Harry Dinger landed at Tucson once, on September 17, 1928. He carried four passengers listed as the Honorable W. Frank James, Member of Congress, Major T.W. Hammond, Staff Sgt. Paul Ritter and a Private L'Esperance. They flew the Fokker-Atlantic C-2 transport, number 26-204. From the sources I have examined, it appears he was an "executive" pilot, flying VIPs around the country in transport aircraft (see below).

New York Times, January 13, 1929 (Source: Dinger)

Based at Washington, DC Bolling Field, they were eastbound from San Diego, CA. They remained overnight in Tucson, departing the next morning at 6:00AM for Washington. There was no purpose cited in the Register for their journey. Dinger noted inscrutably in the Remarks column of the Register, "3-d".

The article, right, from the New York Times of January 13, 1929 cites a crash of a C-2 airplane near Washington. Mentioned in the article is Register pilot Lt. H.H. Mills. Dinger was not involved with this crash, having benefitted from losing a coin toss. His luck changed about 11 months later.

Below, from the New York Times of December 20, 2009, an undated photograph of Dinger. Dinger was killed on this day in an airplane crash. The details of the crash were not in his NASM biographical file, this news photo being the only item.

Harry Dinger, New York Times, December 20, 2009 (Source: NASM)

A brief description of the circumstances leading up to his fatal crash, and the names of other people, including VIPs with him in his airplane, is in Time Magazine for Monday, December 30, 1929. The article suggests the airplane he was flying belonged to then Assistant Secretary of War and Register pilot Frederick Trubee Davison.

Below, Dinger's grave marker at the Arlington National Cemetery.

Harry A. Dinger, Arlington National Cemetery Headstone (Source: Dinger)

Further to his life, Dinger wrote and published what amounts to a "dead reckoning" guide for military pilots flying from Mather Field, Sacramento, CA to Redding, CA via Marysville, CA. From the Aeronautical Bulletin (PDF 535KB) of September, 1923 we learn the distance to be 133 miles. He describes such landmarks as "... machinery shed with large blue and white ad on the roof" and "the junction of the Yuba and Feather Rivers". Alternate, forced landing areas were described as, "Landing may be made on large grain field on south side of [Yuba] city". In fine print in this document you will read, "Description reported by Harry A. Dinger, first lieutenant, Air Service, dated June 18, 1923. Airplane piloted by First Lieut. John W. Benton, Air Service." Fellow pilot John Benton was not a Register pilot.

He must have been promoted sometime between September, 1928 and August, 1929. He signed the Register in September '28 as a lieutenant. A brief entry in The Coast Artillery Journal (71:4, October, 1929, p. 319) states, "Congressman W. Frank James of Michigan,Chairman of Military Affairs Committee in the House of Representatives, accompanied by Capt. Harry A. Dinger, Air Corps, arrived in Pensacola, Fla., in a tri-motored Ford monoplane, August 5th, to visit and inspect Fort Barrancas and the Pensacola Naval Air Station. They departed August 6th."

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Dossier 2.2.69

THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 11/09/09 REVISED: 12/04/13