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 1925-1936 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 It includes across 277 pages previously unpublished photographs and texts, and facsimiles of personal letters, diaries and military orders.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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YOU CAN HELP
I'm looking for information and photographs of pilot Blessley and his airplane to include on this page. If you have some you'd like to share, please click this FORM to contact me.
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ROWLAND C.W. BLESSLEY
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Captain Rowland Blessley arrived at Parks Airport Monday, June 6, 1932 at 11:20AM. Based at Selfridge Field, Mt. Clemons, MI, he was flying a Boeing P-12-E he identified as 32-52. He cited no destination and no reason for his flight to East St. Louis.
However, from the Register it does appear that he was with a flight of three other Army pilots all based at Selfridge Field. The other two pilots were F.H. Griswold and B.L. Boatner, both lieutenants. Incidentally, Griswold and Blessley are logged in the Davis-Monthan Register in Feb, 1932, ferrying Boeing P-12-Es from Seattle to Selfridge Field. Perhaps this was another ferry flight to or from locations unknown to us.
Much earlier, during WWI, Blessley was chosen to train with British instructors who had gained wartime experience in the air over Europe. Blessley progressed through the typical assignments of an Army officer of the era, moving every few years to another station. As well as Selfridge Field, he was assigned to the Canal Zone in 1921, and Maxwell Field, AL in 1938 to attend the Air Corps Tactical School. He was promoted to Major while there. From Maxwell he was ordered to Hawaii according to The New York Times of September 2, 1939.
Two years later, Blessley was in Honolulu at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack and was apparently injured there. He returned to the U.S. in October, 1942 and, after recuperation, was assigned to Washington, DC then back to Hamilton Field, CA in charge of the Army Transport Command for the Pacific.
I have no good photographs of Captain Blessley. Portrait, right, is from a (poorly) photocopied single-page article (PDF 817kB) from an unidentified 1931 publication that features Blessley entitled, "Freak Thrills of Uncle Sam's Sky Birds." If you download the article, you'll discover that Blessley's thrill was a parachute jump from his spinning airplane.
Besides his landing at Parks Airport, Blessley landed once at Tucson (see above). His biography is online at the Davis-Monthan Airfield Register Web site at the link.
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THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 06/13/13 REVISED: