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re Murry M. Schott Editor's Note: We first learned about Murry Schott through the Biographical Notes relating to Col. Clarence Becker, contained in this web site. As we mark his passing on these pages, it seems appropriate to share some of Colonel Becker's commentary sent on to the family at the time he learned of Murry's death. They include the following comments.
Your Dad and I attended the same primary flying school at Sikeston Missouri flying Stearman bi-wing P-18s. Because most all of our assignments during primary, basic and advanced flying school were alphabetical, the B's and the S's saw little of each other. Our primary class split with half going to Brady, TX and the other half went to Goodfellow Field at San Angelo, TX. I went to Brady and Murry went to Goodfellow. We both flew the BT-13A and the BT-15 nicknamed the Vulcan Vibrator. Both of our Basic classes were split upon graduation and half went to Kelly Field and the other half to Brooks Field, both in San Antonio, TX. Murry and I both wound up at Brooks Field where we flew AT-6s and BC1s. (The difference between the two was that one had metal skin and the other had fabric). Again, the alphabetic arrangement of flights put me in Flight 2 and Murry in Flight 17. We also ere checked out in the O-52 and flew aerial observers. |
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| Upon graduation on Jan 9, 1942, I was assigned to the 1st Photo Mapping Squadron at Bradley Field, Windsor Locks, CT. I lost track of Murry until we wound up in July of 1942 assigned to the 3rd Photo Mapping Squadron based at MacDill Field, Tampa, FL. Murry and I both flew F-2s (twin engine Beechcraft modified with three tri-metrogon aerial cameras). We were both in Brazil mapping the coastal routes and a hundred-mile-wide swath up the Amazon River to Manaos where the Ford company had a large rubber plantation. But our main purpose in Brazil was to correct the maps, particularly around the mouth of the Amazon where the delta was very wide and key points were in gross error. I believe that I still have a picture of Murry with a Marmoset either in his hands or on his shoulder.
We did our mapping at 20,000 feet and the F-2's took a struggling hour to reach that altitude with the pilot and photographer breathing 100% oxygen above about 13,000 feet. |
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and Parrot, Brazil, 1942
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| Anyway, we got the job done and returned to MacDill. I went on to Colorado Springs after Christmas to check out in the North American B-25.
I married Dottie in Denver and returned to MacDill to check out the squadron in the photo version of the B-25 -- the F-10. I became a flight commander and had a flight of 4 F-10s that we took to Alaska in April. Murry Schott, Jack Bailey, Bob Hickethier and myself were the 4 aircraft commanders of Flight C. |
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| We left MacDill and stopped at Rome, NY to have ice tires installed, stopped at Camp McCoy, WI to pick up our arctic clothing and then on to Alaska via Great Falls, MT, Edmonton Alberta, Watson Lake, Fairbanks, Anchorage and on to Naknek, Alaska where our job was to map the Aleutian Islands. We lucked out in May with some great weather that enabled us to completely map the Aleutians in 3 days. From there, we then took our planes through Fairbanks to Nome with the job of mapping all the way up to Point Barrow plus St Lawrence Island, the islands in the Bering Straits and as much of western Alaska as possible that could not be mapped from Fairbanks where facilities and weather were better. We returned to the states in late June from Fort MacMurray north of Edmonton where our squadron photo lab was located and where the other two flights, A & B, had been based while mapping all of northwest Canada and eastern Alaska. After spending a month at Bradley Field, we were scheduled for an inspection of the entire squadrons 12 F-10's at Spokane and having all of our planes engine exhaust rings replaced with single stack exhausts at Hill Field, Ogden, UT. We were then finally able to return to our home base at MacDill. Murry was a good pilot and his crew were a well knit team. I lost track of Murry after our return to MacDill.
Murry Schott Obituary Notes |
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| Funeral service for Murry M. Schott, 86, John Anderson Drive, Ormond Beach, and longtime resident of the Washington D.C. and Bethesda, MD, area, who died Tuesday, November 5, 2002, at Halifax Medical Center, was buried at Temple Beth-El, 579 N. Nova Rd., Ormand Beach, with internment at Mt. Sinai Cemetery with military honors.
Mr. Schott was born in Jamaica, Long Island, NY, where he graduated from High School. |
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| From there he moved to the Daytona Beach area in 1939. He attended New York University and was a graduate of the University of Florida in 1945. Mr. Schott loved flying and started flying lessons right after finishing high school. He graduated from the U.S. Army Air Corp Flight School in 1942 and subsequently served as a commissioned officer in the Air Force as a pilot, including service with the Strategic Air Command. With his photo mapping squadron, they mapped the northernmost and southernmost regions of the western hemisphere. He retired with full military honors in 1964 as a Lieutenant Colonel and until a few years ago still flew his own plane.
Mr. Schott was a member of Temple Beth-El, Temple Israel and the Washington Hebrew Congregation, Washington, D.C. He was active in many organizations including the Lion's Club, Rotary, Technion Society, Boy Scouts and the United Nations Association. Mr. Schott was the former co-owner of the Holiday Inns in College Park, MD, Sparkle and Shine Car Wash, Ormond Beach, and built and co-owned the United Air Warehouses at Dulles Airport in Virginia. Murry married Florence Pepper in 1943 and had just celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in July. Mr. Schott is also survived by two sons, Brian, Decatur, GA, and Robert, Olney, MD; seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Murry was affectionately called Sonny as a boy because of his sweet disposition and was called Sweet Murry as an adult by his family members.
These are the notes on the life of just one of the many players Peace be with you Murry and with all those you have loved in life. Web Site Editor, Chuck Stone |
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