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"I don't think they realized they were making history. I think they were sure they were making the future, as the railroads had 60 years prior." -- Howard Woodall's Grand Nephew, July 14, 2012
H.V. Woodall, Date Unknown (Source: ancestry.com)
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Howard Woodall, left, visited once at Tucson, Tuesday, September 23, 1930 at 12:30PM. He carried a single passenger, Jerry Marshall, in the Fairchild KR-34C he identified as NC296K, S/N 337. They were westbound from El Paso, TX. They stayed in Tucson a couple of days, departing on the 25th for Phoenix, AZ at 1:00PM.
According to ancestry.com, Woodall was born December 23, 1900 in Texas. His parents were James Robert Woodall (1869–1903)
and Cinda Ora "Annie" McClure (1858-1936).
Woodall's grand nephew (right sidebar) states, "Howard's mom Anna or Annie Lucindy McClure [sic] in Oklahoma and North Texas had sons and a daughter by 3 fathers. 1. Mr Woodall's sons Oscar and Howard. 2. Mr Green's sons Douglas and Paul, Paul died during in air flight instruction in Sherman Texas [5/9/31]. 3. Jacob Stacy Gossett's son and daughter, Claude also an aviator of note, at Nan Nuys he flew famous people on excursions and hung around the Hollywood set. Some famous people kept their planes in his hangers [sic]."
The 1910 U.S. Census placed Woodall living with his maternal grandparents, two aunts and one of his brothers in Bryan County, OK. All,except Howard at age 9, were coded as "farm laborers."
I found no 1920 Census information. He had married Winifred Ann Fulkerson (1897-1985) ca.1922. Winifred is shown in an undated photograph,below, right.
Winifred Ann Fulkerson Woodall, Date Unknown (Source: ancestry.com)
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The 1930 Census placed them living at 163 Roanoke Street, Dallas, TX, about a mile east of Dallas-Love Field. His occupation was coded as "Aviator" for a "Passenger Line." They had a boarder living with them, Mabel Lawrence (26). They owned their home, valued at $8,000.
The "Passenger Line" was probably SAFEway as described by his grand nephew, "Howard is my great uncle on my mom's side. He has a rich aviation history story. I understand he was an OX5 past president. He dedicated at least 2 airports in 1930, Austin and Big Spring, Texas. (PDF, 2.1Mb). He flew the Butterfield airmail route, "line of sight." [On] Oct 15, 1930 he piloted CAM 33 Southern Transcontinental [actually CAM 33E6 and 33E7 out of Big Spring and El Paso, TX] the first flight postal cover between Dallas Ft. Worth and Big Spring, Texas [df. article below]. He was a trainer and test pilot for TAT [Transcontinental Air Transport], flew SAFEway (Southern Air Fast Express [Woodall flew at least one SAFEway airplane that is on display at the NASM. It was NC9683, a Ford trimotor (not a Register airplane)]. He was a Barnstormer as were his brothers. They had a flight school in Dallas (TAT [see below]). He was an original pilot for American Airways [photo, below; actually he was seniority #29; behind Register pilots E.L. "Slonny" Sloniger #1, and H.B. "Hap" Russell, #11]. I understand he had the nickname Mr. American Airlines. I believe I read a Dallas newspaper article written in the 1950's that he had logged over 34,000 hours as a Captain for American Airlines. I am in possession of some of his captain's wings."
Simmons Brand (Abilene, TX), May 25, 1929 (Source: Link)
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Regarding the TAT flight school in Dallas mentioned above, Woodall's grand nephew directs us to this link from the Simmons Brand (Abilene, TX), Vol. 13, No. 29, Ed. 1, Saturday, May 25, 1929, for an advertisement for TAT, right. The image at the link may be made larger for easier reading. Simmons Brand was the newspaper of the Hardin-Simmons University, a Baptist organization in Abilene. This same ad appeared in several regional newspapers near the same time.
A booklet is mentioned just above the clip-out coupon at roght entitled "Flying the Golden Trail." Woodall's grand nephew says about the book, " Howard Woodall is the author of "Flying the Golden Trail" My mom has an original copy. He wrote this as a promotion for their flight school. Compare to Art Goebel's Own Story, a book by Register pilot Art Goebel, which was written by him to promote his own flight school in St. Louis. A free download of the entire book is at the link (PDF 5.7Mb).
"It's really strange that there is not much information about him. Everyone in the family is all 'no big deal' matter of fact about everything including our aviation history. But to me Howard was a movie star. I guess it was 1968 or so and he had a 4th of July party at his home on Eagle Mountain Lake, he had lots of parties. He had a pit that he would grill 200 chicken halves on it at a time. He had a nice cabin cruiser boat and I went out with this group of water skiers. There were a dozen of us on the boat. Nine of them hit the water skiing side by side, and then they formed a human pyramid. As a youngster I was blown away by this, and the 200 chickens on the grill! Howard built this Art Deco icebox modern home on an outcropping ninety feet above the lake.... Howard sited his home site in the twenties by searching by air (prior to the lake's construction). There was a write-up in the Dallas Times Herald in 1928 about the young pilot Howard Woodall buying a plane. I forgot the plane "something air" [Travel Air?; Command-Aire?]. In 1930 Howard flew in the inaugural airshow in Austin, Texas where he broke a speed and elevation record, also mentioning his plane in the class under 90 HP. This information is in an article in a University of Texas Quarterly Journal. The article also mentions the people in Austin consulted with a Lt. Claire Chennault in planning their new airport in which they embraced all of his recommendations. Pretty cool!"
