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GEORGE K. SCOTT
GRANDFATHER
George Scott landed at Tucson
on November 12, 1929. He
was solo, flying a New Standard, NC28K. In the Register NC28K is identified as a Bird, but with further research at the NASM, and receipt of the official historic record from the FAA, it is definitely a New Standard D-25. Follow the link to learn about this airplane.
He was inbound from El
Paso, TX on his way to Los Angeles, CA. He landed with
what appears to be a flight of two, the other airplane
being Brunner-Winkle Bird NC48K flown by J.F. Hoffman.
His visit to Tucson is not surprising, since George Klossen
Scott eked out a living early in the Great Depression by
ferrying new Bird aircraft from the factory in Brooklyn,
NY to their new owners around the country. What is surprising is that he was flying a New Standard. He had
been a pilot for about a year when he came to Tucson.
We know a lot about pilot Scott’s life, since his
grandson, Tom Matowitz, has published two articles about
him in two issues of Vintage Airplane magazine (see
PDF files of article 1 and
article 2). Image, right, is from the first article.
Tom tells me this photo was taken by George's mother, in
their yard, the same day he took his first flight lesson
in 1928. Note the good-looking A-1 jacket.
Interestingly,
Tom is an example of a double-dip into the Davis-Monthan
Register. His paternal grandfather was police chief of Cleveland,
OH, and during WWII took a nighttime aerial tour of the city
to inspect the effectiveness of wartime blackout procedures.
His pilot was E.W. "Pop" Cleveland and
they flew in a Beech Staggerwing.
Curious how the Register has a habit of touching so many
interwoven lives.
The Vintage Airplane articles contain images of
Scott, as well as a nice image of his student pilot permit
from 1928. I won’t
repeat the contents of these articles here, since Tom did
a much better job of portraying his grandfather than I ever
could.
George Scott was fortunate to have many good
friends. He was a cautious pilot, preferring to stay on the
ground wishing he was in the air, rather than being in the
air wishing he was on the ground.
He was a, "serious and demanding" flight instructor, holding
himself and his students to high standards of performance.
He was born June 2, 1906 and died May 14, 1975.
---o0o---
Below is an image of George Scott’s pilot license,
limited commercial #4888, courtesy of Tom. Imagine
being 22-23 years old and flying brand new airplanes cross-country;
literally coast-to-coast!
---o0o---
Dossier 2.1.10
THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 05/04/06 REVISED: 05/09/06, 01/18/08, 01/26/08
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