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LAWRENCE C. ELLIOTT
Department of Commerce Pilot
Pilot Elliott was born in Greenville, TX on November 16,
1901. He was educated at Texas A&M, and from this
institution he was appointed a second lieutenant in the Army
Air Corps on July 5, 1924. He graduated the following
year from the Air Corps Training School at Kelly Field, San
Antonio, TX.
He served with the First Pursuit Group, Selfridge Field,
Mt. Clemens, MI, where he served with distinction. He
participated in numerous mass-formation flights, including
a good-will trip to Montreal in sub-zero temperature.
While at Selfridge, he won the annual Mitchell trophy Race
for pilots of the First Pursuit Group, which qualified him
to fly in the free-for-all pursuit race held at Philadelphia
in connection with the Sesqui-Centennial in 1926. He
finished second in this contest. See NC1661 for
a Davis-Monthan Airfield Register airplane that was at the
Sesqui-Centennial.
In 1927, he was assigned to Brooks Field, TX as an instructor. In
March 1928 he resigned the military to accept the position
of airways extension superintendent with the Department of
Commerce (DOC). In this capacity he surveyed the airways
between San
Diego-Los Angeles, San Diego-El Paso, Los
Angeles-Albuquerque,
Los Angeles-Amarillo, Cincinnati-Chicago and Jacksonville-Atlanta.
He also conducted a special survey of a Northern-Transcontinental
airway which was specially authorized by Congress. He
was engaged in airway patrol work and experimental and research
flying in connection with radio range (“A-N”)
beacon development.
L.C. Elliott Memorial Plaque
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It is during his DOC tenure that we see Elliott landing
at Tucson five times between February 1930 and August 1932. On
four of his landings he flew DOC aircraft, NS7548, a Stearman,
and NS2Y, a Bellanca. These “official” flights
were probably in support of his east-west airway surveys. He
landed once as a civilian in Stinson NC458H. On this
flight he carried Mr. & Mrs. W.R. Elliott. There
is no indication if they were related in the NASM record
or in the Register.
In 1934, Elliott was appointed to the post of manager of
the Fourth Air Navigation District with headquarters at Fort
Worth, TX. He was responsible for the operation and
maintenance of the lighted and radio equipped airways in
the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma, Kansas,
Arkansas, and Louisiana.
Elliott went farther west on May 15, 1970. The plaque, right, is from this link, which provides information regarding his final resting place.
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Dossier 2.1.84
UPLOADED: 07/18/06 REVISED: 12/31/07
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