Burning the Grass

I spent many days at the Marlboro County Airport with the Rowe boys, as their grandfather LD "Speck" Rowe was the manager/operator of the beautiful facility that was built in 1970 to better accommodate the influx of twin engine planes now that Marlboro County was attracting business and industries that used them as "Corporate" travel. Emerson Electric, Essex Wire, Becker Sand and Gravel, Klopman Mills, Delta Finishing, JP Stevens, BankAir Courier Service and several others used the big twin engine planes like the Beechcraft KingAir that needed at least 3500 feet of asphalt to operate to fly in and out of Marlboro County. Prior to the opening of the Marlboro County Airport there was a grass strip across from Lake Paul Wallace on Highway 385 known as Rowe Field that had been managed by "Buster" Rowe. The Rowe clan had a long history of aviation in Marlboro County, and that is where my fascination with anything that flies began.

The new airport was operational by the Summer of 1971 and the event was celebrated with an airshow of epic proportion that included performances by Dwight Cross in the fabulous Knight Twister, a clipped-wing Piper Cub "comedy" performance, lots of vintage "warbirds", helicopter aerial application demonstrations courtesy of local pilot CP Polston, an experimental airplane known as a "Breezy" (one look at the picture, and you would know why it was called "Breezy"....the pilot sat out front in an open structure out in the breeze) and the headliner.....Beverly Howard and the incredible Bucker Jungmeister. The Jungmeister was a German-built biplane from the WW II era that "Bevo" had modified with a larger engine than the stock Siemens 160 HP seven-cylinder radial and four ailerons instead of two. "Bevo" was a native of SC and was well-known as an airshow pilot 50 years ago so having him perform attracted a huge crowd!

After the airport had been dedicated to the memory of a local pilot that had lost his life in a tragic crash and the airshow the Marlboro County Airport became fully operational and boy! What a thing of beauty it was! Two large hangars painted in orange and white stripes, a terminal/office, a fifty foot tall rotating beacon that fascinated me and the largest runway I had ever seen. Allen and I thought that Boeing 747 airliners could land there but Speck new better. "Boys, if one of those landed here it would be too heavy for the runway, and the wheels would sink into the asphalt and create one huge mess for me to clean up" he pontificated. You had to know Speck to understand his "Pontifications".....he was a unique character!

Since I was "In Like Flynn" with the Rowe clan I had unlimited access to the airport and spent many Saturday and Sunday afternoons out there with Allen. We would ramble around the property, drain gas out of the fuel pump hoses for the minibike Speck used to inspect the runway lights and ride it up and down the taxiways, climb in planes in the hangar, shoot BB guns or sweet talk Speck into letting us get one of the Stewart Sandwiches he kept for hungry pilots. That airport was a magical place for Allen and I back then!

One Saturday in 1976 Allen, Scotty Caswell and I decided that we would launch model rockets in the grassy area between the taxiway for runway 6 and the beacon ignorant to the fact that it had not rained in a couple weeks and the grass was brown and crunchy. We set up the launch pad and proceeded to poke holes in the sky with repetitive "whoosh......pop" launches of Estes Alpha IIIs, Estes Big Berthas and whatever other rockets we had built.We were having the grandest of times "pushing the envelope" when Scotty had the bright idea of having a "payload" contest.....who could lift off with the greatest amount of weight? Scotty found a pile of rocks that were sufficiently small enough to fit in the body tubes of our rockets and we commenced the contest!

The contest was bringing much excitement up to a point. Scotty overfilled his rocket with gravel (it felt like there was a half-pound of rocks in it!) and attempted a launch. This was the point where the excitement ramped up to a whole new level. His rocket never really left the pad....it rose up a few inches then fell over, and set that dry tinder we called "grass" on fire! We immediately started stomping out the flames. When I say "we" I really mean "Allen and Scotty" because I was wearing brand-new shoes and dared not mess them up! Allen and Scotty were frantically fighting a losing battle when Allen yelled out "Scott, go tell Speck! He has a fire extinguisher and he'll come put it out!"

I obliged, and raced up to the terminal with the greatest possible dispatch to inform Speck that the grass was on fire. I found him napping in the office and struggled to get the words out in between gasps for breath. "Speck!" I choked out, "The grass...pant pant pant... got set on fire out by...pant pant...the beacon. We need help!" Speck opened his eyes, crushed out the cigarette that was smoldering between his fingers and began his typical mumbling...."Well, let's go see what you boys are up to now!" he exclaimed, slowly rising from the chair. He shuffled to the window and surveyed the scene as all good first responders do when confronted with a disaster, then turned with agonizing slowness and walked across the lobby and into the hangar. I followed him in, and watched as he got the big extinguisher that was mounted on wheels and wheeled it out of the hangar.

I thought that I had failed in my urgent request because Speck was moving at a snail's pace and I was convinced that we were about to burn half of Marlboro County to the ground! Speck slowly wheeled that big extinguisher to the sight of the inferno, muttering and mumbling something about cutting grass while I was orbiting him in sheer panic! I just couldn't believe he didn't share in my level of concern! We were possibly facing a fire that would quickly become a major disaster and here was Speck, mumbling and shuffling like the character "The World's Oldest Man" played by Tim Conway on "The Carol Burnett Show". We.....were.....doomed!

Speck finally reached the fire line and slowly, methodically he rolled the extinguisher along and commenced to halting the spread of flame, mumbling incoherently the entire time. He took his sweet time while the three of us boys were running in circles, freaking out wildly. Speck took so long to put it out that nearly three quarters of the grass had already been consumed. We were appalled at his lack of concern but were relieved when the fire was extinguished. Speck didn't really say much, and instead he rolled the extinguisher back to the hangar, muttering under his breath the entire way!

We broke down the launch pad, gathered our rockets that had survived the blaze and found an activity that would be a little less dangerous. I'm sure it involved throwing rocks! We knew we were in big trouble and the wait for Allen's daddy to come pick us up seemed an eternity. Few things inspire absolute terror in 12 year old boys more than having to wait in anticipation of the punishment that will soon be doled out. I cannot recall the actual conversation but I am sure we knew, just knew! that we were doomed. Doomed, I tell you!

Mr Bill Rowe arrived about five to haul our carcasses back to town, and we nervously climbed in the old Chevrolet pickup truck, shrouded in silence. Mr Bill said "Boys, I see y'all set the grass on fire!" We just knew that restriction (oh, the dreaded "restriction"!) was going to be our sentence for our crimes against humanity and nervously awaited for the judgement. Instead, Mr Bill laughed heartily and said "You boys did Speck a favor. Now he doesn't have so much grass to cut!" The ride back to town was suddenly joyous as opposed to a death march to our executions. Whew, and double whew!

I still have a bunch of rockets. Perhaps it is time to hold a payload contest again....only this time, we will have an extinguisher on standby and wait until a rain has swept through. Have a rice day, all y'all!