December 5, 2007

The Lonoke Cemetery, which was located just across the road from the World War I pilot school, Eberts Field, was used as a motivation by instructors for their young pilots in training. The pilot school, established in 1917 and named in honor of Arkansas pilot Captain Melchior McEwen “Ike” Eberts, boasted a record of routine crashes but no deaths. One of those lucky pilots was flying this plane, a type lovingly called a “flying coffin,” when it crashed in 1918.