Harold Wayne Butler

Wayne, along with his two brothers, Paul and Wiley, and sister Dottie, grew up in the rolling farm country west of Pittsburgh. He graduated from North Fayette Township High School in 1941 and went to work in the metallurgical lab at Jones and Laughlin Steel. The war in Europe was ramping up and in 1943, Wayne enlisted in the US Army Air Corps. He attended Aerial Gunnery School and graduated as a turret gunner on a B-24 Liberator.

Wayne was sent to Europe in the fall of 1943. He was assigned to Air Transport Command in Metfield England as a flight engineer and mechanic on Consolidated C-87’s and Douglas C-47’s. Their job was to deliver engines and other freight to B-24 units in Northern Italy and the British Isles. In the fall of 1945, at the conclusion of the war in Europe, Wayne was happy to fly home in a war-weary B-24.

Wayne joined the Pennsylvania Air National Guard in 1949, in Pittsburgh. He met Betty Wadsworth, of Pitcairn, Pennsylvania and they were married in February 1951. By 1956, Wayne had had enough of shoveling snow. He packed up Betty and their two daughters and moved the family to Phoenix, Arizona where he had a job with the Arizona Air National Guard. In April 1956, Wayne and the family moved to Tucson where he helped build the newly formed 152nd (later to be designated 162nd) Fighter Squadron of the Arizona Air National Guard.

Wayne spent nearly 40 years in the Army Air Corps, US Air Force and the Air National Guard repairing or supervising the repair and maintenance of broken airplanes from P-40’s to the A-7. Wayne retired from the Air Guard as a Chief Master Sargent and was always proud to claim the E-9 parking spot next to the base commanders.

Wayne and Betty were enthusiastic sailors. They learned to sail on the lakes in central Arizona and eventually kept a boat in San Diego Harbor, spending the hot Arizona summers sailing in San Diego Bay. When they weren’t sailing, they were often on the road, visiting family and friends across the county.

Betty passed away in early 2000, after nearly 50 years of marriage. Wayne would later remarry on March 28, 2002 to Mary Ann Liddle. Mary Ann and Wayne traveled the world during their years together while making time to visit family spread across the US from California to Pennsylvania, Montana to Arizona.

Wayne served as a docent at the Pima Air Museum for over nine years. He was a 32nd degree Mason. He enjoyed reading, cooking and tinkering with anything mechanical. He was an active member of the Mountain Shadows Presbyterian Church.

Wayne was 100 ½ years old when he died. Just about everyone he knew had preceded him in death. He is survived by his daughters Claudia (Eddie) and Kathy, his granddaughter Amanda and 7 nieces. Mary Ann’s children, Kevin (Star), Jeff (Susan), Susan (Randy), Brian (Anna) and several grandchildren survive him. He leaves behind sisters-in-law Linda Walka and Carol Jean Shepherd who were both a big part of his life over the last 20 years.

Donations can be made to the Casa de la Luz Hospice, the Pima Air & Space Museum or the Arizona Veteran’s Donation Fund in his memory.