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The Larger Than Life Story of a World War II Pilot
Thomason enjoys recounting his experiences as a military pilot. He has made it possible for future generations of aviation students at the University of Central Missouri to follow their dreams of flying through several gifts to the UCM Foundation to establish and permanently fund the Kenneth Wayne Thomason Aviation Opportunity Scholarship. He approached the UCM Foundation first with a gift to start a scholarship, then learned about the advantages of a charitable gift annuity. Satisfied with how his first one worked, he came back to set up a second annuity and to establish a bequest.
Thomason's lifetime achievements tell a story bigger than his World War II flying days. Here is a man unafraid of trying something new while enjoying life to the fullest. He bought his red Corvette convertible when he retired at age 80, not too long after he took up woodcarving. By then he had already mastered ham radio. The lawn and flowers in his front yard showcase his green thumb talents. He has mastered long distance bicycling, something he took up after he sold the last in a series of Harley Davidson motorcycles, and has rebuilt antique tractors.
The passion that grabbed him early in life, though, was flying. As a child in Clinton, MO, his family lived close to a small factory that made balsa wood toy airplanes.
“I used to take the scraps of balsa wood, the tissue paper from shoe boxes and a rubber band and make my own,” he says. “They weren't as pretty, but they were what I could afford, and they flew. I read everything I could get my hands on about flying.”
Thomason's family eventually moved to Chilhowee, where his father found work in a feed store. The elder Thomason eventually bought the store and expanded the inventory into groceries. After high school, Thomason moved to Kansas City. He was working for Sears and Roebuck when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Like most young men of his generation, he went to enlist, hoping to train as an aircraft mechanic. While waiting for his test scores, he received his draft notice. After basic training, he contacted his recruiter about his scores and found himself headed for flight school instead.
His training advanced as he qualified for larger and more advanced aircraft. He was assigned to the 350th Flight Group, the 347th Squadron in the 12th Air Force, first in Casablanca, then Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica. He served from August 1942 to July 1945.
He recalls one particular mission, Christmas Eve, over the Po Valley in Italy, where his squadron destroyed an enemy fighter airstrip and planes, crippling the enemy's air power.
On another occasion, he bailed out over the ocean when an engine malfunctioned, qualifying him as a member of the Caterpillar Club, or those who had “hit the silk” in a bailout and survived.
Discharged as a captain when World War II ended, Thomason returned to Chilhowee to help his father in business. “I had a few opportunities to fly again after the war at the old Warrensburg air field south of the city,” he says. Instead, he turned his attention to building Thomason Grocery into a family business that he ran for 42 years. After his father's death in 1956, he expanded the business.
“I moved the store to the old Downing Garage building in Chilhowee in 1962,” he adds. “It gave us a lot more room. But times change.” He closed the store in 1986.
A friend told him they were hiring at an aluminum foundry nearby and encouraged him to fill out the application. He then began a career as a machinist and tool crib operator for Stahl Specialty Company in Kingsville, where he formed strong friendships with fellow employees, some of whom represented the third generation of their families to work for company founder Glenn Stahl. A co-worker convinced him to try a woodcarving class in Pleasant Hill one evening.
Thomason still has the small, wooden goose that was his first woodcarving. During the next several years, he completed dozens of woodcarvings, some small enough to hold in the palm of his hand and others standing several feet tall. From the small fish with each scale carved in intricate detail to the lifelike features of Native American busts, each bears the mark of the skilled craftsman. His works are displayed in the living room of his home.
Thomason also displays ham operator postcards from around the world on the wall of his home, along with the original artwork he has done in a variety of media. As a ham radio operator, Thomason needed a tower for his antenna.
He located a 120-foot tower that was lying in the grass in a Missouri community a few hours away. With the help of fellow ham operators, he brought the tower home to Chilhowee. Getting the tower erected wasn't easy, but it served him well, bringing the world to him until a lightning strike damaged his equipment.
Thomason bought his first motorcycle in the mid-1960s and eventually worked up to a Harley Davidson. His trips took him to the Atlantic Ocean in Florida and through the Black Hills to California. When his last motorcycle, purchased in 1974, turned out to be a disappointment, he turned to bicycles. It was not uncommon for him to ride 70 to 80 miles in one day.
Thomason has moved to a new home in Warrensburg, and he takes out the Corvette, parked in his garage, on special occasions. He keeps busy, spending much of his time with friend Harvey Howell at his woodshop, Harvey's Specialties, in Warrensburg. The photos on his walls tell the story of his family and the relationships that formed his life. While explaining many of the items that document his life, Thomason retrieves a small silver bell, almost hidden in a bookcase behind his woodcarvings.
“I carried this with me all through the war,” he says. In fact, you can see the lucky keepsake in the photos of Thomason taken during his service in World War II. “It's kind of worn now. You can't really see the writing on it. But I've still got it. It's still here. So am I.”
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