Silver cup in Tipton is memorial to aviator killed in 1930s glider crash

A 1928 graduate of Dartmouth College, Lt. William J. Scott attended aviation training for the U.S. Army Air Forces at Brooks Field and Kelly Field near San Antonio, Texas.
A 1928 graduate of Dartmouth College, Lt. William J. Scott attended aviation training for the U.S. Army Air Forces at Brooks Field and Kelly Field near San Antonio, Texas.

A silver prize cup spotted with age rests on a fireplace mantle in the historic Price James Memorial Library in Tipton. It may appear to be little more than a paltry and forgotten relic, yet it represents a connection to the past and the dedication of a woman seeking to honor the legacy of her stepson who perished while serving in the former U.S Army Air Corps before World War II.

Scant records exist on the brief life of William "Billy" Johnson Scott. However, according to the Find A Grave website, he was born in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, on Feb. 13, 1905. Census records from 1920 note he was raised with a sister, Violet, whom was approximately two years his junior.

The Daily Oklahoman newspaper published on May 21, 1914, said his father, Eugene F. Scott, was one of "the intermarried Osages" whose "(wife) and children are upon the tribal roles." The elder Scott's Native American wife died sometime in the years before 1920.

The "Illustrated History of Tipton Missouri," published in 2008, states Roxie James, born in 1887, was teaching music in Oklahoma when "she fell in love with, and married, the widowed father of two of her pupils. Eugene Francis Scott was a lawyer and had considerable oil interests in Oklahoma."

Scott's father and stepmother, the aforementioned historical compilation reported, maintained homes in Oklahoma, Kansas City and Tipton. Their home in Tipton has since become the clubhouse for the Tipton Country Club.

Graduating from high school in the Osage Nation community of Pawhuska, Oklahoma, Billy Scott received an Ivy League education at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and participated in the school's Reserve Officer Training Corps program. He earned a bachelor of science degree in 1928 and soon began training to become a pilot with the Army Air Corps - the forerunner to the U.S. Air Force.

Scott traveled to Brooks Field near San Antonio, Texas, for Primary Flying School and went on to attend Advanced Flying School at nearby Kelly Field. He graduated from his aviation training at Kelly Field in 1929, four years after famed aviator Charles Lindbergh completed his own training there.

On March 30, 1930, Scott arrived in Hawaii "for two years of active duty on reserve status," wrote the Honolulu-Star Bulletin on Dec. 17, 1931. The paper further noted that following his arrival, he received a commission as a second lieutenant.

"Organization of a wing which will incorporate all army air activities in Hawaii, has been started at the Hawaiian department air office at Fort Shafter on orders received from the war department Thursday," reported the Honolulu Star-Bulletin on Feb. 27, 1931. "The unit will be known as the 18th Composite Wing "

The young aviator was assigned to the new wing and, following his arrival on the island of Oahu, began to distinguish himself as a pilot during flights originating from Wheeler Field, a location that became a principal target in the attack on Pearl Harbor a decade later.

Adventure soon abounded for the aviator when on Dec. 22, 1930, less than nine months after his assignment to the 18th Composite Wing, he was forced to parachute from an attack plane that became inoperable near Wheeler Field.

He also began piloting gliders, often referred to as sailplanes, and in late fall of 1931 set "a new American glider record when he stayed in the air 6 hours and 36 minutes," reported the Dec. 9, 1931 edition of the Miami Daily News-Record (Miami, Oklahoma).

There was little time for celebration of his recent accomplishment because of a tragedy that occurred while Scott was competing in a glider competition Dec. 17, 1931, an event sponsored by the Honolulu chapter of the National Aeronautic Association.

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin noted in its Dec. 17, 1931, edition, "Witnesses say that Lt. Scott's (glider) lost its rudder just as he cast off from the tow cable. This caused the remainder of the tail assembly to disintegrate and an instant later one wing came off." It was observed that the glider then gained speed in its descent, crashing to the ground with "Lt. Scott tangled in the wreckage."

Later reports revealed the glider, which had taken Scott's life, had been a gift from his father and was the same aircraft he had used to set the American distance record three weeks earlier. The aviator's body was returned to his father and stepmother, who at the time were living in the state of California, and laid to rest in the community of his youth, Pawhuska, Oklahoma.

"'Endurance Without Return to Starting Point," were the bold words inscribed upon a silver cup donated by the late aviator's fellow fliers and which accompanied Scott's body when it was returned to the states.

Shortly after his father's death in 1944, Scott's stepmother moved to Kansas City and later to Tipton, where she died May 6, 1976. Inspired to honor the service of her stepson, she endowed more than $886,000 to the University of Oklahoma to establish the Lt. William J. Scott Scholarship, which continues to give preference to students of the Osage Nation.

The silver cup and photographs of Scott remained in the home of his grandfather in Tipton - an ornate building that has since been refurbished to serve as the Price James Memorial Library. Cloaked by case upon case of library books, the silver cup remains a tangible link to an aviation pioneer whose future was snuffed out when only 26 years old.

His dedication to military success was described by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, reporting on Dec. 18, 1931, that the final words muttered by Scott before he died were, "I've won," revealing the young man went to his grave competing for aviation greatness.

Jeremy P. Amick writes on behalf of the Silver Star Families of America.