Voth, John (1921-2013)

https://reflections.mndigital.org/catalog/stc:9828#/kaltura_audio

Biographical Information: John Voth was born on February 9, 1921 in Fair Haven, Minnesota. After graduating from St. Cloud Technical High School in 1939, Voth attended St. Cloud Teacher’s College until volunteering for duty in World War II with the Army Air Corps on October 6, 1942. Voth had experience as a pilot prior to his war years, which led him to the Air Corps. Voth spent time in the south as well as in Minnesota training pilots before moving to airplane maintenance. After the war, Voth owned the St. Cloud Hobby Shop as well as earned his Doctoral Degree in Industrial Education. He taught at both Hutchinson and Sartell High Schools as well as the Minnesota State Reformatory. He is an enlistee in the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame. He was married to his wife, Adeline (Dickie) Dickinson and they had two children, Diane and John. Voth passed away on June 3, 2013

Transcript Summary: John Voth discussed his service with the Army Air Corps as a flight instructor during World War II. As a flight instructor, Voth’s discussed specific instances and individuals that he worked with. At a point during the war, Voth switched from flight instructor to plane maintenance. In the interview, Voth discussed specifically training pilots at the War Training Service (WTS) at St. Cloud State. Voth detailed how students were trained and typical reasons they would “washout” of school. Though training accidents would sometimes result in lost lives, Voth maintained that he never lost a student during training. Voth’s wife was also in the military working at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio. In 1945, those personnel that were married were allowed to put in for a discharge to be stationed at the same location. Also during this time, Voth accepted a position as a flying officer with the aero-med lab. His job was to assist the lab with the study of condition surrounding a pilot before, during and after flight. This lab was focused on inventing and improving conditions for pilots in-flight. Voth concluded the interview by stating he estimated he contributed over 3,000 flight hours to the Air Corps during his service.

Interview by David Overy