Woodall has good coverage in the newspapers. Numerous publications from 1920s-1940s cited Woodall's aviation exploits. For example, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, July 1, 1923, below, pictured him early in his career (3rd from left) with a group of other aviators and supporters happily boosting aviation in Fort Worth.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, July 1, 1923 (Source: newspapers.com)
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Abilene Reporter-News, March 11, 1932 (Source: newspapers.com)
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El Paso Daily Sun, September 13, 1929 (Source: newspapers.com)
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The El Paso Daily Sun, September 13, 1929, right, announced a few days off from flying duties because of a sore vaccinated arm. The vaccination was probably for smallpox, because other articles in the same newspaper reported a smallpox outbreak in the El Paso area.
Corsicana Daily Sun, April 23, 1928 (Source: newspapers.com)
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And the Corsicana Daily Sun, April 23, 1928, right, reported on prizes that Woodall won in a spot landing competition.
The Abilene Reporter-News, March 11, 1932, left, documented the continuation of a passenger flight made through Tucson carrying American Airways president Frederick G. Coburn. The company was called American Airways until it changed its name to American Airlines shortly after this article was published.
But what was important here is that Coburn showed up signed in the Davis-Monthan Register on Saturday, February 27, 1932 at 2:40PM, just a dozen days or so before the date of the article. Coburn's pilot was Charles Goldtrap and they flew in the Fairchild 71Goldtrap identified as NC24K (S/N 686). Coburn's secretary accompanied them.
Revealing was a comment left by Coburn in the remarks column of the Register: "Standing by for further orders." We could conjecture that "further orders" from corporate took ten-days or so to arrive and then be acted upon, thus placing Coburn in Abilene with Woodall departing to Fort Worth some days later on March 10th, along with four other passengers and five pounds of mail.
The Corsicana Semi-Weekly Light, April 30, 1929 described an air show celebrating the grand opening of the local airport. Woodall participated in the races and other events. Below, from the Big Spring Daily Herald, October 13, 1935, is an article describing the five-year reunion of principals involved with early mail and passenger services in the Big Spring area. This is one of several articles celebrating the event and mentioning Woodall. The other pilot cited, Rader, signed no Register.
Big Spring Daily Herald, October 13, 1935 (Source: newspapers.com)
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H.V. Woodall, American Airlines, Date Unknown (Source: ancestry.com)
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Continuing, the 1940 Census placed Woodall (age 39) and Winifred (43) living at 2507 Langdon Avenue, Dallas, TX, on the west side of Dallas-Love Field. Again, he was coded as an aviator. They owned their home, valued at $5,000. Woodall was also coded as completing two years of high school.
His grand nephew continues, "Howard's (half) Brother Claude Gossett was a pilot for the Air Corps, test piloting the A-20-A light bomber. I believe Claude owned the hangers [sic] he leased at Van Nuys airfield in Los Angeles. He was also a private pilot. Claude in his later years lived in Blythe on the Arizona/California border. He also flew a crop-duster there.
"Howard's pilot instructor (half) brother Paul (Green) died [airplane crash; fractured skull] in I think 1932 or 37 [it was 1931] during flight instruction out of Dallas, crashed in Sherman Texas.... Howard is mentioned in Captain J.H. "Stormy" Mangham's Collection History of Aviation Collection housed at UTD [University of Texas, Dallas]. I have seen Howards log books flying DC-1's through DC-7's.... He retired around 1968. His papers are kept at UTD - University of Texas Dallas which I haven't seen. He built a beautiful Art Deco style home on Eagle Mountain Lake north of Ft. Worth in the late twenties and resided there until he died in the early 1980's...."
According to his grand nephew, during WWII Woodall was put into service as a pilot to fly in the Berlin Airlift. I found no corroborating evidence of military service. In fact, he and Winifred were in Dallas as early as 1944, as documented in the Abilene Reporter-News, December 5, 1944, below. The Fort Worth, TX city directory for 1947 placed him and Winifred in that city with American Airlines.
Abilene Reporter-News, December 5, 1944 (Source: newspapers.com)
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I left some local news attached in the article above for your amusement.
Big Spring Daily Herald, February 19, 1934 (Source: newspapers.com)
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Howard and Winifred had one child, a son, born and died in 1929. Their child's grave marker is below.
Woodall Infant Son, Grave Marker (Source: findagrave.com)
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Howard Woodall flew West June 12, 1982 from Bedford, TX. He carried Transport pilot license 661. Winifred followed him three years later. Their grave marker is below.
Howard & Winifred Grave Marker, 1982 (Source: findagrave.com)
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Photograph, right, is from the Big Spring Daily Herald, February 19, 1934, in an article celebrating the first airmail flights. It shows Woodall early in his career. Below, The Galveston Daily News, December 2, 1981, pictures him about six-months before his passing.
The Galveston Daily News, December 2, 1981 (Source: newspapers.com)
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THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 11/15/20 REVISED:
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