YOU CAN HELP
I'm looking for information and photographs of pilot Christopher and this airplanes to include on this page. If you have some you'd like to share, please click this FORM to contact me.
---o0o---
Thanks to Guest Editor Bob Woodling for help researching this page.
---o0o---
SPONSORED LINKS
LUKE CHRISTOPHER
 |
Luke Christopher appeared as a civil pilot twice in the Parks Airport Register. His first landing was on Thursday, June 13, 1929 at 4:20PM. He appeared to be solo in the Cessna AW he identified as NC9852 (S/N 187). He cited his home base as Washington, DC, and his destination as Columbus, OH. He did not state where his flight originated that day.
His second visit to East St. Louis was on Sunday, September 29, 1929 at 11:35AM. This time he identified his home base as Kansas City, MO and his destination was back to Kansas City. Again he did not state from where his flight originated. He was solo in the Inland S-300 Sport he identified as NR9416 (S/N S-302). Either weather or business kept him in East St. Louis, because he remained overnight, departing the next day at 9:00AM. He remarked in the Register, "Very good service." He gave no indication of the purpose of either of his flights.
Christopher was born in Tennessee May 31, 1894 (other sources say 1896). The 1900 U.S. Census, his first, placed him (age 6) living with his mother, Emiline (44) and father, John ("Jack," 51). He was the fifth of six children, having five older brothers and one younger sister. His father was a farmer and all his older brothers were farm laborers.
The 1910 Census traced him to Christian County, Kentucky where he lived with his father and younger sister. Father Jack was now coded as a widower and as a "Farm Laborer," as was Luke at age 15.
A letter (see below) suggested the year Christopher learned to fly as 1917. He would have been a qualified militaryi aviator from that time. The San Diego, CA city directory for 1917 cited him with an aviation school on North Island. An unsourced news article from May, 1919 pinpointed his earning his civil pilot certification, below. This article places him living in Everman, TX in 1919.
 |
The description, below, left, of Christopher's achievements in aviation as of 1928 is from this REFERENCE, page 22. Note that his birth year was cited as 1896. In 1919, the Oklahoma City Times, September 26, 1919, below, left, announced rides in two Curtiss aircraft, with Christopher in charge of operations.
 |
 |
At the risk of getting ahead of ourselves, Christopher was married twice. The first time was to Edith Race (22; 1894-1984) ca. March 10, 1918. The unsourced news article, right, announced issuance of their marriage license. I found no Census data for them for 1920. They remained married at least through ca. spring, 1923, because they had two sons, Glenn (7) and Reginald J. (13), who, in the 1930 Census, were living with Edith (now 33) in Everman. They shared a home with Edith's parents (both 57). Edith's occupation was coded as "Stenographer" in a "Drs. Office." Her father was a farmer.
 |
Through a nearly 20-year aviation career, Christopher appears to have served in at least three different branches of the military: Army, Navy and Coast Guard. As well, he accumulated broad experience in civil flying, including barnstorming, crop dusting with the original Huff-Daland Dusters and test flying. The Bristol Daily Courier (PA) reported on November 19, 1925 Christopher's test of a new "sea plane" manufactured by Huff-Daland. Chances are good that it was the Huff-Daland Pelican pictured at right. This airplane first flew in 1925.
As mentioned above, Christopher learned to fly in the U.S. army in San Diego. and was, through some unidentified mechanism, commissioned in the Royal Air Service of Canada. He served in the Royal Canadian Air Service. The photograph above, from ancestry.com, shows him in his Canadian uniform.
During WWI, he flew coastal patrol as a naval aviator in Miami, FL. Further details of his flying life are spelled out in the letter exhibited below.
In approximately 1926, Christopher married Berthel B. Whitehurst (1904-1944), who was 22 years old at the time of their marriage. The 1930 U.S. Census placed him and Berthel living at an unspecified address in Washington, DC. His occupation was coded as "Secretary" of the "National Aeronautical Association." They shared their home with Daisy Whitehurst (21), who was Christopher's sister-in-law. They rented their home for $62 per month. As Secretary, Christopher was involved in many of the Golden Age air races that crossed the country. For example, the Ogden, UT Standard Examiner of July 25, 1930 reported his role as referee for the All-America Flying Derby. Designated as mandatory overnight control stops were Buffalo, NY, New York, NY, Cincinnati, OH, Little Rock, AR, Houston and San Angelo, TX, Douglas, AZ,Los Angeles, CA, Ogden, UT, Lincoln, NB, Chicago, IL, and the final stop Detroit, MI. Numerous other articles reported his activities in this respect, as well as some of his military flights.
Christopher and Berthel suffered a tragedy in their lives when their son was born prematurely and died. An ancillary cause of the child's death was Berthel's acute nephritis. Their child's death certificate is below. His death was reported in the Bristol Daily Courier (PA) of February 4, 1927.
 |
Soon after their child's passing, they moved from Bristol, PA (see above) to Newport News, VA. The 1927 city directory for Newport News listed him and Berthel living at 406 S. Armistead Avenue. His occupation was listed as "Test pilot" (see letter below). On Google Earth, that address today is a very large, multi-storey home divided into several apartments.
An article apppeared in a journal dedicated to the ground-breaking aviation activities of the National Aeronautic Committee (NACA), dated 1928. A couple of paragraphs of that report, which dealt with early aircraft diving experiments and their effects on pilots, is below. Christopher found the point where g forces during pullout from a dive have lasting negative effects on the pilot. That point was between 9.0 and 10.5 times the force of gravity (unprotected by a g-suit).
 |
From July 23-26, 1929, Christopher led the All-Georgia Air Tour. He took a squadron of fourteen army aircraft point-to-point on a designated schedule around the state, stopping at twenty-one cities and circling a dozen others. Many states, in preparation for the arrival of the tour, made efforts to have their airports in good shape. The Tour did much to increase the quality of airfield infrastructure in Georgia.
 |
 |
Christopher was promoted to major in the air corps reserve as reported in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle (NY), June 9, 1929, right. The citation described his work as contest committee chairman for the National Aeronautic Association (NAA). In this capacity, part of his duties included overseeing various aeronautic record attempts.
For example, he was present at Chicago as the official NAA representative when the Hunter Brothers completed their endurance marathon on July 4, 1930. Another such attempt was an altitude record by Russian pilot Boris Sergievsky documented in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle (NY) of March 5, 1930, left.
 |
Another attempt for an altitude record in an autogiro was reported in the Daily Eagle of April 9, 1931, right. The record involved Parks Airport Register pilot Amelia Earhart. The described record was set at Pitcairn Field, Willow Grove, PA. Numerous photographs of this event appeared in newspapers around the country, as well as books, below. The box being handed to Christopher was a recording barograph used to document the altitude of the aircraft during the record attempt. Other articles pictured Christopher with various pilots who broke speed records.
 |
 |
Sometime circa 1932, Christopher became an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). He was assigned to at least two Coast Guard stations, San Diego, CA and Cape May, NJ. Some of his USCG exploits were captured in contemporary newspapers, like the one below from the Gettysburg Times (PA), March 12, 1932. Mentioned in this article is Register pilot A. Felix duPont. Other articles over the next few years documented other like rescue efforts.
 |
A revealing two-page letter, below, is shared with us by site visitor Mont Smith USCG (Ret). Clearly, a Commander Von Paulsen of the U.S. Coast Guard had asked Christopher to list his flying qualifications, which Christopher, in a matter-of-fact style, listed in his letter. We learn that, as of the month before, he had accumulated 5,142 flight hours, and that he had broad experience with various military aircraft types.
 |
Item 4. in his letter provided a chronological summary of his activities. It is difficult to correlate his 1928-29 landings at Parks Airport with his jobs during that period. What is clear is that, besides his civil flying, he was in the Air Reserve Corps as well.
 |
If you would like study this letter more closely, you may download a copy at the link (PDF 3.5kB). Interestingly, the addressee of this letter, Commander Carl Von Paulsen, made his own mark in the Coast Guard in 1933. You can read about it at the link. Neither the contributor or I know the purpose behind the letter.
 |
Luke Christopher was killed in a night water takeoff in an amphibian off Assateague, VA on December 5, 1936, sadly just 13 months after he detailed his experience in his letter, above. The circumstances around his death were summarized at the U.S. Coast Guard Web site at the link. The following was the description found there of the accident.
Date of incident: Names of personnel killed in the incident: Air Station the aircraft and/or crew were assigned to: Aircraft type and Coast Guard tail number (if applicable): Location of the incident: |
Christopher was interred in the Arlington National Cemetery on December 9th. His Arlington grave marker is at right. If you want to know someting about the design of government military headstones, click the link. The form documenting his interment at Arlington is below.
 |
 |
The Bristol Daily Courier (PA) of December 7, 1936 reported his death, left. Other than Edith's 1930 Census, this document was the only one that mentioned one of his sons, Glenn. I do not know the fate of his older son, Reginald, who would have been near 20 years old when his father was killed.
Berthel lived as a widow for the next eight years. Working as a domestic, she moved home to Tarboro, NC during the spring of 1944. On August 2, 1944 she was admitted to the Edgecomb County General Hospital with a perforated appendix. Eight days later, on August 10th, she died of a coronary embolism. Her death certificate is below.
 |
Berthel was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Her Arlington interment certificate is below.
 |
 |
 |
Note her interment certificate did not call for her own headstone, but one was erected, right. She was buried in the same plot as Luke (section 4, grave number 5577). Note also that her name was spelled Bethel on her death certificate. All the other records I examined for her spelled her name Berthel. I found no evidence that, after the death of their son in 1927, they had any other children. Luke, Jr. was buried with them, left.
According to information at ancestry.com, Berthel's estate consisted of a single bank account of $550, which was adjudicated and distributed to her parents on August 18, 1944. Thus, her hospitalization, death, burial and estate adjudication all occurred in about two weeks.
 |
Christopher's second wife Edith, on the other hand, lived until 1984. Her headstone at the Everman, TX cemetery is at left. She maintained her married name during the 48 years until her death.
 |
Glenn Christopher (b. 10/6/22) is either still alive (at age 94) or was not buried in the Everman Cemetery. His grave marker is at right. If anyone knows the whereabouts of Glenn Christopher, please let me KNOW. According to ancestry.com, in 1955 he lived in Ft. Worth, TX with his mother. He was a project engineer for Welex Jet Services. Welex manfactured shaped explosive charges for detonating and perforating oil well shafts at depth. Welex was acquired by the Halliburton Company in 1957. Christopher was a an engineer by training, but I don't know what type. He married in 1971 (at age 46) to Josephine I. Belcher in Dallas, TX. He lived in Ft. Worth, TX from at least 1993 to 2002.
 |
 |
Portrait, right, of Luke Christopher is from from Coast Guard Magazine, 1937. It shows him near the time of his death. An obituary appeared in the same magazine, left.
Luke Christopher flew with USCG Aviator #16 and with his U.S. Department of Commerce Transport pilot certificate T175. He also carried Department of Commerce Airplane and Engine Mechanic license #272. He also landed once and signed the Davis-Monthan Register, Tucson, AZ on Saturday, December 12, 1931 at 11:45AM. Luke Christopher has a good presence at subscription newspaper sites. He has a poor Web presence, given that another Luke Christopher is a west coast musician that dominates Google searches.
---o0o---
SPONSORED LINKS
THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 10/07/16 REVISED: 10/11/16, 10/20/16