Register pilot Melvin Aavang was born January 2, 1902. He was the son of Ole and Julia Anderson Aavang of Blue Mound, WI.  He married Cleo Libhart on April 2, 1921, in Woodstock, IL.  He died December 12, 1980 in Wisconsin.

He had a life-long interest in things mechanical. Below he is posed at left with a racing Ford that he owned, "and raced at county fairs." The automobile won a "Speedway" race during 1914 (which speedway is unidentified). This photo is obviously taken after that, since Aavang looks much older than 12.

Racing Ford Owned by Aavang, Date & Location Unknown (Source: Aavang)

The caption on the back of this photograph identifies Vern Abbot as the driver in the race (not the gentleman on the right, whose name is Jay Crawford when the mounting tab isn't in the way. Note the exhaust pipe arcing under the cockpit.

Caption, Racing Ford Owned by Aavang, Date & Location Unknown (Source: Aavang)

Melvin Aavang (L) and Son Daryl, Late 1940s (Source: Aavang)

The photographs, documents and news clippings on this page are shared with us by pilot Aavang's son, Daryl (cited right sidebar; pictured at right). The two dozen or so items exhibited form a cross-section of one pilot's life, from learning to fly through transitioning to a ground-based life.

Pilot Aavang started flying circa 1921 when he soloed at the Diggins Flying School in Chicago, IL. He performed the obligatory barnstorming and air mail carrying that were parts of the early Golden Age of flight. Throughout the period he was accompanied and encouraged by his wife.

Cleo Libhart First Flight, July 28, 1920 (Source: Aavang)

Although not a pilot herself, Cleo Libhart was certainly a supporter and participant in things aviation. At left, she takes her first airplane ride in the front cockpit on July 28, 1920. Below, a certificate commemorating her first flight.

Cleo Libhart First Flight Certificate, July 28, 1920 (Source: Aavang)

Cleo Libhart, Ca. 1920 (Source: Aavang)

Below, a partnership contract for the acquisition of his first airplane and the means by which he would learn to fly. Daryl Aavang says the following, "By going through so many old news clippings and photographs, I'm finding out things about his flying days that even I never knew, e.g., who apparently first taught him to fly." This partnership document clarifies that.

Aavang's First Airplane Contract, 1921 (Source: Aavang)

There is no record of the make of this airplane discussed in the contract, but it was probably the Canuck, pictured below. From Google, Ebel Bros. appears to be an automotive garage in Algonquin, IL. It was an agent for Ford and Federal trucks.

Below, pilot Aavang ca. 1921 wearing the badge of the U.S. Aerial Service. He would be about 19 years old in this photograph. He worked as mechanic and part-time pilot for the Service. A cropped version of this original photograph appears on page 80 in chapter 4 of the Forden book in the REFERENCES.

Melvin Aavang ca. 1921 Wearing Badge of the U.S. Aerial Service (Source: Aavang)

Below, from Aavang's photo albums, Aavang's Canuck, his barnstorming aircraft, with three women (Cleo with back toward the camera?) assembled for rides. The advertising space on the fuselage is well-used, with at least eight banner ads for a bike shop, a heating company, two pharmacies and a battery supplier easily visible. The pilot seat is empty, since the photographer was probably Aavang.

Barnstorming, Ca. 1924 (Source: Aavang)

Below, another barnstorming view of a woman and what looks to be the same aircraft.

Barnstorming, Ca. 1924 (Source: Aavang)

Below, the three women posed with the Canuck in the background on a sunny day. Cleo at right.

Barnstorming, Ca. 1924 (Source: Aavang)

Below, the 1927 National Aeronautic Association (N.A.A.) license for pilot Aavang. He would be about 25 years old in this photograph.

Melvin Aavang, N.A.A. License, 1927 (Source: D. Aavang)

Melvin Aavang had a short (about 17 years) but productive period in aviation. During that time, he flew the mail, owned airplanes, gave flight instruction, raced and rubbed elbows with some of the stars of Golden Age aviation. He held Transport license #410, a very low number.

