Loyd J. McNeil

Loyd J. McNeil
Palm Valley, TX:
Loyd J. McNeil, 89, passed away on Wednesday, April 29, 2009 at his residence.
Loyd was born June 16, 1919 in Troy, Texas to Lewis Clifford McNeil and Annie Margaret Gregory.  He attended Military Aviation and Flight School up to the level of  aircraft instructor and Flight Chief, the rest was school of Hard Knox and of course self taught.
Loyd proudly served his country during WWII and the Korean War.  He was one of the first hundred men to fly a jet powered aircraft during the introduction of the jet age.  He was highly influential on the initial flight training introduced to the Navy while on loan from the Air Force in the application of aircraft take-off and landings on aircraft carriers.  Loyd was sent to Hawaii one week after the Pearl Harbor attack to evaluate and rebuild available military aircraft still salvageable after the Japanese raid.  He served as a fighter pilot, and a bombardier during war times, then became a test pilot for proto-type aircraft then onward to head flight chief and finally Chief of Maintenance at Webb AFB in Big Springs, Texas and in turn complete his 29 years in the Air Force.  He received many decorated honors and medals throughout his military career.
Loyd was an avid horseman and cattle rancher who pursued the military career but with a lifestyle of a cowboy at heart.  He was a Texas Champion calf roper in 1953 while still in the military.  Upon his retirement in 1965 and after a few years from the Air Force he and his family decided to leave West Texas and relocate and settle in the Rio Grande Valley.  He then became actively involved in the ranching and cattle business for an additional 17 years.  After his completion of many business ordeals and projects around the valley he fully retired again in 1982 with no further job interests.  He and his wife Sally toured the world on many cruise ships up until about 8 years ago.  Loyd enjoyed helping others, carpentry, bird hunting and fishing.
He is survived by his loving wife of 46 ½ years, Sally Ann McNeil; his son, Jim L. McNeil of Manchaca, Texas; sisters-in-law, Vivian McNeil of Alexanderia, Louisiana, Cindy Franz of Union City, Pennsylvania, Cris (Donald) Gutherie of Springdale, Pennsylvania, Sandy Boyer of Distant, Pennsylvania; and one niece, Gloria (Ben) Wall of Marksville, Louisiana.  Also surviving are many close friends far and near with honorable mention to: CMSGT Ralph Henderson and his wife Alice, Major Joe Faulkner, CMSGT Stephen Sullivan and his wife Beverly, Mrs. Evelyn Grammel and family, Alvaro and Celia Lopez family, Erasmo and Belinda Lopez family, Nell Wheeler, Robert and April Goekin, Ed and Corrine Swaney, Carl Boyd, and his loyal Alaskan malamute, Chinook.
The family would like to thank Dr. John Partin, Dr. Marco Araneda and their wonderful professional staffs.
Graveside services will be held at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, TX on May 29, 2009 at 11:30 a.m. with Military Honors under the auspices of the Air Force Honor Guard of the Lackland Air Force Base.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 1532 Harlingen, Texas 78551.

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Loyd J. McNeil
Salute to Veterans
Feb. 11, 2004 edition

Loyd 'Mac' McNeil - Pilot and Cowboy In North Africa

By MARK BARD

PALM VALLEY - Imagine dust and sand being kicked up by bulls and broncs at a rodeo more than 40 years ago - much like it was in Los Fresnos this past weekend at the 15th annual Los Fresnos PRCA Rodeo - except this rodeo was held at Nouasseur Air Base, Morocco, and was attended by Arabs and French.
It really happened in such an unlikely part of the world during the 1950s, and Loyd J. "Mac" McNeil made it happen.
McNeil, now 84, was raised as a cowboy in Lubbock, Texas, before he had any ideas about becoming a pilot. He was born in Troy, just south of Waco, on June 16, 1919. The family moved to Lubbock about six months later. McNeil's father was a farmer, rancher and blacksmith. McNeil's older brother came home on leave from his horse cavalry unit in the Army.  McNeil liked the image his brother presented. "I liked the uniform and the boots, and decided that's for me," McNeil said.  As soon as he graduated high school in 1936, McNeil at 17 and half years old got permission from his mother to enlist in the Army where he trained and served in the cavalry's rifle troop for about three years.  The attack on Pearl Harbor was yet to come. A friend told McNeil, "We're going to have a war."
McNeil and some of his buddies opted to go to flight school in the cadet corps where they trained at Brooks, Kelly and Randolph Fields. McNeil rose to the rank of master sergeant within three years.
"I think I was the only master sergeant to go through flight school," McNeil said.
"Gen. Lawrence Coddington was responsible for me getting into flight school."  McNeil was classified as "Pilot Eligible" in Nashville, and then shipped to Lakeland, Florida, where he was first in his class to solo in a PT-17. He quickly moved up to the more powerful BT-13, then to the more advanced and versatile AT-6 Texan at Craig Field at Selma, Alabama. He also took to the P-40 Warhawk soon afterward.
McNeil cited the AT-6 as a forgiving aircraft that "could do almost anything...roll it, spin it...but she'd ground loop easily."
McNeil went on to Bradley Field in Connecticut near Hartford where he graduated as a P-47 Thunderbolt pilot, and sent down to Richmond, Virginia, for reassignment.
Among McNeil's assignments was that of Flight Engineer on B-17 bombers where he racked up about 2,000 hours.
McNeil was still an enlisted man at Moffett Field when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.  One week later, Dec. 15, 1941, he went to Pearl Harbor as flight engineer on a B-17. The crew would be returned to Victorville, California, where they'd ferry B-17 after B-17 to Hawaii for the buildup in the South Pacific Theater.
"Pearl was a lush assignment. Everybody wanted to be assigned there. They (the Japanese) just caught us with our pants down," McNeil said.
McNeil met Chuck Yeager along the way when both were still wearing stripes. "The war had been on about 2 or three years," McNeil said. Yeager was the first to break the sound barrier in 1947 as pilot of the Bell X-1 named "Glamorous Glennis".
""I had dealings with Yeager ...he was only a staff sergeant.  I didn't like him...he was a grandstander. ...The next time I met up with Chuck was in 1952 or '53."
McNeil had friends at Brownwood, Texas, who were in the National Guard and were pulled into the Army.  "Half went to fight the Japanese, the other half somewhere else. ...The ones who were captured were taken to Tokyo and ended up as slave labor.  Some got beriberi, which is similar to malaria."
It wasn't until November 1944 that McNeil became an officer, graduating to the rank of lieutenant.
As the military entered the jet age, McNeil was at the front of the pack as one of the first 100 jet fighter pilots.  He first piloted the single-seat F-80 Shooting Star, which was also known as a T-33 with a second seat for a student pilot.
At Kingsville, he was part of the exchange program with the Navy where he trained for carrier flight duty.  At the Pensacola, Florida, Naval Air Station, he flew F-80s and F6F Hellcats off of the "converted cruiser" USS Monterrey.
He then flew the F-86 Saber Jet Interceptor as part of the 36th and 357th Fighter Interceptor Groups in Nouasseur, Morocco, 20 miles south of Casablanca, and Wheelus AFB, Libya, North Africa, respectively.
This is where McNeil was encouraged by his commander to organize a rodeo to compete against others from Wheelus and bases in Europe.
"I was a cowboy before I was a pilot," McNeil said.  So, he rounded up 18-20 men in his unit as part of the Rodeo Cowboy Association.  "It was the only well-organized cowboy association in Europe."

It was during this time in about 1958 at a Rodeo Association meeting that McNeil met up with a young Libyan police captain named Muamar Khadafy  ...yes, that Khadafy, who is now disarming and cooperating with the United States.

"That's when he first had some authority and formed power around him through fellow officers," McNeil speculated.
Once things were approved and planned, McNeil spent about three weeks "to get the rodeo going".
"We needed bulls and horses and calves to rope."  Each base that played host to the rodeo would provide the livestock.
McNeil and fellow servicemen built the corral, fences, stock pens and the announcer/judge's booth with their bare hands and all on their spare time when they weren't patrolling the skies above the Gibraltar Strait, Spain, southern Europe, Suez and other parts of North Africa.
The money raised from the rodeos went to orphans in Morocco.  The big event of the year was the North African Championship, which was written about in numerous English and Arabic newspapers.

"We raised $122,850 Moroccan francs," McNeil said. That was equivalent to $1,590.15.  The orphan children wanted to see some real cowboys, so McNeil and some of the rodeo cowboys were ordered to present the money to the orphanages and schools in person.  They showed up in full cowboy attire - boots, jeans, neckerchiefs and cowboy hats.
McNeil was involved with the North African/European rodeos for about three years.  McNeil, always a horse lover, acquired a 2-year-old purebred Arabian horse from the King's stables.  His name was Dahlia.  McNeil said he was a "barb" horse, a particular kind of Arabian horse.
Dahlia came back to the states at a later date.  McNeil arranged for him to be shipped from Casablanca to the Port of Houston.  He learned later that no feed or oats were put on board for Dahlia.  The only thing besides water that Dahlia had to live on during the trip was bread.
"They fed him 222 loaves of bread," McNeil said.
McNeil went looking for Dahlia at the port of Houston one day.  He would ask various people there, "You got a horse around here?"  Boy, did they have a horse!  McNeil was taken to Dahlia where Dahlia immediately recognized McNeil and took to him.  McNeil had Dahlia until the horse was 23 years old.
McNeil retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1965 as a Lt. Colonel.  Highlights as a pilot included taking his F-80 to 50,000 feet.  "There I could see the curvature of the earth...I got a little scared at that altitude."  The air is much thinner at that altitude and can cause jet engines to "flame out."  "I had to baby it...and descend about 200-300 feet per minute."
On a flight from Randolph Field in San Antonio to Laredo AFB in an F-80 that had no wingtip tanks on it, McNeil said, "I rolled my F-80 eighteen times in a row.  It just kept going."
McNeil also had the opportunity to train a few of the most decorated pilots of the Korean War such as McConnell, Volkovich and Fernandes.
Today, McNeil's home in Palm Valley is adorned with sets of Longhorns "from cattle around Coleman and Brownwood", western decor and cowboy paintings, among mementos and photos from his travels around the world.
On a shelf sits a model of a B-17 with a clock mounted underneath.  McNeil flips a switch and the Flying Fortress comes to life with turning propellers, gun and engine sounds and flashing lights.
McNeil has a 40-year-old son named Jim Lee McNeil who he named after a racehorse named Jim Lee that he once admired.
McNeil and his wife of 41 years, the former Sally Ann Boyer, moved into their Palm Valley home only about four months ago after they lost their mid-Valley home and many dear possessions in a fire.
Of his wife, McNeil says, "She's a good Yankee ... she's lived in Texas 45 years."

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