Bevo Howard

During the Second World War, he operated a primary flight training school for the United States Army Air Forces at Orangeburg, South Carolina.

At Orangeburg, he presented and demonstrated to the Army Air Corps the concept of using Piper Cubs as forward artillery observer aircraft, which could be operated out of unimproved farm fields close to the front lines, which was adopted and used with large success throughout World War II.

Since his primary occupation was running the many aspects of his company (Hawthorne Aviation), flying airshows became an avocation and he flew many exhibitions for charity or cost such as the show where he was killed.

On October 17, 1971, while performing at an air show in Greenville, North Carolina, he struck a tree while flying his Bücker Bü 133 Jungmeister.

His red and white checkered biplane, rebuilt after the crash to non-flying condition, is now in the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution.