OTHER RESOURCES

Some of this information comes from the listings of Non-Prefixed and Non-Suffixed aircraft reviewed by me in the archives of the National Air & Space Museum (NASM), Washington, DC.

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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 It includes across 277 pages previously unpublished photographs and texts, and facsimiles of personal letters, diaries and military orders.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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I'm looking for information and photographs of NX44E and pilot Halsey 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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REARWIN 2000-C NX44E

This handsome airplane, S/N 101, landed once at Parks Airport on May 29, 1929. Although the pilot's name was not recorded in the Register, we know he was George E. Halsey, because he and the airplane were competitors in the Gardner Trophy Race being held in May that year. A Web site celebrating Rearwin aircraft is at the link.

Pilot Halsey was a Rearwin company pilot demonstrating NX44E as a racer in the Gardner event shortly after it first flew. Below, the airplane on the ground at Parks Airport. It obviously demanded a lot of attention when it arrived at Parks.

Rearwin NX44E, Parks Airport, May, 1929 (Source: Bowden)
Rearwin NX44E, Parks Airport, May, 1929 (Source: Bowden)

This photograph is also testimony to the marginal conditions of many temperate region, Golden Age airfields during the late spring.

Halsey flew NX44E to 3rd place in Heat #2 of the Gardner Race from Denver, CO to East St. Louis on May 29th. Details of the race are at the Gardner link, above. Neither the airplane nor Halsey qualified for the final Race, which was flown May 30th.

This airplane landed a second time at Parks Airport on Saturday, August 24, 1929. Its registration was changed to NR44E in the interim. This time it was competing in the 1929 National Air Races (NAR), which used St. Louis as an overnight stop that year. It was flown by Ruth Nichols, who was among the contestants competing in the Women's Derby from Santa Monica, CA to Cleveland, OH. Please direct your browser to the Air Races link for details of the 1929 NAR.

According to information I reviewed at the Smithsonian, NX44E was manufactured in 1928 (S/N 101) by R.A. Rearwin, Rearwin Airplanes, of Salina, KS. It left the factory with a 6-cylinder Challenger engine of 170HP (S/N 11). It was a 3-place airplane that weighed 2,380 pounds. It was painted red.

Rearwin applied for its NX, "experimental," registration on October 27, 1928 and it was granted on November 10th. A month after its new registration it was exhibited at the Aeronautical Exposition held at Chicago in December, 1928. A few months later, the Gardner event was flown by Halsey (see above).

The airplane sold August 1, 1929 in an internal transaction to Rearwin Airplanes, Inc. Rearwin applied for re-registration for racing as "NR" on August 10, 1929. The airplane was inspected and approved as a model 2000-C with Curtiss R-600 Challenger engine (S/N 298) of 185HP. In this configuration it was raced by Ruth Nichols in the 1929 NAR as cited above.

Below is a photograph from an advertisment for the Curtiss-Wright Flying Service network that was in operation during the 1920s and 30s. NX44E is at upper right in the red circle in this December, 1929 issue of Aeronautics magazine. The registration is NX, therefore this photograph was taken before it was assigned NR by Rearwin Airplanes, Inc. in August that year.

Rearwin NX44E in Aeronautics Magazine, December, 1929 (Source: Web)
Rearwin NX44E in Aeronautics Magazine, December, 1929 (Source: Web)

Unfortunately, Nichols wrecked the airplane just two days, on August 12th, at Columbus, OH, when she attempted landing on the narrow runway, her airplane struck a tractor and nosed over. She was not injured, but the "wings [were] washed out, fabric torn, stabilizer slightly bent, propellor [sic] bent...." Below, from the NASM listings cited in the left sidebar, an unsourced news image of NR44E after Nichols' crash. It was rebuilt from the wreckage by the factory.

Rearwin NR44E, Columbus, OH, August 26, 1929 (Source: NASM)
Rearwin NR44E, Columbus, OH, August 26, 1929 (Source: NASM)

Like many aircraft of its era, NX44E lived a short life, suffering, besides Nichols' crash, two additional accidents. The next accident was at Kansas City, KS on April 19, 1930. It was repaired again with, "New wings installed at factory, new type shock absorbers installed. Lower longeron rebuilt. With Challenger eng. c/a 239." It was inspected and licensed as airworthy on July 24, 1930.

It was sold to, and register "NC," by Walter P. Phipps of New York, NY on August 30, 1930. Phipps made a quick resale to Carl M. Breuer of Locust Valley, NY on the same day for $3,200. Under Breuer's ownership, NC44E "nosed over in landing" at Roosevelt Field, NY on December 6, 1930 to earn its third accident.

Breuer sold NC44E to Lee Epperson of Brooklyn, NY on August 31, 1931. By 1932, the airplane had accumulated 490 flight hours. NX/NR/NC44E was destroyed in an accident at Mineola, LI, NY on April 28, 1932 (no record of who the pilot was, or if there were injuries). Its license was revoked May 10, 1932. Today, the registration number N44E is assigned to a Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser.

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THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 06/17/13 REVISED: 11/07/13, 06/12/14