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 It includes across 277 pages previously unpublished photographs and texts, and facsimiles of personal letters, diaries and military orders.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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THE GARDNER TROPHY RACE
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The Gardner Trophy Race was one of the premier air race events of 1929. The Race was held May 28-30, 1929 at Parks Airport. It was held on those dates to coincide with the Memorial Day holiday, the 1st Annual St.Louis Aviation Exhibition and with the 3rd National Meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, also being held at St. Louis. Many of the pilots and aircraft signed in the Register between May 29th and June 1st were probably in town for the Exhibition and the National Meeting. You can view an aerial photograph of the Airport during the Gardner Race at the link.
The Race was the brainchild of Oliver Parks, whose Airport, college (Parks College), and manufacturing facilities (building Parks aircraft)
would be showcased for the pilots and spectators. The public was invited to Parks Airfield to see and participate in aviation for themselves.
The Gardner Trophy Race took its name from Russell and Fred Gardner, owners of the Gardner Motor Car Company in St. Louis. An excellent Gardner Race scrapbook, as well as a three-part 1994 manuscript that provides details of the preparations for Race day and the final results is at the link. If you want to view just the manuscript, it's at this link (PDF 21 pages, 1.5Mb). The manuscript is by Terry Bowden, a long-time friend of Delta Mike Airfield, and shared with his permission.
The Race was sanctioned by the National Aeronautic Association with one restriction: engine sizes were to be held under 800 cubic inches displacement. It was a speed dash, with no handicaps. Experimental modifications or special equipment would be allowed so long as the plane carried the proper registration certification.
At the links above you'll find that the Gardner consisted of two separate phases. The first was a qualifying event consisting of five races of approximately 700 miles. These qualifying races were anticipated in the May 17 article from The New York Times posted at right. The qualifiers originated in San Antonio, TX, Buffalo, NY, Fargo, ND, Jacksonville, FL and Denver CO. Mention is made at the bottom of this article of the two meetings cited above.
The first and second places in each of these five heats qualified to compete in the second phase, a final event of 468 miles over a round trip course from St. Louis, MO to Indianapolis, IN. The winner of the final would receive the Gardner Cup and $5,500 in prize money, worth about $75,000 as of the upload date of this page. The prize money attracted pilots from all over the U.S. Some of the biggest names in the business showed up flying a variety of aircraft.
Gardner Race pilots and aircraft are also represented by their signatures in the Registers. The qualifying heats terminated at Parks on May 29th with a flurry of landings and signatures by the competitors. Their signatures appear on the very first page of the Register. Among them were those tabulated below. I have included their aircraft registration numbers and final placements in the Gardner. Wood, Rowland and Stanton also signed the Davis-Monthan Register and their links take you to their Web pages on that site. Just click the links.
| FINAL PLACEMENT | PILOT NAME | AIRPLANE TYPE & NUMBER |
|---|---|---|
1 |
C.W. "Speed" Holman | Laird NR7087 |
2 |
Sydnor Hall | Travel Air NR6239 |
3 |
Art Davis |
Waco NR9577 |
4 |
John Wood | Waco NR736E |
5 |
Earl Rowland | Cessna NR9860 |
6 |
Stanley Stanton | Cessna NR8142 |
7 |
Dale "Red" Jackson | Curtiss Robin NR9291 |
Two additional Register signers, Marvin T. O'Dell and D.C. Warren were in the final race, but did not finish. As well, competitors in the first five qualifying heats are signed in the Register. They are Willard King (3rd place; heat 1), Eddie Hedeen (4th place; heat 1; NC8584), George E. Halsey (3rd place; heat 2; NX44E), George L. Lambert (4th place; heat 2) and A.B. McMullen (3rd place; heat 4). Among those who did not finish any part of the competition were N.R. McCray and Gentry Shelton. Good-quality photographs of many of the participants are in the Bowden manuscript linked above.
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THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 06/13/13 REVISED: