Dates

• Existence: 1921 July 28 - 2007 November

Biography

Richard J. McWhorter was born on July 28, 1921 in Idaho Falls, Idaho. McWhorter was the grandson of Lucullus Virgil McWhorter, a historian of Native American tribes, who moved from West Viriginia to Yakima, Washington and started a ranch near the Yakima tribe.

McWhorter served in the United States Army during World War II (September 20, 1943-August 17, 1946) as a 1st Lieutenant in the Southern Philippines and New Guinea. After the war he came back to the family cattle ranch in Prosser, Washington. Commonly referred to as "RJ" or "Dick" by family and friends, he had a long standing and multi-faceted interest in aviation, including owning and restoring many aircraft. He was an A&P Mechanic and flew the Security Patrol at Hanford Nuclear Complex until the Department of Energy discontinued it.

At various times, McWhorter owned three Stearmans (two Model C-3B Sport Commercials and one Model C-3R Business Speedster), two Beechcraft T-34 Mentors, a North American T-6 Texan, a Beechcraft Bonanaza, and several Piper Super Cubs. He participated in many local fly-ins and in May 1976 he flew in Western Airline's Bicentennial celebration of Contract Air Mail Route 12 (CAM-12) with one of the C-3Bs (#NC7550). He had acquired the plane in 1971 and spent many years researching and restoring it to look like the Western Air Express mail plane of the 1920s, using only authentic parts. Tracing the original route, he flew the Stearman C-3B from Cheyenne, Wyoming to Pueblo, Colorado with interim stops in Denver and Colorado Springs, Colorado. In 1986, McWhorter sold the Stearman Model C-3B (Serial #NC7550) to the Museum of Flight.

McWhorter died in a 4-wheeling accident on his ranch in November 2007 at the age of 86.

Source:

Biography derived from collection materials and donor information.

Found in 3 Collections and/or Records: