Norman Potter was identified as one of five passengers who visited Tucson with pilot Max Cornwell. They arrived on Monday, May 21, 1928 at 10:00AM flying in a Fokker F-10 Cornwell identified in the Register as NX5170. Cornwell identified their homebase as "Western Air Express." They were inbound from El Paso, TX and departed two hours later westbound for Los Angeles, CA, probably Alhambra, which was the home base for Western Air Express. Notable, too, among the passengers was Florabel Muir, well-known journalist.
The Los Angeles Evening Express, May 22, 1928 (Source: newspapers.com)
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The El Paso Herald, May 21, 1928 (Source: newspapers.com)
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Was Potter a passenger on this flight, or was he a relief pilot along to share flying duties with Cornwell. The El Paso Herald, May 21, 1928, left, answers the question. Cornwell and Potter were flying one of three Western Air Express Fokker F-10s. Hugh Wells, who landed at Tucson in NC5358 three days earlier than Cornwell and Potter, was the second airplane.
The Los Angeles Evening Express, May 22, 1928 further answers the question, right. The third Fokker did not show up in the Register with its pilot, but the pilot was Silas A. Morehouse.
Visit to Geyser Canyon, August 14, 1905 (Source: ancestry.com)
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But I digress, Norman Potter was born February 19, 1895 in San Francisco, CA to Stephen and Mary E. (Meyer) Potter. He had two younger siblings, a brother and sister. His presence in the Davis-Monthan Airfield Register was not Potter's first experience with "registers." In 1905 he was signed in a visitor register at Geyser Canyon, north of San Francisco. His visit there, along with some members of his family, was cited in an unidentified news article dated August 14, 1905, left. He was 11 years old.
The 1900-1920 U.S. Census placed him living in San Francisco. His father was a court reporter/stenographer. In 1916 and 1919, voter registration listings documented him as a student and a Democrat. He was a student at the University of California Berkeley.
Official Bulletin, December 28, 1917 (Source: Google.com)
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Potter was registered for the draft June 5, 1917. His registration form is below. He served with the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps Reserve, as reported in the December 28, 1917 edition of the Official Bulletin, right.
I do not know if he learned to fly in the army. Likewise, I found no record that he served overseas during WWI or that he remained with the military later in the 1920s.I have no photographs of Potter. If you have some to share, please let me KNOW.
Norman Potter Draft Registration, June 5, 1917 (Source: ancestry.com)
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Provo (UT) Daily Herald, November 24, 1931 (Source: newspapers.com)
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The Klamath News (OR), November 24,1931 (Source: newspapers.com)
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In the 1920 Census, all his siblings were living at home and employed. Potter was a sales manager for an automobile company. A legal notice published in The Recorder (San Francisco), February 3, 1920 documented the formation of a partnership between Potter, John J. Kingston and Richard M. Kingston to operate the Dock Motor Company at 1408 Market Street, San Francisco. The agreement had been signed October 19, 1919.
Exactly a decade after forming the partnership, Potter married Hazel McDonald (1898-1960) on October 19, 1929 in Davis, UT.
The 1930 Census placed him and his new wife living at 764 West Sixth Street, Reno, NV. According to Google Earth, that address today is a brick duplex that could be 1930s vintage. Their rent was $60 per month.
Although he was a passenger at Tucson in 1928, Potter was himself a pilot of considerable skill (he did not sign any of our Registers as pilot in command), however on one occasion he had very bad luck.
About three and a half years after we found him in Tucson, the first inkling that he was to have a change of luck appeared in The Klamath News (OR), November 24,1931, left.
Later the same day, the Provo (UT) Daily Herald, November 24, 1931 published the article at right.
Potter was killed in a crash just a short distance from his Salt Lake City destination. Although the Provo article conjectures no cause for the accident, a contributing factor was undoubtedly the severe snow storm.
As a pilot of the line, the article pinpoints his 3,000 flight hours and the great variety of experiences he had in the cockpit, including scenic tours, ferry work, aerial photography and the obligatory barnstorming. The article reports that Potter was a reliable aviator and had never had a mishap until this one.
Oakand Tribune, July 2, 1925 (Source: newspapers.com)
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Apropos the mention of Potter's Forest Service duty, the article, left, from the Oakand Tribune, July 2, 1925 documents his responsibilities. They appeared to be on-demand services.
The Nebraska State Journal, January 7, 1929 (Source: newspapers.com)
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Wilkes-Barre Times Leader Evening News
(PA), January 7, 1929 (Source: newspapers.com)
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That he had no mishaps is not exactly true. The Nebraska State Journal, January 7, 1929 published the results of Potter's flight into a tree, right. Parenthetically, the difference between the date of the accident and the date of publication was not explained.
The same accident, with a few more and a few less details appeared in the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader Evening News (PA), January 7, 1929, left.
Regardless, The Salt Lake Tribune, November 25, 1931, under the banner headline "FLIER FOUND DEAD IN WRECK," also published two articles that reported, primarily, further details regarding Potter's fate while flying the air mail for the early United Air Lines, and, in a shorter article further below, the effects of his death on his relatively new wife. For spacing, the first article begins on page one in the right column, below, and continues on page six spliced in as the left column. In addition to the articles exhibited on this page, literally dozens of newspapers across the country picked up the news of Potter's tragic accident and published accounts of it.
The Salt Lake Tribune, November 25, 1931 (Source: newspapers.com)
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The Salt Lake Tribune, November 25, 1931 (Source: newspapers.com)
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The article above shows the registration number of Potter's Boeing 40B as NC286 (not a Register airplane). These aircraft were workhorses for the pilots and companies who flew early airmail, cargo and the occaisional passenger.
The second article from The Salt Lake Tribune is at right. Some years after Potter's death, she married again in 1937 to Chauncey Phenegar Keeney.
Norman W. Potter Grave Marker, November 1931 (Source: ancestry.com)
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As a younger man, Potter traveled aboard the S.S. Cuba to Havana. A U.S. immigration form dated November 30, 1926 documented that travel. At the time, Havana was a Roaring 20s gambling, drinking and party city just 90-some miles from Prohibition in the U.S. It maintained that reputation for the next 30 years until the Castro revolution. Potter was 31 when he traveled there.
As discovered in the first newsarticle above, Potter flew West on November 23, 1931 at age 36. He was buried in the San Francisco National Cemetery. His grave marker is at left. A considerable amount of information is available regarding Potter's death and burial; more than there is about his life. For example, below is his death certificate.
Norman Potter Death Certificate, November 23, 1931 (Source: ancestry.com)
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And the record of his funeral logged by the undertaker.The entire funeral cost Hazel $70.60.
Norman Potter Funeral Record, November 28, 1931 (Source: ancestry.com)
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As a military veteran, Potter was interred in the National Cemetery in San Francisco. Below is the record of his interment. It was all over just five days from the date of his accident.
Norman Potter Interment Form, November 28, 1931 (Source: ancestry.com)
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Finally, the following obituary appeared in the Reno Gazette-Journal, November 25, 1931 under the headline, "Dies in Storm."
Reno Gazette-Journal, November 25, 1931 (Source: newspapers.com)
SALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 25. Funeral services for Norman W. Potter, airman pilot who crashed in a heavy snowstorm near here early Monday, will be held with full military nonors later this week, it was decided today.
BURIAL ON COAST Dr. C. G. Potter, a brother of the flier, arrived here from his home In San Francisco by plane to assist the widow In the funeral arrangements, Burial will be in San Francisco where the aviator was born February 19, 1895. It is planned to ship the body to that city tomorrow. D. B. Colyer, vice president, in charge of operations for the United Air Lines, returned today to his offices in Cheyenne, Wyo., after an investigation of the accident to Potter's plane. Carroll N. Doak of the department of commerce aeronautics division, was expected here today from Cheyenne to hold an Inquiry into the crash.
LIGHT IN GOOD SHAPE A report that a beacon light near the point where Potter met his death was not working Monday morning was denied today by W. E. Kline, airways engineer for the department of commerce here. He said a recheck of the automatic records of the lighting system revealed all beacons were functioning. |
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