Harry Porter

(1894 -1988) Harry Porter, was an aviation legend and icon in Southeast Tennessee who began his famed 64-year flight career by barnstorming in flying shows across the South. He was a charter pilot, flight instructor, flying service operator and pilot examiner. He opened one of the Chattanooga’s first aviation schools. Porter flew his first airplane out of East Chattanooga’s Marr Field in 1923. He opened “Porter’s Flight School” in 1931. Eight years later, he signed a contract with the state’s Civilian Pilot Training Program, which was adopted by the government in 1942. They changed the program’s name to the “War Training Service” and contracted with Porter’s Flight School to train pilots for military service. When the military program ended in 1944, Harry Porter and his instructors had trained 800 men for U.S. Army Air Corps.