Montana Standard et al, 1941

ATAM

Father: William Albert Acton, 120 W 3rd St, Xenia, OH (later moved to Dayton, OH)

Mother: Irene [Reece]

Ed. Xenia High School

prev. airplane sales, charter work for Dave Peterson Charter Service in Wichita, Kansas

prev. exp. 360 hrs on Beechcraft F17D, Culver Cadet, Cessna C145-165, Stinson, Cessna T50

Address in 1941: Wichita, Kansas

"Disregarding the fate of his friend, Bee Acton, of Wichita, Kan., has signed up for a year's service ferrying bomber and fighter planes from Canada to England [sic]. Acton, a commercial pilot, joined up shortly after his friend, Jim Wright, also of Wichita, was reported killed when a submarine sank the ship on which he was returning [sic] from England." 

At the end of his first contract the ATA described him as "a keen pilot competent to fly all types of single engne and light and medium7 twin aircraft. He proved a good type of officer and his behaviour was quite satisfactory."

His second contract was for 18 months with a "cessation of hostilities" clause included.

d. 8 Jul 1944 (Died in ATA Service) in Anson NK773 which was in a mid-air collision with Oxford X7134 and crashed at Rodbourne, 5 miles NE of Hullavington.

Pilot Flt Lt. Bernard N Phillips [RAF Serial No 45885] and passenger Sqn Ldr William A. Law [79047] in the Oxford were both killed.

The accident report says "Whilst the Anson was flying just below the cloud base an Oxford aircraft, piloted by an RAF pilot, came out of the cloud and struck the tail plane of the Anson. Both aircraft crashed in a field and were destroyed, all three occupants being killed."

"Neither pilot is held responsible for this accident."

Buried Maidenhead Cemetery (Section C, No 14KK).

The wording on the memorial is from Tennyson's poem 'Crossing the bar':

I hope to meet my pilot

Face to face

When I have crost the bar

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

1940

Ed. Harvard Medical School

WWI, 1917-18

"First Great War flyer and pilot on the first New York to Bermuda flight in 1930"

d. 6 Oct 1979 - Iron Mountain, MI 

W.106	2nd Officer	Myrtle Rita 'Mikki' Allen
	b. 26 Nov 1916, Paterson NJ	12 Aug-42 to 11 Feb-44

Father: William A Allen, mother Jeanette

Ed; Hawthorne High School, American School in Tokyo, Columbia University, NYC

prev. Mechanical Dept, Curtiss Propeller

 One of the original members of the 99 Club of women aviators.

She and her mother had visited the UK, in 1930

 prev. exp. 325 hrs

 Address in 1942: 70 Warren Ave, Hawthorne, NJ

Postings: 15FPP

One accident:

- 12 Sep 1942; she overshot her landing in a Hart, applied the brakes too harshly and the aircraft turned over.

Off sick from 22 Sep to 5 Oct 1942 with bronchial catarrh, and 18 Nov 1942 to 7 Feb 1943 with 'post-operation debility'

m. 23 Aug 1945 in St Louis MO, Major Joseph Watkins Carter, US Army Signal Corps. They met in London and had been engaged since Christmas Day 1942.

They divorced sometime before 1953.

After ATA, Myrtle served with the WASPs.

  https://twudigital.contentdm.oclc.org

but went to stay with her husband in Italy from 5 Nov 1946 to 14 May 1947, and then spent two years in Japan, 1951-53

 m. 1953 in Paterson., NJ, Carl Henry Willer

Later a secretary with the US Treasury Dept; moved to Florida in 1965 from Washington DC.

d. 10 Jun 1966 - Tampa, FL (Age 49)

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.----	First Officer	Raymond Sylvester Allen
	b. 15 Jan 1921, Bristow Oklahoma	22 Mar 1941 to 21 Mar 1942

Father: Joe Allen, mother Agnes [Johnson]

"He resigned as an instructor and pilot at Beaumont, MO with a record of 1,800 commercial flying hours" - The World, 28 Apr 1941

Sailed back to the US on the SS Vibran on 20 Mar 1942 with fellow American ferry pilots James Bruce Warren, Jack Edison Jenkins, Homer Edward Anderson (M.496), Robert Leonard Hamilton, John Cleveland Davis (M.416), James Emor O'Halloran, John R Scribbens, Paul Blecker Makepeace, George H Robertson, Frank C Hoffman, William Raymond Cooper (M.531) and Emmett Chaffin

Later flew 'The Hump' with CNAC - see CNAC Captain Raymond S. Allen

d. 5 Aug 1999, Bristow OK

(Naturalised 1916)

Address in 1940: 41 Clifford St, Hartford, CT

prev. pilot; 3 yrs in 118 Observation Sqn, Connecticut NG, 4 yrs AAA Aerial Survey

Sailed to Liverpool to join the ATA, arriving 11 Nov 1940, with fellow American pilots Charles Smith, Donald Annibal, Francis Bender, Robert Gragg, Dan Jacques, Malcolm Stewart and Roy Wimmer.

[Resigned]

Later joined Eastern Airlines

d. 1979

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.496	First Officer	Homer Edward Anderson
	b. 30 Jan 1918, Terre Haute, IN	13 Mar 1941 to 16 Mar 1942  [368 days]

Ed. Indian State High School, Terre Haute; W.C. Bryant Grammar School, University of New Mexico

Next of kin: (Mother) Mrs F R Jones, 3405 Wabash-Terre Haute, IN

prev. a trainee for Sears Roebuck & Co, Chicago IL.

Address in 1941: 922 Gordon Terrace, Chicago IL

Sailed back to the US on the SS Vibran on 20 Mar 1942 with fellow American ferry pilots James Bruce Warren, Jack Edison Jenkins, Emmett Chaffin (M.568), Robert Leonard Hamilton, John Cleveland Davis (M.416), James Emor O'Halloran, John R Scribbens, Paul Bleecker Makepeace, Raymond Sylvester Allen, George H Robertson, Frank C Hoffman, William Raymond Cooper (M.531)

Later flew 'The Hump' with CNAC - See CNAC Captain Homer E. Anderson, Jr.

Joined Consolidated Airways Inc. (Convair's own transport service, which used B-24s to carry personnel and cargo, and delivered aircraft, to the Pacific Theatre), and moved to San Diego then Santa Cruz, CA.

m. Marilyn [Richardson] of Jacksonville, FL. Their son Homer Edward Anderson III was born in Santa Cruz, CA on 6 May 1944.

d. Sep 1973, Seattle WA

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

ATA

Address in 1940: 2 Anding Ave, Merrick, Long Island New York

Joined the engineering staff of the Berliner-Joyce Aircraft Corp, Baltimore, in 1929

Operated the E.B. Anding Flying Service in Haiti; had also done crop dusting

prev. exp. 4,980 hrs

"A sound and intelligent pilot."

Seconded ("Loaned") to Atlantic Ferry Organisation (Atfero), 20 Mar 1941

left, with Al Torrey (?Eaglerock) of Atfero

d. 14 Aug 1941 - one of four ATA pilots, travelling as passengers, amongst the 22 killed in the crash of Liberator AM260 when taking off from Ayr.

The others were Philip Lee (M.228), Buster Trimble and Martin Wetzel.

The cause of the crash was that "the pilot in command [Cpt Richard Charles Stafford of BOAC] started the take off procedure from runway 06 which was not suitable for the takeoff as it was too short for such aircraft."

In October, his wife Jessie wrote bitterly to the ATA:

"Dear Sir,

I have in my possession a check for $1,005 as full settlement of my late husband's salary. I feel there has been a mistake in the amount, which I sincerely hope was not intended by the ATA.

Although it is to no avail to blame anyone for the accident I cannot help feeling that to a certain extent it was nothing more than 'manslaughter'. Capt. Stafford on two occasions at St Hubert airport in Montreal almost let his ships get away from him. Both occasions Capt. Anding was in the ships and I have heard my husband and other pilots discuss the fact that Capt. Stafford was not capable of flying the ships assigned to him. Of course "mere Americans" to even dare assume that an Englishman couldn't out-fly them would be something short of "treason".

and his brother-in-law added: "... in conversation with [Elbert] I learned there were only two things he was afraid of, Fire and Capt. Stafford - he met both."

Jessie had suffered financial hardship as a result of her husband's death (he had no insurance), but refused to cash the cheque for some months in protest at what she regarded as the shabby treatment handed out to her and the other families.

Eventually, on 16 July 1942, an ex-gratia payment of $4,000 was agreed for Jessie, with a further $4,000 in War Bonds in the name of their 9 year-old daughter Mary Anne.

Jessie wrote back to say she was "... greatly pleased. Might I add that any sarcasm I have shown in past correspondence has not been towards any one individual but to all those who from lack of foresight failed to realize the value and ability of other mankind."

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

A Commercial pilot - in June 1940 he made a 'perfect' forced landing on the riverbank of the Los Angeles River.

Address in 1940: c/o his father Lee H Annibal, 2482 Tyler Ave, Detroit, MI

Sailed to Liverpool to join the ATA, arriving 11 Nov 1940, with fellow American pilots Howard Alsop, Charles Smith, Francis Bender, Robert Gragg, Dan Jacques, Malcolm Stewart and Roy Wimmer.

Postings: 2FPP, 14FPP

m. Apr 1942 in Bristol, Glos, Patricia M [Harris], 1 child

"An excellent pilot. Discipline above reproach."

d. 23 Feb 1943 when a member of RAF Ferry Command, in Mitchell FR148 lost out of Gander

Commemorated at Runnymede

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.511	First Officer	James Whitaker 'Whit' Ansley
	b.4 Jul 1908, Marshallville, GA	17 Mar 1941 to 22 May 1943  [796 days]

Father: Joseph, a Baptist Minister

Ed. Fort Myers High School

m. 1940 Mary Louise [Foxworthy d. 2008], 1 daughter (Margaret Louise [Loy] d. 2015)

prev. Circulation Manager, News-Press Fort Myers 1925-41

Address in 1941: Apt 6-2010 Jackson St, Fort Myers, FL

Postings: 2 FPP, 14FPP, 3FPP, 1FPP

"A very good and careful pilot. Navigation very good; keen but inclined to be a little nervous of our weather. Conduct very good."

He told the Fort Myers News Press: "Can't say how I came over from England except that I didn't swim or use a rowboat... After this job is over, maybe I can tell a few stories. That's one reason I came back to the States for a visit. I was hungry for a few good American jokes. The English are a good lot but not too long on humor."

"Sure we have plenty to eat in England. The English people are long on morale. You can believe all you have read about the big raids on Germany. England has plenty of planes and with the help of the American Air Force there is no limit to the damage that can be inflicted on Germany from the air. The big show is terrific and no country can stand up under bombing of thousands of planes at one time. We ferry pilots don't do that kind of flying but we do handle plenty of ships that have been over the Channel."

"Whit grinned and denied that he came across the Atlantic with Churchilll. He did admit to having seen Churchill on a couple of occasions. 'That guy gets around', said Ansley."

In 1944, he was one of the pilots sent to look for Austin Drumm (see above), who had bailed out of a B-24 near Georgetown, British Guiana and spent about 2 weeks in 'the roughest jungles in South America'. They had travelled to the UK together in 1941.

d. 3 Nov 1971, Tampa: "Mr. Ansley had lived in Tampa for the past 17 years and was associated with the Coates Oil Equipment Co. Prior to World War Two he served as a ferry pilot with the ATA in England and served as a pilot with the US Navy during World War Two and the Korean War as a Lt. Commander."

"After the war he returned to Fort Myers and for a time was manager of Page Field after the government turned it over to the county... About 3 years ago he retired as sales manager of the Coates Oil Equipment Co. of Tampa when he was seriously injured in an automobile accident. Since the accident he had been an invalid and entered Bay Pines last Saturday when stricken with pneumonia."

buried Myrtle Hill Memorial Gardens, Tampa.

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.334	First Officer	Kenneth Russell Arnette
	b. 31 Aug 1912, Rutherfordton VA	25 Jan 1941 to Jan-42

Married, no children

prev. Barnstorming; Arnette's Air Show (Stunting shows)

Address in 1941: Henderson, NC

Next of Kin: c/o Arnette's Ice Cream Co., Richmond, Virginia

Postings: 2FPP, 3FPP

"A sound and experienced pilot and in every way satisfactory."

Killed in action in the India-Burma Theatre 4 Feb 1945

buried Jefferson Barracks National Military Cemetery – St. Louis, Mo.

"Learned to fly at the Meyer Airport near Hendersonville, N.C. A graduate of Hendersonville High School where he was an outstanding athlete, he is survived by his mother and four brothers. James Arnette Jr served in the US Navy, Sgt Roy A Arnette with the AAF in France, W C Arnette with the Seabees in the Aleutians, and Milton Prince Arnette, who lives in Hendersonville."

His brother Roy owned Arnette's Ice Cream Co; he was killed when 3 armed men robbed the company in 1974, hit him on the head and shot him in the arm.

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

ATAM

ATAM

Father: Harry Earl Ballard, mother Caroline S [Evans]

Ed. Highland Grammar School, Holyoke; Augusta Military Academy, Long Island, NY

prev. 1933-34 US Army 62nd Coast Artillery, Private First Class;

Operator, Valley Air Sales, Springfield, Mass.; Paper Maker. Purchasing Agent

prev. exp. 470 hrs

Address in 1941: Leahey Ave, South Hadley Center, Mass.

 Postings: 6FPP, 7FPP

Reprimanded in Aug-42 for 'flying at low altitude', and suspended for 1 week in Feb-43 for 'taking off in Spitfire with hood open'

2 accidents, one his fault:

- 12 Apr 1942, his Spitfire nosed over after taxying into an unmarked soft patch, and

- 9 Feb 1944, when his Anson developed an engine problem and he did a precautionary landing, but then took off again even though there was a 200rpm mag. drop. Again, the engine misbehaved, so he had to do another forced landing. "It is considered that the pilot made an error of judgement in deciding to take off in the circumstances."

"A capable and hard working pilot who makes a good officer if he watches his tongue" "His flying is good and his keenness to take on any work at any time cannot be considered anything but first rate"

"He talks too much and too loudly and appears to have a profoundly irritant effect on many of his colleagues. He is, however, good natured and quick-witted."

He sailed back to the US on the 11 Jun 1942 with fellow US pilots Marshall Milton, William Byrd Lee Milton, Eddie Grundstrom, Alexander Wilson, Manley Fairbrother, and Harry Kindberg.

m. 1942 Ethel (Ruth) Lambton, also of the ATA and Edwin then spent September 1943 to January 1943 in the USA.

In September 1944 Edwin, Ruth and her son Peter Lambton, age 9, sailed to the USA.

In January, Ruth and Edwin were hauled before a disciplinary court for 'drinking during an unauthorised period in spite of a warning by a senior officer' and 'insubordination'.

The Court was inclined Not to overlook the offences. "After considering the evidence, and after hearing verbal evidence given by Commander Whitehurst and Captain Rome the Court reached the conclusion that the charges were fully substantiated, and after reviewing the record of both these officers, who as pilots have undoubtedly done a good job, the Court nevertheless came to the conclusion that their disciplinary record throughout, as disclosed by the History Cards, has left a great deal to be desired, despite repeated warnings, and that this incident is so bad as to warrant their instant dismissal".

Ruth and Edwin were duly dismissed on the 23rd January 1945. 

They sailed to the USA on the 21 Feb (to Edwin's home town of Hadley, MA), had 2 more children and then moved to Nassau, Bahamas in 1950 where Eddie took a job as a pilot for Bahama Airlines.

Ann Wood-Kelly, Lettice Curtis, Ruth Ballard and Winnie Fair, in the Bahamas in 1957 (ELC)

d. 31 Mar 1978 - Nassau

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Address in 1940: Union NY

Arrived in the UK 11  Nov 1940 on the SS Duchess of Atholl, with his fellow ferry pilots Howard Charles Alsop (M.165), - Donald Lee Annibal (M.163), Robert Olyn Gragg (M.173), Dan B Jacques, Charles John Smith, Malcolm F Stewart and Roy Edwin Wimmer.

Postings: 14FPP

 d. 3 Aug 1941 (Died in ATA Service) in Havoc AH463 which crashed In bad visibility into hills New Cumnock Ayrshire

 findagrave.com

buried Monkton and Prestick Cemetery

M.589	3rd Officer	Simpson Fernald Berry
	b. 7 Nov 1905, Boston MA	26 May 1941 to Feb-42

prev. 'Civilian Military Training Camp from Aug-Sep 1925. Rank Private' (that appears to be it)

also, testing refrigerators and ferrying 'new small aeroplanes'

Contract Terminated by ATA - Failure to reach required standard (3 pilot-at-fault accidents), coupled with disobedience of ATA Standing Orders by repeatedly flying above heavy cloud.

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

father: also Peter Andreas Bertram [originally from Denmark, naturalised 1922], owner and operator of the Mattoon Butter Co., d. 1965

Ed. High School, Monmouth IL

m. 1945 Ellen Rose [Huckleberry], 1 daughter (Linda Lee)

prev. a ferry pilot and inspector at Piper Aircraft Corp. Lock Haven , PA

Address in 1941: 846 4th St, Charleston, IL

d. 24 Feb 1989 - Fort Myers, FL

 buried Mattoon, IL

"Peter A. Bertram Jr, moved here 17 years ago from Charleston, Ill, and he had owned and operated the Beach View Cottages on Sanibel Island. He served as Captain in the Air Transport Auxiliary of the RAF of England from 1940 to 1945 [sic]. Mr. Bertram was a  member of the Sanibel-Captiva Power Squadron, and was a former member of the Sanibel Chamber of Commerce, the Hotel and Motel Assoc of Lee County, and the Charleston Rotary Club of Charleston, Illinois."

News-Press, Fort Myers FL

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

ATA

Ed. Burlesan College (M.A.)

m. M. E. , 1 son Thomas

prev. "Aviation"

Address in 1940: 202 Canterbury Dr, Terrill Hills, San Antonio TX

Postings: 6FPP

1 Accident, not his fault:

- 6 Sep 1940, Hurricane broke tail wheel when landing - possibly a fault in the material.

Seconded to AtFero in 20 Mar 1941

WWII US Draft Card shows he was employed by Canadian Pacific Railway Air Service Dept on 16 April 1941

Contract Terminated 13 May 1941 - "Deserted"

1943-44 Joined American Export Airlines (Naval Air Transport Service) as a pilot

1945-47, was a pilot for American Overseas Airlines and lived at 407 Bayou View, Houston TX

m. 25 Dec 1948 Marie [Oscar] in Florida

1951 Pilot for Pan American

d. 8 Dec 1974 (age 63) - American Hospital of Paris, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

m. to Bernadette [Dulin] [d. Mar 1990, Indiana]

Address in 1940: 836 Bauer St, Hammond, Indiana

prev. a printer, and airport operator

Postings: 1FPP

 "This pilot is absolutely first class & one of the keenest and hardest working in the pool."

d. 6 Jul 2000 - Indiana

"Veteran, Pilot. Flew the infamous P51 Mustang named "The Galloping Ghost" which won many of the Cleveland Air Races and Thompson Trophy Races. Former Spokesman for Kendall Oil. Married to Bernadette Dulin Beville for 56 years."

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.626	First Officer	David Arthur Bishop
	b. 3 Mar 1911, Hilbert Wisconsin	23 Jun 1941 to 13 Sep 1943

ather: Willmer Bishop (dec'd) Mother: Catherine [Martin]

ed. West Green Bay High School (grad. 1929)

prev. a driver on an automobile boat; a shipping clerk on a boat dock, Manager of Brown County Airport, and a commercial pilot.

Address in 1941: 231 Allard Ave, Green Bay, Wisonsin ([Mother's address]

"slight scar on nose"

Postings: 4FPP, 4aFPP, 2FPP

Suspended for 4 days in Mar-43 following a wheels-up forced landing in Botha L6508, after he forgot to check that the fuel cocks were correctly set

Suspended for 4 days in Jun-43 for "a breach of discipline and non-compliance with Standing Order"

"A capable and intelligent pilot of above average ability"...

"During the last two months [Aug-Sep 1943] his discipline has improved tremendously, and he has proved to be a most competent pilot who works hard."

Joined the USAAF in December 1943 (as a private, having first been "listed as a delinquent" when he failed to turn up as agreed in October).

"After serving as an instructor on B-25s, A-20s, P-38s, C-47s, AT-6s and several other types of trainers, he was sent in February 1945 to the Asia-Pacific theater as a pilot in the Air Transport Command. He served here eight months, and completed 75 flights over the Himalaya "Hump". He holds the Air Medal, Pacific Theater Ribbon with one battle star, European and American Theater ribbons, and pre-Pearl Harbor, Allied Service and Victory ribbons."

