Harry Flook soloed at Mexico Farms at age sixteen and obtained his private pilots license as soon as legally possible. He graduated from LaSalle Institute in 1941 and attended the University of Maryland before entering the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadets in October, 1942. After obtaining his military pilot wings Harry flew 59 combat missions as a B-17 pilot in the European Theater. He then flew 27 reconnaissance missions over Germany in British Mosquito planes accumulating a total of 365 combat hours. After separation from the Air Force in 1945 Flook was employed as a pilot for Graham Aviation, the fixed base operator at the Cumberland Airport. About 1948 he re-entered the Air Force and served in the new Strategic Air Command. Flook was one of the early pilots flying the new B-47 with the 305th Bomb Wing at Mac Dill Field, Tampa, Florida. Always seeking greater challenges, Flook was selected as one of the first pilots to fly the hot supersonic B-58 Hustler Bomber where he served as an instructor pilot, then chief of training. Harry Flook later assumed the duties as Commanding Officer of the 366th Bomb Squadron at Bunker Hill Air Force Base, Indiana.
During this period local pilots remember Harry visiting the Cumberland Airport flying a vintage Spartan Executive airplane. The Spartan Executive was a luxurious low wing, retractable landing gear, state of the art airplane in pre-WW II years. Accommodating up to four passengers, it was powered by a 450 hp Pratt and Whitney radial engine, with speed enough to stay with most modern planes of today.
Retiring in 1967 in the grade of Lieutenant Colonel, Flook received the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, the American, Middle Eastern and European Campaign Medals, the Air Force Award for Combat Readiness and the Air Force Military Merit Award. In civilian life Flook’s flying ability was recognized and he joined the Boeing Aircraft Corporation as an instructor pilot for Boeing 727 and 737 aircraft. Harry developed the Boeing 727 flight simulator and was assistant chief training pilot for operations for Boeing until he joined ITT Corporation in 1971. At ITT he flew corporate executives to all parts of the world and rose to senior pilot in charge of flight operations, flying Boeing 727’s. At his death on August 9, 1986, Lt. Colonel Harry Flook was interred at St. Mary’s Cemetery near North Branch, south of Cumberland. He was a son of the late Colonel Harry Flook, Sr., who served in WW I as a pilot and flew at Mexico Farms in the twenties and thirties. Colonel Flook, Sr. was instrumental in founding the Cumberland American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars Posts in Cumberland after WW I.
Lt. Colonel Harry E. Flook, and the Spartan Executive he flew into Cumberland.
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Wings Over Cumberland 