The Chattanooga Regional History Museum celebrates the opening of an exhibit honoring the memory of Harry Porter, a local aviator widely respected for his contributions to the field, on Monday, March 24 at 11 a.m., in the Baggage Claim area of Lovell Field.
Harry Porter began his famed 64-year flight career by barnstorming in flying shows across the South. He was a charter pilot, flight instructor, flying service operator and government flight examiner, and he opened one of the area’s first aviation schools.
He flew his first airplane out of East Chattanooga’s Marr Field in 1923 and, at the age of 90, was considered the oldest active pilot in the United States.
When he died in 1988, Porter was hailed by local, regional and national statesmen as “a symbol of this country’s aviation history.”
Porter opened “Porter’s Flight School” in 1931. Eight years later, he signed a contract with the state’s Civilian Pilot Training Program, which was adopted by the government in 1942. They changed the program’s name to the “War Training Service” and contracted with Porter’s Flight School to train pilots for military service. Pilots would attend morning classes at the University of Chattanooga and afternoon classes at Porter’s school, which was located at Lovell Field.
When the military program ended in 1944, Harry Porter and his instructors had trained 800 men for Army Air Corps service.
Porter continued operating his flight school at Lovell Field until selling the business in 1967 to Hangar One, a national company who retained his services as a full time consultant.
Throughout his career, Porter collected items significant to the history of aviation in the region, which he kept in his office at Lovell Field.
Porter’s office was closed when he died, but the airport exhibited his aviation collection as a tribute to him until very recently, when the space was needed for other purposes. Porter’s friends, Mark Chaney (Director of Aviation for Coca-Cola Bottling Consolidated), Herb DeLoach (Director of Maintenance for McKee), Jim Bynum, Bob Thornton and the late Mo Bryant, packed up his collection, moved it to temporary quarters in Coca-Cola’s hangar at Lovell Field and contracted with the History Museum to design and build the Harry Porter Aviation Exhibit as their tribute to their friend.
A portion of the collection will remain on view at the airport. The remainder has been donated to the Chattanooga Regional History Museum.