Harry Bogusch, September, 1928, Los Angeles, CA (Source: Lindsley)

Harry Bogusch landed twice at Tucson. Both times he identified himself as a Lt. Commander in the U.S. Navy. His first landing, Friday September 23, 1927 at 11:15AM. He arrived from San Diego, CA. His visit was for an auspicious occasion. He flew the Navy Consolidated NY-2, A-7498 to greet Charles Lindbergh when he visited Tucson during his national goodwill tour following his trans-Atlantic flight the previous May. Please direct your browser to Lindbergh's page to learn the details of his visit to Tucson.

Bogusch was one of five Navy pilots and aircraft sent to Tucson from San Diego for the greeting. He carried a single passenger that morning, identified only as "Burns." He noted in the remarks column of the Register, "Your field is excellent."

Bogusch and Burns, as well as the other Navy planes and pilots, remained overnight at Tucson, departing the next morning at 6:45, just an hour before Lindbergh departed. It is not clear if one or more of them accompanied Lindbergh for a short distance as he made his way east toward Lordsburg, NM with the "Spirit of St. Louis," the Ryan NX-211.

About a year later, on Tuesday, August 14, 1928, we find Bogusch at Tucson again at 11:45AM. He was westbound this time from El Paso, TX to San Diego in the Martin T-4M1, A-6310. He carried a single passenger identified as AMM Coulson. They remained on the ground for one hour before continuing west. Bogusch noted in the remarks column of the Register, "Ferry."

About a month later, Bogusch participated with the Navy at the National Air Races (NAR) held at Mines Field, Los Angeles in 1928. The photograph, right, is cropped from a panorama of Navy pilots and their aircraft that is exhibited at the dmairfield.org page for the 1928 NAR. If you follow the link to the photo, Bogusch appears over the hypen between "Mines Field" and "Los Angeles." Another photograph of him is on fellow Naval Academy classmate and Register pilot Frederick Trapnell's page.

Contributor Miller (cited, right sidebar) says about her uncle, "H.R. Bogusch, Sr., 1887-1934 was a graduate of the US Naval Academy, Class of 1911.  Initially he worked with submarines and was involved in two disasters: loss of the F-4 in Hawaii in 1915 and the H-3 going aground in 1916.  He was picked in 1926 to attend flight school at Pensacola and was stationed at Long Beach and San Diego at different times along with shore duty in Washington D.C.  He died young of a heart attack in Washington D.C. [see below]. Apparently he had an awesome personality and was the family hero."

According to the Navy Directory of 1925 (cited, left sidebar), Harry Bogusch held the rank of Lt. Commander as of that year through at least 1928 when he visited Tucson.

The Oakland Tribune (CA), June 27, 1929, captured Bogusch and a group of Navy officers flying maneuvers from San Diego, CA to Oakland. The article is below. They flew in 18 Martin bombers. Only one of the pilots left evidence of their presence. T.R. Cockcroft signed in the Oakland Airfield Register on June 26th flying the Martin A-7679 (according to Joe Baugher's site, this airplane was a Boeing F3B-1). Cockcroft wrote "Cross Country" as the purpose of his flight. He signed out on the 27th and identified his destination as San Diego.

The Oakland Tribune (CA), June 27, 1929 (Source: newspapers.com)

Apropro his other Navy assignments, including his shore duty at Washington, DC, are the following articles from the Bureau of Aeronautics Newsletter (BuAeroNews). The first from May, 1929 cites his assignment to the Bureau fo Aeronautics located in Washington.

H.R. Bogusch Assignment, May 29, 1929 (Source: Webmaster)

In December, 1929, he made a field trip to Hampton Roads from Anacostia to test a new compass.

Bureau of Aeronautics Newsletter, January 2, 1930 (Source: Webmaster)

Further articles from the BuAeroNews capture his assignments into 1934. At sometime between 1930 and 1933 he was transferred to shipboard.

Bureau of Aeronautics Newsletter, January 14, 1934 (Source: Webmaster)

In March, he was transferred back to Washington, DC.

Bureau of Aeronautics Newsletter, March 15, 1934 (Source: Webmaster)

In July, he was assigned to Maintenance Division.

Bureau of Aeronautics Newsletter, July 1, 1934 (Source: Webmaster)

The Newsletter of September 15, 1934 recorded his death on the evening of September 7th. The cited date of interment was obviously a typographical error.

Bureau of Aeronautics Newsletter, September 15, 1934 (Source: Webmaster)

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THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 12/15/11 REVISED: 01/08/24