Post-WWII, worked for the Green Bay Auto Distributors as a salesman, and was Democratic candidate for the Green Bay 'Register of Deeds' in November 1948.

m. 1957 Anna [Sadsuske], 1 daughter.

Moved to California in 1960 and operated an auto parts business in Oakland.

d. 4 Mar 1965 - Contra Costa, CA 

buried Hillside Cemetery, http://schema.org/PostalAddress" itemprop="address">Chilton, Calumet County, Wisconsin

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

m. 1921 (divorced, remarried 1934) Charlotte [Blair]

prev. a racing, joy-ride and test pilot

Address in 1940: Pawhuska, Osage, Oklahoma

ATA Contract Terminated 2 Oct 1940

The ATA's Administration Officer wrote to him: "You called here yesterday afternoon with a Medical Certificate to the effect that you were unfit for duty and I instructed you to take it to the Chief Instructor and collect my letter, which you did not do.

As a result of this failure to obey instructions in addition to the complaints about you referred to in my letter, the Minister of Aircraft Production has decided that you are unsuitable for the duty for which you were brought to this country"

d. 23 Apr 1944 - Kansas City, MO

Buried Pawhuska City Cemetery

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Father: George T Boyd, Mother: Mary Clara

Ed. High School, Blue Springs, AL

prev. Aviation Machinist; US Navy pilot from 1930 to 1940

Arrived in Liverpool on 20 Nov 1940, having sailed from Montreal, with fellow ATA pilot William Gregg

Postings: 8FPP, 2FPP, 14FPP

Class V (4-engine) pilot

Suspended for a week in 1941 due to "Breach of regulations relating to collection of aircraft", and

Suspended for another day and fined $20 due to going AWOL

4 accidents, none deemed his fault:

- 1 Feb 1941, the wheels of his Blenheim stuck in an unmarked soft patch

- 28 Jan 1942, on landing his Beaufort AW345 on slippery ground at Kemble, the brakes failed to grip "owing to [the] bad state of Kemble aerodrome for delivery of Beaufort aircraft"

- 10 Apr 1942, whilst taxying his Beaufighter I X7825 at Sealand, the tail wheel fell into a small unmarked excavation

- 14 Oct 1942, forced landing after the starboard engine of his Beaufighter VIc T5265 failed on take off, possibly due to the engine running for a long period on the ground

"Continues to be a most valuable member of this Pool, both as regards his flying qualities and his conduct."

Transferred to RAF Ferry Command

Casey's Draft Card, dated 26 Jul 1943

Later flew 'The Hump with CNAC - see CNAC Captian Casey T. Boyd

 d. 24 Nov 1970 - Clayton, Alabama

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Naturalised American 1934

Address in 1940: 37-20 76th St, Jackson Heights, Long Island NY

ATA Contract Terminated - Inefficiency

"Herewith, I forward Flight Test Reports on the five American pilots, who reported on the 22 August. From these, you will see that only two are in the class of pilot we require.

Passed: Ortman, Phillips

Failed: Breen, McCory, Wickford"

d. 18 Dec 1969 - Denton, TX 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Promoted to First Officer, 15 Feb 1942;

Demoted to 2nd Officer, 6 Mar 1942 [Dangerous Flying and taking off on an unauthorised flight]

"Hardworking and capable but not always reliable - now and again indulges in low or dangerous flying"

[Contract Terminated 23 Mar 1942 by ATA - Disciplinary Reasons]

d. c.17 Nov 1942; his China National Air Corporation C-47 went missing flying between China and India.

In October 1945, his mother wrote to the ATA:

"Dear Sir,

We have today received the log book of our son, James S Browne, who was in your service '41-2 as First Officer. He was first stationed at Maidenhead and later at Ratcliffe Hall, Leicester. Perhaps you did not know him personally, or may not have been at White Waltham at the time he was in service - but, in any case, I wanted to let you know that after he returned to the States April 1942, he was engaged by the Pan American & China National Aviation Corporation to transport supplies over the 'Hump' from India to China.

He flew a DC-3 to Calcutta shortly after his return from England and shortly after his arrival there, was made Captain of a C-47. As you may know that is the most treacherous flying in the world, and the weather conditions are very bad.

Jim has been missing since Nov 17, 1942. and no trace of him, the plane, or the crew. Almost three years have passed and, of course, we are offered no hope from the China { } - the anxiety has been terrible. He was 21 and our only child.

It does not help to know that millions of others are also suffering. This is our own personal sorrow.

I shall be so very glad if you will be good enough to let us know if you happened to know Jim, or did anyone else in your station - it would be a comfort to us to hear from any of his friends. It seems so unreal to us now, that year he spent in England, so long ago - but it was only in 1941. We had not entered the war at the time and Jim did not have to go, but was anxious to try out for that job. He was so very young.

Hoping to hear from you again, which we shall very much appreciate.

Sincerely, 

Harriet S Browne (Mrs Herbert S Browne)

653 Hill Road, Winnetka, Illinois"

The wreckage was not discovered until 2011, 13,400 feet up a mountain in China's Yunnan province.

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Father: Walter (a builder); Mother: George B

[Yes, his mother's name was apparently George]

prev. Instructor for Aero Corp of California

Address in 1940: 1019 W 102nd St, Los Angeles CA

m. Sep 1940 Dorothy Lillian [Hayward], from Bath, in Bristol (Blimey, he was only here for a month)

"Wanting her baby to be born an American citizen, Mrs Bryson made arrangements for her passage over, without telling her parents."

Their daughter Christina was born in Los Angeles on 3 Mar 1943.

In December 1942, an employee of Lockheed; by 1945 the Douglas Aircraft Co. representative assigned to Sedalia Army Air Field, Missouri.

 The 3 of them travelled back to the UK in the "Queen Elizabeth" in Feb 1947 and stayed until Aug 1948.

d. 21 Jun 1991 - Los Angeles

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.975	3rd Officer	Gerard Burnett
	b. 3 Oct 1920, Racine, WI	31 May 1943 to 31 Oct 45

 [ab initio]

prev. an ATA Ground Engineer from 1942; an ab initio pupil who "took to flying easily, particularly in Class 1 and 2."

Postings: 1FPP, 5FPP, 8FPP, 4FPP

Certificate of Commendation "for displaying exceptional airmanship. On 15 Nov 44 he landed his aircraft in a small field after hydraulic failure had filled the cockpit and sprayed him with a large quantity of hydraulic fluid possessing powerful anaesthetic properties."

"A keen pilot who has settled down to doing a very good job."

2 accidents, one his fault.

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

ATA

Ed. High School

m. R, 2 children

prev. "Aviation"

Address in 1940: 1823 2nd Ave, Sacramento CA

  3 Sep 1940

"Ken Kleaver, Ralph Canning and Fred Du Puy ["Berkeley World War Aviator", later a Lt-Col, USAAF], all from California, en route to Canada where they will serve the British Government"

Postings: 1FPP, 2FPP

Suspended without pay for a week in Jan-41 for "General Misdemeanour" [as was his fellow 'California Prune Picker' Ken Kleaver]

Off sick from 21 Feb 1941

Contract Terminated 8 May 1941

d. 1969, Texas

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

College photo

1939, when a student pilot at Randolph Field, TX

Father: Sidney Francis Carragher, (Step-father Milton M Cranston), Mother: Amy Carragher Cranston, of 100 Elmgrove Ave, Providence, RI

Five sisters, one brother

Ed. Rhode Island State College (BSc, 1936). President of the 'Phi Delta' student dramatic association:

 with thanks to George Cogswell

prev. Flying Instructor at Glendale Airport; 2nd Lieut. US Air Corps 1938-40

prev. exp. 645 hrs on Stearman PT15, Yale, Pursuit P.12, Harvard, B.18, A.17, O.46, BT.14, P.12

Address in 1940: 2920 Ocean Drive, Manhattan Reach, CA

"Mr. Carragher appears to be a man of considerable experience, consequently his handling of twin engine equipment is good" - Flight Test Report in Toronto, Oct 1940

Postings: Ringway

d. 1 Feb 1941 (Died in ATA Service) - while performing unauthorised aerobatics at Ringway airport in Mohawk AR664 - engine failure led to a stall and spin into the ground.

"On February 1st at about 5 p.m. I saw the Mohawk AR664 which Carragher was flying dive down to about 500 ft. and then climb vertical to about 1000 ft. then turn on its back. Just as the machine was almost flat on its back the engine ceased to fire, the machine fell off the loop, came out of the dive right side up and commenced to glide towards the aerodrome, the machine looked to travel about a mile in a glide then did one turn and a half of a spin and went down behind the trees. The flaps and wheels were not lowered." - Joseph Shoesmith, fellow ATA pilot, who was also ferrying a Mohawk from Squires Gate and had landed first.

buried Central Cemetery, Manchester; "His Worship the Mayor of Altrincham, who knew the deceased personally during his posting at Ringway and held a very high opinion of him, attended the funeral."

Some of the cheques written by Francis, found in his personnel file

He was the first American pilot to lose his life in ATA service.

 "My own impression, borne out by reports from all quarters, indicated that whereas we may have a number of other pilots as good, and some possibly better than the late Francis Dean Carragher, there was no one of any nationality in this organisation of higher principles and greater all round merit." - F D 'Brad' Bradbrooke, ATA Chief Ferry Officer at the time, who died in ATA Service 6 months later

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Had a twin sister, Martha

High School in Washington DC

prev. Service Dept, Piper Aircraft Corp.

Address in 1940: 131E Main St., Lock Haven, PA

Postings: 2FPP, 9FPP

"A good pilot. Demeanour - lacking in enthusiasm."

He was due to return to the US in May 1942 (with fellow American pilots Jack Groover Durham (M.332), Bruce Elmer Raymond, H Stirling, Gerald Gilbert Yerdon, W Walters and Ernest Carl Ewing (M.470), but his contract was renewed at the last moment.

Reduced in rank to 2nd Officer for 1 month from 31 Jan 43 after showing 'very bad airmanship' when flying a Typhoon; he misjudged his approach, undershot the landing and struck a gun post.

Captain in USAAF until 1947, then with the Curry School of Aeronautics

m. Ethel Brown of the Army Nurses Corps, 22 Sep 1948

d.  11 Nov 1984

Burial: Culpeper National Cemetery

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M.568	Acting First Officer	Emmett 'Kenneth' Chaffin
	b. 24 Nov 1921 **, Forth Worth TX	24 Feb 1941 to Feb-42

** On his registration forms, Kenneth gave his date of birth as 2 Feb 1920 - thus making him 21. However, he admitted that he was only 20 when he returned to the US in 1942. Obviously, he had lied about his age in order to join the ATA!

prev. Gulf Airways, Fort Myers, Florida (newspaper delivery by plane) 2 yrs.

He was a member of the Fort Myers high school boxing team!

Address in 1941: Beach Rd, Fort Myers, Florida

 Arrived in the UK 22 Apr 1941 on the SS Mercier with fellow American ferry pilots James Emor O'Halloran, John Cleveland Davis (M.416), Gilman Benedict Warne, Marvin Harrison Dunlavy (M.408), Harold Lindsey Price.

Off sick for all of May 1941 with acute appendicitis.

m. 29 Sep 41 to Ruth Alice Maud Morgan, from Abergevenny, in London (divorced 1946);

Sailed back to the US on the SS Vibran on 20 Mar 1942 with fellow American ferry pilots James Bruce Warren, Jack Edison Jenkins, Homer Edward Anderson (M.496), Robert Leonard Hamilton, John Cleveland Davis (M.416), James Emor O'Halloran, John R Scribbens, Paul Bleecker Makepeace, Raymond Sylvester Allen, George H Robertson, Frank C Hoffman, William Raymond Cooper (M.531)

Later, 2 years in the US Army Air Force as a Flight Officer - he force-landed in a pea patch near Brownsville, Texas in Aug 1944.

m. Martha Blackburn in 1947

In 1947, a pilot for C Adrianza, Venezuela; from 1949, a pilot for Delta Airlines.

His father (also Emmett Kenneth) owned a grocery store, once had a pilot's licence, filed a patent for aircraft carburettors, became mayor of Medley, Florida in the mid-60s, and finally committed suicide by shooting himself in the head (having tried to shoot his second wife in the head just beforehand, but only grazing her temple).

Kenneth became a police lieutenant in Medley.

d. 11 Mar 1992 - Deland, Florida

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W.96	2nd Officer	Emily Chapin
	b. 22 Nov 1912, Twin Falls ID	12 Aug-42 to 11 Feb-44

Father: Charles Hall Chapin, Advertising Manager for the White Rock Mineral Co. in NYC (d. 1960)

Ed. Wellesley College, MA

Next of kin: (mother) Mrs Dorothy [Traill]

prev: File Supervisor for Standard Oil Co of New Jersey

 prev. exp. 203 hrs

Address in 1942: 291 Rye Beach Ave, Rye, NY

Postings: 15FPP

She was reprimanded in April 1943 for "careless taxying resulting in accident, when the propeller of her Master II struck a marking flag.

2 other accidents, one her fault:

- 27 Jul 1943, forced landing in a Spitfire, which was damaged, "due to an error of judgement on the part of the pilot" (the hood blew off in flight. Presumably she was held to blame because she had failed to secure it properly);

- 16 Nov 1943, she made a forced landing in a Swordfish which developed high oil pressure and temperature.

(2nd L) with Bobby Sandoz and 'a couple of fellow Yanks' at the Red Cross Club, 1943

She flew 18 types of aircraft (Class 1 and 2) with the ATA.

"A keen and hardworking pilot whose confidence appeaqrs to have been shaken by her recent (Jul-43) accident. Discipline good."

Later a WASP, then an engineer for General Precision Laboratories and the Singer Corporation.

d. 23 Jul 1978 - Briarcliff Manor, Westchester County, New York

Her wartime correspondence is in the Texas Woman's University Collection:

https://twudigital.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p214coll2/id/3052/rec/1

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Postings: 3FPP, 4FPP, 4bFPP

He "cemented his union with this country by choosing a British wife and, being of a very modest and unobtrusive nature, arranged a Registry Office wedding without mentioning the matter to any of his friends.

As was to be expected, every pilot at his home station, Prestwick, was soon aware of the day, the place and the time, and, when the unfortunate couple left the Registrar they were met by a solid block of 40 pilots. After being carried out and suitably feted at a nearby hotel, the bridegroom was finally escorted from the scene in a wheelbarrow." BG

"An excellent officer in all respects."

d. June 1, 2000 in San Luis Obispo, CA

http://grandcentralairterminal.org

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M.669	2nd Officer	Vincent Chigi
	b. 25 Jan 1915, Union City NJ	10 Jun 1941 to May-42

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M.375	Flight Captain	George Roger Clark
	b. 29 Apr 1903, Union City, Randolph County, IN	17 Mar 1941 to Apr-43

Educated at Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN

US Air Corps from Feb-25 to Feb-28, then 'actively engaged as pilot and in aviation sales and service work. Engineer."

Worked for Iloilo-Negros Air Express Co. in Philippines for 3 years

Address in 1940: 5647 Fountain Ave, Hollywood, CA

Postings: 3FPP

Aug-41: Fined one week's salary ($50) for lighting a cigarette in a Spitfire

"A good officer and an excellent pilot."

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W.72	Flight Captain	Jacqueline 'Jackie' Cochran-Odlum
	b. 11 May 1906	24 Jan-42 to Jul-42

 prev. exp. approx 2,000 hrs ("These hours are reasonably accurate as my logbook was left in America") on "Fleet, Travel Air Trainer, Waco 210 Continental, Northrop Gamma, GB 750hp Cyclon, Beechcraft, Douglas DC-2, Douglas DC-3, Lockheed 12, 14 & Lodestar, and many light type aircraft."

Jackie started her ATA Class 1 Training on 31 Mar 1942 and completed it on 1 Jun 1942, having flown Magister (8hrs 20min), Wicko (3hrs 55min), and Fairchild (8hrs 05min).

d. 1980

Well-known, and well-documented elsewhere:

e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacqueline_Cochran

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" A good hard-working and reliable pilot"

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Address in 1941: 1109½ Bigley Ave., Charleston

Imprisoned for 10 days in 1932 for "Violation of the National Prohibition Act"

prev. exp. 700 hrs over 11 years

Postings: 1FPP, 14FPP

Clarence sailed back to Montreal on the 8th June 1942, with his fellow American ATA ferry pilots James 'Whit' Ansley (M.511), Kenneth Fogelberg, Russell Gates, Russell Gibson,John Morrison, Nicholas Pickard,  William Ressegger, Clay Steffee, Stewart Updike, and Keith Williams.

d. Dec 1974 - Columbus

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Father Ira Monto Cooper; mother Anna [Knapp] b. 1880 d. 1984

m. Jul 1938 Kathryn Louise [Tudor]; 3 children

["Mr and Mrs Cooper took a honeymoon trip by plane, piloted by the former, who owns and operates a private ship."]

prev. an Airport Manager

prev. exp. 1369 hrs

Address in 1941: Tuscola, IL

Postings: 1FPP, 12FPP, 4aFPP, 16FPP

Suspended for 7 days with loss of pay in Sep-42 for low flying over Carlisle.

"A most reliable and willing pilot"; "A good pilot and very keen"

but

Contract Terminated by ATA - Disciplinary Reasons

"Mr and Mrs Cooper celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with an open reception. They both farm."

Briefly, their farm produced oil; however in 1965 the Decatur Herald said that only 2 of the 11 wells in Macon and Christian counties were still operating, and amongst them "Howard L Cooper's Long No. 2 was no longer profitable to operate. The pool in which it was located has been discovered less than 7 years."

d. 24 May 1989, Evansville IL

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prev. New Orleans Private Police. Service as Private Patrolman;

National Guard - Army Sergeant

Ground Instructor Aviator

prev. exp. 380 hrs

Postings: 3FPP, 15FPP

Later flew 'The Hump' for CNAC - see CNAC Captain William Cooper

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1936

Military Service in WWI from 5 Jun 1917 to 19 Feb 1919 and 1924-27

prev. a copper miner and farmer, then pilot; "he established and then flew an air-mail route from Kansas to Denver in the early 1920s"

 m. 1914 Judith M [Anderson], 2 children

Address in 1930: District H, Denver, Colorado

In the mid-30s he was the pilot of the splendid "sub-stratosphere" Shelton AG-4 Crusader, which was expected to "Whiz-z-z to Paris" but the company folded in 1938 under securities fraud investigations before the Crusader could go into production.

In 1940 they were living with her mother, and his brother-in-law's family in Pasadena, CA

Sailed back to Montreal on the SS Tilapa on 19 Aug 1941, with fellow-pilot John Marine, on a vist to Pasadena. He said "I am sure the British will win. They have so much spirit and actual courage. Even during the height of a bomb raid, they will put on the tea pot for that 4 o'clock cup of tea."

d. 2 Mar 1944 of natural causes at Prestwick, S Ayrshire, Scotland

Buried Cambridge American Cemetery, England

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Father: Frank I Cramer

Ed.: 4 yrs High School, 1 yr Cornell University

m. 1929 Vida Pearl [Hewes, divorced, later Dolamore]

prev. a Commercial Pilot. Manager of Oneida Airport.

He had to swim a mile and a half after his seaplane crashed following engine failure and then an engine fire, at Onodaga Lake, Syracuse , N.Y. in Jun 1930.

Address in 1940: Baldwinsville, NY

Postings: 6FPP, 1FPP

He was commended for his forced landing after an engine failure in a Short Scion on 8 Dec 1940, but blamed for another forced landing in a Fairey Battle when he continued a flight in failing light and bad weather on 5 Jan 1941.

Seconded to Atfero 20 Mar 1941

Contract Terminated 31 Oct 1941

d. 8 Jan 1945 - Port of Spain, Trinidad, in Martin M-130 'China Clipper' of Pan American Airways.which crashed while landing in darkness. 10 of the 13 crew, and 13 of 17 passengers died in the accident.

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

1940

m. 1938 Clara [Gregory]

prev. a Commercial Pilot; "he has been flying for the last 10 years as a hobby", then an Instructor in the civil aeronautics authority student programfor the last six months.

