the trend started by Turner.

        Roscoe Turner trading cards, comic books, newspaper comic
strips and radio serials were part of the popular culture at that
time.

        He retired from racing in 1939 but stayed close to aviation as
a pilot, founder of a regional airline, director of a school for
pilots and mechanics, operator of an aircraft serving company and a
persuasive voice for public support of military and commercial
aviation.

        Turner was the oldest child of a family that lived in West
Corinth. His only sister Mary Emma Turner Whitaker still lives on the
family farm on Turner Hill.  Before his rise to worldwide fame, after
World War I and three years of barnstorming, Turner returned to
Corinth where he operated an automobile shop.  One of the favorite
local stories is about Turner driving a Gray automobile up the steps
of the courthouse to prove the car could pull hills, said Milton Sandy
Jr.  Sandy, his wife, Stephanie and son, David, helped provide
research for the book.

        The book contains a "deep, dark secret" that Turner
intentionally never mentioned or included in papers donated to the
University of Wyoming American Heritage Center, Sandy said. Turner's
planes, trophies and artifacts, including the stuffed Gilmore, are in
the Smithsonian Museum.

        Several Corinthians past and present are mentioned in the book
which sells for $29.95.

        Turner will be remembered this year during the 10th annual
Roscoe Turner Hot Air Balloon Race in Corinth Aug. 18-20.

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