From small town to world traveler, Larry Coy finds Shippensburg connections.

By Larry Coy ’62

All I ever wanted to do was fly airplanes. As a kid in Shippensburg, my room above the M&N Restaurant on Lurgan Avenue had a ceiling filled with model airplanes. As I terrified local drivers with my ’47 Dodge when I turned 16, I also picked up some cash working at the Tropical Treat for 50 cents an hour. There, an 8-hour shift could pay for an hour of flying time in a Piper J-3.

Knowing college was a requirement for military flight training, I enrolled at Shippensburg State Teachers College as a “Townie.” Majoring in math I had ten classes all under a true friend and leader, Dr. Paul Cauffman. Achieving a solid D average in the first years could probably be attributed to evenings starting at the Ezra Lehman Library for “study” then ending as social events at Stewart Hall for a different kind of study.

A movie based on a book by Pennsylvanian, James Michener, The Bridges at Toko-Ri, pretty much sealed which military flight training I would chose. The Navy Navcad program was accepting guys with only two years of college, so I said, “Sign me up.”

Unfortunately during the physical entrance exams, they saw the scars from knee surgery six months prior. Rejected by the Navy program, my only choice was back to Shippensburg for more college. Two years later I was headed to Pensacola as an aviation officer candidate.

Two Ship alums in the cockpit, Larry is with Karl Gable ’62. The two flew together at VQ-1 in Japan and started their commercial pilot careers at Continental Airlines.

Only a few days into Navy pre-flight (just like An Officer and Gentlemen), I heard the loudspeaker announcement ordering Cadet Coy to report to the Battalion Commander’s office. Wondering how I could have screwed up so early, I was terrified as more senior cadets instructed me on the very strict method of entering Lieutenant Rogers’ office. Obviously terrified, I got myself in front of his desk at attention. His first words were, “Where did you go to school?”

I replied, “A small college in Pennsylvania.”

Lieutenant Rogers, in a louder voice asked again where I went to college. I replied “Shippensburg State Teachers College.” I noticed him putting his hands together and then rolling a class ring across his desk. He told me to look at it. Sure enough it also said SSTC. He told me he was the seventh Shippensburg graduate to earn Navy Wings, and he would be watching me very closely. Four months later, having finished pre-flight, I was commissioned as an Ensign. As an ensign I started actually flying Navy training airplanes at Saufley Field.

Nearing the end of flight training a year later, it was time to “suggest” to the Navy via a dream sheet where I would like to be based and what airplanes I would like to fly. Selection was based on the Navy’s needs and the new pilot’s grades. Since my grades were well above average, I could have about anything I wanted. That other Pennsylvanian, James Michener, had just released another novel, Sayonara, based on an American pilot living in Japan. I told the Navy, any airplane, any squadron, provided it was in Japan.

In May of 1963, Mom pinned on my new “Wings of Gold,” and in June I was on my way to Japan with three months temporary duty in Hawaii to learn about the Constellation (Connie), the three tailed, four-engine propeller airplane, initiated by Howard Hughes that was being used by the Navy for reconnaissance. Life was getting better for a young naval officer as shiploads of co-eds headed for Honolulu for summer vacation.

Atsugi was an airport just outside Tokyo built by the Japanese to train Zero pilots during WWII. Life was good with the Yen at 360 to the dollar, and flying the black unmarked Connies off the coast of Russia was a very highly classified mission. Occasionally we were joined by Russian MiG 15s and greeted each other from the cockpit in aviation hand signals. This rather boring flying was to change dramatically in a place called the Tonkin Gulf. United States intelligence agencies realized the Navy EC-121 airplane was ideal for gathering information about radar and missile facilities in North Vietnam. Danang, just south of the DMZ, was home for most of the next year as we flew 12-hour missions every day just off the port of Haiphong.

Making use of his expertise and sense of humor, Larry compiled a book explaining jet travel. It is geared for those who fear flying.

During one such day at 12,000 feet altitude and 200 knots airspeed, we were intercepted by a Russian MiG 17 out of Kep, just north of Hanoi. He had gotten by our CAP, supposedly there for our protection for just an event, and was now one mile behind. My evaluator in the back of the Connie, told me the MiG had armed the air-to-air missiles, and that I should do something. What do you do in a 200-mile per hour prop plane when being shot at by a supersonic fighter? Fortunately Russian technology let me return to Danang more than a little scared as for some reason the missiles did not fire.

