The Carson W. Davis family of Manteo commissioned George Rohrbaugh of Manteo to build this SNJ-4 model in
honor of Harland Buckles of Battery Park, Va. In early 1942,
Buckles applied for aviation pilot training and in September 1942,
he left for the University of Georgia for preflight training.
From there he was transferred to NAS New Orleans for primary flight training, then to NAS Pensacola Florida for
advance training. Buckles came to NAAS Manteo with CASU-21 in
August of 1943 and brought with him a SNJ-3 lovingly
called "Flaming Mamie." While at NAAS Manteo, Buckles flew other
aircraft including F6F, SBD, TBM, SB2C, and any other planes that
needed a pilot to get away from storms.
