Raise your hand if Fauna Wynne Farris is a new name to you. Me, too. New, despite the fact that he and his airplanes showed up twelve times in four Registers (thrice at Tucson, twice at Clover Field, six times at the Grand Central Air Terminal (GCAT), and once at Oxnard Field in Albuquerque, NM [ABQ}, a Register for which there is no Web site, yet). None of his signatures in the four Registers included his full name. Rather, he signed in as "Pat" or "F.W. Pat."

Fauna Wynne Farris was born August 25, 1889 in Lawrence, KS. A signed and notarized affidavit from his mother, that was part of his passport application dated May 10, 1917, attested to the date and location. The photo, left, was also attached to the application. He was 27 years old and the passport was for travel to France where he was to be a ambulance driver for the army (see below).

His 1900 U.S. Census was difficult to find, since his family's surname, due to poor handwriting clarity, was misinterpreted as "Harris." His father, David (age 39), was a plasterer. His mother, Fannie (35), sisters Faye (15) and Ferne (10) lived in Washington, IA.

By the time of the Census of 1910, the family had moved to 315 Everett Avenue, Palo Alto, CA. Farris' father was now doing contract plastering. Faye, the oldest, had left the family and Ferne (22) and Fauna (20) were at home.

On June 5, 1917, Farris was registered for the WWI draft in San Jose, CA, below. At age 27, he was a student at Stanford University. As with many things, the details of his registration are in the fine print. If you look carefully at the diagonal printing at the lower left of this card, the text says, "If person is of African descent, tear off this corner." Some things change; some things remain the same.

In 1917 he received a bachelor's degree (English) at Stanford University preceding his service. One source, the San Diego Union and Daily Bee, April 24, 1917, documented Farris among 25 Stanford men who would be shipped to France as the second unit In the second American ambulance field service. Additional details of his education and military service were found in Aviation Magazine, January 9, 1922, right, after he returned from France.

As of the date of the article he was the owner and operator of the Stockton Aviation Center (since 1919). It appears that he learned to fly while in France.

In 1920, the Census enumerated Farris in Stockton, CA, northwest of San Francisco. I could not tell from the Census form what his living circumstances were, but they were not with his family. He was listed with over a dozen other people, mostly men, in what appeared to be a rooming house or hotel. No street name or address were listed. Perhaps the address was 2049 South California Street. He was coded as single and employed as an "aviator" at an "aviation center."

The Stockton Aviation Center was not much of a facility then as evidenced by this Air Service Information Circular for March 1,1923, left. It was small, wet in rainy weather and had no supplies. Another source I found did say fuel was available.

Nevertheless, Farris advertised his operation in the Stockton Independent, October 6, 1919, right, from the California Digital Newspaper Collection (CDNC).

It would be a safe bet that the "brand new Curtis [sic] plane" mentioned in the ad was a WWI-surplus Curtiss JN-4 Jenny. There are several other similar advertisements exitited at the CDNC link. There some 80 articles overall. They comprised a range of subjects including among others carrying physicians to remote medical emergencies, scenic and stunt flights by Farris, an aerial photography flight to get pictures to use as evidence in a murder trial, and the installation of a new Curtiss OX-5 engine in his Jenny. One filler article noted Farris' arrest for "violating the traffic laws." He was fined $10.

He was married May 14, 1920 after the Census was enumerated to Edna Ingels. At left, the Stockton Independent, May 14, 1920 featured their wedding and illustrated the role of aviation early in their married life (see more details below). Edna also earned her degree in English at Stanford, but accepted residencies in physical therapy and later became a physical therapist. From what I could tell, she specialized in treating the injuries of WWI veterans.

Farris and Edna made a move to the Los Angeles area in 1923. Below, from this 1928 REFERENCE, he is cited as chief pilot and vice president of Pacific Marine Airways. None of the 80 articles at CDNC cited or documented their move.

You never know where a snip of information is going to appear, but the following one showed up on page 30 of this REFERENCE, which details the flying life of fellow Register signer Bobbi Trout. The image is a souvenir of a five-dollar aerial sightseeing flight piloted and signed by Farris. It's not clear from the text of the book if Bobbi was Farris's passenger, although she did learn to fly with Burdett.

The newsclipping below from the Los Angeles Evening Express, June 12, 1923 provides further information. With three other pilots (none of them Register signers), Farris piloted scheduled, seasonal air service between Los Angeles and Avalon harbor on Catalina Island for Pacific Marine Airways. They operated with two converted Curtiss HS-2L flying boats purchased as Navy surplus (A-4237 - another source says 4238 - and A-4251). The article documents the airline's beginning of its second season of operation, and cites a flight by a popular "memory expert." Further information about Pacific Marine Airways is at the link above.

Another view of their airplane and one of the perks for passenger is below. The caption from the NASM Web site states:

The airplane below, "Cherry," would have been A-4237 (or 4238), because it was converted from its Navy configuration to an open passenger configuation. The aircraft in the news photo above would have been A-4251 converted to an enclosed passenger cabin. Neither aircraft appeared in any Register, because they had no landing gear. The pilot, standing with goggles, was not identified. In a few years, in June 1928, Western Air Express took over the operations of Pacific Marine Airways (as well as Standard Air Lines, which figured heavily in Davis-Monthan Register traffic).

An interesting aside to Farris' piloting a seaplane is that he was required to maintain a boat operator's authorization from the Department of Commerce, below. This document certified the replacement of Farris' lost authorization. A similar authorization was required of GCAT piot Dutch Holloway.

Near the takeover of Pacific Marine, an article in the Oxnard Daily Courier (CA), April 27, 1928 reported on a sightseeing flight flown by Farris, left.

As well, about a year later he landed at Oxnard in a "giant International biplane." The biplane was probably an International F-18 Air Coach, which carried four passengers in an enclosed cabin and one more sitting in the open cockpit beside the pilot.

The passenger loading of the aircraft as cited in both articles aligns with the carrying capacity of the F-18. We could guess the airplane belonged to the Union Oil Company and that Farris was one of their corporate pilots. Union Oil operated several company aircraft during 1929-32 into and out of Clover Field, the Grand Central Air Terminal and Parks Airport, flown by various Register pilots. See, e.g. Roy Harding or Warren E. Carey.

Closer to home, we find Farris in the Tucson Register twice flying the 1928 Fairchild F-71 he identified as NC9734 (S/N 605). The first visit was logged Monday, March 18, 1929 at 12:15PM. He carried five passengers, one of whom was J.E Elliott, mentioned in the article above. Based at Los Angeles, they were headed toward Ft. Worth, TX.

His second visit with 9734 was on Thursday, May 9, 1929 at 5:25PM. He carried three passengers, including his wife and L.T. Barneson (see below). They were westbound from El Paso, TX to Phoenix, AZ.

We also find Farris at Tucson for the final time on January 30, 1932 at 1:00PM piloting the 1929 Fairchild F-71 he identified as NC9174 (S/N 646) carrying L.T. Barneson and other unidentified passengers. They were eastbound from Santa Monica, Clover Field on their way to “Florida”. Probably on a vacation flight. At the links for the airplanes you'll discover Barneson's connections to them.

The 1930 Census placed Farris (age 40) at 2206 Veteran Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, about two miles northeast ot Clover Field. He rented his home for $55 per month. He lived with his wife Edna Esther Ingels (34; 1895-1979) and two daughters, Margaret (8; b. 2/6/22) and Nora (2; b. 4/7/28). The had another child, a son Robert (1924–1929). They had been married ten years. They had a housekeeper living with them, Grace Bowers (19). Farris' occupation was coded as "Airplane Pilot" for an "Oil Co."

Between 1931 and 1934, a series of at least eleven immigration forms were issued, which documented Farris' travel solo and with passengers from Agua Caliente, Mexico to San Diego, CA. The flights are tabulated at right (from ancestry.com), each flown in NC9174. One of the passengers on several of these flights was Lionel T. Barneson, who owned NC9174 as one of the assets of his General Petroleum Corporation (Barneson also owned Bankline Oil). Refer to the airplane's link for more information. There you will find, besides its single landing at Tucson, that it is signed five times anonymously in the Register of the Grand Central Air Terminal during 1931-32. None of the dates of Register entries made for Farris or NC9174 correlate to any of the tabulated dates.

I found little hard evidence, other than the Census, news articles and immigration forms, of what employment Farris held in the 1930s. I could tie him to the General Petroleum company through the Santa Monica city directory for 1931, below.

Also, in the Albuquerque Register I mentioned at the top of the page, Farris cited his occupation as pilot for Fairchild Aerial Surveys. That was on August 29, 1936.

To continue, the 1940 Census placed Farris and his family living at 3345 Ledgewood Drive, Los Angeles, just down the hill to the south from the famous Hollywood sign. That residence today is a large, tile-roofed home with a turret and swimming pool. Farris owned the home when it was valued at $10,000. He and Edna had added another daughter to their family, Suzanne, age 9 (b. 11/8/30). The 1934 city directory for Los Angeles documented them having lived at the same address at least for six years. At age 17, eldest daughter Margaret was in her first year of college. His occupation was coded as "Pilot" for an aerial photography company (probably Fairchild Aerial Surveys). His salary was $3,000 per year, good pay for 1940, even though the Census noted that he was unemployed for 22 weeks. Edna was employed as a physio-therapist at $1,800 per year.

As WWII advanced, Farris was registered for the draft April 25, 1942. His registration is below. It was common for all men to be registered, even 52-year olds, and many other Register pilots "of a certain age" had similar draft cards. Interestingly, the date of his registration was just days after fellow Register pilot Jimmy Doolittle and his crews executed their bombing raid on Japan on April 18th. Note he entered "Leukaderma" [sic] as an identifying mark on the back side of his registration. Leukoderma, or vitiligo, is caused by the localized or generalized destruction of skin pigment cells and is marked by sharply circumscribed white spots on the skin surface. Note also that he lived at 1379 Argonne Avenue, Long Beach, and was employed by Douglas Aircraft Company, probably at the Long Beach airport, which was about two miles from his home. He was a slight man at 5'6" and 135 pounds.

The Long Beach city directory for 1943 olace him at 4345 Linden Avenue. I have no other information about his activities during WWII and into the1950s. If you have information, please let me KNOW.

Pat Farris flew West January 7, 1952 from Tulare, CA. He carried Transport pilot certificate T1647. The 1969 city directory for Long Beach, CA listed Edna as the widow of Pat and working as a physical therapist. She lived at 249 Corona Avenue. That residence today is a neat bungalow with palms in front. Edna survived Pat by almost three decades and passed away in 1979.

Dossier 2.1.197

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THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 12/28/19 REVISED: 01/02/20