Address in 1940: 869 N Idaho St, San Mateo CA

ATA Contract Terminated 12 Sep 1940 - Inefficiency

d. 2 May 1994 - San Diego CA

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M.392	2nd Officer	Milford Kenneth Crawford
	b. 11 Nov 1910, Kalamazoo, Michigan	20 Mar to 31 Jul 1941

Father: Jollie George Crawford, a Credit Manager for Peoples Outfitting Co; Mother: Marie A [Ramstain]

Ed. Southwestern High School, Detroit; Detroit College of Law

 m. 8 Aug 1936 in Detroit, Genevieve 'Grace' R [Magalikski] (d. 2002)

prev. Sewing Machine Dept of Sears Roebuck, Detroit

prev. exp. 525 hrs

  Draft card, dated 16 Oct 1940

Address in 1941: 10200 Lakepointe Ave, Detroit, Michigan

 Postings: 6FPP

 1 accident, his fault:

- 12 Jun 1941, a heavy landing in a Hurricane after an error of judgement

Contract Terminated - "Inefficiency"

 Lieut in US Navy, 19 Jul 1943 to 22 Jun 1947

Still flying in 1948 - he and his passenger escaped unhurt after he crashed a twin-engined plane at the Municipal Airport, Jackson MI, after "both motors quit as he was circling the field"

d. 29 Sep 1986 - Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan

Buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery, Eastwood, Kalamazoo County, Michigan

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Father: Walter Brown Crews, Mother: Annie Mae

Ed. Kerser High School

m. 1935 in Arkansas Bertha Christine [Johnson] (an 'FAA licensed Pilot')

prev. a commercial pilot (Delta, Finkles Bros) flying instructor and crop dusting

Address in 1941: 1201, W Ash St., Blytheville, Arkansas

Contract Terminated - Medical Reasons. "This pilot was found to be sufferng from syphilis, which he contracted before he left the USA, and received treatment in this country. This condition was too far developed to permit flying activities."

"He should never have been enrolled."

later Capt in US Air Transport Command 1942-1946

d. 20 Mar 1974 (Age 62) - Los Angeles

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Father John Bennett Crim [d. 1932, Charleston WV], mother Mathilda (b. 1878 in Germany, family emigrated to USA in 1881)

Ed. Public School, Charleston

prev. Trooper, WV State Police 1929-32; motor mechanic, pilot

m. 1934 Hazel Gaye [Roberts] [d. 1985]

Adress in 1940: 1407½ Jackson St, Charleston WV

Travelled from St. Johns to Liverpool on the SS 'Nova Scotia' with fellow pilots Edmund Jarrett, Kenneth Douglas, Kenneth Seeds, Robert Vinson and Edwin Whittington.

Postings: 6FPP

He joined a Mr. Hubert M Covert in setting up 'Flight School Inc.' an air taxi, cargo and ambulance service, at Clark Field nr. St Albans, WV, in Nov 1954.

d. 31 Jul 1987, Charleston WV

Cumberland Times News - February 9, 1989, Cumberland, Maryland:

"Scholarship Established At University
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -The West Virginia University Foundation has received nearly $80,000 from the estate of a Charleston aviator to establish a scholarship in his name.
Omar W. Crim, a pilot with the Civil Air Patrol during World War II, died July 31, 1987, at the age of 82. He was one of the oldest active airplane pilots in West Virginia. Those eligible for assistance from the Omar W. Crim Scholarship Fund are the winners of the Spaatz Award,
which is presented by the Civil Air Patrol of West Virginia. The highly prestigious award is named in honor of Carl Spaatz, a pioneer in aviation. Any recipient of a $3,000 per year Omar W. Crim Scholarship must attend WVU.

Crim began flying in the late 1920s and made his first solo flight in 1933. After World War II, he returned to Charleston where he operated
Clark Field for several years. Later, he flew charters and gave flight instruction as a pilot at Kanawha Airport (now Yeager Airport).

Crim worked as a pilot from 1972-74 for Eagle Coal & Dock Co., Aviation Division. He then served as safety director. With his wife Hazel, now
deceased, Crim operated a weekend sightseeing service offering flights over the Kanawha Valley.

Under the terms of the fund, half of the yearly scholarship amount will be paid at the beginning of the academic year. The remainder will be paid at the beginning of the second semester providing the recipient maintained a 2.5 grade point average during the preceding term. The WVU Foundation is a private corporation which serves as the fund raising arm of the  University. The Foundation also is the administrative organization for those funds."

Thanks to Alisa Scott for her research

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Address in 1940: Donalsonville, Georgia

Arrived in the UK on the 'Duchess of Atholl' 5 Oct 1940, with fellow pilots Roger Inman, Howard Mussey, Edward Vencill, Martin Wetzel and Constant Wilson.

Contract Terminated by ATA 27 Jun 1941 - Disciplinary Reasons

He  took over the guardianship of his neice, Sidney Ethel Cummings, after the death of his brother Peter Sidney Cummings and his wife, and gave her away at her wedding in 1955.

d. 3 Sep 1991 - Brinson, Decatur GA

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Father: Albert Frederick Daniel, mother Lizzie Mary [Bonner]

[His father was the owner of the Daniel Photographic Studio from 1907 until his death in 1935, when Lizzie took over.]

Ed. High School, Jackson, then University of Mississippi

prev. Mississippi National Guard until Jun-40

A Commercial Pilot

Address in 1941: 224 E. Amite St, Jackson, MS

After the ATA, Al joined the US Navy as a trainee Naval Officer, taking part in bombing raids against Japanese islands in 1944, and eventually becoming a Colonel.

m. Feb 1943 Dinah [Brown] of Lauderdale; 2 daughters [Sandra Lynn and Dianne Brown Daniel].

He returned to Jackson and took over his father's photographic studio; he was elected 2nd Vice President of the Professional Photographers of Mississippi in 1947.

In 1964, Col. Daniel was described as "a manufacturer's agent", and lived at 4236 Oakridge, Jackson. 

His daughter Dianne Brown Daniel married in 1973. 

He donated his collection of photographs of Jackson to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History: "After taking a break from photography to be film manager for Jackson television station WLBT (1953-1959), Secretary-Treasurer for Wilson-Geyer Co., Inc. (1960-1963), and a manufacturer's agent (1964-1966), Al Fred Daniel acquired Standard Photo ("the photographic store of Jackson since 1926," according to the Jackson city directory) and served as its president from 1967 to 1987. His wife, Madge Rosalyn "Dinah" Brown Daniel, also worked at Standard Photo from 1970 to 1987. Al Fred Daniel died December 13, 1996, and was survived by Dinah until November 14, 2004."

You can see his photos at http://www.mdah.ms.gov/arrec/digital_archives/series/daniel

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.416	First Officer	John Cleveland Davis
	b. 9 Jan 1920, E. Setauket, Long Island, NY	18 Mar 1941 to 6 Mar 1942

prev. a flight instructor for the 'Spartan School of Aeronautics', which still exists:

The Spartan College Black Cat with the 13 signifies that “Knowledge and Skill Overcome Superstition and Luck”.

http://www.spartan.edu

Postings: include 8FPP

d. 11 Mar 1993, Topanga, Los Angeles, California

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M.----	Cadet	Berno Geoffrey de Greeuw
	b. 2 May 1912, New York NY	25 Oct 1943 to 6 Apr 1944

Father: William Johanns (Dutch)

Ed. Surrey House Prep. School, Maidenhead College

Address in 1943: Grandleigh Hotel, Inverness Terrace Bayswater London W2

Next of kin: (Mother): Mrs Amy de Greeuw, 68 Welldon Crescent, Harrow Middx

prev. LAC in RCAF 16 Oct 1940 - 26 Aug 1941; Canadian Firefighters Aug-42 to Sep-43

prev. a Parachutist

m. Helen Grace [Lackey] (divorced 1944) wife resident in Toronto

Sailed to Liverpool from Canada on 17 Nov 1943

 m. 1949 Eileen H [Jarvis] in London (divorced 1960)

Moved to Boca Raton FL in May 1949

m. 1969 Joan [Kennewick] in Bay Head Ocean, NJ

m. 1988 Joan Beverley [Hutton] in Okeecobee, FL (divorced 1997)

d. 12 Jan 2000 - New York 

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M.620	First Officer	William Francis Deems
	b. 1 May 1916, Easton, Maine	7 Jul 1941 to 6 Jul 1942

Original surname Stevens; Deems by adoption

Father Dr. Oren Manfred Deems [An Ear Nose and Throat specialist, living at 20 Maple St., Springfield, Mass.] Mother Winifred [Purdy], deceased

Ed. at Westminster School, Simsbury, Conn. and University of Pennsylvania, PA

m. 1939 Mary Lou or Marjory L [Ameluxen, b. 1919, later Marsh], 1 son Oren Louis b. 1939

prev. a Flying Instructor for Barnes Air Services, Westfield, Mass.

Address in 1941: 122 Pleasantview Ave., Longmeadow, Mass.

Postings: 1FPP, 3FPPP, 16FPP

Suspended for 14 days in Mar-42 for Neglect of Duty prejudicial to the interests of ATA - "flying F/O Anderson... which was 130 off course" [Not sure what happened, or if this was Opal or Homer Anderson].

Off sick from 16 May to 5 Jun 1942 with acute tonsillitis;

Either "A fair pilot but a bad officer" (Stan Ogden, OC 3FPP) or "has worked hard and given every satisfaction whilst on my strength" (OC 16FPP)

 Sailed from Cardiff to New York on the 28 Jul 1942 with fellow ATA pilot Ralph Jacobson.

Married Edith [Richardson] in 1975 but they are listed as defaulters on a mortgage in Burlington, Vermont in 1977, and they then divorced.

 d. 18 Nov 2008, Manatee, FL 

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son of John Lawrence and Elizabeth Douglas; m. to Viola May

Address in 1940: 410½ Fayette St, Charleston, WV

prev. 1 yr Air Force Mechanic, 5 yrs C.C.C. (Civilian Conservation Corps) Transportation pilot

Postings: 2FPP, 15FPP

"A keen and competent pilot... rather reluctant in taking conversion course when offered but I think this was due to several minor illnesses. Discipline v. good."

d. 21 Feb 1968 - Flushing, Belmont County, Ohio

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M.414	First Officer	Austin Marcus Drumm
	b. 14 Jan 1915, Union City, Michigan	17 Mar 1941 to 9 Dec 1941

father Earl Drumm (dec'd), Mary Eta Parkman

m. 1939 to Benita 'Bonnie' Vieve [McCarthy] [d. 2 Jun 2008]

prev. exp. 5yrs as a flight instructor in Virgina Air Service, Gordonsville

Address in 1941: 503 Carleton Ave, Charlottesville, Virginia

Postings: 6FPP

"A good pilot who has done all work allocated to him in a satisfactory manner", but:

Contract Terminated by ATA - Disciplinary Reasons

Later a pilot in the US Army Air Transport Command, and then a Colonel in the USAAF.

In 1944, he and his crew bailed out of a B-24 near Georgetown, British Guiana and spent about 2 weeks in 'the roughest jungles in South America'. One of the pilots sent to look for him was James Ansley (M.511), who had travelled to the UK with him in 1941.

In 1946, Drumm "picked up a copy of the Southeastern Airport News and read that Ansley was running Page Field for Lee County. After an exchange of telegrams he flew over to Page Field in his PT-17 for a happy reunion with his old flying partner."

After WWII, the family lived in Utah and North Carolina while Austin completed his education, then moved to Lexington, Virginia, where from 1963 he was Professor of history at Virginia Military Institute.

d. 8 Jan, 1997 - Barboursville, Virginia

buried Weedsport, Cayuga County, New York

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M.408	First Officer	Marvin Harrison 'Alabam' Dunlavy Jr
	b. 14 Oct 1916, New Orleans	27 Feb 1941 to 10 Apr 1945

ATA

Marvin was one of a team of 6 pilots, in 3 aeroplanes, who made an attempt on the world endurance flight record (which stood at 22.5 hrs), in Sarasota, Florida in April 1940. However, he had to land after just over 6 hrs in the air, as they were getting low on fuel and efforts to refuel them in the air had failed.

Address in 1941: 1913 3rd Ave, Bessemer, Alabama.

Brief Glory says he had "black curly hair, rolling eyes, a broken nose and an accent you could cut with a knife. A disconcerting habit he had of rolling his head from side to side was due to an early boxing accident."

When asked about his opinion of England, he said "Gee, that's a terrible country! I can't think why they don't cut all their balloon cables and let the god-damn country sink to the bottom of the sea."

He was awarded a Certificate of Commendation for his part in the rescue of the crew of a returning operational Halifax III of No. 420 Squadron, piloted by Flt Lt R. A. Kalle which, having been damaged during a sortie over Normandy, overshot the runway and caught fire at White Waltham on the 30th July 1944.

The full list of those commended was:

- pilots David Cotter (M.439), Reginald Davidson (M.918), Marvin Dunlavy (M.408), Alan Murray (M.1053);

- Fire Officer D Baldwin, 

- Senior Flight Engineer Kenneth Payne, Engineer Second Officer Albert Gardner, Engineer Third Officer John Gulson, Engineer Second Officer Francis Lees, Engineer Third Officer Donald Soutter,  and

- Mr J.J. Thompson.

d. 17 Oct 2003, California.

The East Bay Times, Oct. 26, 2003: "When he returned from the war, M.H. opened Bessemer's first Airport, teaching and sharing his love of flying with many local residents. He was married for forty-five years to the love of his life, Carolyn Masingil and had two daughters, Marilyn and Anne. He went on to become a Captain with Capitol Airways. He later owned a boat rental and resort at Lakeport, California, continuing to fly and maintaining his flight instructors license into his seventies.

He was fortunate enough to return to Bessemer and Clarksville, Tennessee to visit family and friends for his eighty-seventh birthday. Graveside service was held at Cedar Hills Cemetery in Bessemer on Monday, October 20th at 11 AM.

M.H. is survived by his daughters, Marilyn Dunlavy (Todd) Plum of Martinez, California, Anne Dunlavy of Napa, California, brother, Louis "Eddie" Dunlavy of Bessemer, granddaughter Elizabeth (Lisa) Karen Dunlavy and great-grandson Phillip Harrison Wierson, both of Bogart, Georgia."

His son Marvin Harrison Dunlavy III, (by his first wife Jane Bell Crosby), was killed in 1969 when the truck he was driving went off the road nr Yanceyville, N.C.

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M.332	First Officer	Jack Groover Durham
	b. 2 Nov 1919, Fort Payne AL	1 Feb 1941 to May-42

Educated at Birmingham High School

prev. a pilot, instructor and crop dusting with Dawn Crop Dusting Corp., Leland, Miss.

Address in 1941 (grandparents): 5326 Court P, Birmingham, Alabama

'My family is Democratic'

"This pilot has developed into a very fine influence in the Pool by reason of his keenness and good sense of discipline. He is also a first class pilot."

d. 19 Apr 1943 when a Captain with RAF Transport Command, in Baltimore FA330 which was lost en-route Dorval, Quebec to Natal, Brazil (or possibly en-route from Natal to the Middle East). Also killed were F/O John Dickson Grant (RCAF) and Radio Operator Harold Alfred Picher.

No known grave. Commemorated on the Ottawa Memorial.

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M.272	First Officer	William Silver Edgar
	b. 7 Oct 1906, Waco TX	2 Jan 1941 to 2 Apr 1942

ATA

from "Fighting Men of Texas" (1948)

'Silver' came from his mother Estelle's maiden name

Educated at Baylor University, Waco

2nd Lieut., Army Air Corps 1932-35, stationed at Ft Crockett, Galveston, TX

Awarded his 'wings' at Kelly Field, Texas in 1933

Author of "Wings across the World", a syndicated newspaper column

Also a pilot, rancher, and with some 'banking experience'

prev. exp: about 900hrs

Address in 1941: 1305 Jefferson Ave, Waco, Texas

Postings: 4FPP

His initial ATA test described him as "a rather nervous type, but general flying fair."

"An excellent officer. A keen and reliable pilot."

He had a nasty forced landing on the 2 Mar 1942, in Airspeed Oxford L4597 following an engine failure. "He crash-landed on the ice of Loch Laidon but returned to the burning aircraft and saved the Log Books and his kit. The ice broke under him before he reached the shore and he was completely immersed. He then walked nine miles before he found a barn for shelter."

[During 1978 the two Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah engines from L4597 were recovered by the Scotland West Aircraft Investigation Group using a raft. Subsequently the engines were restored by staff at Rolls Royce’s Hillington site. At least one of them was subsequently put on display at Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland.]

He put in a request for a replacement cap, but before this could be actioned died in another accident:

d. 2 Apr 1942 (Died in ATA Service) - Spitfire BM358 crashed at Chapel of Garioch, 20 miles NW of Dyce, (or possibly at nearby Boghead, about 4 miles southwest of Inverurie) on a flight from Castle Bromwich to Kinloss.

The very next day, a telegram arrived from home:

"DEAR SILVER LOVE YOU DEARLY WISH HERE EASTER PICTURES RECEIVED NO BON CHOCOLATES SOON - MOTHER DAD"

Buried at the Cambridge American Cemetery, and commemorated at Baylor University: "William Silver Edgar lights up Fountain Mall every day and Robert Warren illuminates the courtyard by the Carroll Science Hall. These two men, along with 123 other Baylor men and women, made the supreme sacrifice in World War II. Now they stand as the honor guard at Baylor in the form of red granite light posts."

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1943

"He has been flying since he was 18".

prev a a stunt-man and crop-duster. 

1933-4 instructor to 60 Chinese pilots of the army of General Chang Kai-shek

 m. to Mary E (d. 1986)

[arrived in Manchester 5 Sep 1940]

[Transferred to AtFero, probably in Mar 1941]

"His name was scratched from the crew list for a ferry flight to Montreal, so that he could return to London to renew his papers.The bomber flew into the side of a mountain, and all 22 of the crew were killed and the ship completely destroyed." [This was Liberator AM261, on the 10th August 1941. See also F D Bradbrooke (joined 1939) and George Thomas Harris]

"Lt. Edison helped to bury this group of fellow fliers, immediately after which he received an assignment to leave for another trip. On this day, one hour before take-off, and while en route to the airdrome, there was an air raid and while the taxi in which he was riding was waiting, there was an automobile accident that resulted in two broken ribs for the lieutenant, sending him to the hospital instead.

Before getting away, however, he saw the ship in which he was supposed to leave run off the runway, catch fire and all 22 of the fine American pilots which made up the crew were burned to death.  [This was Liberator AM260, on the 14th August 1941. To be precise, 12 pilots [9 of them American], 8 radio operators, 1 flight engineer and 1 civilian were killed. See also Elbert Anding, Philip Lee, Buster Trimble and Martin Wetzel,]

He says he made his next journey with fingers crossed - but safely."

Later joined the US Navy and was Chief Aviation Pilot at Stanford Naval Air Station, FL, in 1943.

d. 28 Apr 1945 in PV-3 (ex-RAF Lockheed Ventura) which crashed after hitting trees shortly after take-off from NAS Lake City, FL.

M.343	First Officer	William Johnston 'Bill' Elliott
	b. 18 Apr 1917, Chambersburg Pennsylvania	17 Feb 1941 to Feb-42

prev. a flight instructor, charter and barnstorming pilot

prev exp. 786 hrs, mostly on Lockheed 10a

Bill worked for the Stanley Company as a shipping clerk from 1935 to '36, then was a general electrical contractor ('house and motor wiring - small repairs') until he became a flight instructor at his local airport (Sunset Airport, Chambersburg PA)

He had a one-year contract with the ATA, which they wanted to extend - his CO wrote: "First Officers Fitzgerald, Elliott and Hoover. All three excellent pilots and are some of the best types of Americans that I have seen over here. I think everything possible should be done to get these pilots to renew their contracts."

Bill replied that he had decided to return to the US "after February 16th [1942] as soon as the details of my transportation can be arranged", but sadly before this happened he died in an accident.

d. 8 Feb 1942 (Died in ATA Service) - Anson W1793 crashed into the side of a hill in bad visibility 3 miles N of Kirkby Stephen, Westmorland. The accident committee concluded that he flew into snow-covered ground "in conditions which would cause confusion between ground and cloud".

He and Earl Renicker (q.v.) were buried at Altrincham Bowden and Hale Cemetery, Cheshire, near Hubert Dixon (q.v.)

"Senior officers were present, with American members of the ATA. RAF men bore the two coffins, which were covered with flags, the Stars and Stripes of America. Air Transport Auxiliary pilots followed the coffin. An RAF Chaplain officiated, and the vicar of Timperley, the Rev. Dr Lindare, assisted." - Manchester Evening News, via George Cogswell
via George Cogswell

He was "an exceptionally careful and steady pilot and his general behaviour was excellent."

His parents Gernard and Louise wrote "He studied hard and to be a good pilot was his whole ambition. Sorry as we are that he had to give his life so soon in this his chosen occupation, we are proud that he was a member of your organisation."

with thanks to Barbara Grayson

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

prev. an airplane mechanic from 1935, and a Flight Instructor at Oklahoma Air College

prev. exp. 3,500hrs

Address in 1941: 220 S Lake St, Ponca City, OK

m. to Dorothy Louise [Young], 1 child

Postings: AFTS, as Instructor

"A natural pilot" - ATA's Chief Instructor T.G.L. Gale said: "It was because I had the highest opinion of his character that I selected him for instructional duties... his work has been excellent and highly successful and has deservedly earned him the praise of his superiors and the gratitude of his pupils."

d. 9 May 1942 (Died in ATA Service) in Blenheim I K7086. Shortly after takeoff the aircraft's tail was broken in a collision with another Blenheim (L8439, piloted by First Officer Richard S Pavey (M.445)) which had also just taken off, and it dived into the ground and caught fire.