The Continental Divide, July, 1928 (Source: Aavang)

Pilot Aavang landed once at Tucson, on Tuesday, July 10, 1928. He was part of the gaggle of aircraft and pilots landing that morning that participated in the annual Edsel Ford Reliability Tour. Please direct your browser to the link for an overview of the 1928 Tour. He carried a single passenger, C.W. (Clarence) Helm. Based in Elgin, IL, they were westbound from El Paso, TX, as were the rest of the Tour participants. The were flying in Swallow NC6097. You can view a brief motion picture of the Tour activities at Tucson on the morning of the 10th at the link.

Photograph, left, is an interesting enroute image of the Continental Divide during the Tour. It is not identified if this was the crossing of the Divide in New Mexico on the leg from El Paso to Tucson westbound, or in Montana from Missoula to Great Falls eastbound. Either way, from the position of the wing, it was taken probably by passenger Helm. Performance characteristics of his Swallow were robust enough to allow clearance of the mountains.

When they arrived at Tucson, he and passenger Helm were in the airplane below. From the photo next down, the location of the photograph is San Diego, CA the next day (July 11th), because of the "T.C." (RYAN) on the hangar at right rear with two men standing on top of it. They wore race number 17. Pilot Aavang would be in the rear cockpit. They ultimately placed 15th overall in the Tour.

J-5 Swallow NC6097 on the Ground at San Diego, CA, July, 1928 (Source: Aavang)

A wider view of Ryan Airport, San Diego is below. Air Tour aircraft and crowds are present. Note in the distance "T.C. Ryan Airport" on the hangar at center. The men are not on the roof.

Ryan Airport, July 11, 1928 (Source: Aavang)

Aavang posed with at least one other Reliability Tour airplane. Below, he and Mrs. Aavang are in front of Frank Hawks' Ford Trimotor NC3443. The Trimotor is also pictured at the 1928 Air Tour page linked above. Please direct your browser to pilot Hawks and the airplane's Web pages for further details. This image is blurred, but the Texaco livery is clearly visible on the fuselage. The low viewpoint of the camera suggests it was a top view range finder type, with the camera held at waist level.

Melvin & Cleo Aavang Sometime During the 1928 Ford Reliability Tour, Exact Date & Location Unknown (Source: Aavang)

Below, contemporaneously (note the newspaper and the box on the ground under the airplane) Cleo Aavang posed at left with a woman friend in front of the same airplane. The woman might have taken the photo above, and Aavang the photo below. Does anyone RECOGNIZE the other woman?

Cleo Aavang Sometime During the 1928 Ford Reliability Tour, Exact Date & Location Unknown (Source: Aavang)

Elgin Courier, July 28, 1927 (Source: Aavang)

Part of Aavang's flying life was spent carrying passengers. At left, a news article from 1927 highlights an early adoption of air travel for business purposes. A quick morning flight from Elgin, IL to Grand Rapids, MI enabled a construction supplier to complete a noon-time meeting and to return to Elgin all in the same day, as well as allow Aavang to meet another obligation that afternoon.

Unfortunately, we do not have Aavang's pilot log for 1927, or for 1928 when he participated in the Ford Reliability Tour cited above. However we do have one for January 1, 1929 through April 5, 1930. You may download the logbook at the link (PDF 8.3MB, 17 pp.; it will open in a new window). He began this log with 2,510 hours in the air, consisting of 9,400 flights across 225,900 miles. He flew thirteen aircraft during the 16 months of this log as tabulated below. None of his aircraft appear in the Register.

Below, from the Klein Archive, is a photograph of NC3257, the Ryan Brougham tabulated in the table above. It was named the "Pride of Pittsburgh." It rests among what looks like an admiring crowd. The annotation on the original image reads, "Casper P. Mayer’s First Ryan, Mahoney-Ryan B-1, Wright R-790 (J-5-9)  220 HP, C4398  c/n 71, Mr. Mayer, Walt Chambers and Mayer’s pilot, J. Warren Smith.  Mayer Field Bridgeville, PA 1928." The c/n should be 39. The caption further misidentifies this airplane as NC4398. Regardless, it appeared, indeed, to be a festive day.

Mahoney-Ryan B-1 NC3257 (Source: Klein Archive)

Mahoney-Ryan B-1 NC4398, Date & Location Unknown (Source: SDAM via Web)

At right, another photo of the "Pride of Pittsburgh" from the SDAM photo stream online. The man looks like pilot J. Warren Smith, who was Casper P. Mayer's personal pilot. This same photo is among the two exhibited of Smith at the Klein Archive on this site.

Aavang ended this log with 2,738 total flight hours, having flown these aircraft for 228 hours over 16 months. This is not a lot of time for a pilot engaged in mostly commercial activities. Most of his flights were less than an hour, indicative of student training or sightseeing rides. He noted in his log that the Waco suffered wing damage during an instructional flight on June 21, 1929.

Site visitor Dennis Parks found a photograph, below, of the obscure Hoff Cabin, NC575, tabulated above.

The Hoff Cabin (NC575) Among Automobiles in a Used Car Lot, Ca. 1929 (Source: Parks)

Mr. Parks says about the picture, "The picture comes from the October, 1929 issue of Aeronautics illustrating an article on selling cars and planes together. The registration number shows on the rudder thus I was able to check for the registration which listed it as the Hoff Cabin powered by a Locomobile engine. A search led me to your posting of the Aavang logbook. It is great to learn that this big transport did fly, but I cannot locate any information about it."

The Ta-Ho-Ma, Blackhawk Flying Club and Hoff Cabin have sparse Web presence. Aavang's log states that he flew the three aircraft a total of five times in March and April, 1929. He flew NC536 "To Air Show" on March 23rd. Below, an advertisement for the Ta-Ho-Ma.

Advertisement for Ta-Ho-Ma, Popular Aviation & Aeronautics, April, 1929 (Source: Magazine)

Site visitor Pete points out that the following link shows another photograph of the Ta-Ho-Ma. It was a biplane of standard design. Does anyone KNOW about or have additional photographs of the Ta-Ho-Ma NX475 or NC536, or of the Hoff Cabin NC575?

According to aerofiles.com, the Blackhawk Flying Club was a two-place open biplane designed and built in 1929. It was powered by a Curtiss C-6 engine and first flown on June 14, 1929 by Melvin Aavang. It was built by George Kungle, John S Stewart, and Albert Worth who worked for the Ta-Ho-Ma company. Their plane was most likely infleunced by that design. Aavang's 9469 was the only one built and flown.

If pilot Aavang flew 9469 on June 14th, he did not log that flight. Rather, he logged a single flight of 1 hour and 45 minutes in the airplane on June 30th. He traveled 120 miles with it and noted, "Test Hop 'Blkhawk'." Does ANYONE have photographs of this airplane? Below is page 4 from his pilot log which records when he flew that test.

Melvin Aavang Pilot Log, June-July 1928 (Source: Aavang)

Aavang may hold a record among Register pilots for test flying the rarest of aircraft.

Moving ahead a few years, below, Melvin Aavang with daughter Marilyn and son Daryl, ca. 1935.

Melvin Aavang With Daughter Marilyn and Son Daryl, ca. 1935 (Source: Aavang)

Son, Daryl, says, "I don't remember when my father actually gave up flying, but am fairly sure he never piloted an airplane after finding work at Borg's in Delavan, Wis. [currently a designer and manufacturer of electronic switches and other electronics for various industries] in 1937....  I do have a very hazy memory of being taken to visit him in the mid-1930's after he had been injured in a plane crash (he had a broken collar bone), and I had the impression that he quit flying at that time, although he always remained interested in aircraft and flying in general until his death in 1980 [December 12]."

Below, a photograph of a Curtiss Seagull on Wonder Lake in McHenry County, IL. The photo is dated 1938.

Curtiss Seagull, Wonder Lake, IL, Ca. 1938 (Source: Aavang)

Below, the caption on the back of the photo.

Caption, Curtiss Seagull, Wonder Lake, IL, Ca. 1938 (Source: Aavang)

Daryl says about the photo and the caption, "... the reverse side shows several aviation ID numbers written in dad's handwriting, and it made me wonder if he had piloted any of those planes, which would give the lie to my belief that he quit flying by 1937.  I still don't think he flew after ... his new job, but I guess it's a possibility."

Interestingly, the six airplane registration numbers in the photo caption tabulate as follows.

This tabulation looks more like an inventory than it does a listing of Seagulls flown by pilot Aavang. It looks like technical notes made in order to understand the population of late-1920s seaplanes manufactured by Curtiss. In the absence of a pilot log book to prove the contrary, we'll never know.

Among the population of Golden Age flyers, Aavang and his wife were long-time friends with fellow Register pilot Art Goebel, himself a Golden Age pioneer who won the famous (or infamous, depending on your source) Dole Race in August, 1927 by flying across the Pacific Ocean from Oakland, CA to Honolulu, T.H. Please direct your browser to Goebel's link for details. Your Webmaster wrote a book about Goebel and his navigator's win entitled "Winners' Viewpoints."

Goebel shared photos and letters with the Aavangs. Below, an early photo of a Pusher that Goebel used for flight instruction at Santa Monica, CA. An eager student is at the controls.

Goebel Student in Pusher, 1923 (Source: Aavang)

Below, the caption on the back of the photo above. "Happy by-gone Days" indeed. Note the shadows of people in the foreground. Compare this line of hangars with that shown in the photograph titled, ""Woolaroc" at Santa Monica, CA, 1929" on Goebel's biography page. Scroll about halfway down the page to find it.

Goebel Student in Pusher, 1923, Caption (Source: Aavang)

Below, a nice juxtaposition of photography and correspondence. First, a color photo dated October, 1968. Art Goebel is at left, then Mrs. Aavang and an unidentified gentleman. They stand between the grave markers of Calbraith Perry Rodgers, Sr. (L) and Calbaith Perry Rodgers, Jr., which places their location in the Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburgh, PA. Melvin Aavang is probably the photographer. Goebel is 73 years old in this photo. He was 32 when he flew the Pacific.

Art Goebel (L), Cleo Aavang and Unidentified, October, 1968 (Source: Aavang)

Below, a note penciled by Goebel to the Aavangs in December, 1968. It discusses the photography done at Pittsburgh.

Note from Art Goebel to the Aavangs, December, 1968 (Source: Aavang)

Below, the promised follow-up letter from Goebel to the Aavangs dated January 3, 1969. It references the photographs that were taken in the cemetery and expounds on Goebel's photography hobby.

Letter from Art Goebel to the Aavangs, January 3, 1969 (Source: Aavang)

In a day when emailing .jpg files is commonplace, how profound to read about the exchange of photographs and negatives in a letter that spans the Golden Age to the Space Age. It was typed (on a Selectric typwriter?) by a man who flew across the Pacific in a single-engined, fabric covered airplane, and received by a couple who lived the barnstorming circuit and air mail service. There are few moments in time like this one. It's tempting to wonder where Goebel's photo "books" are today. Does anyone KNOW?

In his later life, when, "...the OX5 thunder echoes no more," Aavang was remembered locally for his aviation experiences.Below, a group photograph from 1966 commemorating the meeting of the Central Division of the air mail service. Aavang is second from left, rear row. Mrs. Aavang is in the front row in the white dress, third from the left.

Air Mail Service, Central Division, 1966 (Source: Aavang)

Below, courtesy of the San Diego Aerospace Museum Flickr Stream (SDAM), is a photograph similar to the one above, only picturing just the pilots. Aavang is in the back row, far left.

Air Mail Service, Central Division, 1966 (Source: SDAM)

Below, from August 16, 1967 an unsourced (Burlington, WI) article, Aavang is seated, second from left, hangar flying with air mail service pilots.

Airmail Pioneers News Article, Ca. 1967 (Source: Aavang)

Below, an unsourced 1968 article that commemorates his air mail service.

Melvin Aavang Air Mail Service, Ca. 1968 (Source: Aavang)

On the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Air Mail, Aavang received a public service award for his work, below.

U.S. Air Mail Service Award, May 15, 1968 (Source: Aavang)

Below, a news article from the June 17, 1970 Harvard Herald. It summarizes his air mail service and barnstorming days, and refers specifically to Aavang's 1927 NAA license pictured above.

June 17, 1970 Harvard Herald (Source: Aavang)

Pilot Aavang was a member of the OX-5 Club as confirmed by his membership certificate, below, signed by Art Goebel.

Membership Certificate, OX-5 Club (Source: Aavang)

Below, the Aavang gravesite at Blue Mounds,WI. About the image of the airplane carved on the stone son Daryl says it, "... shows an airplane which I traced from a photograph, after dad died. My mother had especially wanted it shown on the headstone because the plane was one I think he had flown."

Aavang Gravesite,West Blue Mounds Lutheran Cemetery, Blue Mounds, WI (Source: Aavang)

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Dossier 2.1.194

THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 01/17/11 REVISED: 03/31/12, 01/07/15