UPS & DOWNS IN THE AIR & IN PERSONAL LIFE

Pilot Daniel A. Kundle was born March 10, 1892  in New Jersey. He died in June 1979, probably at Bloomfield, NJ.

Kundle landed once at Tucson on September 20, 1928 flying OX-5 Travel Air 2000 NC6107.  He carried a single passenger, Sid Riley.  They stayed overnight and departed the 21st for El Paso, TX at 6:10AM.

Given the date of his visit, the probability is very high that Kundle and Riley were westbound from California after completing the 1928 “On to Los Angeles” cross country competition that was part of the National Air Races that year (cf. Aircraft Yearbook cited in left sidebar, volume for 1929).  According to the Yearbook, they placed 21st in the competition, with a time of 38:49:56 elapsed.  Follow this link for a review of the race, as well as additional information about some of Kundle’s fellow competitors.

The NASM dossier for Kundle is surprisingly sparse, containing only two news articles.  The first, from the Newark Star-Eagle of Friday, September 28, 1928, headlines: “TOWN PLANNING TO GREET FLYER”.  His hometown of Irvington, NJ awaited his return from the west.  City officials had a reunion agenda set for Sunday the 30th to fête what the newspaper reported as Kundle’s finish results: “…eighteenth in the Class A group in the transcontinental race to the Pacific coast.”  Compare this with the 21st place finish cited in the Aircraft Yearbook). We can imagine he made it to New Jersey from Tucson, and the party was held.  There was no follow-up documentation in his dossier.

We next hear about Kundle about two years later.  The Newark Star-Eagle of Friday August 29, 1930 headlines ominously, “D.A. KUNDLE HELD ON GIRL’S CHARGE”.  It reported, “Daniel A. Kundle, 39, … of Irvington, who gained local fame as an aviator in a flight across the continent two years ago, is being held by Newark police today on a serious charge preferred by a 16-year-old Newark girl.”  The charge was not mentioned in the paper. 

The Star-Eagle does go on to report that Kundle was in the real estate business, which he entered following a plane accident the previous year in which a student flyer was killed and Kundle was seriously injured, hovering between life and death at the Morristown, NJ Hospital.

Kundle’s parents were of Polish heritage, and Kundle planned a trans-Atlantic flight to Poland soon after his success in the 1928 National Air Races.  He proceeded through the fund-raising stages of his project.  I have no information suggesting it was ever carried off, and it probably didn't happen, given his accident reported above.  Does anyone KNOW?  And what of the mysterious accusation by the girl in 1930?  Does anyone know how that turned out? Did he ever get back into aviation?

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Dossier 2.1.107

UPLOADED: 06/05/07 REVISED: 03/25/10