Fostoria Once Home to Air Museum’s P-40
January 5, 1997

PIX# 1 Fostorian Bob Holderman with the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk that he once owned. Today the airplane is on permanent display at the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio.

They say it’s a small world and sometimes the old adage is right on the money. A couple weeks ago we carried an article about the United States Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton.

The picture we ran with the article was of the museum’s Curtiss P-40 Warhawk. Little did we know that there was quite an interesting story behind that particular aircraft, a story with a Fostoria connection.

If you read the AF Museum guidebook on all the aircraft on exhibit, it will tell you that the museum’s P-40 was obtained from Mr. Charles Doyle of Rosemont, Minn. The intriguing part of the story begins before that.

The museum’s P-40 was build for use by Britain’s Royal Air Force and was later obtained by a fellow named Red Myler of Seattle. On June 8, 1948 Red sold it to Bob Holderman of (where else?) Fostoria for $695.

Bob, who still lives here, and friend and fellow flyer, Joe Uhlman both purchased P-40s within a few weeks of each other. Bob and Joe spent their weekends doing a little barnstorming with an air show in those days and they thought the P-40s would “spike the show a little.” Bob said they even did parachute jumps for $75 per leap.

The only problem was the Federal Aviation Administration. “The FAA cracked down on us,” recalled Bob. “They said we had to modify them since we weren’t allowed to fly military aircraft.”

Bob did get a few chances to take his P-40 aloft. He said he flew it three or four times for a total of around four hours.

“It took a whole drum of fuel every time you took it off the ground,” said Bob.

Eventually Bob decided to sell the plane. Selling the plane was easy enough. Getting it out of Fostoria entailed a couple adventures.

A fellow from St. Cloud, Minn. tried to fly it to Toledo to repair the main fuel tank before the sale was finalized. But on takeoff, after he had the P-40 “nose up,” he got skittish about the short 2,600 foot runway and applied the brakes, damaging the prop and tearing out the reduction gear.

Next Bob negotiated a trade with a gent from Coldwater, Mich. Bob’s P-40 for a Stearman. The new owner repaired the prop and the reduction gear, but neglected to flush the filings from the engine. Thereafter, the old Warhawk sat for a time out at Snyder Field on SR 12 toward Fremont

Finally, Charles Doyle of Rosemount, Minn. purchased the plane and came to Fostoria to pick his Warhawk up. Doyle purchased airplanes, restored them and leased them for use in movies.

Doyle showed up with a wrecker, two mechanics and a crane. He put on a new prop and installed a new engine. Finally the P-40 was ready to take to the air once more.

Following a successful take off, Doyle must have been feeling pretty good. It wouldn’t last long. Someone had removed a piano hinge wire from the ammunition door in the wing. The wire was essential to keep the door closed.

After takeoff, Doyle headed east. He was over Bascom when the ammunition door flew open and he began to lose control and was forced to make an emergency landing on the Homer House farm.

A matter of some contention was whether Doyle had the wheels up or down when he collided with the cornfield. Doyle claimed his wheels were up. Bob says that wasn’t so since the wheels and landing gear were bashed up through the wing.

Now the plane finally got to Minnesota and eventually to the Air Force Museum though.

“Doyle came back with a big flat bed truck,” said Bob. “He took the wings off and took the plane and came back later for a spare engine.”

Even after he no longer owned the P-40, Bob had some interesting experiences because of it. He received a letter from a man who was collaborating with a writer on a book on the history of the P-40 in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Another time he was visited by Air Force officers inquiring about the ownership of the plane. It turned out they were from the AF Museum. .

Finally Bob was visited by two men who said, “We’re looking for Bob Holderman.”

You’ve got him,” Bob replied. The pair said they were FBI agents sent to get the serial number of the Warhawk as part of an investigation of stolen military aircraft.

So it is a small world after all. Of the 300 or so aircraft on exhibit at the Air Force Museum, it’s fascinating that Fostoria was once home to one of them.

The P-40 Warhawk was America’s foremost fighter at the outbreak of WW11. It served in the Aleutians, the Southwest Pacific and some were sent to Russia. It gained renown as the combat aircraft of Gen. Claire Chennault’s legendary Flying Tigers in China. P-40s engaged the enemy during the Japanese attach on Pearl Harbor.

More than 14,000 were built and they were flown in the air forces of 28 nations.

Bob Holderman is a WW11 veteran, having served in the 101st Airborne Division. He worked at Autolite and Fostoria Industries. Bob also attended Ringling Art School to learn air brush art and worked at Gray Printing. He and Bernie Conine used to do a little crop dusting together.

Today Bob is retired and lives in Fostoria with his wife Ethel. He also has his hands full helping take care of his little grandson, Lee.

Now it’s time to clear up a couple details from the first Air Force Museum article. First of all, I misidentified the C-46 Commando transport as a C-26. There is no such plane as a C-26. There was a B-26 Marauder bomber and I apparently got their numbers bollixed up. Thanks to reader Bill Kramb for putting us right. Incidentally, Mr. Kramb flew C-46's in WW11.

Secondly, I didn’t take the photo used in the first article. I got it from Diana Bachert of the museum’s Public Affairs Division and we owe the museum a photo credit. We apologize for the omission

Finally, thanks to Bernie Conine, Larry Snyder and, of course, Bob Holderman who put us on the trail of Fostoria’s P-40 Warhawk.