Picture of Lewis L. Katz on his farm south of Union City. I am like many Union City residents, my first plane ride was in Lewis Katz airplane.
The picture was recently purchased by Lewis's daughter Sharon on eBay, and with her permission I am posting it on the blog.
The picture was a wire service photo that the following stamped on the back:
1955 APR 31 PM 1:04
By Detroit News Staff
photographer
KILPATRICK
Reporter
Also in longhand: Mich cities Union City Lewis Katz Farm. Sharon did some research on Kilpatrick trying to find out what the occasion was for the picture.
Sharon's comments:
Photo of Lewis L. Katz on his farm East of Union City (Corner Creamery Rd. & Railroad Rd.). When Lewis & Frances Katz purchased 160 acres in the N.W. corner of Section 3, in the spring of 1943, it was then known as 'The Flynn Farm" which lays in Branch County on the edge of the Calhoun County Line Rd.
Of course the photo intrigued me beyond just wonder'in..... so I spend time on the Internet searching online for info about James E (Scotty) Kilpatrick. I am not sure why he came from Detroit, to the little town of Union City and captured this delightful photo of my father Lewis L. Katz. One possible reason is he may have been doing a story on the Civil Air Patrol Events at the farm, related to educational highlights of those years.
Photo of Lewis L. Katz on his farm East of Union City (Corner Creamery Rd. & Railroad Rd.). When Lewis & Frances Katz purchased 160 acres in the N.W. corner of Section 3, in the spring of 1943, it was then known as 'The Flynn Farm" which lays in Branch County on the edge of the Calhoun County Line Rd.
Of course the photo intrigued me beyond just wonder'in..... so I spend time on the Internet searching online for info about James E (Scotty) Kilpatrick. I am not sure why he came from Detroit, to the little town of Union City and captured this delightful photo of my father Lewis L. Katz. One possible reason is he may have been doing a story on the Civil Air Patrol Events at the farm, related to educational highlights of those years.
Turns out the photographer is quite famous, as his Daughter Jane wrote; "My father, James R. (Scotty) Kilpatrick worked as a photographer for the Detroit News for almost 40 years. James Kilpatrick was a longtime photographer with the paper and is most famous for his "Battle of the Overpass" photo, which captured labor strife during the 1937 auto workers strike in Detroit.
The May 27th 1937 incident followed an attempt of the United Auto Workers Union to distribute leaflets to the workers leaving the plant and marked the first outbreak of violence in which 16 were injured including four leafleteers (Walter Reuther, Bob Kanter, J.J. Kennedy, and Frankensteen).
Beating of Frankensteen occurred around 2:00 pm when Reuther and Frankensteen were asked by a Detroit News photographer, James E. (Scotty) Kilpatrick, to pose for a picture on the overpass, with the Ford sign in the background. The news photographers were the next target; many had their cameras, plates and holders broken, and others forced to flee beyond the city limits.
Kilpatrick was lucky. He hid the photographic plates under the back seat of his car, and surrendered useless plates he had on his front seat. The next day, news and photos of the brutal attack, the so-called ‘Battle of the Overpass’, made headlines in newspapers across the country. All of America was witness to the primitive tactics with which Henry Ford subdued organized laborers. This publicity didn't end Ford’s opposition to organized labor, but it made his eventual acquiescence inevitable. On the journalistic end, Kilpatrick’s photographs inspired the Pulitzer committee to institute a prize for photography.
Lewis Katz wrote in his memoirs dated 1983:
Lewis Katz wrote in his memoirs dated 1983:
'I was 38 yrs old when I took my first flight at the controls of an airplane with an instructor, December 1947. The U.C. airport was located one mile West of Union City on the Arbogast Farm, run by one of my school chums, Jack Arbogast.
In February 1948, I made my first Solo Flight... I trained very hard, after 50 hours flying time I received my Official Pilots License by D.E. Mollenkoph instructor at Coldwater Airport. After the farm was paid for we purchased a little yellow & red Aeronca Champion airplane, two place tandem plane, that cruised at 80 mph. We made a landing strip on the farm & kept "Clara Bess" at home. We decided to name our farm "Sky Ranch".
Having my plane on the farm was very handy and I would fly a lot of short hops in the evening after the chores were done. After 275 hrs in the Aeronca, traded it for a red & black 140 Cessna, 85 horse-power engine that cruised at 105 mph. I had snow-ski for these two planes.
By the time we purchased the 170 Cessna, I had logged 712 flying hours. It was red and black, all metal, 4 passenger, 145 h.p. engine. The 170 was equipped with radio, air speed, compass, altimeter, heater, ball bank, cruse speed was 120 mph. At the price of gas at that time and a cruising speed of 120 mph the cost @ mile of travel was 4¢ ~ that in my mind was a very reasonable recreation.
Many years, three other farmers & I would fly to the WLS Prairie Farm Shows, normally held in IN, IL, or IA. I also made many trips with my planes for parts for my farm machinery!
In 1953 I joined the Civil Air Patrol, an auxiliary to the U.S. Air Force. It was the duty of the C.A.P. to fly Rescue Missions and look for downed airplanes. I flew two actual search missions.
I was Commanding Officer of the Cadets in Union City. We had a government plane called the L.5, which I flew and took the Cadets for rides. It was my job to teach them the basics of flying, explain the different components of the plane and what each part did in flight.
We had three big C.A.P. Field Days at our farm. Several C.A.P. pilots from other parts of Michigan would fly in with their cadets. We had music by local talent, U.C. Fire Dept., hot dog stand & drinks by South Union 4-H Club and different contests for the airplanes. I flew an experimental plane each time, made by my neighbor Bob Delebaugh. Had as many as 300 people attend. I dropped parachute troops from my own plane at one of the C.A.P. events... that was another thrill for me.
I seemed to have no trouble having passengers. My runway was South of the barn, by the road. I often flew on Sunday afternoons and many cars would park along the side of the road and watch. I took many of them for a ride, ask each one to personally sign my Log Book and date it. As time went on I recorded over 1,000 different names of persons that I have taken up once, some many times. It's impossible to tell about all the amusing things that happened in my nearly 30 years of my flying career. Needless to say ~ I enjoyed it all." 
