THE “FLYING PARSON.”

  

          “The Flying Parson” is first of all a preacher. The matter of flying is secondary even though it did win for him the transcontinental air race.[1]   

            When he was 17 he began to preach.

            “And a mighty good mechanic was spoiled,” his North Carolina neighbors said, for the boy had always been “handy with tools.”

            The war brought him his chance as a mechanic, first in a munitions shop and then in the flying service. In January, 1917, he went into a shell factory.

            Then, when the United States went into the war, Maynard went in too. For 18 months he was in France, first in training for aviation and then as instructor at one of the camps. During the latter part of the time he was also preaching—helping (Homer) Rodehe(a)ver[2] with a series of meetings, addressing crowds of doughboys in “Y” huts.[3]  Sometimes he preached to his fellow flyers, and the fact that he was a good aviator made them the more willing to listen to his sermons.

Front Line Hunt
"History of the YMCA in World War I"
http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/ymca.htm

            Perhaps his simple faith had something to do with his coming home first in the transcontinental race; also certainly it had something to do with the fact that he refused to let the people from his home county [Sampson] commercialize his fame.

            To him the victory was merely an incident, a beginning, not an end. A few days after he came home from the trip he was to speak in a Massachusetts town. On the train a man was attracted by the aviator’s uniform and got to talking of his own son in the service; from that they drifted to other subjects and so they talked for the whole of a four-hour trip.

            That night after Maynard’s address the first man to speak to him was his fellow traveler.

            “Why didn’t you tell me you were the ‘Flying Parson’?” he asked.

            “I didn’t think about it,” was Maynard’s answer.

[(News and Observer) Raleigh, NC) 27 Feb 1916]

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[1] See "Flying Parson," Sampson County, NC Pilot Made Aviation History: March 17, 2016

[2] Homer Rodeheaver, an evangelist, gospel song writer and publisher, worked with the famous evangelist Billy Sunday for 20 years.

[3] General Pershing ordered the establishment of servicemen’s centers in Europe. The order stated that the Y.M.C.A. would “provide for the amusement and recreation of the troops by means of its usual programme of social, physical, educational, and religious services.”