Sitting off the coast of Galveston, Texas on Tuesday morning July 27, 1943 was an unpleasant surprise that was almost totally unknown to all residents along the Louisiana and Texas coast. Those in the fields of aviation or shipping may have had some inside knowledge, but it wasn’t until Houston’s radio stations started predicting a minor tropical depression that people began to make preparations. The problems with those weather reports were that they came too late and they grossly underrated the severity of this storm, which was, in fact a hurricane.

At Bryan Field, a United States Army Air Force training facility located at Bryan, Texas, US Army Air Force personnel were busy tying down all their AT-6 training aircraft to help minimize damage to them by the approaching storm. Students from England spotted this and began to doubt the ruggedness of the AT-6 in which they’d been training. At some point a friendly dare was made. Colonel Duckworth said he’d fly an AT-6 Texan aircraft into the eye of a hurricane and back; the bets were on! It isn’t known how many drinks were wagered that day, but probably more than a few!

For such a flight, there would have to be a navigator aboard; Lt. Ralph O’Hair volunteered and was accepted.

The craft took to the air flying in a south easterly direction. In about 30 minutes they were being buffeted by high winds, but the goal was to penetrate the huge wall of clouds, rain and lightning that stood directly before them, standing at a height of well over a mile, possibly two! With Hair’s navigational skills guiding him, Colonel Duckworth took the plane through the extremely turbulent wall. The little plane shook all over and was tossed like a toy, but Duckworth kept doing what he knew best – flying. After a few minutes of this hell, he broke into the eye of the storm, where an unusual peace awaited them. After a few moments of peace, he guided the plane back into the wall to make an exit. At this point, it’s possible that they realized the importance of what they had done, but there are no real indications of it. At this point, they were just two crazy flyboys out having a good time and winning a bet!

The hurricane would become known as the 1943 Surprise Hurricane.

When the plane landed at Bryan Field and the story was told, the base weather officer, Lt. William Jones-Burdick wanted to fly into it, taking weather-measurement instruments! With Burdick taking the navigator role, Duckworth flew back into the hurricane and winds speeds of up to 132 mph were recorded. He had done what was previously believed to be impossible and he did it in an AT-6 Texan, twice on the same day! Back at the Officers Club, all bets were paid and a new respect was shown the flimsy-looking AT-6.

Following the event, others flew into hurricanes, a few at first, but more as time progressed, both Army and Navy pilots. In 1944, a unit was formed whose duties would include flying into hurricanes and taking readings. Colonel Joseph Duckworth commanded it. In 1946, someone referred to the unit as "hurricane hunters" and the name stuck. Today the Air Force Reserve 53rd Weather Squadron is known as the Hurricane Hunters. They're stationed at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Today, the Hurricane Hunters fly into tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic and Northeastern Pacific Ocean to gage and record weather activity. In the Western Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, they are known as USAF Typhoon Chasers or the USN Typhoon Trackers.

On August 23, 1964, while making its initial penetration into Hurricane Cleo a Lockheed WC 121-N Super Constellation had its port wing tip fuel tank and sections of its port wing skin ripped away by the turbulent winds. As the plane made its exit through the wall, it lost its starboard tip fuel tank and a huge section of its starboard wing. Six crewmembers were injured by the violent winds, but the plane got back to its homebase! It was damaged beyond further use.

On October 12, 1974, while flying into Typhoon Bess in the South China Sea, the United States Air Force lost one of its aircraft; it was a converted WC-130H of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron.