FRANK MONROE HAWKS

 

Frank Hawks signed the Parks Airport Register five times. He also signed the Peterson Field Register twice, and the Clover Field and Davis Monthan Airfield Registers once. His visits to Parks Airport were made during 1929-30. His home base on each occasion was New York City.

Frank Hawks, 1930s (Source: Web)

 

His first landing, on Sunday, June 23, 1929 at 4:30PM, was made in the Lockheed he identified as NC7955. This airplane was a Lockheed 3 Air Express, owned by the Texaco Company and named "Texaco 5." According to an online biography link that describes his various flights and records, Hawks flew this airplane to a cross-country record, New York to Los Angeles and return, June 27-28, 1929. His round trip time was 36 hours, 46 minutes flying time and 42 hours, 46 minutes elapsed time. Note that he landed at St. Louis four days before he embarked on his record flight. His landing at Parks was probably during his LA to NY flight to stage the airplane at New York for the beginning of his record attempt.

Upon his February 17, 1930 landing, he cited "Coronado?" in the remarks column of the Register. He was probably referring to the Coronado Hotel, which still operates in St. Louis. It would be interesting to see the hotel register for that date to see if he actually stayed there.

A few months later, Hawks flew across the country in a glider. On Thursday, April 3, 1930, we find him landing in NC502M, a Franklin PS-2 Glider. Thus, we find him mid-way on his tranconental glider flight. He identifies the aircraft as an Eaglet Glider. The online biography linked above offers the following description of the purpose and duration of his glider flight.

"As a reserve officer in the USAAC, Hawks foresaw the military usefulness of gliders, and he managed to convince Texaco executives that there would be good publicity value in sponsoring a glider that could be towed across the continent. The idea was initially dismissed as ridiculous by government officials, and even experienced German glider pilots declared that Hawks could never hope to cross the Rocky Mountains without an engine. But Hawks would not be discouraged. "The 50-foot wingspan Texaco Eaglet glider was built by R.E. and Wallace Franklin to achieve a maximum speed of 125 miles per hour. It was fitted with two-way radio and a telephone connection with the tow plane. The 500-foot towline could be detached by Hawks from the glider cockpit. The tow plane was Texaco 7, a Waco ASO biplane flown by J.D. 'Duke' Jernigan Jr. from Texaco's domestic sales division. "The flight left San Diego on March 30, 1930, and arrived in New York on April 6, 1930, taking eight days elapsed time and 44 hours, 10 minutes of actual flying time — 35 hours of which Eaglet was in tow, and the remaining 10 hours spent in soaring exhibitions at scores of towns and cities. The only problem during the flight was occasional turbulence, which at one time increased the speed of the glider until it was abreast of the tow plane. Hawks' demonstration effectively proved the feasibility of long-distance glider-towing."

His tow pilot, Jernigan did not sign the Register. I have no photographs of him or his glider. If you can help, please let me KNOW.

His other two landings at Parks were in the Waco NC608N on March 2, 1930 and in the Travel Air NC3309 on May 27, 1930. No reason was given for these landings and he did not mention passengers.

Hawks' full biography is at the Davis-Monthan Register Web site at the link. There you will find other photographs, news articles, U.S. postal cachets, letters and links that cover his life and exploits. Frank Hawks was born March 28, 1897 at Marshalltown, IA. He died on August 23, 1938 when a Gwinn Aircar he was flying struck power lines and crashed at East Aurora, NY. He carried Transport pilot certificate T98.

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