How very neat! Hal Eberle claims that his life, mostly spent with Mary, falls into four 21-year segments: schools, the Air Force, Hughes and retirement. As youngsters, Hal and Mary met in the violin section of their junior high orchestra in New Albany, Indiana. In senior high, they walked to school together and were once called to face the principal after holding hands in the hallway. Oh, and Mary’s father was the principal!
Graduating in wartime 1942, Hal enlisted in the Army and started classes at Indiana University, while Mary worked. She had won a state-wide typing contest and though she does not remember her speed, her absolute accuracy was a most desirable ability when typing five carbon copies. The next year Mary enrolled at Indiana U; during her third year her mother died, so Mary returned home to work and keep house for her father and younger sister.
Enlisting in the Army as a private, Hal was accepted into a three year, wartime program at West Point. Shortly before graduation he hurt his knee playing fun football. Three hours after his graduation ceremony, with Hal on crutches, he and Mary were the first in line to be married in the West Point chapel. As is traditional, they exited the chapel under crossed sabers.
In 1947 Hal was one of twenty five percent of his class to enter the then-new U. S. Air Force. He completed his pilot training and was in a “pilot pool” in Dayton, Ohio, before heading for graduate school at Princeton. He earned master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering and Aeronautical Engineering. Mary, meanwhile, was equally productive – two babies.
At Edwards Air Force Base, Hal was an instructor of stability and control in the Test Pilot School. Mary enjoyed the life of an officer’s wife. She taught piano for three years, and their third child was born. While researching flight data, Hal met a young pilot who had exemplary skills in collecting data as a test pilot. They became friends, and as back-door neighbors, the Eberles and Erma and Fitz Fulton raised their children together for eight years. That friendship continues here, in Lakeview.
Retiring from the Air Force after 21 years, and living in Woodland Hills, Hal joined the Hughes Aircraft missile department as Manager of Test and Operations on the Maverick program. “Smart bombs” were new. It was Hal’s responsibility help “invent” the Maverick, to develop a test and training program and then teach pilots in 19 countries, mostly NATO members, how to use it. He assisted the USAF in Thailand and the Israel Air Force in two wars. He and Mary lived in Brussels for four years, representing Hughes Aircraft Co. at bases throughout Europe..
In 1988 the Eberles retired. “Doing nothing” included owning a condo in Mammoth, where on their 50th wedding anniversary they celebrated by skiing. They enjoyed travel and gardening; now Hal writes and Mary is helping edit his 850 page autobiography. Hal and Mary, we welcome both of you to the UVTO family and salute you as Noteworthy Neighbors.