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Your copy of the Davis-Monthan Airfield Register with all the pilots' signatures and helpful cross-references to pilots and their aircraft is available here. Or use this FORM to order a copy signed by the author.

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This link leads you to a book that describes and illustrates with black & white photographs the majority of military aircraft that landed at the Davis-Monthan Airfield between 1925 and 1936. The book includes biographies of some of the pilots who flew the aircraft to Tucson as well as extensive listings of all the pilots and airplanes. Or use this FORM to order a copy signed by the author.

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There is no biographical file for pilot Schramm in the archives of the National Air & Space Museum (NASM), Washington, DC.

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A chronology of his military assignments and a portrait photograph are here.

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Google "Ned Schramm" and you'll find over 200 hits as of the upload date of this page.

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NED F. SCHRAMM

Ned Schramm was born in Burlington, Iowa in August 23, 1893. Up until he joined the military, he was a fire insurance examiner, based in Seattle, WA. He joined the Army at at Seattle at age 20 years 8 months.

Please direct your browser to this account of his early military experience cited in his Air Force biography. A key statement in that biography is that he, "... transferred to the Aviation Section of the Signal Reserve Corps, and was sent to Berkeley, Calif., in March 1918 for flight instruction." Below, we see the cover page of his pilot training log, datelined Berkeley, March 18, 1918.

N. Schramm Pilot Log, 1918
N. Schramm Pilot Log, 1918

Below, the page from his log that summarizes his personal information. He was tall, at 6' 0.5". We also learn that he was single and had a fine collection of scars over various parts of his body.

N. Schramm Pilot Log, 1918
N. Schramm Pilot Log, 1918

Below, the page from his log showing his accumulated grades for his flight training course.

N. Schramm, Grading During Flight Training, 1918
N. Schramm, Grading During Flight Training, 1918

Compare his grades with those of one of his more famous students, Claude Ryan, earned just a couple of years later. At Ryan's link you can see Schramm's name (as flight instructor) signed in Ryan's pilot log.

According to site visitor Russ Plehinger, in October 1923 Schramm set a men’s landplane endurance record of 9 hours,
non-refueled, at Luke Field, Honolulu, Hawaii. He flew a Martin bomber with two 400HP Liberty engines. His takeoff was at 8:15AM; landing at 5:15PM.

Later, Ned Schramm was a frequent visitor to Tucson, signing the Register seven times between 1926 and 1929. On Saturday, July 10, 1926, he flew into Tucson for the first time with deHavilland 63-590 (Joe Baugher's site identifies this series of airplanes, 63-366 to 63-995 as Atlantic DH-4M-2). Both his log book, below, and his notation in the Register state that he was flying solo. Based at San Diego, CA, Rockwell Field, he was on a round-robin flight. From his log, the purpose of his flight seems to have been to pick up a Lt. Lampton for the return flight to San Diego (this could be Register pilot Glen Lampton, but it is not certain).

Ned Schramm's Pilot Log for July, 1926
Ned Schramm's Pilot Log for July, 1926

His next two visits to Tucson were on Sunday, September 5, 1926 and and Tuesday September 7, 1926. The first time he carried Lt. Col. Harry Graham. See Graham's link to be led to a photograph of him. These flights are documented in Schramm's log in the image below (Graham shows up in Schramm's log in a few places in addition to the times they flew to Tucson together). They appeared to be round-robin flights from San Diego. On the 7th, they stayed overnight in Tucson, returning to San Diego, Rockwell the next day. Graham, himself a pilot, was a member of the Early Birds, and he flew the deHavilland on the return leg to San Diego..

Ned Schramm's Pilot Log for September, 1926
Ned Schramm's Pilot Log for September, 1926

Below, Schramm's log page for the rest of September, 1926. I include it here, because it documents a case where a pilot visited Tucson (Schramm flew to Tucson on the 15th to pick up Lt. Van Dusen for return to San Diego), but did not sign the Register. We can only imagine how many other pilots of the era came through Tucson and never signed the Register. Too bad.

That said, there is a race mentioned on September 26th that I have not been able to document. The Aircraft Yearbook for 1927 does not list it in the chronology for 1926. Nor can I find reference to it at any of the usual Web sources. Does anyone KNOW anything about the race Schramm's pilot log is referencing?

Ned Schramm's Pilot Log for September, 1926
Ned Schramm's Pilot Log for September, 1926

His next visit was on Friday, October 15, 1926. Below, his log for that month. He flew deHavilland 25-85, arriving from Phoenix at about noon. He noted his passenger, Col. Ed. Fletcher both in his log and in the Airfield Register (there is a Cadet E. Fletcher who signed the Register in 1931; probably not the Colonel). They stayed on the ground in Tucson about an hour before the two-hour and 15-minute flight back west to Rockwell Field in San Diego. His total flight time as of the end of October: 1,800 hours, three minutes.

Ned Schramm's Pilot Log for October, 1926
Ned Schramm's Pilot Log for October, 1926

According to the Register, his next visit was on Monday, October 31, 1927. He was part of a flight of four March Field-based Consolidated PT-1 aircraft. They remained overnight, departing the next morning back to March Field. Curiously, although in the Register, this flight is not recorded in his pilot log, either for the month of October, or for November, below. Since Schramm was doing a lot of training, this could have been a cross-country formation flight.

Ned Schramm's Pilot Log for November, 1926
Ned Schramm's Pilot Log for November, 1926

His final two landings at Tucson are recorded in his pilot log for September, 1929, below. On Monday, September 9, 1929 he arrived solo in Boeing 28-34, a PW-9D. He was eastbound from Rockwell Field to El Paso, TX, and then east the next day.

Ned Schramm's Pilot Log for September, 1929
Ned Schramm's Pilot Log for September, 1929

On September 13th he arrived from San Antonio, TX, Duncan Field in deHavilland 32-476. He arrived at 5:45PM after what looks like, from his log, and exhausting day of flying. He left Duncan Field and flew to Ft. Clark, from there to Marfa, TX, from Marfa to El Paso, and then to Tucson. His total flying time that day was just shy of eight hours. This would be tiring for a pilot even today in a closed cockpit. He stayed overnight in Tucson and departed for Riverside, CA, March Field next morning at 7AM. He took a day off then was back "instructing cadets" on the 16th.

Fast forward and we find, from various Web sources, that he served during WWII and in July 28, 1944 the IX Air Defense Command moved from Hampstead Borough, England to Ecrammeville and then Brigadier General Ned Schramm assumed command. In September 1945 he was appointed commanding general of the 64th Fighter Wing, and returned to the United States in May l946, when he was assigned to Army Air Force headquarters. On July 31, 1946, he was named deputy commander and chief of staff of the Fourth Air Force at Hamilton Field, Calif., and in January l949 became vice commander of the Fourth Air Force. About this time he was involved in an attempt to find alien spacecraft, "Flying Discs", allegedly sighted by civilian pilots. This topic is outside the scope of this Web site.

Pilot Schramm died March 15, 1983, almost 65 years from the day that he opened his flight log at Berkeley, CA. He was a member of the OX5 Club and the Early Birds of Aviation.

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Dossier 2.2.10

UPLOADED: 02/19/09 REVISED: 03/27/09

 
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The page images of pilot Schramm's pilot log books are courtesy of the San Diego Aerospace Museum. Exhibited for you with their gracious permission.
The images of Ned Schramm's pilot log book were slightly adjusted by your Webmaster with PhotoShop to optimize contrast for easier reading.
 
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