The People of the Davis-Monthan Airfield Register
Clarence, the benevolent angel in "It's a Wonderful
Life", would certainly go out of his way for each of
the thousands of people that passed through and signed their
names in the Register at Tucson. Indeed, as I do the research,
look at their faded photographs, and build their Web pages,
I relearn each day that all of them had wonderful lives that
would have left unacceptable holes in humanity if they had
not lived.
Use the dropdown menus below to select pilots or passengers
from the database, and to learn about their lives.
Search the Database
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Pilots and passengers alike were intrepid, early adopters
of flight, experiencing relatively primitive conditions of
comfort, scheduling, aircraft reliability, federal regulation
and accommodations. Aviation was different in the late 20's
and into the 30's from what it is today. Most cockpits were
open, navigation aids and charts were few, and fuel stops
and commercial housing were just organizing to support the
flying population.
Despite the conditions, from reading pilots' marginal notes
in the register they were flying for pleasure, on business,
participating in national air racing events, early air transport
operations, military logistical maneuvers, checking strip
maps, training, ferrying aircraft and, probably, many other
reasons known only to themselves.
A special category of people, the U.S. Border Patrol, is also represented in the Register by ten officers who appeared in its pages briefly during the six months of March through September, 1927.
Please understand that
the majority of pilots and passengers have no additional
information YET associated with them. The reason being that
I just do not know who they were, or I just haven't had time
or resources to research them. If you want to kickstart your
journey through my site, please check
"What's New on the
Site" (link, below, on each Web page) to see links
to pilots and passengers I have recently uploaded. Follow
those links for examples of the types of extended information
I envision for all the people on this site.
Clearly, when most pilots flew, it was generally with someone
else on board. Solo flight comprised about 36% of landed traffic
(1,328 logged flights recorded no passengers; 2,361 visits
were with passengers). Military pilots landed solo 818 times
(43% of military flights); women 34 (57%), and civilian pilots
landed solo 476 times (28% of total civil flights).
Military logistical and training missions used the
airfield on numerous occasions. The interbellum was a learning
period for the Army Air Corps. How do you move large numbers
of military aircraft from one place to another in the country?
How to train pilots in cross-country skills? How to use military
aircraft, in times of need, for civilian crises such as floods,
blizzards or medical emergencies?
You can access information about any of the 1,976 unique
pilots who signed the register, or any of the 2,061 unique
passengers who rode with them. ALL their names are listed
in the dropdown menus above, because YOU, the site user, might
know of them and I would like you to share what you know
with me via CONTACT
US, or via the FORM provided. With your permission,
I'll add your information to the Web site with appropriate
credit to you.
BUSINESS PILOTS
Specific to business use, several early air transport companies
frequented the Davis-Monthan
Airfield. Among them American
Airlines (the inaugural sleeper service landed there), Scenic
Airways (later Grand Canyon Airlines), and Standard Air Lines. Click
here to view a PDF file of a manuscript describing Standard
Air Lines.
Numerous business people flew the lower terrain both ways
between San Diego, Tucson and El Paso to and from the east. Pancho
Barnes, and her passenger, flew a weather-fraught voyage
with which even contemporary aviators may relate. Oil company
representatives, airplane manufacturers and dealers ferrying
new aircraft, and politicians frequented the airfield. Many
were pilots themselves; some were passengers in aircraft flown
by others.
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UPLOADED: 05/05 REVISED: 02/12/06, 02/14/06, 06/13/13
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