April 9, 2015

Hy Cohen

Hy Cohen was born in 1926 in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in a largely Jewish neighborhood, later moving to East New York. His father had an extraordinary life story, running away from Russia at age eleven, traveling across Europe to London, serving in the British Army in South Africa during the Boer War, and eventually emigrating to America, where he worked as a presser of women's clothing. Determined never to take welfare, he worked two jobs to support a large family. Hy was one of twelve children his father had, wanting a big family; several siblings died young. Hy remembered the hardships of the Great Depression only faintly, as his father kept the household fed and working.

From a very young age Hy loved airplanes, inspired in part by his older brother Saul. He read about World War One pilots, built model airplanes, and rented bicycles to ride out to Floyd Bennett Field. As a teenager he worked in a box factory and then as a theater usher, where he met performers such as Bing Crosby, Bob Crosby, and Kay Kyser. His brother, a director of flight operations, helped draw him to Spartan School of Aeronautics in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Hy trained as an apprentice mechanic. During World War Two he served in the Army Air Forces, training as a flight engineer on the B-17 and later the B-29, attending schools in Amarillo and at the Lockheed factory in California, though the war ended before he went overseas.

Hy met his wife, Edna, at a dance in Tulsa while at Spartan, and they married in 1950. He built a long aviation career, working for the Spartan Aircraft Company and rising to general foreman and assistant superintendent, then moving with the company to Harlingen, Texas. After the business was sold to a Dallas company and eventually closed, his resume led him to General Dynamics, from which he retired. Deeply devoted to his work and family rather than organized activities, he was also active as an assistant scoutmaster in the Boy Scouts. He treasured meeting one of his heroes, racing pilot Jimmy Doolittle, and named the day he first soloed an airplane as one of the happiest of his life. Hy and Edna raised three children and had seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

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