THANK YOU!

YOUR PURCHASE OF THESE BOOKS SUPPORTS THE WEB SITES THAT BRING TO YOU THE HISTORY BEHIND OLD AIRFIELD REGISTERS

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. 375 pages with black & white photographs and extensive tables

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The Congress of Ghosts (available as eBook) 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 It includes across 277 pages previously unpublished photographs and texts, and facsimiles of personal letters, diaries and military orders.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.

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Military Aircraft of the Davis Monthan Register, 1925-1936 is available at the link. This book 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. Use this FORM to order a copy signed by the author, while supplies last.

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Art Goebel's Own Story by Art Goebel (edited by G.W. Hyatt) is written in language that expands for us his life as a Golden Age aviation entrepreneur, who used his aviation exploits to build a business around his passion.  Available as a free download at the link.

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Winners' Viewpoints: The Great 1927 Trans-Pacific Dole Race (available as eBook) is available at the link. This book 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. Use this FORM to order a copy signed by the author, while supplies last.

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Clover Field: The first Century of Aviation in the Golden State (available in paperback) With the 100th anniversary in 2017 of the use of Clover Field as a place to land aircraft in Santa Monica, this book celebrates that use by exploring some of the people and aircraft that made the airport great. 281 pages, black & white photographs.

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FORD 5-AT-C NC415H

According to this Larkin REFERENCE, page 67, NC415H was a Ford model 5-AT (S/N 5-AT-75) that first flew August 23, 1929. It was about four months old when we find it in the Register at Santa Monica.

NC415H was signed in the Santa Monica Register New Years Eve, Tuesday, December 31, 1929 at 11:20AM. The pilot was identified as William M. McConnell and he carried his copilot plus 14 passengers. The model 5-AT could carry 17 passengers, so this was a pretty full airplane as it landed at Santa Monica. McConnell cited no home base or destination. The owner of the airplane was the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co.

They arrived at Clover Field from Glendale, CA, Grand Central Air Terminal (GCAT). NC415H does not show up in the GCAT Register, because the first entries in the GCAT Register began a year later in December, 1930.

The Larkin reference states that NC415H was transferred to American Airlines as of December 19, 1931. Below is a photograph of NC415H in American Airways livery serving as VIP transport for Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Ford Trimotor NC415H, 1932 (Source: Web)
Ford Trimotor NC415H, 1932 (Source: Web)

Before he became the 23rd president in 1933, Franklin Roosevelt flew in NC415H on July 2, 1932 as the Democratic candidate for president. He flew from Albany, NY to Chicago, IL to attend the Democratic Convention. NC415H was operated by American Airways, Inc. at the time. The photo captures Roosevelt and NC415H taking off after their fuel stop in Cleveland, OH. The quote below is from the link. The article at the link, downloadable as a PDF (300kB), describes, with photographs, the entire flight from Albany to Chicago. Please let me KNOW if the link becomes inoperable.

"By Saturday morning, July 2, seventy members of the news media gathered at the Albany Airport, tripping over microphone wires in the crush to use only two available phones by which their stories would be relayed. Shiny NC415H rolled out of the American hanger and was positioned for photographers beside the Administration Building. Pilots Wonsey and Smith stayed in the cockpit, checking and re-checking their handful of instruments....

"For the 783 mile trip, the passengers were confined to a space barely 18-feet long, 6-feet high and averaging only 4-feet 6-inches wide. Even with primitive soundproofing, the pounding roar from 27 cylinders kept conversations at shout level....

" Running late, the chartered flight reached the Cleveland airport at 1:43 p.m.. The waiting crowd numbered nearly 5000 but again, Roosevelt stayed aboard to meet the press and political supporters....

"At Chicago’s Municipal Airport, the Mayor and welcoming committee waited with a crowd that swelled to an estimated 25,000. At last the American Airways trimotor was spotted in the east, descending through a rainsquall and billowing clouds. Much later than expected Wonsey and Smith [the pilots] touched the Ford safely down at 4:30pm, seven hours and forty minutes out of Albany (2:00pm was the scheduled arrival time)."

The Larkin reference further states that NC415H served with American Airways through 1933. It was then transferred to Chile and had an ambulance interior installed. From 1935 to 1944 its whereabouts was unknown. From 1944 to 1947 it was with an airline in Chile. On March 19, 1947 it sold to Miguel Ziniga, Mexico City, Mexico. Zuniga sold it to Lineas Aereas Guerrero-Oaxaca S.A. who operated it until August 18, 1949. On that date it was written off in an accident at Putla, Oaxaca, Mexico.

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