The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Children’s book set at Danbury airport
DANBURY — When William Moyle was a child, his father took him to Danbury Municipal Airport on Sundays, where they would sit on the top of his ’51 Chevrolet and watch the airplanes land. It was then Moyle fell in love with the magic of flying.
As a teen, he and his friend biked to the airport to watch the planes. Sometimes they got a chance to fuel or clean them, and eventually they learned to fly them.
So when Moyle, now 70 and a retired airline pilot, came up with the idea for a children’s book about a T-6 Texan plane, he decided to set part of the story at Danbury Municipal Airport.
“It’s kind of my mecca,” Moyle said. “It’s where everything started for me and I got all these stories and dreams and where my dreams came true.”
Moyle, who lives in Waxahachie, Texas, self-published the book, “The Adventures of Tommy the Texan and Captain Billy: Back to the Beginning,” this fall.
The fictional story follows Captain Billy, a character based on the author, and Tommy, the T-6 Texan aircraft, that he buys in Phoenix. Throughout the book, Billy and Tommy recount their flying adventures, eventually returning to Danbury Municipal Airport.
Moyle described the T-6 Texan as a “spirit.” Tommy does not talk to Billy, but the plane and pilot still communicate.
“A lot of it has to do with the connection you feel with a piece of machinery, an aircraft you’re intimate with,” he said. “You feel like you’re part of it.”
Moyle knows what that relationship is like. He flew with a pilot for the first time at age 14 at Danbury Municipal Airport and later, after serving in Vietnam, used the G.I. Bill to earn his pilot certifications. His first solo flight was in December 1973 out of Danbury Municipal Airport. He became a citation pilot in 1979 and then taught at Danbury Airways.
Moyle later trained crews at McDonnell Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach, Calif., worked as a Boeing 727 flight engineer and captain for MGM Grand Air and served as a citation instructor for FlightSafety International in Long Beach. In retirement, he flies out of Midway Airport in Texas.
Moyle has written short stories about flying for years. He was inspired to write a book after riding in a T-6 Texan during a formation-flying clinic in Punta Gorda, Fla. He said the name “Tommy the Texan” popped into his head and stuck.
He worked on the book for the next few years and then gave it to his daughter, Laura, to edit. His son, David, designed the book cover and drew illustrations of Tommy for the inside.
“It’s been a labor of love,” Moyle said. “It’s been something I enjoy doing and I really enjoy doing it with my two kids.”
Moyle plans to turn the book into a series, with the sequel focused on the characters’ adventures in Danbury. Captain Billy and Tommy will fly over the city’s Memorial Day and Fourth of July parades, as Moyle recalls planes doing in his childhood.
But Moyle hopes the series will not just bring kids enjoyment, but teach them something.
As readers follow Billy and his friends work together to restore Tommy, kids will learn teamwork. They grasp organizational skills as Billy goes about his daily routine, Moyle said.
“Without telling kids they’re being educated, they’re being educated,” he said. “It’s a story not just about flying and Captain Billy. It’s a story about life experiences.”
Since the book is based on real locations and stories, kids can delve into history after reading, Moyle said. The book includes road and flight maps of the Phoenix and Danbury areas, helping students better understand geography.
“It teaches kids about where they live and aviation, without it being a blatant instructional manual,” said Moyle’s son, David.
David also designed a website, with a section called “Tommy’s Hangar” where kids can read about how the T-6 Texan flies as well as sign up for special updates or illustrations from the series.
“I’m hoping to, if nothing else, instill some kind of love of aviation, even if it’s just model airplanes,” William said.