But I then began comparing military flying to a job with the rapidly growing airline industry. Three years after I left the Navy, a Connie, which I had flown, was shot down by a North Korean MiG17 off the Korean Peninsula, killing all 32 crewmembers.

Continental Airlines, a smaller airline based out of Los Angeles, needed pilots to fly the new Boeing 707 which was replacing the DC-6 and other propeller airplanes. After a year in the 707, I got a co-pilot bid in the new Boeing 727, which I would then fly for over 20 years.

I think the most enjoyable flying with Continental was with a subsidiary airline, Air Micronesia, which flew from Hawaii to Guam with five stops in between on islands with short runways just above sea level. It also flew from Guam up to Japan with stops in Saipan, famed for B-29 flying raids against Japan in 1945.

This was fun, exciting flying as the islands had no control towers and flying was completely on your own with no radar coverage and navigation was with WWII Doppler technology. We were instructed to overfly the runways at 500 feet and 200 knots to let the natives get the kids and dogs off the runway, but we often got the numbers inverted with 100 foot passes at 390 knots.

During the 1980s, Continental had a contract with more than half of the National Football League teams. Each weekend we could pick up additional time by flying a team to a game on Saturday, usually getting tickets to the game, and then returning after the game on Sunday. Being an ardent football fan and ex-player made this flying very rewarding. Many good stories came from these adventures with the NFL players, coaches, and team owners.

Thirty five years of flying for Continental ended with flying the DC-10 from Newark to Europe, which is a great way to travel and see all the cities like Rome, Paris, London with frequent trips back to Hawaii or South America.

Ship connections over the years

A few years ago on a visit back to Shippensburg, I dropped in to see Dr. Cauffman. I was very surprised by his mention of his sabbatical on Saipan as a math professor shortly after I had done so much flying in Micronesia from there. We had a lot of conversation to exchange.

During the 1960s, I had written him a letter from Danang discussing my feelings about the Vietnam conflict. A month later I received his reply that stated his knowledge of Southeast Asia including the importance of the Straits of Malacca, where I had flown some intelligence missions. I thought about the discussions that must have happened in that smoke-filled office in Old Main that Dr. Cauffman shared with Dr. Bernard Hogg, and Dr. Jim Myers, a WWII POW. I was familiar with that office; I conferred with Dr. Cauffman after I had horribly failed a final calculus test just before going on to student teaching. (He said I would get a passing grade as he knew I was not going to be a teacher, but going into flight training instead.)

During flight training in Pensacola, I heard Arnie Rambo was there. I had a short discussion with the son of Vince Rambo, the famed coach of the Red Raiders with 50 consecutive victories during the ’50s when I was playing for the Greyhounds and watching heroes like running back Nick Cutro pick up yards every Saturday.

Nick was my roommate several years earlier when we both had the same type surgery to repair knee damage as a result of playing football.

Another very good friend and my high school quarterback, Richard Ruth, started at SSTC along with me, except Dick elected to play football for the Red Raiders and was the starting quarterback his senior year. I often thought I should have played football in college, but my knees were already nearly too messed up for flight school, therefore I watched each game as a member of the famed “Rubber Band”.

I was followed into the Navy by Karl Gable. We met at Freshman Orientation at SSTC in 1958. Karl had gone to Big Spring High School and we had played against each other in a game starting the rivalry over the Little Brown Jug. Karl later followed me to VQ-1 in Japan, and later to Continental Airlines. Airline labor problems resulted in Karl leaving for US Air while I stayed with Continental, ending our relationship.

On a Continental flight a stewardess (now flight attendant) joined us in the cockpit and volunteered she was from the Harrisburg area and had gone to a small college named Shippensburg. I bet her she went to Cedar Cliff High School and her high school math teacher was Richard Kostokovich. Amazed by my abilities, I then volunteered I had student taught at Cedar Cliff under Richard. Richard happened to marry Corrine who had been a waitress at the M&N Restaurant owned by my mom and dad. I didn’t mention Dick only gave me a B for a grade “because that was the grade he had received” four years earlier.

Over forty years of flying airplanes and lots of Shippensburg ties has led to many fantastic memories. And like that kid who flew off the grass strip in Shippensburg, the thought of maybe buying a little airplane to back into some fun “stick time” teases me.

Larry Coy ’62 retired from Continental Airlines in 2001 after 35 years. He opened a PostNet franchise in Mooresville, North Carolina and lives on Lake Norman with his wife, Janet. He is considering getting a little airplane so he can introduce the grandkids to aviation. And he would love to hear from anyone mentioned in this article.