Imagine the excitement in Bakersfield, CA on on Friday, November 5, 1926. Admiral Byrd's North Pole Fokker, NX4204 lands during its 40-city U.S. tour that began October 7th. Follow the airplane link for detailed information about the airplane, its pilots and passengers, and its visit to the Davis-Monthan Airfield three days and four stops after these images were taken. Follow this link to pilot Floyd Bennett for additional images of the airplane and crew.

Below, straight from Gerow's album, are five shots he took of the crowds and action surrounding the welcome of the "Josephine Ford", pilot Bennett and crew to Bakersfield, one of seven cities added to the original itinerary as food/fuel stops along the way. Here, as always, the airplane taxied in, parked among the throng, and speeches were given (note the unknown official in a suit speaking under the wing) to boost aviation in the public eye and to increase awareness of the need for more airports, airmail, passenger routes and other manifestations of progress that aviation would usher in.

Interestingly, the lower left image above shows the Josephine Ford just before touchdown (there is space between the wheels and the ground, visible with a loupe).

Below, crowd control was good this hazy day, with most people remaining at a good distance.

A classic profile of a classic airplane. Sitting in the cockpit and watching that naked Wright "Whirlwind" radial thrumming at arms-length must have been like watching open-heart surgery!

The "Josephine Ford", NX4204, at Bakersfield, CA, November 5, 1926

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Below, two images of Keystone bomber 28-391. The number is just visible on the original image, just under the right bottom wing. This airplane landed at the Davis-Monthan Airfield three times during 1929. Two landings were piloted by Odas Moon, a founding member of the Order of Daedalians.

Keystone Bomber 28-391

Starboard aft view shows the sparse, but strong, engine mount geometry.

Keystone Bomber 28-391

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These candid snapshots of air racers were taken by Mr. Gerow at Los Angeles during the 1933 National Air Races (July 1-4). Scroll below to see what the backs of these snaps look like. Pilots Wittman, Minor and Turner signed the Davis-Monthan Register. They brought none of these airplanes to Tucson, however.

Some 1933 National Air Racers

The backs of the snaps above reveal information noted by Gerow about the airplanes and their pilots. The notation about Wittman's "crude" construction of his airplane was more than prophetic. See Wittman's web page for sad details.

Reverse Sides of 1933 National Air Racers Snapshots

Roscoe Turner took first place in the Bendix Race in 1933 and earned $5,050 cash. He also finished first (24:53:46 over ten laps of a ten mile course) in the Thompson Trophy run, but he was disqualified for cutting pylon number 3. In total, the three Davis-Monthan pilots took 1st, 2nd or 3rd place in most of the race events. The aircraft in the snaps above were the hot jobs that year.

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Below, in the image of three beautiful Curtiss Helldivers coming in over the Long Beach shoreline, you will notice a long flat ship in the distance just above the tail of the far right aircraft in the formation. This is the Navy's first aircraft carrier, USS Langley (CV-1), which was assigned to the Battle Fleet at San Pedro at that time. Langley was later converted to a seaplane tender and was scuttled as a result of battle damage received in early 1942. The Rainbow Pier is on the shoreline below the airplanes.

Curtiss Helldivers Over Long Beach, CA, ca. 1931

Two of the Helldivers above can be identified from the original image using a magnifier. The planes are, left to right: 4, 2 & 5 of VN-13. The Register lists Long Beach as Home Base of Helldivers 2 & 5, which signed in on 6/11/32: Ship #2-- Lt (jg) Paul T. Adams. For Ship # 5--Ensign Glen Jackson landed and signed in sometime between 8/24/31 and 9/4/31 on the same Register page. 

Fast forward almost 80 years to present. What would these pilots see from their Helldivers today from about the same position they were captured in the photograph above? Below is the answer to the question in a contemporary aerial photograph taken by Mike Gerow. Note the red arrow.

Long Beach, CA, March, 2008

The red arrow points to the Villa Riviera. This same building, little changed today except that it is now luxury condos, not a hotel, can be seen as the taller of the two buildings in the lower left corner of the Helldivers photograph above. Click on the Villa Riviera link. The night shot on the home page looks off to Signal Hill on the horizon at upper left. Just on the other side would be Long Beach Airport. Go here to see Signal Hill juxtaposed to the old airport. At the time of the Register, it was covered with oil derricks.

Little else is recognizable in this contemporary photo, except on might divine an outline of the old Rainbow Pier in the geometry of the bow subtended on the right by the Villa Riviera. In 1931 the Villa Riviera was beachfront property. Today it is several hundred landfilled yards from the water. Long Beach Airport is at the upper left. The dock structures in the foreground are also landfill. Lt. Adams and Ensign Jackson would not believe their eyes.

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Below, the U.S. Navy Ford Trimotor, A-7526. The number is clearly readable on the original image. This airplane was a prolific visitor to the Davis-Monthan Airfield, landing there six times during 1928 and 1929. It was also a prolific carrier of passengers, arriving and departing with 34 of them, including the Asst. Secretary of the Navy (David S. Ingalls at the time), over the six trips.

Ford Trimotor A-7526

Another two views of A-7526 are at the Klein Archive available on this site.

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Below, Curtiss-Roberston NC7499, which landed three times at Tucson on 9/9/1928, 8/24/1931 and in late August or early September 1931 (the pilot didn't enter a date: estimated by interpolation). This could be the same airplane pictured with Mr. Gerow on this page.

Curtiss Robertson Robin 1, NC7499

Enhanced Registration Number

Unfortunately, the identities of the man and the children are lost to history. The man might be Saiten, Shelton or Hampton. Does anyone know who they might be?

How, you ask, did we determine the registration number of this airplane? We cropped the rudder and enhanced the image with PhotoShop CS. We teased the numbers from the rudder as seen in the small image at right.

The image above is as the original. Except for the exercise at right to pry the number off the rudder, all the images, in all the Collections on this Web site, are unretouched except for cropping, sizing and optimizing for web presentation.

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The Ryan, below, landed at Tucson twice in June and July 1929. It was flown by Reg Robbins of Robbins and Kelly, who flew this airplane during May of 1929 at Ft. Worth, Texas to break all endurance records for sustained flight. They remained aloft for 172 hours, 31 minutes, but landed when a propeller blade cracked and began vibrating. The lettering on the fuselage between the wing struts commemorates that feat. See a better resolution image at NR1766.

NR1766, Ryan "Ft. Worth"

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Image, below, of one of the great Granville Brothers (GeeBee) racing aircraft, NR2101. Compare this image with the one at the link and you'll be able to see the difference in fuselage length behind the cockpit between this airplane and the so-called R1/R2 hybrid (18" added). Read on this site about the airplane and its manufacturer here.

NR2101 Gee Bee Racer

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THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 11/28/06 REVISED: 12/20/07, 03/25/08