A flight of six P-40 fighters took off from a temporary airstrip concealed in a nearby apple orchard to fight the attacking planes.  Von Hasseln said that it is likely that Lieutenant Phillip Cochran was part of the fighter group in Fort Plain.  

The day we bombed Fort Plain

By Bob Cudmore

   Just over three months before the United States entered World War II, the American military simulated an enemy attack on the airport in Fort Plain.  Robert von Hasseln has posted notes on the incident on the Facebook page of Historic Amsterdam League.

   According to press accounts, 46 soldiers and two officers were on the ground at Fort Plain’s airport on Tuesday, August 26, 1941, having arrived the night before.  They included an artillery regiment that would defend the airstrip against a simulated attack by six fighter planes and one bomber flying out of the airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.  A passenger on the bomber was Lieutenant Robert Ardison of Fort Plain.  Dynamite was used to simulate bomb impacts.  Roads were closed off and spectators prohibited from the immediate area.

   A flight of six P-40 fighters took off from a temporary airstrip concealed in a nearby apple orchard to fight the attacking planes.  Von Hasseln said that it is likely that Lieutenant Phillip Cochran was part of the fighter group in Fort Plain.  

   Pictures of the Fort Plain exercise were included in the December 1 edition of Life magazine, just a few days before America was attacked for real at Pearl Harbor.  One of the photos shows a pilot reading in a barn who appears to be Cochran. 

   Von Hasseln said Cochran was the inspiration for “Colonel Flip Corkin” and “General Philerie” in Milt Caniff’s cartoon strips “Terry and the Pirates” and “Steve Canyon.”  In real life, Cochran was commander of a fighter group flying in Burma in support of British and American Special Forces.  Cochran pioneered many innovative tactics including operating from temporary unimproved airfields.

   “Perhaps he got the idea flying out of Fort Plain in 1941,” von Hasseln wrote.

LEPPER ROAD

   Lepper Road in Fort Johnson is named for an immigrant family from the German Palatine region who fought in the American Revolution.

   The parents of Jacob Lepper and his brother Frederick were killed by Mohawk chief Joseph Brandt and his forces in 1778 in the massacre at Andrustown in the western Mohawk Valley. At the time of the massacre, the Lepper brothers were off fighting with the Tryon Militia. Two years later at the Fort Planck massacre, Frederick’s wife Mary and their one-year-old son were captured and taken to Canada.

   After the war, Jacob and his wife Mary built a home on what is now Lepper Road in Fort Johnson. Jacob helped his brother Frederick ransom Frederick’s wife and child from Canada and they too moved to Fort Johnson.

   The original family homestead is still a private residence.  There is an historical marker at Lepper Road and McDonald Drive. The original settlers are buried in a private cemetery some 300 yards behind the home.

   Amsterdam native Mark Lepper of North Waterboro, Maine collected the preceding information. An insurance professional, Lepper did his research in the 1990s when employed in the Utica area. 

Tomorrow, Friday, August 18, 2023 Episode#488 on the way to #500 this Fall

Kiersten Marcil, author of the American Revolution historical novel Witness to the Revolution.

Kiersten Marcil on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x33QXqqzhU

https://www.kierstenmarcil.com/

Trolleys of Amsterdam Presentation Offered

Fort Hunter, NY – Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site will host Jerry Snyder to speak about the Trolleys of Amsterdam on Tuesday, August 22, 2023 at 6:30pm.  The program will be held at 167 Fort Hunter Road at the Town of Florida Hall and Highway Department building.

https://parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/27/details.aspx

   The trolley era arrived in Amsterdam in 1874 with horse drawn cars and less than two miles of track on downtown streets. By the time it departed a comparatively short 64 years later, streamlined aluminum bodied electric coaches were providing first-class mile-a-minute transport to nearby cities and towns throughout the lower Mohawk Valley. Join us to hear the story of the origin, development, and demise of our local part of a now all-but-forgotten transportation system whose abandonment may, in hindsight, well have been premature.

Jerry Snyder was born and raised in Amsterdam, NY where he attended Amsterdam schools, graduating from Wilbur H. Lynch High School in 1972. He then went on to graduate from Union College in 1976 with BS in Mechanical Engineering. Snyder was a Technical Service Engineer for Ingersoll-Rand out of Painted Post, NY (near Corning) and then worked at General Electric as an Engineering Supervisor/Principal Project Engineer until his retirement in 2014

In 2003, Snyder discovered old postcards on E-Bay as an information source during a research project and began collecting them. His long-time interest in Amsterdam history, mostly from the engineering perspective in their industries, railroads and trolley systems and other infrastructure (dams, canal, bridges, power plants) lead him to become one of the founders of the Historic Amsterdam League in 2010, where he has served in various positions since, including president. Also in that year, he co-authored the Arcadia Publishing issued book titled Amsterdam in their Postcard History Series, showcasing about half of his collection. The book was co-authored with Amsterdam Historian Robert von Hasseln.

Please note that this event takes place off site at the Town of Florida Barn next to the Fort Hunter Library.  The program will be preceded by a brief Friends of Schoharie Crossing Meeting and is free to the public.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, August 17, 2023

71 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 5:53AM

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