Junior College in Galt, CA.

Amira Hankin models her prize jacket from the Aeronautical School in Galt.

Billelo Article 14 – May 25, 1989 “Those Daring Galt Men in Their Flying Machines (This article was a part of an oral history interview with Eddie Ambrigio, a lifelong citizen of Galt. Eddie was a successful home appliance salesman and was the town raconteur who kept our history alive. Eddie his since passed away, taking with him a myriad of stories of old Galt, and his warm and cherry smile.) = = =

What to scared chickens, a kidnapping, a ghostly tire, a basketball game, planes, and Galt have in common? You’re about to take a wild ride back to 1928!

Did you know… …that in 1928 the Galt Technical Junior College for Aeronautics once stood next to what is now Galt High School? Did you know that the U.S. Air Corps once flew planes here to play basketball with Galt’s aeronautics students?

Planes in Galt? Air fields off the old Lincoln Highway and Boessow Road? You bet!

They came from far and wide – Colorado, Ohio, Kansas, Washington, Massachusetts, Montana, Louisiana, Texas, Arizona, Nebraska, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Illinois. Some hitchhiked. Some came from Los Angeles, Carlsbad, San Francisco, Stockton, Oakdale, Sacramento, Sutter Creek, and Florin. They lived here with families in Galt. They lived in the old Bradford Hotel on the corner of 4th and C Street. Who were they?

They were the 50 students who dreamed of becoming pilots. Seven of them came from Galt. They took engineering courses – algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus, chemistry, physics, aviation mechanics, and flight training. They were the 50 who were given the opportunity to automatically become second lieutenants in the U.S. Air Corps at March Field Air Force Base in California after their ROTC training at the junior college. Some even became lieutenants and corporals by the end if that 1928-1929 year.

These dreamers would become successful. They would attribute that success to the Galt Technical Junior College of Aeronautics. Come, let’s take a closer look at the lives of our young, energetic cadets, their teachers, their principal, and, of course, the fun they had.

Bill Rutherford was their principal. Rutherford was born on Nov. 18, 1892, in Mountoursville, Penn., but he spent much of his life in the Sacramento area where his father was a minister. Rutherford, a PhD graduate of Stanford University, was also an Air Force colonel who served as commander of McClellan Field at Sacramento during World War II. Rutherford even knew President Wilson. But, there was more to Rutherford than his political ties and illustrious military career. It seems he was a bit of a prankster, and his students at the college in 1928, seemed to have taken full advantage.

The way Eddie Ambrogio tells it, it appears that Rutherford had a Highway Patrolman’s uniform and a siren (gotten from who knows where). He liked to post himself on the Old Lincoln Highway heading out of town and stoop motorists from speeding!

Then there was the story about the Lincoln Highway “tire” ghost who terrorized those who dared leave Galt late at night. When unassuming motorists tried to remove he tire from out of their path, the impassable rubber roadblock assumed a life of its own. Ghosts in Galt, you say? Nah! What these passers-by didn’t know was that attached to the lonely tire as a string that led to a nearby tree. Behind the tree were the night terrors – Rutherford and a group of cadets.

Then there was the wild gunman of the cherry orchard! It all began one night when Ambrogio coaxed a group of cadets from the Bradford Hotel into stealing cherries from the Marengo’s cherry orchard. With the exception of one cadet, they snuck stealthily into the trees and gorged themselves on red, ripened fruit until their pillaging came to an abrupt halt with the sound of nearby shotgun fire. In mortal fear, the thieves scattered and ran rack to the safety of their lair. But, what is this? One thief – paralyzed by fear – remained in a tree. To this day – 61 years later – no one (except me) knows the identity of the wild gunman. Have you figured it out?

Oh yes. There are more mysteries there were two airfields. One ran directly north and south, and one ran east and west of the school. This story is about the airfield that ran east and west and the chicken coop that sat adjacent to it. The coop is pictured in the background of the accompanying photo.

Future pilots need to be trained, and they need to be trained in planes. Each cadet received an hour of training with stunt pilot, Leo Moore. Planes do make noise, and the chickens of 1928 Galt became pretty upset with the constant buzzing of engines. It also seems that “Chicken” Thomas, the owner of the coop, also made quite a racket about the noise. Chicken threatened to close the airfield. He harassed Rutherford, the cadets, and teachers. Since Chicken Thomas new that citizens of our great land are guaranteed freedom of speech, he took his gripe to the citizenry of Galt.

The skies around the airfield were beginning to look bleak, and it wasn’t even the rainy season. What would happen to the college?

Then one day, Chicken disappeared! Kidnapped! Chicken Thomas had been kidnapped!

Then as mysteriously as he had disappeared, he reappeared -- three days later – enlightened. Although he was never heard to praise the aeronautics program, he was never heard to complain about it either even – though his chickens still squawked their opinions. So who kidnapped Chicken Thomas…?

Was it Rutherford, the prankster and the cadets who lived with him? Was it Leo Moore, daring stunt pilot? Was it the thieves of the Bradford Hotel? I can tell you this much, it wasn’t the wild gunman of the cherry orchard. This looks like one for “Unsolved Mysteries.”

