Flying Farmers
Young men who left their family farms to become pilots during World War II returned with new skills that changed the face of agriculture as airplanes joined tractors and combines as essential farm equipment.
Whether taking to the skies to pick up parts or check on livestock or irrigation systems, farmers and ranchers relied on planes to make their operations more efficient. What started out as an idea for a magazine story in 1944 for H.A. Graham, director of Agriculture Extension at Oklahoma Agriculture and Mechanical College and Ferdie Deering, farm editor of the Farmer-Stockton magazine, became the catalyst for a national organization for farmer-flyers.
Illinois Flying Farmers bolo tie
The National Flying Farmers Association linked thousands of farmers from across the U.S. through their shared practice of using planes in everyday farm chores. Annual conventions kept members updated on new aircraft specifically designed for their needs. The Silvaire—an all-metal, four-place model—was designed in 1947 by Luscombe with the farmer in mind. In 1948, Cessna promoted its Cessna 190 and 195 to farmers as the industry’s “newest tool.”
Ernest Thorp, of Wapella, was one many farmers who came home from war duty with flying experience. He joined the DeWitt – Piatt County Flying Farmers in 1945 and convinced his father that the family’s seed company east of Wapella needed an airplane.
The Thorp’s planes were kept in the five-stall hangar built just north of the seed facility, with surplus steel from the war. His first plane was an Ercoup, followed by a Cessna 140 he picked up in Wichita, Kansas.
The Thorp family’s five-stall hangar built with surplus steel from World War II
Nelson Thorp, the oldest of Ernest and Mary Ellen Thorp’s five children, was two weeks old when he took his first flight perched on his mother’s lap.
“Dad would go up a lot and I would go with him. He always said I was a good instrument pilot because I couldn’t see over the instrument panel,” Nelson Thorp said of his early days as a passenger.
For the Thorp’s offspring, flying was part of life on the farm.
“We never knew a day without an airplane,” said Thorp’s youngest daughter, Zelda.
As a teen, Nelson Thorp chose aviation over motorcycles. When Nelson asked his father to help with the cost of a motorcycle, his father told him, “I’ll pay for your pilot’s license or I’ll buy you a motorcycle—not both.”
Nelson considers the decision to pursue a pilot’s license “the best decision I ever made.”
When three of Thorp’s cousins also expressed interest in learning to fly, his father hired a flight instructor from Champaign who made weekly trips to the family farm. Mary Ellen Thorp served the instructor supper before his return home.
Nelson, Zelda, and their younger brother Lewis earned pilot licenses.
At 16, Nelson completed his first solo flight and a year later, he became the youngest pilot to fly to the National Flying Farmers annual convention in Denver. Zelda and Lewis rode in the back seat.
The Thorps used their planes like other farmers used their pickups. A machinery part located in another town was picked up in a plane and fields were surveyed from the air. De-tasseling crews often were treated to a plane ride at the end of their summer employment at the seed business.
Airplanes grew in popularity as a tool for farmers across the country. In 1961, the Flying Farmers organization became the International Flying Farmers and carried a roster of 11,000 members by the mid-70’s.
Mail and groceries were delivered by air, along with livestock feed. Ranchers located missing cattle; perspective land buyers and bankers surveyed farms from airplanes.
For decades, the involvement of families with a love of flying helped IFF maintain its membership rolls.
Mary Ellen Thorp was named Illinois Flying Farmer Queen in 1987
Farmers who made their living on the land and held an almost equal passion for aviation were active members of the IFF, sometimes spanning generations. The Thorp family, which included daughters Carol and Marjorie traveled together to conventions. In 1974, Ernest served as IFF president and Zelda led the group’s teen organization.
Following in her father’s footsteps, Zelda became IFF president in 2017. Flying was also part of her family; her son Douglas is a pilot and works for the Federal Aviation Administration.
As the farm economy struggled, IFF membership dropped. Today, the group has 455 members from 275 families. The expense of owning and operating aircraft has contributed to the lower numbers.
The enthusiasm of current members remains strong for the organization and the role aviation has played in agriculture.
“This organization had a rural farm feel from the beginning. It’s like the farm community, you have that bond,” said Zelda. Her brother Lewis echoed those sentiments: “may the joy of family, farming and flying be forever cherished.”
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