After two years of research, interviews and editing, Maine East High School students finally got to share their documentary with the public.
“Faster and Higher, that’s Maine Flyer” recalled how, in December 1944, the Maine Township High School students raised $551,000 in war bonds to build the C-54 “Skymaster” cargo plane. Maine East students interviewed the alumni who took part in the fundraiser, and the Park Ridge Historical Society helped them with research.
On May 2, 2015, the Park Ridge Historical Society held a premiere screening at the Park Ridge Non-Profit Center. The interviewed alumni and students who were in attendance answered questions after the screening.
In 1940s, the current-day Maine East High School was known as the Maine Township High School, the only high school in Maine Township District 207. The current-day O’Hare Airport was home to the Douglas Aircraft Company’s cargo plane factory. It specialized in C-54 “Skymaster” cargo planes.
As the Maine Flyer documentary explained, many of the students’ parents came to Park Ridge to work in the factory, and some students would later work there as well. More than 60 alumni who joined the military died in combat.
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One of Park Ridge Herald-Advocate’s predecessors, reported in its Dec. 7, 1944 issue, Maine Township superintendent Frank Holmes decided to do something to help the war effort. During the previous week’s pep rally, urged the students to raise $500,000 in war bonds to build a C-54. If they met the goal, the resulting plane would be named after the school. As the article explained, they didn’t have to buy the bonds themselves. If they asked residents and members of local organizations to purchase bonds on the school’s behalf, it would still count toward the total. The school already had commitments from city employees, as well as “several clubs and business organizations in Des Plaines and Park Ridge.”
The Maine Township students quickly took up the challenge. According to the Dec. 14., 1944 edition of the Advocate:
“By Monday night, in the snow and ice, the young people of the school continued their canvass. Over 400 were out in Park Ridge and Des Plaines knocking on doors, and gathering the sales and pledges.”
At that point, students already raised $300,000. By Friday, they managed to exceed that goal. The C-54 built using those funds became known as Maine’s Flyer.
Almost fifty years later, District 207 started working on the documentary. With the help of the Park Ridge Historical Society, Maine East and Maine South students interviewed the alumni and researched the fundraiser. In the fall of 2014, four Maine East students started editing the documentary together. The project was organized and overseen by Phillip Ash, the Maine East’s Radio, Television and Broadcasting teacher.
The resulting film clocked at almost 12 minutes. The documentary went into more detail about the fundraiser than the contemporary newspaper articles, describing, for example, how various Maine Township clubs and teams competed against each other to raise the most money. It utilized interviews, as well as historical photographs, with the editors using sound clips to give them life.
The documentary is currently available on the Park Ridge Historical Society’s website at http://www.pennyville.org/wartime-memories. The page also has full transcripts of alumni interviews.
Dick Stranahan, one of the alumni interviewed, said that he liked how the documentary turned out.
“It was wonderful,” he said. “They covered everything. They did a wonderful job.”
Robert Lins, another interviewed alumni, passed away in Febuary 2014, but his daughter, Patty Lins, attended the screening. She said that her father always had fond memories of his high school and attended every reunion, and that he enjoyed taking part in the documentary.
“He told me afterwords – they asked really good questions,” said Lins.
Mathew Weiss was a Maine South sophmore when he got involved with the documentary. Now a senior, he said that he spent a lot of time interviewing the alumni – and he was pleased with the end results.
“It was just so wonderful to see it come together,” said Weiss.
After the screening, John Murphy, vice president of the Park Ridge Historical Society, talked about Maine Flyer’s fate. He explained that it was used in the military until 1971. After going through several civilian companies, it wound up being used as a source of spare parts. In 2007, the land where Maine Flyer was stored was transferred to Gila River Community, a Native American reservation in southern Arizona.
Over the past few years, the historical society has been trying to get access to the site. According to Murphy, it’s been a slow process, but he insisted that the society was willing to stick with it.
“If there’s any part of the plan we could bring here and put on display, we’ll try,” he said.
Igor Studenkov is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.