FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
This was popular folklore were I used to live. I think Syscom might of posted photos of the old War Eagle Field which was about 4 miles from my old home airport, Fox Field. I've actually met people who claimed to have seen this guy!
Respecting a legend
Britons, locals plan flyover to honor RAF cadet killed in 1942
This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press on Sunday, January 28, 2007.
By TITUS GEE
Valley Press Staff Writer
Cadet Maier Ben Himelstaub is more than a ghost story.
The British Royal Air Force pilot-in-training, whose gruesome 1942 death at War Eagle Air Field in Lancaster inspired legends of haunting by the "Ghost of Mira Loma," was a real young man far from home.
His passing during training for World War II was a tragedy worthy of respect, said organizers of a memorial in Himelstaub's honor.
"In Europe, the fallen Americans' grave sites are revered, honored, very well cared-for," said Lani Glasscock , one of the organizers. "We want to reciprocate that respect."
Toward that end, Glasscock, a Hillview Middle School history teacher, helped plan a Feb. 16 ceremony to remember the fallen pilot 65 years after his death. Glasscock collaborated with her mother, Barbara Little, who manages the Lancaster Cemetery where Himelstaub is buried, and with local history enthusiast Bob Alvis to arrange the event.
The ceremony will feature World War II aircraft flying the missing man formation, a new headstone for Himelstaub's grave, and flowers laid by some of Glasscock's students.
The organizers believe the Antelope Valley owes something to the memory of a serviceman who died and was buried here.
"He became a citizen of Lancaster. There was no road home for him," Alvis said.
The service will stand in contrast to a tradition of a Halloween "Haunted Jail" event at the Mira Loma Detention Center - which occupies the site of the airfield where Himelstaub was killed - that recounts spooky stories about Himelstaub's spirit wandering empty halls and old buildings.
"We were using a tragic story that should have been more honored than exploited," Alvis said. "For those of us who are steeped in history, it kind of wears on us. He's a lost soul but he's really part of our community."
Himelstaub, a Polish Jew, fled Europe to escape the Nazi invasion, according to Norma Gurba, curator of the Lancaster Museum/Art Gallery.
Himelstaub's mother and brother suffered in the Warsaw ghetto and two concentration camps. After being liberated in 1945 from Bergen-Belsen concentration camp (where Anne Frank died), they emigrated to Tel Aviv, Israel. Brother Israel Himelstaub changed his name to Israel Shahak , and became a professor and prominent political activist in Israel, Gurba wrote.
The details of Maier Ben Himelstaub's escape from Poland are unknown, but he made his way from Warsaw to Britain and joined the war effort by enlisting in the Royal Air Force as a mechanic.
(His first name has several English spellings, from "Mayer" to "Meyer." Maier is Gurba's choice of spelling drawn from historical research.)
Himelstaub was shipped across the Atlantic to learn how to fly. Before America joined the war, British pilots often got their wings through "unofficial" training at War Eagle Field in Lancaster, Alvis said.
The cadets were schooled at the Polaris Academy, flying trainer aircraft. When the 200 graduates returned to England, they were assigned to fighter or bomber squadrons, according to their abilities.
Himelstaub was one of about 300 trainees who never graduated, and the only one who died.
On Feb. 13, 1942, the young cadet walked into a spinning aircraft propeller and died of massive head trauma.
The original news story, in the South AV Press, was recovered by Gurba.
It described in grim detail the damage to Himelstaub's body, including the location of body parts scattered by the propeller. The story included the report of a witness who saw the cadet step out in front of the plane, with his head down against the wind.
"Then the unfortunate man suddenly looked up as the noise of the approaching plane came to him, ducked and threw up his arm in an apparent futile attempt to protect his face, and was struck by the whirling propeller before he could side-step from the plane's path," the article said.
There was no way to send his body home, so Himelstaub was buried at Lancaster Cemetery. Since there were no rabbis to be found, a pastor from St. Paul's Episcopal Church read the service. A Jewish funeral ceremony was performed for him in 2002.
Himelstaub's casket was draped with the Union Jack and his flying helmet and goggles placed inside. Band members from Antelope Valley High School played in the procession.
His headstone reads simply, "For King and Country," and bears a Star of David for his Jewish heritage. After the war, his mother was told that he was shot down in the Pacific.
According to local legend, a blond apparition, outfitted in full flight gear, was spotted wandering the halls and hangars of the field after Himelstaub died. Thus rose the legend of the Ghost of Mira Loma.
War Eagle Field eventually was converted into a prison, becoming Mira Loma Detention Center, where foreign nationals face deportation hearings.
Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies working at Mira Loma have reported seeing a ghost in unused portions of the facility where the airfield once stood. For a few years, jail personnel ran a "Haunted Jail" Halloween event at Mira Loma based on the reputed haunting.
By contrast, the Tuesday, Feb. 16 tribute - tentatively scheduled for 2:30 p.m. - will be filled with pomp and military honor. A new headstone bought by the British Commonwealth War Graves Commission will be unveiled.
About 20 eighth-grade students from organizer Glasscock's Advancement Via Individual Determination program class at Hillview Middle School will lay flowers, chosen to match the colors in the Union Jack, on the grave.
All British citizens and military personnel have been invited to participate in the memorial, as well as local politicians and officials from Edwards Air Force Base. Gerald Mayer of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is scheduled to speak.
For details about the Himelstaub memorial, call Little at the Lancaster Cemetery District office at (661) 942-6110 .
Respecting a legend
Britons, locals plan flyover to honor RAF cadet killed in 1942
This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press on Sunday, January 28, 2007.
By TITUS GEE
Valley Press Staff Writer
Cadet Maier Ben Himelstaub is more than a ghost story.
The British Royal Air Force pilot-in-training, whose gruesome 1942 death at War Eagle Air Field in Lancaster inspired legends of haunting by the "Ghost of Mira Loma," was a real young man far from home.
His passing during training for World War II was a tragedy worthy of respect, said organizers of a memorial in Himelstaub's honor.
"In Europe, the fallen Americans' grave sites are revered, honored, very well cared-for," said Lani Glasscock , one of the organizers. "We want to reciprocate that respect."
Toward that end, Glasscock, a Hillview Middle School history teacher, helped plan a Feb. 16 ceremony to remember the fallen pilot 65 years after his death. Glasscock collaborated with her mother, Barbara Little, who manages the Lancaster Cemetery where Himelstaub is buried, and with local history enthusiast Bob Alvis to arrange the event.
The ceremony will feature World War II aircraft flying the missing man formation, a new headstone for Himelstaub's grave, and flowers laid by some of Glasscock's students.
The organizers believe the Antelope Valley owes something to the memory of a serviceman who died and was buried here.
"He became a citizen of Lancaster. There was no road home for him," Alvis said.
The service will stand in contrast to a tradition of a Halloween "Haunted Jail" event at the Mira Loma Detention Center - which occupies the site of the airfield where Himelstaub was killed - that recounts spooky stories about Himelstaub's spirit wandering empty halls and old buildings.
"We were using a tragic story that should have been more honored than exploited," Alvis said. "For those of us who are steeped in history, it kind of wears on us. He's a lost soul but he's really part of our community."
Himelstaub, a Polish Jew, fled Europe to escape the Nazi invasion, according to Norma Gurba, curator of the Lancaster Museum/Art Gallery.
Himelstaub's mother and brother suffered in the Warsaw ghetto and two concentration camps. After being liberated in 1945 from Bergen-Belsen concentration camp (where Anne Frank died), they emigrated to Tel Aviv, Israel. Brother Israel Himelstaub changed his name to Israel Shahak , and became a professor and prominent political activist in Israel, Gurba wrote.
The details of Maier Ben Himelstaub's escape from Poland are unknown, but he made his way from Warsaw to Britain and joined the war effort by enlisting in the Royal Air Force as a mechanic.
(His first name has several English spellings, from "Mayer" to "Meyer." Maier is Gurba's choice of spelling drawn from historical research.)
Himelstaub was shipped across the Atlantic to learn how to fly. Before America joined the war, British pilots often got their wings through "unofficial" training at War Eagle Field in Lancaster, Alvis said.
The cadets were schooled at the Polaris Academy, flying trainer aircraft. When the 200 graduates returned to England, they were assigned to fighter or bomber squadrons, according to their abilities.
Himelstaub was one of about 300 trainees who never graduated, and the only one who died.
On Feb. 13, 1942, the young cadet walked into a spinning aircraft propeller and died of massive head trauma.
The original news story, in the South AV Press, was recovered by Gurba.
It described in grim detail the damage to Himelstaub's body, including the location of body parts scattered by the propeller. The story included the report of a witness who saw the cadet step out in front of the plane, with his head down against the wind.
"Then the unfortunate man suddenly looked up as the noise of the approaching plane came to him, ducked and threw up his arm in an apparent futile attempt to protect his face, and was struck by the whirling propeller before he could side-step from the plane's path," the article said.
There was no way to send his body home, so Himelstaub was buried at Lancaster Cemetery. Since there were no rabbis to be found, a pastor from St. Paul's Episcopal Church read the service. A Jewish funeral ceremony was performed for him in 2002.
Himelstaub's casket was draped with the Union Jack and his flying helmet and goggles placed inside. Band members from Antelope Valley High School played in the procession.
His headstone reads simply, "For King and Country," and bears a Star of David for his Jewish heritage. After the war, his mother was told that he was shot down in the Pacific.
According to local legend, a blond apparition, outfitted in full flight gear, was spotted wandering the halls and hangars of the field after Himelstaub died. Thus rose the legend of the Ghost of Mira Loma.
War Eagle Field eventually was converted into a prison, becoming Mira Loma Detention Center, where foreign nationals face deportation hearings.
Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies working at Mira Loma have reported seeing a ghost in unused portions of the facility where the airfield once stood. For a few years, jail personnel ran a "Haunted Jail" Halloween event at Mira Loma based on the reputed haunting.
By contrast, the Tuesday, Feb. 16 tribute - tentatively scheduled for 2:30 p.m. - will be filled with pomp and military honor. A new headstone bought by the British Commonwealth War Graves Commission will be unveiled.
About 20 eighth-grade students from organizer Glasscock's Advancement Via Individual Determination program class at Hillview Middle School will lay flowers, chosen to match the colors in the Union Jack, on the grave.
All British citizens and military personnel have been invited to participate in the memorial, as well as local politicians and officials from Edwards Air Force Base. Gerald Mayer of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is scheduled to speak.
For details about the Himelstaub memorial, call Little at the Lancaster Cemetery District office at (661) 942-6110 .
