J.E. Briggs, After August 1, 1959 (Source: U.S. Air Force)
|
James E. Briggs was born May 5, 1906. From the rank of 2nd lieutenant, which he was when he landed three times at the Davis-Monthan Airfield, hewas promoted to lieutenant general in an Air Corps and U.S. Air Force career that ran from 1928-1963.
Briggs' first visit at Tucson was Saturday, December 27, 1930 at 11:00AM. He was solo in Boeing P-12-B 29-437. All three of his landings were solo, and most were between San Diego, CA Rockwell Field and Riverside, CA March Field and return from Tucson. Only his second landing, Flying a Boeing P-12-B, 30-30,on Saturday, June 18, 1932 at 10:00AM, was to a place farther east: San Antonio, TX Kelly Field.
Briggs' official U.S. Air Force biography, with photograph, right, is at the link and won't be copied here. A quote from that biography places context around his landings at Tucson, as follows:
"After his transfer to the U.S. Air Corps in 1930, Lieutenant Briggs joined the 95th Pursuit Squadron at Rockwell Field near Coronado Calif. He stayed with the 95th through its move in 1931 to March Field, Calif., and until he received orders in 1934 to attend the 10-month course at the Air Corps Technical School, Chanute Field, Ill." |
Another citation that places context around his landings is the following from Popular Aviation (PA) magazine, March 1931.
Popular Aviation Magazine, March 1931 (Source: PA)
|
Murad Cigarettes (Source: Web)
|
Stranger things probably happened to Golden Age pilots and aircraft. But for me, learning about the "Murad" was the most interesting. Murad was a brand of Turkish cigarette, valued for its high quality.
Notice, right, the aviation theme on the product artwork.
Briggs' third landing, on Wednesday, June 22, 1932 at 10:00AM, was in an unidentified Thomas-Morse O-19B. Below, an image of the O-19B type from aerofiles.com.
Thomas-Morse O-19B Type (Source: aerofiles.com)
|
Briggs flew West on February 25, 1979, age almost 73. He was a member of the Order of Daedalians (logo, upper left sidebar). He has a sparse Web presence, with a high-quality photograph at the link, and with short biographies at Wiki, and the U.S. Air Force link, above.
---o0o---
THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 07/30/14 REVISED:
|