Trainee Pilot Thomas Walton, a director of Burnley Aircraft Products Ltd, was also killed. F/O Pavey survived with a fractured shoulder, spinal injuries, shock and burns.

Buried at Maidenhead Cemetery - Sec. D. Row K.K. Grave 21.

His brother Glenn had sent him this photo of himself, wife Ruby and their child outside their house in California in April 1942:

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.322	First Officer	Willard Noel Estes
	b. 15 Jan 1911, Monett, Missouri	15 Jan to 26 Jun 1941

ATA

c.1932

Father, Willard Albert Estes, of 11077 De Foe St, Pacoima, CA

Ed. Will Mayfield College, Marble Hill, Missouri 

prev. Flying Instructor, US Army 1930-34 (Fort Francis, Laramie, Wyoming in 1930, a football player for the Army)

prev. exp. 1,050 hrs during 12 years civilian flying

  Draft card, 16 Oct 1940

Adress in 1941: 154 West 170th St, Hazel Crest, Illinois

Postings: 1FPP

d. 26 June 1941 (Died in ATA Service) - overshot while landing at Biggin Hill in Spitfire Vb P8538, tried to take off but hit top storey of airmen's barrack block.

"He has done a fine job for us and his loss will be greatly felt"

Buried St Mary Cray Cemetery, London Borough of Bromley, Greater London, England

Postscript:

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

 Address in 1941: (mother) 607 15th Ave E, Cordele, GA

Ed. Georgia Military College

prev. A Banker; Flight Instructor; US Army Sep-28 to Aug-40, 2nd Lieut.

'Flying since 1928'

Postings: 3FPP

Either "a good and capable pilot", or "This pilot gossips and grumbles too much about things of which he knows nothing; a troublemaker."

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.604	First Officer	Manley William 'Lee' Fairbrother
	b. 23 Aug 1911, Grand Rapids, MI	10 Jun 1941 to 10 Jun 1942

 father Leo James Fairbrother, a building contractor, mother Anna [Kennedy]

ed. Martin School, Grand Rapids

m. [1] 1931 Dortha Ann [Johnson], 1 child; [2]  c.1947 Anna May [Gillis]; [3] 1981 Grace L [Laterza]

prev. 1927-30 Corporal in Michigan National Guard, 1931-36 Fireman 2nd Class in US Naval Reserve.

A 'pilot parachute jumper'

prev. exp. 550hrs certified, 600hrs uncertified in (his own aircraft) J.5 Travelair NC89M, Avian Sport

Address in 1941: R.R. 3, Grand Rapids, MI

Postings: 2FPP

"A good pilot, keen and conscientious"

Off for a month after an accident in a Hurricane on 6 Dec 1941 - following partial engine failure, he overshot his selected field for a forced landing and hit a tree.

He sailed back to the US on the 11 Jun 1942 with fellow US pilots Marshall Milton, William Byrd Lee Milton, Eddie Grundstrom, Alexander Wilson, Eddie Ballard, and Harry Kindberg.

He came 4th in the 1947 Thompson Trophy at the Cleveland Air Races [the race was won by Steve Beville, another former ATA pilot]. He thereby won $500 -  he bought the  P-51 for $5,500.

Battle Creek Enquirer, Oct 1948: "FINED FOR 'BUZZING' Manley W. Fairbrother, of Minneapolis, a prominent racing pilot, paid a fine of $100 and costs in municipal court yesterday after he pleaded guilty to 'buzzing' near the home of his parents in Grand Rapids while returning from the Cleveland Air Races September 12."  [He qualified in 9th position for the 1948 Thompson Trophy, flying at 351.593 mph in his 'stripped-down P-51', but after 12 laps his engine stalled and he had to pull out.]

d. 28 Jan 1994

Buried Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park

His obituary says: "He came to Florida in 1971 from Star Prairie, Wis. He was an airline pilot for 24 years with Northwest Airlines in Minneapolis, a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II, and a member of the Retired Airline Pilots Association. Survivors include his wife Grace 'Jo'; two daughters, Nora Bercaw, Naples, Fla, and Patricia Hollowell, Spring Hill."

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.65	First Officer	Virginia 'Ginny' or 'Ginna' Farr
	b. 15 Nov 1918, Groton MA	10 Feb-42 to 5 Jun-45

1942

 Ed. Chatham Hall High School, VA

prev: Flight Instructor (Bennett Airport, NJ)

prev. exp. 300 hrs

She made a five-month tour of Europe with two friends between March and August 1939, and said afterwards that "in travelling through Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium and Holland [she] noticed that the residents 'scoff' at threats of war, go about their business as usual and believe themselves in no imminent danger."

 Address in 1942: 572 Prospect Ave, West Orange, NJ (grandmother's house)

 She met Eleanor Roosevelt in October 1942, who complimented her on her "trim appearance."

Off sick from 7 Oct to 3 Nov 1942 with influenza

Suspended for 1 day in July 1943 for turning and taxying down the runway in use.

 Vivien Jeffery in 1939

In 1979. "Virginia and her English friend and partner Vivien Jeffery, the [former ATA] Operations Officer, live on a ranch in California and raise cattle, Siberian Huskies and Welsh Corgis."

d. 1988

buried Holy Innocents Cemetery Essex County, NJ

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Volunteered in 1916, a year before America entered WWI, to go to France as an ambulance driver and stretcher bearer:

"He worked his way across the Atlantic, paid all his expenses for uniforms, had trouble wioth the customs officials in France, but finally got to the front lines where he remained until an exploding shell at Verdun caused hime to return to the United States." Tampa Bay Times, 2 Aug 1931

In 1931, Chief Instructor for the St. Petersburg Aeronautic Association, Florida. 

M.298	First Officer	Jack Fitzgerald
	b. 10 Jul 1915, Bagwell TX	23 Jan 1941 to Jan-42

AR

ATAM

Educated at Paris Junior College then Texas Technology College.

prev. An airline pilot for Braniff, and 18 months at Odena Flying School at Odessa, Dalton, Texas

prev. exp. 800hrs

Postings: 6FPP, 15FPP

Oct-41: "A most capable pilot, who now seems to have settled down and is doing a good job of work."

In 1971 the Abilene Reporter said, "Jack, the fifth son of the six 'Flying Fitzgeralds', was being honored by American Air lines in Los Angeles for his 25 years with American. Jack like [his brother] Glenn attended Texas Tech and learned to fly at an early age. He was a pilot for American Air lines [sic] by the time he was 20. During the war he served in the airlines military operation for the Air Transport Command in India. He also flew supplies from San Francisco during the Tokyo Airlift.

Jack lives in Los Altos, Calif., with his wife Betty and four children. Betty is a former airline stewardess. Today he is based in New York, from where he flies 747s."

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Father: Wilfred Fogelberg (Swedish, naturalised American); Mother Ida Olsen

Had a sister, Ella M Johnson

Ed. Lake View High School, Chicago (4 yr Diploma)

m. 1941 Jeslyn Margaretha [Stark, d. 2013]; 3 children post 1941

 Jeslyn in 1940

prev. own laundry business, and aviation charter work.

prev. exp 740 hrs

Address in 1941: 922 Gordon Terrace, Chicago, IL

[His brother-in-law Elwood Walmsley was in the ATA from Feb-41 to Jan-42; he was married to Jeslyn's sister Laverne.]

Postings: 1FPP

Offf sick from 30 Sep to 14 Nov 1941 with 'post trauma debility', after he stalled and undershot a landing in a Hurricane.

"A keen and hard-working pilot. Flying ability above average."

He travelled back to Montreal on 18 Jun 1942 with his fellow American ferry pilots James Ansley, Clay Steffee, John Morrison, Stuart Updike, Russell Gibson, Keith Williams, Russell Gates, Nicholas Pickard, William Ressegger, and Clarence Conner.

From 1956  he ran a store selling "childrens wear, toys, and juvenile furniture" in the Eden's Plaza Shopping Center, Wilmette, Chicago.  

 d. Apr 1967 - Chicago

buried Mount Olive Cemetery

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.664	First Officer	Ian Archibald Forbes
+	b. 29 Nov 1919, Oxted, Surrey	30 Sep 1941 to 30 Nov 1945

1937

ATA

Father: James Grant Forbes II (d. 1955) Mother: Margaret [Winthrop] (both American)

Margaret was a descendant of John Winthrop, one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s,

His mother inherited €100,000 from her aunt Ida Means Mason, who died in 1928 in Boston, Mass., and then €75,000 "and personal effects" from another aunt, Ida's sister Miss Ellen F Mason, who died in 1929 in Newport, RI. The remainder of Ellen's €5,000,000 went into a charitable trust, the money to be distributed within 21 years of the death of the last of Margaret's children. His father James Grant Forbes was named Trustee of a fund of €300,000 (€150,000 each from Ida and Ellen) for his children's education "and comfortable support".

Ed. Eton, Trinity College Cambridge

5ft 11in, brown hair

Address in 1937: Little Plumyard, Seven Hills Rd, Cobham, Surrey

prev. in 1939 a Student of Music (changed his mind) Economics in Kensington

He traveled to the USA in June 1939 on the 'Queen Mary' and was listed as an American "by virtue of his father's citizenship."

Address in 1941: (Mother's address) 43 Swan Court, Manor St, Chelsea, London

 m. Oct 1941 Phoebe V Thomas in Marylebone, Middlesex

 Off sick from 21 Feb to 21 Mar 1943 

1 accident, not his fault:

- 4 Aug 1944, during the take-off run in a Hudson at White Waltham, the port tyre burst. He "completed the take-off, noticed that the tyre was apparently loose and wobbling, and therefore decided to execute a belly landing."

Address in 1947: Friary Lodge, Old Windsor, Berks

 His mother Margaret died in 1970 aged 91, at her home in St Briac, France, leaving 11 children (including his sister Rosemary, the mother of John Forbes Kerry (68th US Secretary of State and Democratic Nominee for President, 2004) and Mme Alain Lalonde), 30 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren.

John F Kerry visited the Forbes' family estate at Les Essarts, near St-Briac-sur-Mer, on several occasions:

"In his youth, Kerry joined the family gatherings while his father, a U.S. diplomat, was posted in Europe. Young Kerry also attended a Swiss boarding school and brought a touch of America to this corner of northwestern France.

"He introduced us to games like capture the flag. We still play something called kick the can," said [John's cousin] Brice Lalonde, who at 58 is two years Kerry's junior.

Walking along a beach where Kerry and his cousins once played, Lalonde talked about their summers of swimming, cycling and tennis.

"We would take boats and go to islands and have a picnic. We'd go shrimping and have them cooked up in the kitchen," he said.

It was in Saint Briac, or nearby, that Kerry's parents met, when his father, Richard Kerry, was traveling in Europe before World War II.

During the war, the Nazis occupied Les Essarts and then destroyed it when they left. A family reunion was held last summer [2003] to mark the 50th anniversary of the home's reconstruction, but Kerry didn't attend.

Kerry told The New Yorker magazine that seeing the aftermath of the war in Europe kindled his interest in politics.

"My very first memory — I was 3 years old — is holding my mother's hand and she was crying... as we walked through the broken glass and rubble of her childhood house in France, which the Germans had used as a headquarters and then bombed and burned as they left," Kerry was quoted as saying." - Fox News, 29 Mar 2004

Ian Forbes lived at the rebuilt Les Essarts in 2004.

 d. 2015

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.76	First Officer	Suzanne 'Sue' Ford
	b. 2 Apr 1915, Morristown NJ	14 Apr-42 to Oct-45

nee Humphreys

Father: Landon Humphreys

Ed. Somerset Hills School, Far Hills NJ, and Westover School, Connecticut

At Westover, she was a member of the basketball, field hockey, track and high jumping teams and "is an excellent rifle shot. She is an expert horsewoman and has followed the Essex Fox Hounds regularly."

Learnt to fly in 1931 and entered the National Air Pageant in 1933, and All American Air Races in Jan 1934

m. 1936 Frederick Ward Ford from Morristown (divorced c.1947)

"Smiling happily, Mr and Mrs Frederick Ward Ford march down the aisle of the chapel of Somerset Hills School"

prev. exp. 400 hrs

Address in 1942: 2 East 8th St, New York

Travelled to Bristol from Halifax, NS on the SS Tetela with Grace Stevenson, Virginia Garst and Hazel Raines, arriving 11 May 1942.

m. 1948 Peter Rafael de Florez

Later headed her family's pharmaceutical business (The Humphreys Medicine Company, founded by her great-grandfather in 1853) in New York.

d. 25 Jul 2001 - Nyack, Rockland, NY

 The company still exists, as Humphreys Pharamacal, headquartered in Connecticut - see https://www.humphreysusa.com/

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.482	First Officer	Clyde Cecil Foreman
	b. 6 Jul 1911, Nowata OK	6 Apr 1941 to Apr-43

Address in 1941: 6340 Community Drive, Houston, TX

prev. a private in the National Guard 165 Field Artillery, 1927-30, then charter work for the oil business - Air Activities Inc., based in Houston

Postings: 1FPP, 14FPP

After losing all his things on the SS Nerissa, the ATA bought him a new set, at a total cost of £89 7s 6d. It included a pipe and a watch (Second Hand):

 (click to enlarge)

"A good, keen and hardworking pilot who has carried out all his work most satisfactorily."

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

 Father William B. Fulton, a farmer; mother Rosa B [Rigney] [d. 1969]

prev. "Flying for Pleasure"

prev. exp. 300hrs

Postings: 16FPP

"A good average pilot": "An enthusiastic pilot, steady in temperament."

 Decatur Herald, 1 September 1946

d. 11 Oct 2017, Decatur IL

His obituary in the Decatur Herald and Review reads: "

Dale R Fulton, 96, of Pierson Station, IL passed away at 8:20 a.m. at Decatur Memorial Hospital, Decatur, IL.

At age 17 Dale's parents got him his first airplane which led to a long carreer of flying. He ferried planes from factories to fighter fields in England during the war. In 1942 he signed on with Transcontinental and Western Air, which became TWA.The company had a contract with the government to fly transport planes and they needed pilots. His mother received a draft notice, but he was already serving in the Air Transport Command. In 1946 Dale won the first place trophy at the Soho National Air Races in Cleveland, OH, his average speed was 352 mph.

Dale went to work as an international pilot for TWA after World War II. While working he flew around the world on a monthly basis for many years. He also served as a test pilot and did engineering for TWA at their Kansas City hub. At the time of his retirement in 1981, Dale was #2 on the seniority list at TWA.

Dale returned to the family farm full time in 1981 and continued to plant and harvest the crop yearly until retiring in late 2014.. He was on the board of directors at the State Bank of Hammond from 1981 until his passing. Dale was a very generous man who would do anything to help anyone. He loved animals and would feed any stray that came along." 

http://www.hilligossshraderfh.com/obituary/dale-fulton

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.71	First Officer	Dorothy Rita Furey
	b. 17 Dec 1918, New Orleans, LA	10 Feb-42 to 7 Jun-44

Her father was a banana importer who lost everything in the Wall Street crash of 1929.

Ed. 1yr Lousiana State University

prev. Flight Instructor

Address in 1942: 1424 Philip St, New Orleans, LA

"The southern beauty packed a scarlet ballgown with her flying gear and set off for England where she put both to good use. She met and married a Canadian airman and was widowed - all in quick succession" RAF Museum

Mrs Bragg - her husband, Pilot Officer Richard Edward Bragg, was killed 13 May 1943 hen his Halifax JB924 was shot down by a nght-fighter near the village of Wijnaldum, North Netherlands, killing 7 of the 8 crew (the 8th became a PoW). Richard and Dorothy had married in Nottinghamshire in June 1942.

[Actually, it appears that Richard was British, born in Nuthall, Nottinghamshire, and Dorothy met him on the boat from Canada.].(My thanks to Mark Alexander-Holmes for pointing this out.)

Dorothy (centre) with Jackie Sorour and Rosemary Rees with Spitfire IX, August 1942 - with thanks to Adam Hewitt

Postings: 5FPP, 15FPP

5 accidents, 3 her fault:

- 24 Jun 1942, she taxied her Tiger Moth into another aircraft;

- 11 Sep 1942, she had to land her Hurricane with the undercarriage up after the selector lever stuck;

- 20 Dec 1942, she hit another stationary aircraft (a Spitfire Vc, being piloted by Mary Wilkins), while taxying, also in a Spitfire;

- 29 Jan 1943, she discovered her Spitfire's port flap had been damged by "surface water" after landing on a grass airfield (not her fault), and

- 27 Mar 1943, "Pilot adopted line of take-off which caused her to strike a fence, which was invisible to her from her starting point, but of which she was aware."

Her instructor Marcus Hale described her as  "a complex character, difficult to assess fairly in writing. She obviously is a capable pilot and at times appears to be really keen, but in everything else but the actual flying from A to B she is completely undisciplined and in some ways sheerly indolent."

"She proved a difficult pupil as she is inclined to be self willed and showed a bored attitude to the whole affair."

Later on, "A capable pilot whose discipline whilst on ferrying duties has improved."

Sailed to New York from Greenock in 1943, arriving 28th July, with fellow ATA pilots Virginia Farr, Ann Watson Wood, Grace Stevenson, John Yingst, Lionel Kay and Mary (Zerbel) Hooper. She then returned as supernumerary co-pilot in  Mitchell FV967, 15-21 Sep 1943.

 Off sick from 29 Dec 1943

m. 1946 David, Earl Beatty RN, son of Admiral Beatty of WWI Jutland fame, and thus became Countess Beatty. He was  "a good soldier but a poor politician, a man of short temper and a chronic husband", she said later.

While married to David, Dorothy had a long-standing affair with Anthony Eden, the future Prime Minister of Britain. 

m. 1954 Abram Hewitt, a millionaire American horse breeder (d. 1987)

She moved to Lexington, Kentucky, then in 1993 to Paris, Virginia.

m. 1998 in Warren, VA, (aged 80), Kent Miller (aged 58)

  1992

Her son Adam tells me that she called Kent her "Boy Toy, or as she put it, “My ticket to stay out of a nursing home.”

  2000 (The Times)

d. 9 Nov 2006 - Winchester, VA

Her son Adam told me: "It’s interesting to read the comments of her supervisor, Marcus Hale, which I had never seen before, describing her as a complex and difficult person. She came from a gothically dysfunctional family in New Orleans and I believe she was probably bipolar all her life - undiagnosed - for that goes with what we always saw, she was either slumped in a chair somewhere completely disinterested or a roaring ball of energy, going off on a whim to places like Uzbekistan or Indonesia in her 80s!"

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.266		Daniel Vincent Gallery Jr
	b. 10 Jul 1901, Chicago IL	19 Feb 1941 to 9 Apr 1941

Father: Daniel; mother Mary [Onahan, d. Jan 1941]

Ed. US Naval Academy

m. 1920 Vera [Dunn] (3 children)

prev. US Navy from 1917 to present

Address in 1941: 2023 North Danville St, Arlington, VA

Postings: Training Pool

"Likely to be only for a few months"

Wikipedia says "In 1941, while the U.S. was still neutral, he was assigned as the Naval Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Great Britain. While in Britain, he earned his flight pay by ferrying Supermarine Spitfires from the factory to Royal Air Force aerodromes. He liked to claim that he was the only U.S. Navy aviator who flew Spitfires during the Battle of Britain [sic - looks like he was a bit late for that], but they were unarmed.^"

Flew from Lisbon to New York in Pan Am Clipper NC-18603 on 9 Apr 1941.

Later a Rear-Admiral; "During World War II, while Captain in command of the U.S.S. Guadalcanal in June 1944, he captured the German submarine U-505 off Cape Blanco, French West Africa. This was the first boarding and capture at sea of an enemy naval vessel since 1815. He also wrote 8 books on US Navy life in the 1940s to 1960s."

 findagrave.com

d. 16 Jan 1977 - Bethesda, MD

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.659	First Officer	Lee Leslie Garlow
	b. 4 Oct 1908, Pittsburg PA	8 Aug 1941 to Dec-41

Adopted son of Leonard L Garlow, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Attended Tucson University in 1934-5 and was a member of the Sigma Chi social fraternity.

Next of kin given as: "Mrs Spencer Kennelly, 677 S Bronson, Los Angeles"

prev. Arizona and Michigan Flying Schools, then from 1930 a commercial pilot.

prev. exp. 1419 hrs.

Posted to 8FPP on 13 December, but got lost on one of his first ferry flights (22 December) and force-landed in Eire. See www.ww2irishaviation.com

Joseph 'Gen' Genovese (q.v.) described him as a "tall, handsome, curly-headed fellow with a trim black mustache, who, before coming to England, had made several pictures in Hollywood", although this (as is not unusual with Mr Genovese) may be a slight exaggeration; Lee only seems to have appeared as an extra in the 1938 musical, “Start Cheering”.

'Gen' also says that Lee had "brought the playboy spirit with him from the States, where he had been a rich man's son, a sportsman flier .. but Lee had changed after flying for the ATA for a few months. He was more serious and seemed to take a sincere pride in the work he was doing. He told me once that flying for England was the first real job he had ever had and the first honest responsibility he had ever felt."

His instructors rated him as a "man of excellent character... a good pilot but overconfident."

d. 26 Dec 1941 (Died in ATA Service) - Hudson III AE489 flew into ground nr Blacklaw Farm, 4 mi N of  Stewarton, Ayrshire, 15mi NE of Prestwick, in thick fog.

2nd Officer David Marks (q.v.) also killed.

It appears that Lee had taken the Hudson without proper authorisation, having altered his own paperwork (which was for a Wellington).

Buried Monkton and Prestwick Cemetery, Prestwick, but later moved to the Cambridge American Cemetery.

After his death, his friend Mrs Kennelly claimed to have Power of Attorney for Lee's affairs, and asked for all his belongings "including his wings if possible" to be sent to her, but to "keep such clothes of useful [sic] to others in England."

However, it then emerged that Lee had only been informally adopted by Leonard Garlow and his wife Martha Snyder. Leonard had pre-deceased Lee, but Martha, along with Mrs Kennelly and his natural mother, Elizabeth Squires (formerly Baker) all made a claim to Lee's estate.

His estate (including the £2,000 insurance money) was sent to the American Consulate and it took until 1946 for them to decide that all three women should be joint beneficiaries.

With thanks to Dennis Burke for his research

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

1933

Father: Col. Ruby D Garrett Snr, [a lawyer, Kansas City Councilman and WWI veteran, d. 1968], Mother Alma M

Ed. University of Kansas City

m. 24 Dec 1940 Carolyn [Stockwell] in Jackson, MO

In 1939, "Although he has been swimming one mile a day in a local pool, Ruby D. Garrett Jr., son of a Kansas City councilman, has thirty-one pounds to lose yet before the air corps will accept him as a Randolph Field recruit. In two months, he has lost thirty-seven pounds, and now weighs 211 pounds."

"'I'll soon be getting down to bone" he said.

Address in 1940: Flying Cadet Detachment at Randolph Field, TX, then Parks Air College, St. Clair. IL

Postings: 6FPP

One accident:

21 Nov 1941, he overshot his landing on the only (short) runway available; the brakes were inefficient on wet ground, and he hit a barbed wire fence at the end of the runway.

 After ATA, sailed back to the USA on 19 Dec 1941 with fellow ATA pilots W Hanks, F P Skillen, P Lowman, J R Holloway, G C Shreve, S C Neville, G R Heintz, and Franklyn Rule Mershon.

A pilot for TWA from 1942.

In 1969, "At the not particularly advanced age of 53, Ruby Garrett tired of seeing the world from 30,000 feet or so — Paris, Rome, London, Hong Kong, Saigon, etc. And so he began hauling things (including boats) at zero altitude, over highways to meet people.

Ruby is a solidly built, balding, blue-eyed extrovert who has put in 27 years as a pilot with TWA, most recently as a captain on international flights. He presently is on medical leave from TWA and plans to retire next March."

d. 22 Dec 1990 - Clinton, van Buren, AK

[... and don't let anybody tell you that Ruby D Garrett was a woman ferry pilot!]

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.151	3rd Officer	Sheila A Garrett
-	b. 18 Nov 1916, Marionville, Missouri, USA	3 Apr-44 to Jun-45

 a.k.a. Sheila Browning

Father: Albert Alvin Garrett

Next of Kin: Lt. Mrs. Lee G Morse (sister, aka Lynn Browning); 8500 Holloway Dr, Hollywood, CA

 Far right, representing "Missouri" in 1935

She appears as an uncredited extra in the 1936 movie "The Great Ziegfield" (This appears to be her only pre-WWII acting job; however, her sister Lynn Browning was signed to Warner Bros. and appeared in 11 movies between 1932 and 1940, until her career was cut short by a car accident).

m. 28 Jun 1936 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, Harry [a.k.a. Henry] Frederick Wilcoxon, an English Actor born in Dominica, BWI, [he was 30, she was 19]

 1936

She and Henry travelled together from the UK to the USA in May 1937 on the "Queen Mary", and here they are shortly aftwerwards, "christening the old swimming hole at his Malibu Mountain Ranch [in California, and called 'Seven Oaks']":

 The Los Angeles Times

"The former Sheila Garrett, now Mrs Henry Wilcoxon, looked so good to a sheik of the Ageyli tribe that he tried to buy her from the British actor. The sheik offered 10 Pounds British, gold, three she-camels, a quantity of grain, a jewelled dagger, a prayer rug from the palace of the Emir at Mecca, and several hareem girls."

"Sheila and Harry Wilcoxon tossed an outdoor gala at Sevenoaks Ranch. They hired a blimp to fly over and drop favors with numbered ribbons and raced a flock of pigeons back to town. Guests with ribbon numbers corresponding to the winning pigeons got prizes."

They were divorced on 1 Jul 1937 - "An interlocutory divorce decree was granted today to Mrs Sheila Wilcoxon, known in films as Sheila Garrett. She testified that Wilcoxon always left her at home when visiting his ranch and was rude to her. Her sister, Lynn Browning, corroborated her evidence."

So in June 1938 she sailed back from Quebec to the UK, alone, and stayed there until October 1938, returning to the USA once more on the "Queen Mary".

 Next, we find her living in France at the outbreak of WWII, and sailing back to the USA on 19 Sep 1939. In the 1940 US Census she is listed as a "Model - Dresses", renting a house in E 54th St, NYC.

And somehow, between 1940 and 1944, she managed to learn how to fly, having apparently shown no interest in it before then. Her ATA file says she had been a "flying instructress" and to have served in "War Training Service US Navy".

She then travelled from New York to Liverpool, arriving on the 10 Mar 1944 to join the ATA.

Address in Apr 1944: 12-13 Montague St, London WC1

 She was taken on as a pilot cadet, and promoted to 3rd Officer on 12 Aug 1944.

After the ATA, Sheila travelled back to the USA from Liverpool on 3-16 July 1945.

m. 3 Mar 1946 George Alfred Moszkowski (b. 1894 in Warsaw) in Habana, Cuba

"Sheila Garrett was a very close friend of my mother’s. After the war she had a long-term on and off relationship with author Robert Ruark (Something of Value). She used to come and stay with us at our home in Mexico City for long periods, sometimes with and sometimes without Robert.

On one occasion she arrived by taxi in the middle of the night, having totally destroyed her beautiful white Chrysler 300 by hitting a rock (at about 100mph, according to her) somewhere on the highway driving down from the US. I believe the rock survived!

 My mother used to stay at her flat in London on her visits. I knew her very well; she was very tall [actually, 5ft 8in, but described as 'tall build'] and absolutely gorgeous!"

In the 60s, she lived in Long Valley, NJ, but also had:

 ...a flat at 7 Greycoat Gardens, London SW1

 She appeared in 7 episodes of a TV series called "Bonsoir" in 1962, as "herself".

"Towards the end of her life she lived in San Pedro near Marbella, Spain and married Bill Vanderveldt who had been a boyfriend decades before and had never really fallen out of love with her - they were blissfully happy together in Spain until Sheila sadly predeceased Bill. We visited on numerous occasions, including one trip when Sheila and my mother (both in their 60s) drove Sheila’s unairconditioned right hand drive Mini Countryman from Andalusia to San Sebastian to catch the ferry to the U.K.

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.78	3rd Officer	Virginia Louise Garst
	b. 28 Nov 1918, New York	14 Apr-42 to 24 Nov-42

Father: Frederick Raymond Garst, mother Bessie Jean [Unk]

Next of Kin: Mrs E A Reedy, Kansas City (mother)

Ed: St Mary's Academy, Leavenworth, Kansas City, then Sarachon-Hooley Secretarial School 1936-7

Learnt to fly at Joe Jacobson Flying School, Kansas City

prev. Flight Instructor

prev exp: 513 hrs (186 hrs  as instructor)

Address in 1942: 3344 Gillham Rd, Kansas City MI, then 307 Natchez Building, New Orleans, LA

Four women from the Kansas City Chapter of the 99s Organisation of Women Fliers applied to join the ATA - Virginia, Mrs Marie Page, 38, Leah Sheppard, 31, and Mrs Helen Hayworth, 39.

Travelled to Bristol from Halifax, NS on the SS Tetela with Sue Ford, Grace Stevenson and Hazel Raines, arriving 11 May 1942.

Off sick from 13 Aug to 31 Oct 1942 with appendicitis, and then from 8 to 22 Nov with the "after-effects" - her medical report says "it was noted that this pilot's entire attitude to flying had changed, so much so that I hesitate to recommend the continuance of her service."

Contract Terminated  - Medical Grounds

m. Walter V Bottjer

Moved to Texas c.1959

d. 19 Dec 1968 - El Paso, TX [Mastosis Carcinoma]

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

 Studied Engineering and Accountancy in College, then in the US Marine Corps (Radio & Comms) 1931-35

Started flying at Washington Airport on Fleet in 1936, then 1939 on Taylor Cubs and Aeronca. Bought his own Aeronca Chief, took a commercial pilot's license and an instructor's course in Rockville.

A corporal in the Washington DC Special Police, as a radio operator.

prev exp  445hrs on Aeronca, Fleet, Wco, Stinson, Fairchild, Cub.

Address in 1941: 4848 Western Ave, Chevy Chase, MD

Trained on Magister, Hawk, DH Moth and Avro Tutor; completed his training on Harvard and Hurricane in Aug 1941

d. 7 Dec 1941 (Died in ATA Service) - in Hurricane IIb Z5663; became lost in snowstorm and nose-dived into ground in Wyre Forest, nr the Button Oak Inn, 5mi NW of Bewdley, Worcestershire.

  The Button Oak Inn, 2015

  ATA

Buried in All Saints Church, Wribbenhall on the 10th December. The pall bearers were Sergeant Pilots Jeffery (Canada), Munro (Canada), Brown (USA), Terry (USA), Isfield (Canada) and Wilson (USA).

Chief Mourners were F/O Jack Terry, F/O Anthony Storey, and Miss Stamford. The many wreaths included one from Mrs Jane Spence, "the only American-born resident in Bewdley."

His wife Mrytle wrote "Numbers of my husband's friends, both officers and fellow-pilots, have written to me. Will you please give them my sincere thanks? I'm glad he made so many friends, and I appreciate their sympathy."

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Father: Ford Gates, mother Essie [Martin]

Ed. Grammar School, Lake Forest IL

prev. private flying for 8 years. Trucking Business.

Address in 1941: R.F.D. Route 2, La Grange, IL

m.  and she lived at 4 Park Avenue, Prestwick then 26 St Augustine Avenue, Croydon

Postings: 4aFPP, 6FPP

Off sick from 12 Dec 41 to 5 Mar 42 with appendicitis.

"An officer who could never be relied upon to do much, owing to a great amount of sickness he had during the period of his attachment to this Pool."

He travelled back to Montreal on 18 Jun 1942 with his fellow American ferry pilots James Ansley, Clay Steffee, John Morrison, Stuart Updike, Russell Gibson, Keith Williams, Kenneth Fogelberg, Nicholas Pickard, William Ressegger, and Clarence Conner.

US Military 1943-46

d. 3 Oct 1998 - Sarasota, Florida

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Ed. Fishburn Military Prep School, Virginia Military Institute, Purdue University, Indianan State University.

m. Marjorie R

Address in 1941: 2707 N Haskee, Dallas TX. Employed by the Dallas Aviation School at Love Field.

Later Regional Manager for Loral Electronics.

d. 29 Oct 1967, Dayton OH

"He flew with the RAF Cayton Wright Committee before joining the US Navy [in June 1942] from which he retired as a Lt-Commander."

M.631	First Officer	Joseph 'Gen' Genovese
	b. 6 Jan 1911, New York	24 Jul 1941 to 23 Jul 1942

Ed. New York University (B.S. in Commerce)

married

prev. a commercial pilot, and aircraft production engineer. USA Air Corps Flying Cadet from Sep-38 to Apr-39,

Address in 1941: 4144 Pacific Highway, San Diego CA

Address of mother (Anna): 68 Aberdeen St., Brooklyn, NY

Postings: 16FPP, 6FPP, 1FPP

He was suspended without pay 3 times in his year with the ATA:

- 15 Feb 42, for 3 days, for 'conduct and neglect prejudicious to the interest of A.T.A.';

- 26 Apr 42, for 2 days for Low Flying, and

- 7 Jul 42, for 7 days for Shooting up Ratcliffe.

And also had one accident, when he force-landed his Airacobra after a complete engine failure. Not his fault.

His C.O. reckoned him a "willing and able pilot, somewhat self-opinionated in character", but a later report describes him as "a very capable pilot but unreliable both as an officer and in the air."

He says he was offered a new contract but declined it, because "I was eternally maddened by that rule against instrument flying. They should have been teaching it to their pilots instead of forbidding them to do it; had they done so many lives might have been saved."

After ATA and then CNAC, he joined Republic as a test pilot. In March 1944, he was the pilot of a Thunderbolt which suffered engine failure: "Miss Marjorie McCutcheon was treated for bruises when a plane crashed into her home. The plane glided downward on a line toward the McCutcheon home, shearing 3 powerline poles before crashing into the kitchen. Capt Genovese was bruised and one knee was injured."

Wrote 'We Flew Without Guns', 1945 (having apparently promoted himself to 'Flight Captain'):

d. 10 Apr 2010

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Father: Russell Ulyssus Gibson, a carpenter; mother Marion Bole Gibson [originally English?]

Ed. High School in Bexley, OH

prev. a Flight Instructor with Miller Flying School, Columbus OH

Address in 1941: 2708 Allegheny Ave, Columbus OH

Postings: 4FPP, 3FPP

"This pilot's flying is neat and safe. He appears keen and willing to learn from experience."

"Apt to be overconfident."

He travelled back to Montreal on 18 Jun 1942 with his fellow American ferry pilots James Ansley, Clay Steffee, John Morrison, Stuart Updike, Ken Fogelberg, Keith Williams, Russell Gates, Nicholas Pickard, William Ressegger, and Clarence Conner.

 After his second ATA contract, he sailed back from Scotland to New York on the 5 Aug 1943.

CNAC November 1943 - 1947 flying 'The Hump' between India and China. See CNAC Captian A. Russell Gibson

In 1948, he and his brother-in-law John F. ['Johnny'] Shoemaker established a transport business called 'Air Carriers Ltd'. in Hong Kong, using a C-46.

d. 11 Apr 2001 - California

His wife Jackie wrote to CNAC in 2009: "Thank you for your letter regarding my husband, "Gibby" Gibson and about CNAC. I found it interesting and will be happy to talk to you more about him. He joined the ATA in England before America was involved in WW II and joined CNAC after the start of the War. I have some data about CNAC which he left in 1947 after 199 trips over the hump. He flew with them as Capt. and left with 3,057 hrs. of flying C47, C-46 and DC-4s. We met in Rangoon in 1949 and married in 1950 so that was after his years with CNAC. He retired from JAL in 1980, where he was flying 747's and as you already know he died in 2001 here in California."

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.655	First Officer	Aleck Jack 'Al' Gingiss
	b. 9 Aug 1915, St. Paul MN	16 Jul 1941 to 15 Jul 1942

Ed. Hibbard High School, Chicago

Address in 1941: 2100 Lincoln Park W, Chicago IL

Next of kin: (Mother) Betty Gingiss

prev. "Pilot. Salesman. Treasurer. [of what?]"

 prev. exp. 1500hrs

Postings: 1FPP

Off sick from 22 Mar to 25 Apr with appendicitis.

"A pilot of fully average ability. Has carried out his duties satisfactorily."

'Gen' Genovese says Al was "addicted to horseplay", because "you can't fly constantly under the most difficult conditions without having some kind of relief... so, a lot of us took our relief in the air - in horseplay."

One such incident was when Al, Genovese and Steve Beville [q.v.], on a delivery flight in December 1941, discovered that their 3 Hurricanes had loaded guns, so they used them to do some duck-shooting; taking aim at the royal ducks in the grounds of Windsor Castle. "Actually you don't hit many ducks... the accuracy required when drawing a bead on a slow-moving mallard through the gun-sights on a Hurricane doing 250 mph is enough to make it a truly competitive proposition."

Unfortunately, Al flew straight into a flock of ducks, which cracked his windscreen, broke his propeller, and, when he jettisoned the hood it crashed into the vertical tail fin.

He made a good forced landing. "The story he told the Accident Committe was far more interesting", says Genovese; "He was flying extremely low due to bad weather, and, in accordance with international law, he flew on the right side of the tracks. Becuse he couldn't see clearly, he ran smack into a flight of ducks."

"The fault was entirely on the part of the ducks," Gingiss concluded in relating his story. "They were flying on the wrong side of the tracks."

He got away with it. The official report simply says "Landed on rough part of runway & nosed over. Pilot forced to make glide approach in difficult wind conditions as he had flown into flight of bird."

The following month, Al and Gen were delivering a couple of Beaufighters to Scotland. Again, Al made the "happy discovery" that his guns were loaded. "He fired a couple of bursts under my tail by way of telling me what he had found. I promptly investigated and found mine in the same condition."

They looked around for something to shoot up, and discovered some mines just off-shore. They exploded 9 mines between them in 20 minutes, then completed their deliveries.

The Air Ministry "raised particular hell about that little incident - in a dignified way, of course. All ATA pilots (especially "American pilots") were "warned and advised against such conduct, on pain of permanent suspension."

 "I have a sneaking suspicion they're talking about us", Al said.

d. Jan 21, 2006, "devoted husband of Carmel (nee Becker), loving father of Nancy, Steven and Anthony Gingiss, dear brother of the late Bill, Ben, Birdie Rosenthal and Mitzi Bessman, cherished grandfather of Frances, Gabrielle and Abby Gingiss, fond uncle of many nieces and nephews, dear brother-in-law of Veronica Gingiss."

Obituary here

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.---	Cadet	Una Julia Goodwin
	b. 24 Dec 1902, Virgie AR	10 Jun-42 to 2 Sep-42

Father: John Porter Godwin, from Cordell OK

ed. 4 yrs High School, 2 yrs Dramatic Art at Dallas Academy

Learnt to fly in 1929 in Oklahoma; "I am confident my future is in aviation and am willing to give up almost anything to get ahead in it", she said.

prev: clerk; secretary of the Oklahoma section of the 99 Club of women pilots launched in 1929 by Amelia Earhart; barnstorming and aerobatics displays

2nd woman in Oklahoma to get a transport pilot rating, in 1937

prev. exp 380hrs

 Next of kin: (sister) Mrs Marcia O Mills, 216 Congress Ave, San Antonio TX

Address in 1940: 3350 16th SNW, Washington DC (previously 1929-1941, 902 E Dr, Oklahoma City)

Arrived from Nova Scotia on the 29 June 1942 with fellow ATA women pilots Peggy Lennox and Mary Zerbel; on joining the ATA, Una said she was anxious to rejoin her friend, Grace Stevenson.

One accident:

27 Aug 1942, when her foot slipped off the rudder when landing a Hart, causing a ground loop

[Contract Terminated by ATA - unlikely to become an efficient ferry pilot]

Returned to the USA to find that she was over the age limit for WASP training, and so joined the Womens Army Corps in April 1944 as a Private and was stationed in Florida as a Link Trainer, until being demobbed in Sep 1945.

In 1944 she said "Personally I have no post-war plans for flying. I'll fly for entertainment, but like many other trained women pilots, I'll take a back seat in the paying flying positions to make way for the men."

 Moved to San Antonio in 1976

 Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery

d. 4 Mar 1978 - San Antonio, Texas

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Ed. at Texas University, Mechanical Engineering

Next of kin in 1940: Mother, Mrs M. L. Roberts, Box 545 Rt 5, Houston, Texas

m. Mar 1941 Kathleen Irene [Bewshear] and lived at 418 Wells Rd, Bristol 4, UK

Sailed to the UK from Montreal with fellow pilots Alexander Chase, Clyde Gray (M.244), Robert Perlick, Philo Pringle, Albert Robbins, and Gilbert Tobin.

Postings: White Waltham, Whitchurch

"Good pilot, prefers single-engine types; not too progressive, but vastly improved."

After a couple of forced landings early on, he had a lucky escape in Jun-41 when his Blenheim, flying in bad weather, hit a tree.

Sailed back to Montreal with fellow pilots Hubert Timmermans, Gilbert Tobin, Irving Nelson and Lewis Hunter.

d. 1 Aug 1947 from burns he suffered in the crash of a crop-dusting aircraft near Spartanburg, S.C. His plane, belonging to Roberts Dusting Co. of Fort Pierce, Florida, stalled after take-off and crashed on the farm of William Mitchell where he was dusting cotton.

Inman Cemetery, Inman, Spartanburg County, South Carolina

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

ed. University of Alabama '2 yrs Aeronautical Engineering'

4yrs aircraft maintenance work, 8 yrs private flying. 622hrs

married

Address in 1940: 702 Narman Bridge Rd, Montgomery, Alabama

Arrived in the UK 11  Nov 1940 on the SS Duchess of Atholl

Sailed to Liverpool to join the ATA, arriving 11 Nov 1940, with fellow American pilots Howard Alsop, Donald Annibal, Francis Bender, Charles Smith, Dan Jacques, Malcolm Stewart and Roy Wimmer.

Postings: 1FPP, 2FPP

His contract was terminated 17 Oct 1941 and he sailed to Montreal with fellow US airmen Donald Annibal, Roy Wimmer, George Wood, Robert Vinson, Claude Cole (all ATA) and Louis Brosmer; however, his contract was renewed 26 Jan 1942.

"An efficient and reliable pilot. V. keen. Discipline v. good both on and off duty."

Moved to Montreal, Canada, with his wife sometime before 1945.

Director of Flight Operations for Atlantic Southeast Airlines in 1972.

d. 21 Oct 2004 - Crossville, TN

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

"Mr and Mrs H[arry] R[ichmond] Gray are receiving congratulations upon the arrival of a little son, born Dec. 29. The little fellow is the first grandchild in both families and has been names Clyde Erskine Gray after his paternal grandfather" - St Louis Post-Dispatch

The family moved to South Shore Drive, Chicago and in May 1908 it was reported that: "Mrs Clyde Erskine, Mrs Gray's mother, is visiting them."

Educated; Grammar School, Military School, Jr. College

Engaged to  Winifred Alaine [Stanz] in 1929 but may not have married (see below)

m. Elsie Mary [Green] Dec 1940 in Bristol

Address in 1941: Box 1001, Beverley Hills, California

Elsie's address: 11 Burnside Gardens, Prestwick

prev. an Aerial Photographer

Postings: 1FPP, 4FPP

Not sure why his contract was cut short after 299 days - his only accidents (the latter not his fault) were in November and December 1940.

He sailed back to the USA on 26 April 1941, without Elsie.

d. Jan. 9, 1965 - Los Angeles County, California, USA

His son, Stephen Bennett Bishop,"known to his friends and family as Steve, died on April 17, 2014, after a short illness. He was born in Milwaukee, WI on February 26, 1931, to Winifred Alaine Stanz and Clyde Erskine Gray. He was adopted by Herbert Bennett Bishop at the age of three and was raised in the Los Angeles area for most of his childhood."

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Graduate of the Ryan School of Aeronautics; worked for Butler Airphotos (Aerial Survey).

prev. exp 1,000hrs

Married

Address in 1940: 1651 Milford Ave, Columbus, Ohio

Postings: 2FPP

"Has done a good year's work. Efficient and keen pilot. Discipline good."

d. 1999

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.----	Part-Time Pilot	Lieut-Commander John Hook Griffin USN
	b. 3 May 1904, Charleston, SC	2 Mar 1941 to 6 May 1941

m. 29 Dec 1934, Elizabeth Marsden [Smith, d. 1988], 2 children

prev. exp. 3,000 hrs

 From 1940, attached to Scouting Squadron 2 (USS Lexington)

 Part Time Pilot

Address from 1944: 195 Hanover St., Annapolis, MD (his father's house)

Appointed as Senior Naval Member of the joint U.S. Defense Board in 1951.

 In 1973, he withheld $74.83 in taxes due to Anne Arundel County, Maryland due to what he called an "unfair tax differential."

  1980 - still fighting the county over tax

d. 12 May 1998 (age 94) - Annapolis, MD 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.411	First Officer	Earl Clinton Grigsby
	b. 27 Mar 1918, Nr Roy, Washington	26 Mar 1941 to 24 Feb 1942 [335 days

Educated at San Bernadino High School, CA

Address in 1941: 1382 Vine St, Highland, CA

A Commercial pilot, flying since 1936, Tri City Airport, San Bernadino

 from the 'San Bernadino County Sun':

"First Word Received from E.C. Grigsby, Highland Flier

Earl C. Grigsby, Highland youth who at 22 years of age is already a veteran flier, is now a member of the royal air force, engaged in defending London from Nazi air raids.

The youth is believed to be the only San Bernadino county flier in the R.A.F. He is the son of [ClintonTherman] Grigsby, widely known Highland resident, who is foreman of the Highland Fruit Growers' packing house.

According to a censored letter written by Earl to his father, the Highland youth said he was now 'flying over London' and that he 'had one of the best flying jobs to be had'.

As far as is known, Earl flew across the Atlantic Ocean as a ferry pilot, under contract with the Canadian government.

Earl became interested in aviation when only 16 years old and made a rapid advancement in his chosen field. He received his first training at the Shandlin Hills and the Tri-city airport.

He then went to Long Beach to further his training under government instruction. At Long Beach he was advanced 50 hours of flying requirements because of his flying record and experience.

Earl received his 'wings' two months ago at Long Beach and left almost immediately for Montreal, Canada, expecting to be an instructor for the Canadian government in one of their air schools. There again he advanced rapidly and was given an overseas contract.

Mr Grigsby recently received the first letter from his son since Earl left the United States.

The letter required three weeks to reach Highland from the aerodrome near Maidenhead, Berkshire, where Earl is stationed. The youth could tell little of his experiences in England because of censorship. He said he is studying to be a trans-atlantic pilot.

Although a native of Washington, Earl has lived in Highland the greater part of his life. His home is at 1381 Vine street. He attended Highland elementary school and was graduated from the San Bernadino High School."

[

 www.americanairmuseum.com

"Another Highland youth now in service in England is Grigsby's chum, Keith Alexander, also of 1382 Vine street, who is a first officer in the American Eagle Squadron, stationed near London."

 ]

Transferred to Atfero, Feb 42.

 3 Apr 1942: "He has greatly enjoyed his work overseas, but has little to say of his war experiences. Earl also visited his mother, Mrs. Margie Grisby of Harlem Springs.

Young Grisgby left tonight to drive back to Montreal to resume his flying, and expects from now on to become a transatlantic pilot."

From 1970, ran G&E Flying Service, which was renamed J Kreuger and E Grigsby (Redlands Air Academy) in 1975, located at 1745 Sessums Dr., Redlands CA.

 [Please note that this coupon is no longer valid :-} ]

d. 4 Apr 2001 - Highland, San Bernardino, CA

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

His father, Maurice, who was a toolmaker, was a Swedish naturalised American.

Ed. Springfield Trade School

prev. a draftsman, commercial artist and aerial photographer for United American Bosch, Inc.

"Flying privately since 1936. Been in aviation since 1929. Experienced in flying for photography and survey work." Learnt to fly at Alsop Flying Service, Springfield. Approx 780 hrs total.

Address in 1941: 81 Savoy Ave, Springfield MA (parents)

Postings: 6FPP, 8FPP

He did well; "a capable pilot who has worked hard", but he was suspended and fined 2 days pay ($14) in Dec-41 as he "brought a Priority One machine into Ratcliffe when it was well out of his correct course and he had no excuse for doing so."

His original contract expired on the 10 Jun 1942, and he sailed to the US the next day with fellow US pilots Marshall Milton, William Byrd Lee Milton, Manley Fairbrother, Alexander Wilson, Eddie Ballard, and Harry Kindberg.

However, the following month he applied for, and received, another contract, which ran from the 28 Aug 1942.

d. 7 Dec 1942: on the 6 Dec at 6:30pm he fell from the staircase of the Grand Central Hotel, Belfast from the fourth floor to the ground floor.

"He carried out the boyish prank of sliding down the banisters and I regret that on this occasion he overbalanced and fell down the well of the staircase." [In case you're wondering, Edwin was considered to be a man of very temperate habits - a non-smoker and "practically a non-drinker".]

He was taken to the 5th General US Hospital, Musgrave Park, Belfast, apparently suffering from concussion. By 6pm the following evening (7 Oct) a medical bulletin stated that he was expected to be absent from duty for "three or four weeks"; however, he died later that evening from intracerebral hemorrhage.

His friend Marshall Miton officiated at the funeral on the 12th October. Edwin was initially buried in the American Section of the Belfast City Cemetery, but later re-interred in the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial.

Which just left the issue of whether the £2,000 insurance would be paid. Apparently, Edwin had always made a practice of sliding down the banisters and had been repeatedly warned of this; one or two of his fellow pilots "ridiculed the whole question of the claim being submitted."

Things dragged on until December, when the underwriters decided they would give him the benefit of the doubt and pay the compensation. There was a clause in the agreement which excluded death of the Insured "deliberately caused by exposing himself to exceptional danger", but they reckoned that there was not enough evidence for this.

In a final sad footnote, a letter arrived from his friend Arthur (Lee) Bacon after Edwin's death. It reads:

"Hello Eddie (old boy)

Well bud I sure was glad to hear from you. As far as being slow on letters I guess we're both about the same.

You asked me to tell you the news (well there isn't any) so there. I'll just tell you anything, all right? Your brother Harry was home on leave from the Navy for a couple of weeks and does he look good (well fed). He said he likes it alot. Oh yes Harry Herman and some of the boys staged a daylight air raid with flour bags (Sept 20th about 2pm). More fun, I guess that is the most excitement in days, weeks. Al and the rest of the fellows are going to take their test sometime this mo.

You asked me to give you my views of Frances well... I shouldn't even try, because you know all the luck I have with my girl-friends don't you. Don't you?

I will say this tho, if Frances likes you (just for you) and not for the money you have etc etc --, she would make one beautiful wife. (oboy oboy). In fact I think I'll be your ice man, milkman or something so I can call on her when you're not around.

As I told you before tho, nobody can make up your mind for you, if you like her and you want her, the only thing I would tell you to do is go get her.

By the way I'm sure glad to hear that you're flying the big ones now. The only thing that makes me mad is that I'm not there so I can fly with you.

Also can you give Ed B my congrats (I heard he was married). (poor boy).

This letter has taken me an hour to write so I'll stop now.

Boy do I wish you were home. The old town's quite dead without you so hurry back.

Love and kisses, Arthur

p.s. Emma and I aren't doing to bad, we still have our ups and downs just like anybody else you know up and down (oboy)"

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Education: 2 yrs High School

prev. a Flying Instructor

Address in 1940: E 4th Ave and 29th St, Hialeah, Florida

Next of Kin: his sister Mrs Roy Milton, who lived at 32 Baceller, Lynn, Mass., USA

Postings: 14FPP

d. c.1966

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.424	First Officer	Robert Leonard Hamilton, Jr
	b. 12 Jan 1906, Baltimore, MD	17 Mar 1941 to 17 Jun 1942  [457 days]

Ed. at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and University of Baltimore

prev. Managed a Country Club

Address in 1941: Elkridge Club, Baltimore - see www.elkridgeclub.org

Postings: 6FPP

"A good pilot... an excellent officer and works hard"

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.---	2nd Officer	John Edward 'Jack' Hampson
	b.20 Sep 1907, Fillmore, CA	10 Jun 1941 to 9 Aug 1941

Father: JamesThomas, mother Jennie [Finnerty]

Ed. Notre Dame College, Indiana

m. Lola Mae [Welch] (Divorced, 2 daughters Jacqueline Mae b. 1929 and Marguerite A b. 1932)

prev. 1st Lieut. US Marine Aviation 1927-29, Flight Leader, RCAF Air Observer School at Prince Albert, Sask.

prev. exp. 4500hrs

Learnt to fly in 1932 at Los Angeles Municipal Airport, passing his test for a Federal private license in October 1932.

However, two months later he was arrested when he flew his "fast monoplane" across the border from Baja Callifornia, after a tip-off. They found 130 gallons of illegal Mexican alcohol hidden in the fuselage...

He got 30 days in jail, five years probation and he was told to "be kind to his paralyzed mother and bedfast father, and to live on the ranch at Fillmore, given to him by his father, and to remain at home with his wife and child[ren]."

Address in 1941: 673 West St., Upland CA

Contract Terminated 9 Aug 1941 - he "consistently absented himself from duty for long periods without leave and his conduct was unsatisfactory."

"His obstinacy and impatience are regretted as he should quickly have made a most useful and competent ferry pilot."

Joined the Fleet Air Arm on 6 Oct 1941 and was a pilot in 772 Squadron FAA [HMS Landrail (RN Air Station, Machrihanish, Argyllshire)]

In Jan 1944, a "John E Hampson, Montalvo truck driver, was arrested on suspicion of violation of the selective service act."

 d. 25 Jan 1983 - Los Angeles

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Father Joseph Perry Hanks (d. 1939), Mother Minnie Belle Dowling (d. 1966)

prev. a Commercial Pilot

Address in 1940: 1042 Sorolla Ave, Coral Gables, Florida

d. 2 Nov 1967 - Ypsilanti, Washtenaw, Michigan

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

m. Margurite

prev. Kansas National Guard

Address in 1940: 714 N.N. St., Lawrence, Kansas (father)

Contract Terminated 1 Dec 1940 - Transferred to Atlantic Ferry Organisation [AtFero]

d. 10 Aug 1941 - Liberator AM261 crashed into Goat Fell mountain on Isle of Arran after take-off from Heathfield Ayr (22 killed - 5 crew and 17 travelling as passengers). Victims included F D Bradbrooke (q.v.)

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

m. Magdalena L [Dockter]

Originally applied for the ATA in Aug 1940 but was rejected

 Postings: 10FPP (Commanding Officer, 1943-44)

Pilot for Empire Airlines in 1946; Vice-President of Consolidated Air Transit, Inc in 1947; Operations Controller for World Airways in 1982

 with Lettice Curtis in 1975 (ELC)

d. 2 Jun 2007, Hayward CA

Ed. at South Pasadena High School, CA

Took his US Commercial Pilots Licence in St Louis, MO, in 1928

prev. pilot for Chicago & Southern Air Lines

 prev. exp. 7000hrs

He and Harold Phillips were reported "killed in combat with Nazi attackers over London" and/or "killed when his Spitfire crashed into a barrage balloon" in October 1940, but by mid-December his sister told the newspapers that she had received a letter from him, dated November 1.

In November he also wrote to Bruce Braun, the VP of Chicago&Southern in November 1940: "I guess you blokes (pipe the lime) think I've shot my wad. Well, Chief, you never can tell how far a frog will jump by looking at him.

Things here are what I would call nice going, never a dull moment. Believe me, Bruce, I take my hat off to these Englishmen. The bull dog is most certainly symbolic of them. Their spirit and courage will triumph no matter if the war lasts a hundred years."

He went back to New Orleans to visit his family in February 1941, and "refute in person the reports of his death."

Transferred to AtFero February 1941

In 1947, described as a "transient", he was reported to be "in the [Sacramento] city jail facing charges of passing fictitious checks in three downtown department stores."

d. 9 Dec 1950  

M.606	First Officer	Milton Bailey Hill
	b. 23 Feb 1907, Quanah, TX	10 Jun 1941 to 9 Apr 1945

Father: Austin Herbert Hill

Ed. High School, Oklahoma City

m. [1] V  ; [2] 1966 Lena M Jackson Hembling

prev. Charter and Dusting Flying, Aerial Advertising, Instructing, Barnstorming.

Address in 1941: Route 1, Comstock Park, Kent, MI

Postings: 2FPP, 9FPP, 

Certificate of Commendation, 1943: "Whilst ferrying a Wellington VI from Lynehm to Shawbury on the 3rd April 1943, he experienced complete failure of both engines. He was at a height of approximately 1,400ft and was nearing the Malvern Hills. After losing considerable height he resuscitated the starboard engine but he was unable to get any response from the port engine which he put into coarse pitch and feathered the propeller. F/O Hill made for the nearest airfield which was Defford and succeeded in landing on the runway there with flaps and wheels down without further damage. The Wellington VI will hardly fly on one engine."

The engine failures were due to incorrect setting of tank cocks within the wing.

"An extremely hard-working and expert pilot, whose willingness and good discipline make him an excellent officer."

Sailed from Scotland to New York on 26 Apr 1945

 d. Nov 1985 - Cumberland, Harlan, KY

"His wife, Lena, survives."

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Fther: Benjamin Lee Hoffman, Mother: Marie Elizabeth [Curns]

Ed. Tilden Tech., Chicago IL

m. Amelia (or Emelia) Veronica [Belloumini, d. 2001]

prev. Instructor, barnstorming, ferrying, passenger hops, [and a laundry driver for the Nordic Laundry Company and others].

prev. exp. 420 hrs

 Address in 1941: 831 Sunnyside Ave, Chicago

Flying under training: 4.05hrs

Contract Terminated - "Unlikely to become an efficient ferry pilot"; "Deemed to be erroneously or injudiciously enrolled in Montreal" 

Post-WWII, joined cargo carrier Airlift International based in Miami FL.

d. 10 Oct 1970 (age 64) while co-pilot of a C-130 N9248R which crashed attempting to land in bad weather at McGuire AFB near Fort Dix NJ.

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.587	First Officer	Frank Charles Hoffmann Jr
	b. 29 Jul 1912, Valley Stream, Long Island, NY	13 Jun 1941 to 19 Mar 1942

Father Frank, a retired shoe manufacturer [who originally trained for the priesthood], mother Florence [Fabian]

Ed. at Willston Academy, MA (Business School Diploma)

m. 1935 Mary Elizabeth [Finch], 2 sons

pre. commercial flying, stunt flying with 'Lucky Harris and his Airshow'

Address in 1941: 432 Rugby Rd, Brooklyn, NY

Postings: 16FPP, 4aFPP

 "His flying is quite satisfactory but his general conduct could still be improved."

 [Resigned]

In 1965, he was running Hoffman Custom Flight Service in Billings, Montana, and he and three others were apppointed 'Local Senior Pilots' by the FAA in 1969:

Frank on the left.

d. Jan 1988, Billings

His obituary in the Billings Gazette reads: "Frank was among the first Army Air Corps flight instructors. He also served in the Royal Air Force in Great Britain. He was a test pilot for Glen L. Martin Inc. and Edo Aircraft before managing the Jacksonville Municipal Airport for seven years. In 1954 and 1955, he was part owner of Alamo Airways in Las Vegas, Nevada.

He moved to Billings and worked for Lynch Flying Service, then opened Hoffmann Customer Flight Service. In 1960 he brought the first helicopters to Billings. He retired from aviation in 1972 when he closed Sky Harbor Enterprises Inc."

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Electrical Engineering Diploma

prev. Asst Manager in retail seed business

prev. exp. 800 hrs

d. 27 Mar 1941 (Died in ATA Service) - Miles Master T8822 flew into a hill in bad visibility

buried Whitehaven, Cumbria

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.---	2nd Officer	Ralph Lyman Holcombe
	b. 29 Oct 1910, Jesse, OK	6 July 1941 to 14 Nov 1941

Father: Riley Lee Holcombe, a wholesale seed merchant

Ed. John Muir Technical High School, Pasadena CA, East Central State Teachers College

Next of Kin: Mother: Grace [Stewart], 830 E 14th St, Ada, OK

m. Inez Smith (Divorced, 1 child)

prev. Pilot for Newton B. Badgett Flying School, Shreveport Louisiana. Flying Instructor to US Air Corps in Stamford TX, May-41 to Jun-41

Of sick from 20 Aug to 14 Nov 1941 with 'septic mouth'

Post-ATA, a test pilot for Douglas, Boeing, Bechtel-Cone and Consolidated, and the inventor of a series of pilot training methods and aids that included "the famous buzz bonnet"  used by the US Navy.

In 1948 his 6-year old daughter Judy was paralyzed after being run over by a truck and subsequently died.

In 1953 his father suffered a stroke which affected his right side; Ralph designed and built a 'walker', made from airframe tube. The invention was taken up by Walk-A-Gain Walkers Inc, of Ada, and "found a market all over the world."

The following year, describing himself as a "human engineer", he invented a machine which taught people to dance; it was described as looking like "a cross between a helicopter and a maypole."

Ralph, with a real dancing instructor and the robot helper being fastened to her feet.

In 1962 he said he had "well over 12,500 hrs of ferrying, testing, executive flying, instruction work, bush flying, airline work and USAAF."

 d. 1986 - Oklahoma City

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Ed. High School in Georgia and Florida

m. with 2 children

prev. 6 yrs Marines, 9mo Aviation Corps, USMCRA

a Pilot Mechanic

Address in 1940: 2780 NW North River Dr, Miami, Florida (Mother, Mrs Tom Taylor)

 Postings: 2FPP

 He was commended for a successful forced landing in a Westland Whirlwind in Jul-41

In 2004 Florence Mueller wrote: "He was in ATC before the war started and was in for the duration. He was married to my sister Esther in Miami in the late 1930's. They were divorced after the war. J.B. was killed in a plane crash in the mid 50's, flying hops from Miami to the Caribbean islands. I have a silver cigarette case with a map of the hump area with tiny gems in the cities where he stopped. It was my sister's who is deceased.

See http://cnac.org/index.html

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.345	First Officer	Raymond O Hoover Jr
	b. 17 Feb 1917, Chambersburg, PA	17 Feb 1941 to 3 Mar 1942 [379 days]

Educated at Chambersburg High School - a classmate of Bill Elliott (M.343):

Bill Elliott and Raymond Hoover in the Science Club, front row, in 1934

https://micheleepps.wordpress.com

His parents ran a turkey farm.

prev. a Flight Instructor for Mahon Flying Service

Address in 1941: (Mother) Route 2, Chambersburg, PA

Postings: 1FPP, 6FPP

"An excellent pilot who gets through all the work given him quietly and efficiently."

After leaving the ATA, Raymond joined RAF Transport Command, "serving in the Caribbean."

m. Judith in Maryland in Feb 1948 (Divorced 1958).

1,500 of his family's turkeys were killed when a poultry barn was hit by lightning in 1959.

According to the above website, "Raymond Hoover apparently survived the war. His obituary tells us he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force for a little over a year piloting planes between Canada and England."

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

1937

ATA

Father: Frank Hudson (he was a butcher), Mother: Margaret

Her family moved to Alberta, Canada in March 1911 (when she was 2 years and 7 months old)

Ed. Strathcona High School, Alberta; McTavish College, Edmonton, Canada

City and provincial diving champion 1925, 27, 29

Naturalized American 25 Feb 1938 ('Declaration of Intention' 27 Dec 1934)

5ft 5in, brown hair, grey eyes

prev. Flight Instructor

prev. exp 1,000 hrs

Learnt to fly in Hawaii in 1930 and then spent 3 years there as co-director of a flying school in Honolulu that "averaged 150 Japanese, Hawaian and American pupils a year",.Her elder sister Winifred, who went with her, became aviation editor of the Star-Bulletin, Honolulu.

She "achieved international fame as a transcontinental flier and was the only Canadian girl to conduct her own flying school", then moved to Burbank to work (as a secretary) for Lockheed. She also continued as an instructor, for the Grand Central Flying School in Glendale.

Here she is in 1937, getting ready for an attempt on the world solo endurance record for light planes in her Aeronca C-3:

"She will refuel by snatching 5-gallon cans of gasoline from a speeding motor car with a fishline-and-hook arrangement" - Los Angeles Times

She stayed aloft for 19 hrs 57 min, breaking Laura Ingall's previous mark of 18 hrs 23 min, cutting the flight short because her refuelling equipment was damaged. However, she then repeated the exercise the following September after the record had been raised by Norman Doerr to 24hrs; this time she stayed up for 33hrs 9min, only coming down because of high winds..

From 1940, she taught flying to Pasadena junior college students (one of only 3 women instructors), under a C.A.A. scheme. "I just talked myself into it", she said.

Address in 1942: 1334 W. 54th St, Glendale, CA

Parents' address in 1942: 1848 Argyle Ave, W Vancouver, B.C. Canada

Sailed from Nova Scotia to Belfast to join the ATA, arriving  28 Jun 1942 with fellow pilots Edith Stearns and Catharine van Doozer.

Off sick from 17 Mar 1943 after a flying accident - she and Fay Bragg were both injured (Fay only slightly) when they were passengers in a Wellington II, piloted by Elisabeth May, which suffered port engine failure immediately after take-off and crash-landed straight ahead, at RAF Wickenby near Lincoln.

She then sailed back to New York on the 21 Aug 1943, with Opal Anderson, Margaret Lennox, Roberta Sandoz Leveaux, and Catharine van Doozer.

m. 1943 Mario W Richards

see also her story at https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

ATA

 Father: Lewis Clarence Hunter, Box 192, Ross, Marin Co. CA

Ed. Stanford University

m. 1931 Suzanne Gerdine; 2 children; divorced

US Army Corps Feb 1930 - Jun 32; May 36 - Jan 38

prev. Instructor for the Chinese National Government

prev. exp 3,700 hrs

San Anselo Herald, September 1940: "LEWIS WARREN HUNTER TO AID BRITISH GOVERNMENT

Hunter is a good looking specimen of American manhood. He came down the broad steps of the attractive family home loaded with luggage and greeted reporters and cameramen with "Hi fellows, you're almost too late. Ask me what you want to know while I pile these things in the car... Hate to rush, but the plane leaves in an hour..."

Off sick from 1 Jan 1941 to 17 Mar 1941 after he made a bad landing in Oxford P9040, "injuring himself and causing considerable damage to the aircraft"

One further accident in Apr 1941, when "he persisted in flying in bad weather"

"This man had an extremely bad record with ATA. He was continually getting into difficulties financially and left many unpaid debts in this country, amounting to about £200."

[His file contains many letters from his creditors after he left, asking whetther the ATA could perhaps pay them (which they politely declined to do), including one from a car dealer called Edwin V Price, who said "I can ill afford to lose this amount after befriending him over a sticky patch".]

"His private affairs interfered seriously with his usefulness as a ferry pilot and his excessive indulgence in alcohol finally made him unfit to continue his duties,"

Contract Teminated 6 Jun 1941

Sailed back to Montreal with fellow pilots Hubert Timmermans, Gilbert Tobin, Irving Nelson and Clarence Goza.

Trans-Canada Airlines' agent later reported that "he went to Ottawa in an effort to join the Royal Canadian Air Force, but was not accepted in view of your adverse report. We last saw him about October 13th when he said that he had obtained a position as Instructor at an aviation school operated by Quebec Airways at or near Quebec City."

"On December 1st we learned from the newspapers that he had died suddenly in Montreal, and our inquiries at the Coroner's Court brought forth the information that he had been picked up by the radio police on November 29th in a state of collapse, and had died in hospital the following day. The Coroner's verdict was that his death was due to natural causes [pneumonia], but I surmise that his habits had a good deal to do with his untimely end."

d. 30 Nov 1941 [age 34]

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.---	Cadet -> Operations Officer	Evelyn [Gertrude or Constance] [Hyam or Higham]
+	b. 25 May 1914, Boston MA	8 Jul-42 to 24 Feb-43

[Although I'm afraid I can't tell you very much about Evelyn, I found out quite a lot about her family!

The story starts in 1878, when a 16 year old Jewish boy, Albert Titlebaum, arrived in Boston, MA, from Russia with his sister (and presumably their parents). He became a naturalised American in 1885, and in 1893 married another Russian Jewish emigree, Fannie, (formerly Miss Touvim or Touwim). He then set up, with J. Charles Touwim and Louis Smolensky, a clothing store, which obviously prospered.

During this time, which Wikipedia describes as "an era of religious separatism and anti-Semitism", Albert and Fannie were prominent among Boston's Jewish community that founded Beth Israel Hospital, specifically aimed at immigrants who only spoke Yiddish and kept a kosher diet. That hospital is now part of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), the official hospital of the Red Sox.

Albert was also first president of the Hebrew Ladies Home for the Aged, which started in 1903 with 17 inmates which by 1927 had grown to 180; he was a President and/or Director of the Corporation Tifereth Israel, the Hebrew Free Loan Association, and the Bnoth Israel Sheltering Home.

Albert and Fannie Titlebaum had three daughters; Harriett (b. 1895, who later m. Max Ulim or Wlim), Esther (b. 1897) and Miriam Ruth (b. 1900, who later m. Harold Burroughs).

Their middle daughter, Esther, then became pregnant at the age of 16. She rapidly married (we presume) the father, Henry George Eisenstaht, on 11 February 1914, and our Evelyn was born just over 3 months later. Her recorded name was Evelyn Gertrude Eisenstaht.

Her mother Esther moved to New York to study medicine at Tufts University and became Dr. Esther Tuttle - it looks like this was an anglicization of her surname, not a marriage. She married Nathaniel Charles Greene (born in England to  Russian parents) in 1928 and they had a son James Robert in 1930.

Meanwhile, in 1930, 15-year-old Evelyn was still living with her grandparents and her aunt Miriam, and specified her grandfather (whom she called Albert Tuttle on her ATA application form) as her father. She also started to call herself "Evelyn Constance Tuttle." ]

Evelyn went to Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN and then Columbia University, NYC

She married, on the 12 Feb 1935 in New York, Frederick Benjamin 'Fred' Hyam (sometimes spelt Higham), a British accountant b. 1908 in Bombay, India, "connected with a coal and cement firm" [Later a Captain in the Royal Artillery]

Fred and Evelyn sailed to the UK straight after the marriage and settled in London.

Her mother Esther became quite a well-known physician in New York, and lived at 1111 Park Ave (near Central Park), NYC.

Evelyn sailed back to the US on 4 Nov 1939 to stay with Esther - and to take flying lessons, it seems, because 2 years later she said her flying experience was "51hrs on Cubs, 60 and 65, and Fairchild KR17".

Evelyn then sailed back from Canada to the UK with Helen Harrrison, arriving 25 May 1942, giving her address as 6, Pall Mall, London SW1 and her next of kin as her husband Fred. [As Helen Harrison was recruited by Jackie Cochran, I have therefore assumed that Evelyn was too. But it may have been a coincidence...]

 Postings: 12FPP

[Contract Terminated by ATA 30 Sep 1942 - Unlikely to become an efficient ferry pilot]

Subsequently offered a job as an ATA Operations Officer, commencing 10 October 1942, at £225 per annum, payable monthly... but for some unknown reason she left after 4 months.

Her grandfather Albert Titlebaum and her stepfather Nathaniel Greene both died in 1946.

Evelyn flew BOAC to New York to visit her mother in November 1948, just at the time when Esther was being indicted for defrauding the US Government of $19,606.66 in unpaid taxes for the years 1942-44. Esther denied the charge, and it looks as though she made an arrangement with the IRS as the case doesn't seem to have ever come to court.

In 1961, Esther was present when her son, James Robert Greene, married Janet Jordan, and here they are at the Belle Meade Mansion and Country Club in Nashville, TN:

 Esther, Jim and Janet

 Esther died in 1969.

Evelyn d. 19 Jul 1971 - Brighton

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.438	Flight Captain	George Earl 'Red' Imes
	b. 24 Nov 1903, Anadarko, OK	23 Jan 1941 to 30 Sep 1945 [1,711 days]

Father: George W  Imes (dec'd), a farmer. Mother: Mrs Jennie [Porter] McCullough

 m. 1934 Mary Louise [Morgan] [divorced 1940]. 1 son, Albert Earl. b. 1936

prev. owned a crop dusting business, commercial pilot.

prev. exp. 4,017 hrs

Address in 1941: Belle Glade, Florida

Postings: 1FPP, 4FPP, AFTS. Seconded to Stradishall (1943) and Marston Moor (1944, 1945)

 "A most steady, reliable and hard working officer and instructor. A popular pilot who does all work given him well and gets on well with both pupils and fellow instructors."

"A pilot of exceptional ability."

George remarried. In Apr 1954 their 9-day old son Allan Nelson Imes died in a local Belle Glade hospital.

d. 30 Dec 1980, Palm Beach Florida.

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Father: William Riley Inman, Mother Ora B [Fowler]

Next of kin: (mother) Ora Inman, 511W First St, Coffeyville, Kansas

At age 17, a machinist in Worth, Iowa

"Rodger is one of the two famous flying brothers of Coffeyville, Kansas. He and his brother Arthur operate the Inman Brothers Flying Circus, A third brother, Don, the youngest, was killed in 1935 in a Florida air crash."

Margie Inman, Leona Inman, Melvin Hart, Rolley Inman, Art Inman, Carl Hall, Merle Smith

Arrived in the UK on the 'Duchess of Atholl' 5 Oct 1940, with fellow pilots Howard Mussey, William Cummings, Edward Vencill, Martin Wetzel and Constant Wilson.

Went back to the USA on the 'Duchess of Richmond' 1 Nov 1940

Joned US Air Transport Command, North Atlantic Wing

d. 19 Jun 1944 - Millinocket, Maine in a C-54 Skymaster crash enroute England to Washington.

M.650	Acting First Officer	Ralph Gilson Jacobson
	b. 13 Dec 1915, Dawson County, Nebraska	18 Jul 1940 to 20 Jul 1941

Father: Hans Keith Jacobson, mother Inez [Gilson] (both American, dec'd)

Ed. University of Nebraska, George Washington University, Congressional School of Aeronautics.

Next of kin: (brother) James L Jacobson, 3925 Pa. Ave SE, Washington DC

prev. Economics Researcher, US Dept of Agriculture; Flight Instructor

prev, exp. 475 hrs

m. Jean [Clancy], 2 children

Address in 1940: 4831 Langdrum Lane, Chevy Chase, MD

 Postings: 1FPP

Suspended for 7 days in Apr-42 for dangerous flying in doubtful weather conditions.

One accident, his fault:

- 24 Jun 1942, he taxied his Master II into a ditch.

His training report was encouraging - "A capable and keen pilot", but subsequently his Pool CO (Frankie Francis) said he "has so far failed to show sufficient competence and ability as a ferry pilot to be considered as an asset to ATA. In spite of OC Training Pool's comments I have considerable doubts as to his keenness."

Perhaps he didn't like winter in the UK; later Frankie said he had "shown greater ability and keenness during the summer months."

Sailed back to the US from Cardiff on the 28 July 1942 with William Deems.

d. 23 Nov 1970 (age 54) - Camden, NJ

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

1962

Father: George Dennis Jacques (French national), mother Neva Ella [Willis] (American)

Ed. Drew's, California University, Boeing School of Aeronautics

prev. California National Guard, 1931-33; United Airlines, Pilot and Operations.

Here is a glimpse of him in June 1940, 4th from the right, when he was co-pilot for a one day state-wide tour of Oregon to celebrate the Salem Centennial:

m. 1940 Marian Ruth [Steffa], 2 children inc Douglas Brian b. Jun 1941

Address in 1940: 237 Castillian Way, San Mateo, CA

Sailed to Liverpool to join the ATA, arriving 11 Nov 1940, with fellow American pilots Howard Alsop, Donald Annibal, Francis Bender, Robert Gragg, Charles Smith, Malcolm Stewart and Roy Wimmer.

Postings: 1FPP

Transferred to RAF Ferry Command

m. 1953 Patricia J Paulbach

In 1960, Chief Pilot for Atchison Clements, Inc. of Wichita. "He has flown 120 different types of planes for 18,000 hrs since 1928." 

"As an RAF pilot in 1940, he flew such VIPs as British Ambassador Lord Halifax and Air Marshall Billy Bishop of Canada."

d. Dec 1980 - Boise ID

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.355 *	First Officer	Richard Carl James
	b. 6 Oct 1915, Pittsburgh, PA	6 Mar 1941 to 5 Mar 1942

1941

1942

Father: Carl Henry; Mother Buleh C

Ed. Carnegie Institute of Technology

prev. a "Core Maker" for Westinghouse Airbrake Co., Wilmerding, PA

Address in 1940: 640 Summerlea St, Pittsburgh

m. Jul 1941 in Maidenhead, Kathleen 'Kit' [Bennett, from Maidenhead, b.1920 d. 2010] (2 children)

Delivered 236 aircraft for the ATA, then joined the US Navy on 3 Jul 1942 as a ferry pilot: "I've done my bit to help England, and now that we're in the war, I'll do my bit for my own country."

USNMC WWII Service until 5 Dec 1945

d. 12 Sep 2019 - Greenwood, SC

"Richard was a career Naval Aviator for 27 years, serving in Morocco, England, Japan, Iceland and various duty stations within the United States. He retired as a Commander in 1969 and settled in New Bern, North Carolina, where he and Kit resided for 40 years.

His love of flying continued into retirement and he enjoyed participating in various "Fly-Ins" across the U.S., often attending in an aircraft he built himself. He maintained a lifelong interest in world affairs and current events.

After retiring from the Navy he developed his own daily exercise routine and dedicated himself to a healthy lifestyle, living to be almost 104 years old. Upon the death of his beloved wife of 69 years in 2010, Richard moved to Hilton Head, South Carolina to be near his daughter, Anne, and her family.

Richard is survived by his daughter Anne Landis (Jim); two grandchildren, Kate Doran (Jeff) of Savannah, Georgia; James Landis Jr. (Aimee Smith) of Mexico City, Mexico; and three great grandchildren, Thomas, Penelope, and Vivienne." 

See https://www.legacy.com

His father William Wesley Jarrett,  was an ex Fire Chief; mother Katherine Belle Biane

Ed. at Charleston High School, Charleston Business College

prev. a commercial pilot

Address in 1940: (parents) 825B Indiana Ave, W Virginia

Travelled from St. Johns to Liverpool on the SS 'Nova Scotia' with fellow pilots Omar William Crim, Kenneth Douglas, Kenneth Seeds, Robert Vinson and Edwin Whittington.

Postings: 4FPP, 1FPP, 4aFPP

[Original contract expired 28 Nov 1941; re-instated 27 Feb 1942]

"A sound pilot who will not attempt to overstep his capabilities. A good officer and reliable pilot."

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.376	First Officer	Jack Edison Jenkins
	b. 9 Jul 1914, Venice CA	4 Mar 1941 to 5 Mar 1942

Ed. University of California

next of kin: (Father) William Ernest Jenkins, [who was "Welsh-American") Hotel Lankershim, 7th Broadway, Los Angeles. Mother Ambie McMican

 m. Dec 1936 to actress Doris [Dudley], 

[IMDB: Doris Dudley was born on July 7, 1917 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for The Moon and Sixpence (1942), The Secret Fury (1950) and A Woman Rebels (1936). She died on August 14, 1985 in Greenville, Texas, USA.]

1 child  Jack Dudley 'Butch' Jenkins  b: 29 Aug 1937 in Los Angeles

[IMDB: He was an actor, known for National Velvet (1944), The Human Comedy (1943) and Boys' Ranch (1946). He was married to Gloria. He died on August 14, 2001 in Asheville, North Carolina, USA.]

prev. restaurant trade, US Navy aviation cadet Jan-40 to Feb-41

Address in 1941: 1132 So. Roxbury Drive, Los Angeles CA

Postings: 2FPP, 8FPP

 Off sick with appendicitis from 17 Jun 1941 to 31 Jul 1941

Fined 14 days pay in May-41 for "shooting up Henley"

"A very capable pilot and an excellent officer in every way"

d. 16 Dec 1989

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

ATA

Lionel said his parents were "Phillip B Kay, and Hazel Madeline King (both dec'd)", but it is dubious whether Philip was actually his father, and in any case he was still alive, although Hazel d. 30 Jan 1919 in the post-WWI flu outbreak.

Ed. Salt Lake City High

Nick Dunning tells me that "Lionel was formally adopted in June 1919 following the death of his mother by Louis LaVell, who may well have been Hazel's partner. Louis was a professional riverboat gambler. 

In 1930, he is listed as an air mail pilot living in Boise, Idaho [Kay Air Transport]

In La Grande, Oregon in July 1934, there was a grand parade celebrating "Progress". And there, to take up passengers were "Bob King and Lionel Kay, of the Kay Air Transport Co. of Boise, Idaho, with a big seven-passenger Travelair monoplane."

"Kay has had six years with the United Air Lines" (strictly speaking, Varney Air Lines, which became part of United in 1930.) United was reorganised after the Air Mail Act of 1934, so perhaps this prompted Lionel to set up on his own.

m. Dec 1932 Marjorie [Moore, later Davidson] (1 son, Peter, b. 1933)

He then went to Peru in 1936 to fly for Compania de Aviacion Faucett. Here is his license:

 with thanks to Nick Dunning

His second wife, Anita Peral Kay, was of 'Spanish extraction' (divorced 1943, daughter Jane Faire b. 1939 in Lima, Peru)

 prev. exp. over 10,000 hrs 

Address in 1940: 40 Main St, Randolf, NY

Permit to leave USA granted 6 Nov 1940

Postings: 1FPP, 4FPP, 8FPP, 14FPP

Convicted for drunk driving in Sep-41

3 accidents, 2 his fault:

- 22 Oct 1941, his Dominie nosed over due to "inefficient use of brakes while taxying";

- 4 Aug 1942, forced landing in a Fairchild after partial engine failure, and

- Off sick from 23 Jan 1943 to 16 Nov 1943, after he crashed in a Whitley VII after engine failure due to lack of of fuel. He was assessed as being to blame for the accident.

He allowed his contract to run down twice, but renewed it in Jan 1942 and Jun 1944.

