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Donald Walker landed at Tucson once, Wednesday, February 5, 1930 at 2:00PM. He carried as passenger George Sherwood. They arrived eastbound from Los Angeles, CA in the Lockheed Vega NC194E. Based at Detroit, MI, they remained on the ground 45 minutes before continuing to El Paso, TX. The paragraph below cites a possible reason for Walker's trip through Tucson.
I know very little else about pilot Walker. His NASM biographical file (cited, left sidebar) contains a single, biographical paragraph that appeared in Air Transportation, July 19, 1930. It states,
"Donald F. Walker, manager, The National Glider Association, Inc., Detroit, Mich. Mr. Walker after varied experience in the army, newspaper field, publicity and with chambers of commerce throughout the United States, was selected by Edward S. Evans as executive in charge of initiating, organizing and building the former Evans Glider Clubs of America, no the National Glider Association. He has conducted a national educational campaign to the point where the average citizen knows more of gliding than he did himself in August, 1928. He has formed 63 clubs with a total membership of close to 2,000 and believes that a goal of one million can be reached provided the cooperation of the industry is placed squarely behind the movement. Mr. Walker, in his experiences in the industry, has seen service with the Huff-Daland Dusters, Inc. (Delta Air Service), and together with Travis Oliver planned the Monroe, La., airport." |
Site visitor Regina Gibson shares the following page from one of Walker's pilot log books. It is a somewhat confusing page, because he notes at the beginning of the page a date of February 19, 1930 and then changes to February 6th right after that and then to February 3rd right after that. He was not a meticulous record keeper. Neither is an entry present for February 5th, which is the date of his landing at Tucson. His entry for February 6th encompasses his voyage from Los Angeles to El Paso. We are left to assume Tucson is included in that itinerary.
Donald Walker, Pilot Log, February 19-March 11, 1930 (Source: Gibson)
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Regardless, he was flying from Los Angeles to El Paso in an unidentified Lockheed Vega. No mention is made of passenger Sherwood. Walker appears to be a pilot who filled in his log after the fact, from memory, losing much detail in the process. The good news is we have a page from his pilot log book, which, when combined with his entry in the Davis-Monthan Register, provides circumstantial evidence of his itinerary through Tucson.
We learn also from this page that he held transport license 2178, and had accumulated 1,202 flight hours as of March, 1930. The next page of his log book has him flying at least two other Lockheed Vegas, NC892E and NC7973 (not a Register airplane). He also logged nine hours in a Stearman 4-C, NC8839, S/N 4002, flying from Detroit to Wichita, KS.
On April 6, 1930, he noted in his log that he made $500 in six hours giving passenger hops in NC892E. About five weeks later he wrecked this airplane in Canada on May 14th.
I have no further information. If you can help, please use the contact in the right sidebar.
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Dossier 2.1.162
THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 01/04/12 REVISED: 03/19/12
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