This film was taken at the Davis-Monthan Airfield, most probably on September 7, 1928. What excitement and wonderful noise there must have been in the air and on the ground just after the lunch hour!

On that day the Register records landings by eight Keystone LB-5A bombers. They arrived en masse from Langley Field, Hampton, VA, signing in at 1:30PM. If you count carefully the airplanes in the film, you will see nine aircraft on the line. In all likelihood one of the pilots neglected to sign the Register. The pilots and crew remained overnight in Tucson, departing on the 8th westbound for Los Angeles, CA. The purpose of this cross-country voyage is presently unknown, but see below. I need to do a little more research on this.

This is a silent film. Use your cursor and the menu bar below the image to control the movie.

You see a mix of activity on this approximately 40 seconds of film. Initially, but very briefly, you see two military types sitting/squatting on the ground. Then gentleman on the left in the campaign hat is Dewey Simpson, Airfield manager at the time. One holds what looks like paperwork. Then you see two Keystone bombers on overhead approach to the old Airfield. One bomber rolls to the line just before engine shut down.

Next the flight line is panned from a fixed position showing the presence of nine aircraft. The film was probably taken just after the aircraft shut down, because you can see the flight crew taking off coveralls and walking around with leather helmets and goggles still on.

Near the end you see several civilian gentlemen sitting in a car partaking of liquid refreshment from a Thermos jug, military personnel (or are they Boy Scouts?) gathered in an informal gaggle, as well as a study of a vintage fire truck and apparatus. Play the film over again, you'll find more!

You can find these airplanes and their pilots and passengers recorded in the Register on pages 56-57 near the bottom of the page. Among the pilots were: H.W. Beaton, William B. Blaufuss (landed at Tucson four times between 1928 and 1932, and once at Clover Field, Santa Monica, CA in 1935), John R. Drumm (landed twice in 1928 and 1933) , Harold Lee George (landed five times between 1926 and 1934), A.H. Johnson, A.J. Kerwin, Cecil G. Sellers and W.R. Wolfinbarger. The film shows the airmen and other personnel milling about the parked aircraft. The names of the pilots and the numbers of their airplanes are shown in the following table.

Look closely, can anyone identify any of the people? Please let me know.

According to aerofiles.com, in 1927 the Keystone Aircraft Corp, Bristol PA, evolved from Huff-Daland Airplane Co. In 1928 Keystone merged with Loening Co., 31st and East River, New York NY. In 1931 it became the Keystone Aircraft Div, Curtiss-Wright Corp, Bristol PA.

From the registration numbers recorded in the Register, viz. 28-4, 28-5, 28-7, 28-8, these were among the first new airplanes purchased by the Army in 1928. They were probably being ferried from their staging point after manufacture to the west coast.

The other four airplanes recorded in the Register are not identified by registration number. It is likely they were numbers less than 10, however. Can anyone identify any of the registration numbers of the airplanes from the squadron numbers visible on the nose of the airplanes in the film (e.g. 35, 36, 46)?

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You may review this and all the film clips on www.dmairfield.org here!

UPLOADED: 04/03/07 REVISED: 04/21/19