ENGINEER TURNED FLYER/RACER

Stuart Chadwick landed twice at Tucson, flying Waco GXE NC7375. On both landings, on 9/9/1928 and on 9/21/1928, he carried one passenger, William Harding. Mr. Harding was the owner of the Waco.

They were competing in the 1928 NY to Los Angeles Air Race (“On to Los Angeles”). They were part of the Class A race.

“On to Los Angeles” began on September 5th in New York and ended about a week later in LA. Chadwick and Harding’s first landing occurred on their way to Los Angeles (inbound from Lordsburg, NM) during the competition. The second was probably the return trip east after the race.

Their intentions to fly the cross-country race were cited in the Newark Evening News of 9/1/28 ("THREE NEW JERSEY PILOTS IN CROSS-COUNTRY RACE"). The other two pilots were Oliver C. "Boots" LeBoutillier and George C. Hand. Both of them signed the Register as the racers passed through Tucson.

Chadwick was 32 years old at race time, and lived with his parents on a farm in Fairfield, NJ. He graduated from Cornell as a mechanical engineer after interrupting his college work by inlisting in the aviation service during WWI.

After college, commercial flying attracted him. He performed aerial advertising, aerial photography and cross-country and local passenger flying. He was one of the first aviators to do night aerial advertising.. From about 1920-28 he was associated with his brother in a flying school venture, dividing their time between the Freehold (NJ) airfield in the summer and Florida towns in the winter.

Dossier 2.1.69

UPLOADED: 03/20/06 REVISED: