John P. Ingle Jr.

INGLE John P. Ingle, Jr. died April 16, 2007 at Penney Retirement Community at age 96. Born December 17, 1910 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he had been a Jacksonville resident since 1921. His father, John P. Ingle, Sr. was president of the Jacksonville Traction Company, overseeing the transition from streetcars to buses, and later General Secretary of Associated Industries of Florida. John Jr. was an Eagle Scout in Troop 7 of the Boy Scouts, and was a member of the first graduating class from Robert E. Lee High School. He continued his educational pioneering by being a member of the first graduating class from the Guggenheim School of Aeronautics at Georgia Tech, receiving a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering in 1932, while also receiving a commission as an Ensign in the Naval Reserve. He was employed that year by Eastern Air Lines, serving at the Charleston, S.C. airport, Miami airport and City Sales Office, New York City Ticket Office, and Eastern's Home Office in the General Motors Building. In 1935 he transferred to Jacksonville as an outside Salesman, soon being promoted to City Sales Manager. In 1939 he married Elizabeth Fleming Hamilton, granddaughter of Florida Governor Francis P. Fleming. With war clouds looming in 1940, he was called into active duty in the U.S. Navy and served for six years before and during WWII, serving successively as Commanding Officer of an antisubmarine patrol yacht in the Caribbean and South Atlantic, then as C.O. of two newly constructed destroyer escort ships in the South and Western Pacific, earning two Bronze Star Medals with Combat "V" for specific services cited as heroic and meritorious. Returning after the war to Jacksonville and Eastern Air Lines as District Sales Manager - N.E. Fla., then Director of Community Relations - East Florida, he was promoted in 1970 to District Manager of both Sales and Service, with offices at the new Jacksonville International Airport. On reaching mandatory retirement age in 1975 he retired from EAL after 43 years, during which time EAL became the second largest airline in the free world as measured by number of passengers carried per year. Active in community affairs, Mr. Ingle was elected and served as president of the Jacksonville Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Rotary Club of Jacksonville, the local chapters of the Navy League of the U.S., the Florida Public Relations Assn., Travelers Aid Society, and the International SkŒl Club (passenger travel trade organization). He served for many years as a Board Member of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, being active in its Aviation and Armed Services Committees and its Committee of 100. He was also an officer or Board Member of the Sales Executive Club, the Civic Round Table, the Military Order of the World Wars, Reserve Officers Assn., and on the Advisory Committee of the North Florida Council of Boy Scouts. Before retirement he held memberships in the Seminole Club, the River Club, and the Florida Yacht Club. After WWII he had continued to be active in the Naval Reserve, holding administrative offices in two squadrons of the NARTU Weekend Warrior program at NAS JAX, and was Assistant Wing Staff Commander for Logistics of AWS 74 for ten years until his retirement from the reserve program in 1959, with the retired rank of Rear Admiral, USNR. Following his EAL retirement in 1975 Mr. Ingle focused his interests especially on local aviation history, becoming an ardent researcher, collector, and writer. He served two years as president of the Jacksonville Historical Society, which published his book "Aviation's Earliest Years in Jacksonville, 1878-1935". He also was a member of the Beaches Area Historical Society and the Florida Historical Society, and some of his book reviews and edited letters were published in the FHS Quarterly. He served on the Board of the Florida Aviation Historical Society, was the Charter President of its Jacksonville Laurie Yonge Chapter in 1984-85, and was its Chapter Historian and Advisory Board member. Sharing a hobby of world travel with his wife Betty, he was a member of the International Circumnavigators Club and a former Board Member of its Florida Chapter, both he and Betty having completed two aerial circumnavigations of the globe and he, counting navy travel, having traveled to more than 100 countries also became an active member of the Century Travel Club. He was invited to become an Affiliate member of the Retired Eastern Pilots Association, wrote stories published in its quarterly magazine, and regularly attended its annual conventions. He also contributed writings to the quarterly newsletter of the OX-5 Pioneer Pilots, of which he was a Historian Member, and continued his membership in the Association of Naval Aviation and the World Airline Historical Association. In 1988 he was elected to membership in Eastern's (Rickenbacker) Hat in the Ring Hall of Fame by the Board of the 8,500 member Eastern Air Lines Retirees Association, and was a charter member and organizer of its JAX Wings Club Chapter. He was an Alumni member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity. Mr. Ingle was a communicant of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd where he had been a longtime vestryman, served two years as Senior Warden, and was for ten years Discussion Leader of its Men's Bible Class. Continued to next column.