Local WWI Hero will Get Historical Aircraft Tribute in Wichita

May 26—A Wichita war hero who risked his life to deliver rations to a battalion of besieged soldiers during World War I will receive a tribute Friday, organizers said, as a renewed push for a memorial gains speed.

An almost original DH-4 aircraft, which has been retrofitted to mirror the plane Erwin Bleckley was in during his historic mission, will be on display during the event at WSU Tech's National Center for Aviation Training, 4004 N. Webb in building 300. Bleckley's eventual Medal of Honor was one of only four awarded to the Air Service during the conflict.

"The air capital of the world should be proud and should venerate Erwin Bleckley as Wichita's ... Medal of Honor recipient that was born and raised in Wichita and he should be properly memorialized," Grant Schumaker, board member with the Bleckley Airport Memorial Foundation, said.

Second Lt. Bleckley was in his early 20s when he boarded a wooden DH-4 flight to try and bring rations and locate the famous " Lost Battalion" pinned down by German forces in the Argonne forest in October 20218. Bleckley, a forward observer, and his pilot, Lt. Harold Goettler, returned from their first mission in a plane riddled with bullets.

The plane was unflyable. But the pair requested one more mission during the deadly Meuse-Argonne Offensive, and when their squad commander told them it was dangerous, Bleckley reportedly replied, "We'll make the delivery or die in the attempt."

The plane came under fire during the mission and Goettler died in the pilot's seat, forcing Bleckley, a former bank teller, to take over control of the airplane.

He'd had minimal flight training as an aerial observer, but he managed to crash behind allied lines, The Eagle reported.

Soldiers found Bleckley unconscious and barely alive near the downed plane. They rushed him to a French hospital nearby, but Bleckley died en route.

His efforts were not in vain: French troops found Bleckley's marked-up map that pinpointed the battalion's location. The next day, 194 men were rescued thanks in large part to Bleckley's maps.

Friday's event from 11 a.m. to noon is open to the public.

It will include a 21-round salute from the same unit Bleckley joined when he entered the military in 1917, Schumaker said. It will also have the DH-4 markings on it similar to the one Bleckley was in during his ill-fated flight, and include the 50th Aero Squadron Dutch Girl insignia with a No. 6 on the tail.

The foundation purchased the aircraft from another organization using a $105,000 loan, Schumacher said, but it will take another $75,000 to get it up and running. He said it was the only flyable DH-4 left in the world, before the organization it was purchased from damaged it during a test flight.

The foundation wants to raise funds to cover the restoration and purchase. The ultimate goal is to put a memorial at the Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport, which would include the plane, a bronze statue of Bleckley and other items.

The foundation said it is asking city officials to seek FAA funding to help build a 40-by-60 foot display that would allow the plane to be pulled out and flown at certain times, including Memorial Day and Oct. 6, the anniversary of Bleckley's death.

Anyone wanting to donate to the project can do so at bamfoundation.net.

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