I FLY AGAIN!

View products that support dmairfield.org

OTHER RESOURCES

Your copy of the Davis-Monthan Airfield Register with all the pilots' signatures and helpful cross-references to pilots and their aircraft is available at the link. Or use this FORM to order a copy signed by the author. ISBN 978-0-9843074-0-1.

---o0o---

http://www.cafepress.com/content/global/img/spacer.gifThe Congress of Ghosts is an anniversary celebration for 2010.  It is an historical biography, that celebrates the 5th year online of www.dmairfield.org and the 10th year of effort on the project dedicated to analyze and exhibit the history embodied in the Register of the Davis-Monthan Airfield, Tucson, AZ. This book includes over thirty people, aircraft and events that swirled through Tucson between 1925 and 1936. It includes across 277 pages previously unpublished photographs and texts, and facsimiles of personal letters, diaries and military orders. Order your copy at the link, or use this FORM to order a copy signed by the author.  ISBN 978-0-9843074-4-9.

---o0o---

 
Davis-Monthan Aviation Field Register
CulturalMotion PicturesFriendsNon Profit statusProducts and services
ReferencesPublicationsCollectionsGuest EditorsPress Coverage

BUSCH VOIGTS

Pilot Voigts landed solo at Tucson Thursday, November 1, 1934 at 12:30PM. He flew the Ford NC3041. Based at Kansas City, MO, he was northwest bound from Douglas, AZ. He cited no destination, but stated in the passenger column, "Western Airplane Distributors." He stated no purpose for his trip, but please direct your browser to the airplane's link for some possibilities.

Below, his obituary from the Kansas City Star of April 10, 2011. He lived until 2011, almost six years after www.dmairfield.org was placed online. In this regard, for your Webmaster, Mr. Voigts was a missed opportunity. Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing whom are still alive among the thousands of pilots and passengers signed in the Davis-Monthan Register.

"Busch Voigts, 100, died January 24, 2011, in Sun City, AZ. The grandson of two pioneer Johnson County families, he was born Nov. 16, 1910, to Ella Adeline Busch of Lenexa, an accomplished pianist, and Herman John Voigts, of Leawood, a cattleman.

"At 18, astride a horse, Busch observed a biplane buzzing the family farm, which piqued a lifelong love affair with flying. In 1929, he soloed at Fairfax, the nearest airport. Disapproving, his father sent him off to the University of Kansas unaware that young Busch was flying whenever and wherever he could, even selling his overcoat for an hour of flying time. He transferred to the University of Arizona in Tuscon, where he joined Sigma Chi, and could fly at all times of the year.

"In 1933, he was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army Air Reserve Corps and was back in Kansas City flying PT-3s. During the 1934-35 Depression years, he was barnstorming throughout the West in a Ford Trimotor, charging $1 a ride to the 10,000 people who flocked to landing strips to see "aeroplanes."

"By July 1935, he had accrued 1445 hours of flying time, he was hired as a co-pilot by Transcontinental and Western Air in Kansas City. During his 35- year career with TWA, Captain Busch Voigts served as Chief Pilot in the training department and, on two different occasions, flew with Howard Hughes, who owned the airline, resulting in a lifetime of funny stories.

"Busch was selected to fly presidential and campaign charters Truman (1951), Eisenhower (1952, 53, 54), Nixon (1952), Adlai Stevenson (1952), as well as a State Department tour of the USA by Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia. In 1955, he piloted the TWA inaugural polar flight from London to Los Angeles.

"From 1956-58, he was one of 23 pilots of German heritage selected to train pilots for Lufthansa as the airline was activated after WWII. He returned to TWA in 1959 to pilot the jet --- the Boeing 707, which he flew internationally until he retired in 1970. His final flight, two days before mandatory retirement on his 60th birthday, was around the world. He had been #1 on the TWA seniority list for three years. He had a total TWA flying time of 27,686:17 hours. He used to laugh that he could have lived anywhere in the world and chose to stay on the corner plot at 103rd and Lee Blvd., "caddy corner" from where he was reared.

"A big man with a booming voice, ready smile, and the bluest of eyes, Busch was an outdoorsman, a horseman. In his youth, he played polo, and was a member of the Mission Valley Hunt. For decades, he served as Governor for the American Royal Livestock and Horse Show. He was a past president of the Saddle and Sirloin Club, and as a member of the Mounted Patrol, proudly carried the American flag for years on his horse, Blackie.

"Most of all, he was a family man. Preceded in death by his parents; and two sisters, Katherine Voigts and Anna Lois Voigts Dubach. He leaves his wife of 72 years, Lucille Newcomer Voigts, of Sun City. After they eloped, July 10, 1939, a headline on the front page of the Kansas City Times read, "Pilot Lands for Bride." They have three children: Madelyn Moran (Henry), of Overland Park, KS; Busch Voigts, Jr. (Mary), of Reno, NV; and Marcia Rhodus (John), of Surprise, AZ. They have six grandchildren: Jennifer Voigts Sancya, of Chicago; Molly Rhodus Braddy of Seattle; John Franklin Rhodus, Jr., of San Francisco; Busch Voigts III and Christopher Buholts Voigts, both of Charlotte, NC; and Saramolly Moran, of Tarrytown, NY. They also have six great grandchildren.

"Busch was past chairman of the board of St. John's Methodist Church and the Sun City Christian Church. He was past member of Indian Hills Country Club, Leawood Country Club, the Kansas City Club and its 611 inner club as well as Palmbrook Country Club in Sun City. His professional affiliations included Quiet Birdmen, the OX-5 Club, ALPA and TARPA. A Memorial Service will be held at a later date at the Saddle and Sirloin Club."

I have had the pleasure of meeting five signers of our Registers, Harold Boddorff, John Miller, Bobbie Trout, Bill Piper, Jr. and Bob Buck. Now pilot Voigts is another Register pilot who is known to have lived to see the 21st century. Others are West Moreau and Ken Rearwin.

Please, if you have reviewed the lists of pilots and passengers under the PEOPLE button at top right and recognize any that are still alive, please let me KNOW. And that goes for any of the other Web sites available from the table on the Home Page of this site. Time is, after all, running short.

Another obituary with a photograph is at the link.

---o0o---

THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 12/05/11 REVISED: 09/21/14

 
Home
The Register
People
Places
Airplanes
Events
YOU CAN HELP
I'm looking for photographs of pilot Voigts and his airplane to include on this page. If you have some you'd like to share, please click this FORM to contact me.
 
Contact Us | Credits | Copyright © 2008 Delta Mike Airfield, Inc.
This website is best enjoyed in a 1024 x 768 screen resolution.
Web design by The Web Professional, Inc