Clayton Charles Jerome
(Source: NASM)
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Marine Aviator
Clayton Jerome was a Marine Corp aviator. He landed four
times at Tucson between December 11, 1925 and December 14, 1926. Excellent,
autographed images of him are on this site at the Cosgrove Collection.
Interestingly, on November
3, 1926 he carried to Tucson a passenger named Kuster, who
was identified by Jerome's note in the Remarks column of
the Register: "Ferrying
advance agent for Polar Flight". Sure enough, on November
9th we find NX4204,
Byrd's Fokker transport "Josephine Ford" landing
at Tucson in the midst of a 2 mo., 40-city tour, started
a month earlier on October 7, 1926. Additional images of the Fokker
and her crew at Long
Beach, CA later in their tour can be found at the Gerow Collection.
He remained a career officer, ultimately serving during
WWII. He achieved the rank of Lt. Col. as of April 29, 1942, and brigadier general later (see photograph below). He commanded the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing in Korea from April 1952 to January 1953.
He was born at Hutchinson, KS on September 22, 1901 and
graduated the Burrton High School in 1917. He attended Marion
Military Institute, Marion, AL from 1917-18. He graduated
the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD in 1922 with a BS.
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An accidental find is below. This aerial photograph mosaic of the San Diego Bay region was made by Jerome and his photographer on March 26, 1929. It was taken at an altitude of 10,200' from a Curtiss Falcon. The original is from the San Diego Aerospace Museum Flickr stream at the link.
Aerial Photograph by C. Jerome, March 28, 1929, San Diego Bay (Source: SDAM)
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The New York Times February 5, 1930 (Source: NASM)
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The NASM record for pilot Jerome is sparse through the 1920s, but it appears he remained an officer in the
Marine Corps serving at San Diego, in China and in Guam.
One of his exploits at San Diego the previous August 26,
1929 is captured by The New York Times of February 5, 1930,
left.
The experience of righting an airplane and controlling it
directionally with rudders is not a remarkable task. But
lashing up the control stick with clothing accessories, controlling
it vertically and getting it on the ground in one piece was
certainly worth any commendation he received!
He
went back to school for post graduate studies at the Naval
Academy during 1932-33, then to the California Institute
of Technology 1933-34.
He graduated with a Master of Science
in aeronautical engineering and published an article (coauthored
with Lt. A.B. Vosseller) entitled: "Euler and Flat Plate
Buckling" in the ASME Transactions in 1934.
Another photograph from the San Diego Aerospace Museum is below. He wears the star of a brigadier general. This photograph appears to be from later in his career. Jerome retired from the military in 1958 and assigned the rank of lieutenant general upon his retirement. He died twenty years later on February 13, 1978.
Brigadier General Clayton Charles Jerome (Source: SDAM)
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Dossier 2.2.110
THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 01/07/07 REVISED: 01/06/11, 03/17/14, 11/12/14
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