| Title |
Melvin Lewis, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by Becky B. Lloyd, July 16, 2001: Saving the legacy tape no. 402 and 403 |
| Alternative Title |
Melvin Lewis, Saving the legacy: an oral history of Utah's World War II veterans, ACCN 2070, American West Center, University of Utah |
| Creator |
Lewis, Melvin, 1917-2010 |
| Contributor |
Lloyd, Becky B.; University of Utah. American West Center |
| Publisher |
Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah |
| Date |
2001-07-16 |
| Date Digital |
2015-09-16 |
| Access Rights |
I acknowledge and agree that all information I obtain as a result of accessing any oral history provided by the University of Utah's Marriott Library shall be used only for historical or scholarly or academic research purposes, and not for commercial purposes. I understand that any other use of the materials is not authorized by the University of Utah and may exceed the scope of permission granted to the University of Utah by the interviewer or interviewee. I may request permission for other uses, in writing to Special Collections at the Marriott Library, which the University of Utah may choose grant, in its sole discretion. I agree to defend, indemnify and hold the University of Utah and its Marriott Library harmless for and against any actions or claims that relate to my improper use of materials provided by the University of Utah. |
| Spatial Coverage |
Pakistan; South Pacific; Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands; Guam; Shasta County, California, United States |
| Subject |
Lewis, Melvin, 1917-2010--Interviews; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; World War, 1939-1945--Aerial operations, American; World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Pacific Area--Personal narratives, American; Veterans--Utah--Biography |
| Keywords |
Flight instructors; Army Air Corps |
| Description |
Transcript (77 pages) of an interview by Becky B. Lloyd with Mel Lewis on July 16, 2001. This is from tape numbers 402 and 403 in the "Saving the Legacy Oral History Project |
| Collection Number and Name |
Accn2070, Saving the Legacy oral history project, 2001-2010 |
| Abstract |
Mel Lewis (b. 1917) grew up in Redding, California, and operated a private airstrip before enlisting in the Army Air Corps one day after Pearl Harbor. He flew with the 14th Air Force in Pakistan, the 5th A.F. in the South Pacific, and the 7th A.F in Saipan and Guam. He was also a flight instructor in Greenville, South Carolina. 77 pages. |
| Type |
Text |
| Genre |
oral histories (literary works) |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Extent |
77 pages |
| Language |
eng |
| Rights |
 |
| Scanning Technician |
Mazi Rakhsha |
| Conversion Specifications |
Original scanned with Kirtas 2400 and saved as 400 ppi uncompressed TIFF. PDF generated by Adobe Acrobat Pro X for CONTENTdm display |
| ARK |
ark:/87278/s6bk3bkc |
| Topic |
Personal narratives--American; Veterans; World War (1939-1945); Military operations, Aerial--American |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1024582 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6bk3bkc |
| Title |
Page 9 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1024510 |
| OCR Text |
Show MELLEWI 2 01 b r urtis J. N. four. As a matter of fact, there's a replica, r n tar pli a, but a r t r d one out at the Air Force Museum, for people to ju t look at. BBL: Really? MEL: But, when I saw that airplane go over, that just truck me lik a ton f bricks, and right that moment, I knew I was going to be a pilot (laughs). omeday I was going to be a pilot. And that never left me, and as a matter of fact, as I got a little older, after I moved into town and learned a little bit more about airplanes and different things like that, I read everything I could get my hands on. Why I had even constructed myself a little makeshift cockpit (laughs). BBL: Is that right? MEL: Yeah. It was about the size of that table. I made it out of a couple of crates. And I had a control stick I'd made out of a broomstick and put that on a swivel, and had a rudder bar-in those days you didn't have rudder pedals, you had a rudder bar. And read everything I could in the books about how to fly an airplane and what the controls were and how the controls translated to the different movements of the airplane. So I'd just practice, hour on hour, with that control stick and the rudder bar. And I was very confident that I could step right into an airplane, and fly off into the wild blue yonder, no trouble at all (laughs). And eventually, that's pretty much what I did. BBL: Really? MEL: Oh, yeah. BBL: MEL: So did you have it pretty accurately? Oh, yeah. 7 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6bk3bkc/1024510 |