Then there was the famous basketball game. In December of 1928, Ambrogio was captain of the basketball team and, naturally, treasurer of the student body. He and Rutherford invited the U.S. Air Corp to play a basketball game, and they came. The team and many of the corpsmen came. They came in a tri-motor Faulkner, several D-H’s, and a Douglas O’Toole trainer plane. Eddie (Ambrogio), businessman that he is, had enough money in the treasury for the air corps to stay at the Hotel Sacramento. In those days, rooms were a dollar a night. Who won the game? Eddie can’t remember, but it sure sounds like they had a super time.

What about some of the teachers at the school? Mrs. Crystal Lorene Sobey, physics teacher, married Russell Sobey. Russell and his brother Darrel used to have a garage where the Bank of Alex Brown (Stockman’s Bank) is now. An old metal building and two gas pumps sat on the lot. Crystal built a house in Galt where she and Russell lived when they were married.

There was Mrs. Fromm, the chemistry teacher, and Lt. L.B. Gregg who taught aviation. There was also the most colorful stunt flyer and aviation mechanics teacher, Leo Moore. Moore owned Travel Aire. He flew for the Sacramento Fair in 1928 and 1929 with Eddie Ambrogio as his passenger. You’ll never guess what that crazy Moore did! He flew under the wires on Simmerhorn Road and under the Sacramento Bridge! In Eddie’s words, ”Fantastic!” If you ever bump into Eddie, ask him about Leo. You’ll get an earful.

But most important, what happened to the young men who attended the Galt Technical Junior College of Aeronautics?

Richard Fawcett of Galt became a big shot and a top man for Pan American Airways. His father was a contractor here in Galt. The Fawcett family lived here in Galt across from the Grange Hall in a large two-story house that is more than 100 years old. You can still see it on the northwest corner between Fifth and D Streets. Archibald (Archie) Cellini played basketball with Eddie at Galt High School in 1927, the year they won the California State Championship. Archie’s family once had a dairy on the Orr Ranch. After Galt Junior College, he became the head winemaster for Sebastiani Winery in Woodbridge. Later on, he bought into the Barengo Winery in Acampo and he even built a winery in Woodbridge. Eddie was best man at his wedding.

Earl (Park) Parker became a big contractor in Sacramento and Sylvester (Bud) Wise lived on a ranch off Simmerhorn Road. Bud’s sister married John Kennefick. Eddie tells me that our very own Louise Dowdell lived on the Wise Ranch when she was about 16. Raymond Tracy, although a native of Chicago, became a Galtonian by marriage. He married Isabel Kennefick, John Kennefick’s sister. Charles (Charley) Smith and Kenneth (Moke) Engle and Glenn Mercer, all from Galt, also attended the college. Of the 50 students who attended, only two remain. One is our very own Eddie Ambrogio. If it were not for Eddie, this story may have been lost forever.

What about some of the others who were not from Galt, but whose lives were affected by their attendance at the school? Well there was James (Bromo) Selser from New Orleans who became a top-ranking officer in the military. There was Doc Norris of Tucson, Ariz , who continued the pursuit of flying. It seems that when Doc conducted an air and ground search for a lost pilot friend, he crashed into a mountain peak and was killed. There was E. (Swede) Holterman from San Francisco who flew mail from Seattle to Chicago until, like Doc’s friend, he too was listed as lost. To this day, his body has never been found.

There was A. Clayton Tschantz who hitchhiked from Kidron, Ohio to Galt after he read about the joint project with the Army Air Corps in “Aero Digest” in 1928. He lived with Eddie Ambrogio and his mother. In 1930, he became a charter member of the OSU Loons Glider Club while enrolled in the Engineering College of Ohio State University. He helped organize the Ashland Flying Club which bought a plane for use by its members. He landed planes in 49 of the 50 states and in 30 foreign countries.

Tschantz trained pilots in Wooster, Lima, and Mansfield, Ohio. In 1946, he became manager of Richland Aviation, Inc.. Over the years, he flew his family on vacations to Canada, the Caribbean Islands, and various spots in the U.S. He took a trip around the world in 1968. He had seven single-engine power-failure emergency landings and lived to tell about it. Tschantz flew for more than 18,600 hours including more than 11,000 of instructing. In an article that appeared in the June 18, 1978 News Journal of Mansfield Ohio Tschantz attributed his 50 years of success to the junior college.

So what happened to the school? It appears that the school operated as a joint project with the Army Air Corps. Tuition was free back then in 1928. So why was the school in operation for but a year? In 1929, there was a bond bill put before the residents of Galt to assure the continuation of the program. Unfortunately, the bill was defeated. Perhaps the Depression and the Stock Market crash had something to do with its defeat. One fact remains, it did exist and it was located right here in Galt. The stories are all true and they are as real as those who lived it

Only two cadets remain today who were a part of that chapter of our history. So important was that school that the Old Sacramento School House in Old Sacramento is going to feature the program as part of Sacramento’s Sesquicentennial celebration this July. Our very own Eddie Ambrogio will be part of the parade on July 1-2.

Me? I’m trying to put all of the pieces together for the program that will find its way to the archives of the State Library. So take a break from your usual summer activities and come to the Old Sacramento School House, see the display, and pick up a pamphlet about the Galt Technical Junior College of Aeronautics.

For more info, click here
 

This page was last edited: 01/20/2007 - copyright Galt Area Historical Society
Web hosting provided by hostmeister.com