By the time the U.S. entered the war, Butterfield was working for Allison Aircraft – who built engines for planes, including the Flying Tiger and P40s - as a flight inspector. Allison sent him around the world to maintain the engines of planes they’d sold to the Chinese, Indian and British armies.
After the war and 13 years with Allison, Butterfield flew for Ohio Aviation, Beachcraft’s largest distributor, housed at Wright Field.
“That’s what brought me to the Dayton area,” said the Medway resident. “Wright Field was the brainpower center of aviation, and sold aircraft all over the world; I flew for the companies that bought the planes.”
He flew for such well-known names as Lazarus and Neiman-Marcus, and met Howard Hughes. “He was a bona fide crackpot, but a nice guy.”
In 1963, Butterfield got his helicopter license, and the old Coca-Cola plant on Ludlow built a hangar and landing pad on its roof for him – the first heliport in Dayton. “I was the only certified instructor in the area, and had a lot of requests. I’d fly emergency cases to St. Elizabeth Hospital, I flew for Channel 2 traffic news, and I’d fly Dayton Daily News photographers in to get overhead photos, Sheriff Beno Keiter to incidents, and all of Phil Donahue’s guests in when his show was in Dayton.
“Kettering bought helicopters and I trained police pilots, and Dayton leased them from me. All kinds of places called to use me and my helicopter.”
Butterfield celebrated his 99th birthday July 26; his last flight was just three months ago, when he flew a man over a farm to spread his father’s ashes.
“I don’t fly much anymore, so I bought a motorcycle last year – my third. I just like engines.”
His “big” birthday present was one of the door signs from the old Coca-Cola plant hangar. “The building’s new owners gave me and my son a tour and my son asked about the sign. They took it down and gave it to me for my birthday.”
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