Sailed to New York from Greenock in 1943, arriving 28th July, with fellow ATA pilots Virginia Farr, Ann Watson Wood, Grace Stevenson, John Yingst, Dorothy (Furey) Bragg and Mary (Zerbel) Hooper.

 "A very experienced and reliable pilot. He has rather a blunt manner."

  m. Jan 1944 Olga Mary 'Peggy'  [Mills, b. 16 Feb 1923 Ilford, Essex] (twin daughters Marvine and Marie b. Feb 1945 in Idaho)

 After ATA, sailed back to the USA with Olga on 24 Sep 1944, and then returned to Peru where Lionel worked for Faucett Airlines again until 1951, except for a visit they all made to Olga's father's house (1 Templars Ave, Golders Green, London NW11) in July1948.

Also flew for airlines in Pakistan and India

d. 5 Dec 1954  - died from a perforated ulcer on board the 'SS Steel Architect' when travelling from Calcutta to Wilmington, NC with Olga and his 3 daughters

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.646	Acting First Officer	Harry John (Johan) Sixten Kindberg
- >	b. 29 Dec 1911, Norrköping Ärberg, Sweden	6 Jul 1941 to 10 Jun 1942

[Moved to USA in 1915; naturalized American 1936]

Ed. Public School, Stanton, IA

prev. a commercial pilot, City Ice and Fuel, St Louis

prev. exp 425 hrs

Address in 1941: 5741 Enright Ave, St Louis

Next of kin: (sister) Mrs Gertie Keating, 4007 Delor St. St Louis, MO

Postings: 4a FPP

Off sick from 31 Jan to 10 Jun 1942 after he suffered a head wound in an accident:

- 30 Jan 1942, he took off from the wrong runway, without permission, and his Magister struck a signal mast.

Before his accident, a "reliable and conscientious pilot. Very quiet."

Contract Terminated - Medical Grounds

d. 14 Aug 1968 - Seattle, WA

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

1940

m. 1922 Bernice [Lyles], 1 child

Army Air Corps in WWI; "Sergeant King landed in France Sept 1918, but never saw active service owing to his immediate transfer to the officers training school at Camp de la Valbonne, France. He was recommended for a commission but the armistice was signed before any action was undertaken." [Marshall Messenger, 11 Mar 1919]

Chief Pilot for National Airways, Detroit, from 1929 to 1931

Address in 1940: 843 31st Ave, San Francisco

After ATA, he and Gene Moraga "went to the aid of the British a second time, this time as an instructor with the Royal Canadian Air Force", [Oakland Tribune, 29 Oct 1940]

d. 8 Apr 1953, buried San Bruno CA

1940

Father: William Leonard Kleaver

Ed. High School

m. 1936 Mary Lee [Speight]

USA Pilots Licence No 5639

In 1929 he flew his grandfather "William Kleaver of Scott River" and his uncle H.J. Kleaver "Superintendent of Schools at Dunsmuir" on a air trip round Scott Valley and Marble Mountain.

"When pilot Ken Kleaver's motor quit cold 1,500 feet above Eureka, Calif., he was left no alternative but to land. Two nurses riding as passengers were uninjured when Kleaver picked a soft spot in the mud alongside a slough and gently nosed the ship over. Kleaver was not hurt. Here's the way they landed." Arizona Republic, 23 Nov 1930

He then did barnstorming and stunt flying for the 'Crusading Flying Fleet', "well known transport flyers, who have thrilled many crowds with their feats of danger and daring. Also, they will carry aloft any passengers who are looking for thrills."

By 1936 he owned one of only two Fokker C-2 Tri-motors in the USA, and offered 14 passengers a joyride from Bend Airport, Oregon in his '$92,000 airplane'.

Address in 1940: Yreka, CA

Postings: 1FPP, Hawarden, Ringway, 2FPP

Suspended without pay for a week in Jan-41 for 'General Misdemeanour'

He and Ralph Canning were nicknamed the 'California Prune Pickers' by their English counterparts.

RAF Ferry Command from Apr 1942

In 1956 he was reunited with a schoolfriend from Dunsmuir, Eugene Babb: "The human interest angle is that, in the meanwhile, both men have been girdling the globe many times over, Babb as skipper for various shipping companies, Kleaver as captain for airlines all over the world. Each had been in and out of the same port many times, unknown to each other."

"Kleaver is the Calistoga representative for the Valley Chevrolet Company."

d. 2 Jan 1962 - Shasta County, CA 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

Father: Valentine Klusek (Polish)

Ed: Bylac Grammar School

Next of kin: (mother): Victoria Klusek

Also had a brother, Louis, who lived at 1595 Odell St., Parkchester, Bronx, N.Y.

prev. a pilot and automobile dealer. US Air Corps Reserve.

Address in 1940: 2242 E Hamilton Ave, Springfield

Postings: 3FPP

1 accident, 18 Aug 1941, due to 'taxying in strong wind with insufficient care'

 In April 1941, he was a lunchtime speaker at a meeting organised by the Chamber of Commerce in Charleston; "Klusek returned from England a few days ago for a week's leave of absence, and left Springfield today for Canada whence he will fly bombers to England." He said that "superior ability in recruiting new pilots will be one of the strong factors which will enable England to win over Germany in the present war."

Seconded to AtFero

In 1942, after leaving the ATA, he was pilot of a "big ship" being delivered across the Pacific "for General MacArthur's forces to use in checking Japan's drive southward", when they hit a tropical storm near Oahu. His co-pilot said "Finally we found a hole and got down lower but there was nothing but water and believe me, there's lots of it between the United States and Australia." Eventually they landed but "did not have enough gasoline left to taxi off the runway."

d. 2 Nov 1987 - Springfield

 findagrave.com

Buried Cavalry Cemetery.

"A resident of Dawson for 35 years, he was the president and founder of the Kluzek Industrial Empire Corp. in Dawson. He was a member of St. Joseph's Church in Buffalo; Elks Lodge 158; O.X. Five Aviation Pioneer Club; and the Silver Wings Fraternity of Aviation Pathfinders. He served as a captain in the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1940 and ferried Liberator bombers across the Atlantic to England.  Surviving are three daughters, three sons, six grandchildren; one sister, four brothers, several nieces, nephews and cousins. "

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.297	First Officer	Nathan Stolzer Kohn
	b. 31 Oct 1910, St Louis MO	11 Jan 1941 to 29 Jun 1942

Father: Wolfe Kohn (originally from Finland, a Banker); mother Fannie (American) from Tuscumbia, AL

Ed. Vanderbilt University, New York University

m. 1933 Edith [Koggan]; 2 children, David b. 1944 and Wolina

prev. US Army 1930-34; Commercial Pilot - President of Jersey Air Service, Paterson NJ from 1936

Address in 1941: 10-04 Bellaire Ave, Fair Lawn NJ

A warrant for his arrest was issued in 1938 when he failed to appear in court. He was charged with operating an amusement concession without a ($50) license.

"Mr Kohn has been in the Criminal Court, Hackensack NJ, twice in recent years: once when accused of obtaining $150 and an aeroplane from two Baltimore men in an aeroplane sale deal and again when he faced the same charge in relation to an alleged fire insurance loss."

 Arrived in the UK 28 Feb 1941

Postings: 1FPP, 15FPP, 3FPP, 4bFPP, 14FPP, 4aFPP

"A pilot of great ability with a high sense of duty, who is responsive to considerate treatment."

Contract Terminated - Refused to carry out flying duties

Later a Lt-Col in the USAAC Air Transport Command; post-WWII he was active in real estate and then founded an import-export business.

d. 6 May 1966 (age 56) - Eaglewood, NJ

"For a number of years, Mr Kohn had figured prominently in activities designed to aid the State of Israel get firmly established. He also helped lay the groundwork for the organization of its Air Force."

He had "considerable financial holdings" in Israel, and in Cuba before Fidel Castro gained control; he once received a Bible from Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion for his work.

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

http://www.americanairmuseum.com/person/240113

Father: Adam Kolendorski (American), mother: Katherine (Katy) (Polish)

He "excelled in woodwork and other manual arts subjects, and learned to fly a plane while working as a 'grease monkey' at a field near his home. He moved to California, and became a pilot for an air service."

m. 1938 Charlotte Mae [Reynolds]

Address in 1940: Star Route, Lakehurst, NJ

His wife was granted a divorce in Los Angeles on 3 Feb 1940, on the basis that he "spent most of his time at an airport and finally went to Canada to join the Royal Air Force."

 Travelled to Liverpool from Montreal on the 'Duchess of Bedford', arriving 10 August 1940.

ATA Contract Terminated 3 Sep 1940 - Joined the RAF as part of the 'Eagle' squadron of American volunteer pilots.

It sounds like Stanley carried on hoping for a reconciliation with Charlotte; on the 27 Oct 1940 "According to Stanley Kolendorski,of Lakehurst, NJ. the thrill of training to fire a shot for his ancestral Poland almost compensates for the threat of his wife to divorce him when he joined up. He is hoping she will reconsider her decision when she gets a picture of him in his British uniform - her picture, in her wedding dress, is the sole mural decoration of the little cubicle that is his exile bedroom tonight."

Asbury Park Press, NJ, 21 May 1941 - "After receiving word that their son, Stanley, is missing after a flight from England during war operations [on the 17th May], Mr. and Mrs Adam Kolendorski are anxiously awaiting further word from the British Air Ministry to learn whether the youth is dead, a German prisoner or has returned safely."

The full story emerged later.

"After being scrambled early in the morning in Hurricane Mk IIb Z3186 (71 (Eagle) Squadron) to intercept Ju88's and He111's coming across the channel, at 20,000 ft they came across escorting Bf 109's of the II./JG 53 "Pik As" over the Thames Estuary.

Mike Kolendorski turned his aircraft sharply to intercept a pair of Bf 109s, when a second pair opened fire on him. A warning was given over the R/T, but too late for Kolendorski. It would seem that he was killed in his cockpit as no attempt by him to bale out was observed. Other 'Eagle'-squadron pilots saw his aircraft crash land in the water and reported Stanley Michel Kolendorski KIA after they had returned to their airbase.

F/O Kolendorski's body was washed ashore in the Netherlands on 13th August 1941 near 'Paal 16' at the beach of Rockanje / West-Voorne, Voorne Putten island, Zuidhollandse Eilanden region. His remains were buried at the General Cemetery "Maria Rust" in Rockanje, municipality of West-Voorne."

 findagrave.com

He is also one of 13 WWII and Korean War dead who are commemorated on the Asbury, NJ, War Memorial, dedicated in 1954.

d. 17 May 1941 (age 26) 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.615*	First Officer	Richard Nelson 'Dick' Kraschel
	b. 25 Jan 1919, Harlan, IA	7 Jul 1941 to 20 Jul 1942

1941

 Father: Nelson G. Kraschel, former Governor of Iowa, mother Agnes

Ed. Iowa State College, University of Colorado

Learnt to fly in 1936 at Des Moines, IA

prev. Instructor, Livingstone Airways, Waterloo, IA then USAAF Flight Instructor at Cimarron Field, Oklahoma City

Dick joined the ATA when his parents were away on vacation. "I thought it would be easier if they didn't know my plans", he said.

It turned out, however, that he needed his parents' permission anyway, so his mother (when she found out about it) flew to Montreal and gave the necessary consent.

During his ATA Service, he ferried more than 60 types of planes, "losing 48lb in the process."

"The work, the climate and the food sort of piled up on me and got me down", he said.

Post-ATA, he joined the Bell Aircraft Co. as a test pilot on 14 Sep 1942, but was killed 29 May 1943 when his parachute failed to open after he bailed out of a test flight near Niagara Falls.

 findagrave.com

M.627	First Officer	James Victor 'Skippy' Lane Jr
	b. 10 Feb 1915, Los Angeles CA	18 Jul 1941 to 20 Jul 1942 and 14 Apr 1943 to 13 Apr 1945

prev. an Operator of Motor Boats, and then a Flight Instructor for Dallas Aviation School, TX

 Address in 1941: PO Box 9695 Los Feliz Station, Los Angeles

Postings: 6FPP, 4bFPP, 1FPP, 3FPP

11 May 1942, Suspended for two days for "taking off down wind in (adverse weather)

27 Sep 1943, Reprimanded for disobedience of airfield regulations at Litchfield

6 accidents, 2 his fault: 

- 7 Dec 1941, landed a Hurricane wheels-up after engine failure;

- 11 Apr 1942, Commended for his prompt action when he force landed a Blenheim after he noticed signs of lubrication failure;

- 30 Jun 1943, he made a single engine landing in a Blenheim IV after port engine failure;

- 12 Dec 1943, when taking off in a Martlet the arrester hook dropped onto the runway; he abandoned the take-off but the aircraft swung and a wingtip was damaged. He had failed to check the arrester hook was locked.

- 11 May 1944, he had to land his Thunderbolt wheels-up when the failure of a weld on the port undercarriage strut meant it got stuck in the 'up' position.

- 30 Aug 1944, his Vengeance caught fire as it was landing, due to a filler cap coming adrift near the exhaust

"A steady and capable pilot, and a good officer" "Always willing"

m. 20 Feb 1943 in Calcutta, Constance Evelyn [Gibbon, b. 1904 in India]

During the period July 1942 to April 1943, he flew 'The Hump' for CNAC (China National Aviation Corp.). see CNAC Captain James Lane

Sailed back to the USA 18 Apr 1945, with Constance, and fellow ATA pilot Donald Richardson (M.575), his English wife and their son.

m. 1953 Gladys Irene [Rupert]

d. 12 Mar 1961 (age 46) - Los Angeles

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.88	First Officer	Opal Pearl Laster-Anderson
	b. 17 Aug 1906, Fulton KY	10 Jun-42 to 9 Apr-45

Mother: Mrs Ada Thompson, 615 Pine St, Michigan, IN

Ed. Lowell Grade School, Blow High School, St. Louis

prev. a Flying Instructor [and a former hat designer (and allegedly striptease artist, although I think that was actually Bobby Sandoz, and anyway it's all very innocent)].

prev. exp. over 2,100 hrs - she owned a "Clip Speed Wing Laird"

m. Willard Anderson [divorced 1937, 1 son Norman Richard]

Address in 1942: 202 So. State St, Chicago, IL

Postings: 15FPP, 6FPP, 16FPP, 1FPP

She sailed back on leave on the 21 Aug 1943, with Evelyn Hudson, Margaret Lennox, Roberta Sandoz Leveaux, and Catharine van Doozer.

"Little Norman Anderson of Chicago welcomes home his mother, Opal Laster Anderson, 37, after a 14-month absence abroad with the ATA." - Ludington Daily News, Sep 1943

 "My most harrowing experience occurred last month in England when a bomber I was flying suddenly shot straight up into the air. I knew that two test pilots had been killed thru just such a plane reaction, and the experience I have gleaned thru years of showmanship in barnstorming, plus plain good luck, is all that saved me."

Reprimanded for "Breach of ATA Standing Orders G.4 and G.12" in 1943

 Frankie Francis, her CO, described her as "a very keen and hardworking pilot who is boisterous in temperament. A good officer but perhaps a little apt to speak and act without thought for possible consequences."

Norman Whitehurst said "Flying and discipline are both good. A keen and enthusiastic worker who is helpful and kind."

On her final day with the ATA, 9 April 1945, she ferried a Mosquito from 192 Sqn, Foulsham to 44MU, Edzell, and a Dakota from Ratcliffe to Kemble.

She later said "England is the worst place in the world to fly. The roads read like a bunch of snakes."

Post-WWII, Opal moved to Ontario in 1951, worked in Hollywood as a hat maker and also for General Dynamics in Pomona, continued to fly until the 1970s and then renovated aircraft and pony carts in California.

m. 1962 Malcolm Averitt [divorced 1970)

 d. 8 Jan 1994 - Ontario, Canada

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

1940

Private in US Army in WWI

m. 1931 Margaret 'Bessie' Clara [Mitchell]

prev. Operations Manager and Airline Pilot

Address in 1940: 5018 Bryan St, Dallas, TX

"James Laudeman, Texas flier who has been in the ferry service of the Royal Air Force in England will speak at the Tuesday night meeting on current phases of the air conflict between Britain and Germany." Dallas Morning News; 15 Dec 1940

Returned to New Orleans from Honduras, 5 Dec 1941 (ie 2 days before the attack on Pearl Harbor)

d. 7 Oct 1946 from cerebral hemorrhage - found unconscious on a sidewalk near his hotel in Galveston, TX. 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

ATA

Learnt to fly in 1928, then was an airline pilot, circus joy-ride pilot and instructor.

prev. exp. 1,150hrs

Address in 1940: Dayton, OH

Postings: 3FPP, 6FPP

Seconded to Atfero 20 Mar 1941

He was offered an extension to his 1-yr contract, but declined: "It is purely a matter of finances as I have enjoyed working for your organisation."

d. 14 Aug 1941 (Died in ATA Service) - one of four ATA pilots, travelling as passengers, amongst the 22 killed in the crash of Liberator AM260. Others were Elbert Anding (M.316), Buster Trimble (M.112) and Martin Wetzel.

The cause of the crash was that "the pilot in command [Cpt Richard Charles Stafford of BOAC] started the take off procedure from runway 06 which was not suitable for the takeoff as it was too short for such aircraft."

Philip's widow Nell Cole Lee was also, like Mrs Anding, convinced that BOAC or Atfero was responsible by negligence for his death, and in fact threatened to sue them for damages. The situation was not cleared up until 1943, when the British Government agreed to provide her with an ex-gratia payment of $8,000, of which $2,000 was invested for her 2 children (Helen Cole Lee and Francis, who was born after Philip's death).

She then wrote, "May I offer you my sincere thanks and appreciation for the grant. While it is true that the death of my husband did not leave me in dire straits, it is also true that my children will not have all the advantages in life that they would have had had he lived."

The official ATA report summed it up in November 1944: "Thus, a case which had developed a very unpleasant atmosphere, and might well have left an unhealed focus of bitter anti-British sentiment, was concluded on an entirely satisfactory note." 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):  

M.410	First Officer	William 'Buck' Brewer Lemons II
	b. 23 Oct 1917, Cleveland, Mississippi	17 Mar 1941 to 24 Dec 1942

Mother: Lulie Bell Lemons, father dec'd

 prev. Crop Dusting for Finkles Bros. Dusting Co. in Leland, MS and Aero Crop Dusters in Avon Park, Florida

Address in 1940: Box 704, Belle Glade, Palm Beach FL

Postings: 1FPP, 14FPP, 16FPP, 4aFPP

Suspended for 1 week in November 1941;

Suspended for 7 days for Low Flying over Carlisle, in Sep 1942

2 accidents, neither his fault;

- 1 Mar 1942, he ran into a snow bank when landing a Spitfire in slippery conditions, and

- 16 Nov 1942, the starboard inner engine of his Fortress failed, but he landed successfully on the remaining three.

 "Has proved to be satisfactory as a pilot, but has a poor sense of discipline"

"Since his arrival at this Pool (16FPP) he has carried out his duties well and is now showing a creditable sense of discipline."

Sailed back to the USA on the "Queen Elizabeth" on 25 Jan 1943 with fellow ferry pilots Howard L Cooper (M.512), Robert F Sliker (b. 1904 in Morrisroe NJ), Andrew J Burke (b. 1902 in Bonham Texas), Nelson E Brown (b. 1921 in Guilford, PA), Raymond P Hoover (M.345)

He was engaged to a Miss Isobel Swift in April 1943; "Miss Swift was associated with Pan-American Airways"...

... however...

m. 24 Jun 1944 Carol 'Tootsie' [Bryant] of Dearborn, MI, the grand-niece of Henry Ford

William was "a test pilot at Henry Ford's Willow Run bomber plant"

 They moved to Winter Haven, FL in 1958.

d. 12 Jan 1979 (age 61) - Winter Haven, FL. "He was a former Winter Haven City Commissioner"

His son David (b. 1947) earned his solo flying license at the age of 16 in his father's J-3 Cub and became an airline pilot for Pan American and then Alaska Airlines, retiring in 2007.

Carol d. 2012, David in 2013

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.84	First Officer	Margaret Elizabeth 'Peggy' Lennox
	b. 24 Jan 1906, Chicago	10 Jun-42 to 30 Nov-45

CB

1943

Father: William James Lennox (b. 1876 in Canada), Mother Grace 'Annie' [Arnold]

Ed. Lakewood High, Cleveland School of Art, Western Reserve University, New School for Social Research

prev: Art teacher, Model, Secretary, Flight Instructor in the CAA Flight Training Program at Providence RI, and Dallas, TX

m. 5 Jan 1933 in John Albertsen [a "horseman", b. Denmark] in Ripley, Chautauqua County, NY [divorced]

Address in 1942: 301 37th St, St Petersburg, FL

Peggy featured in this advertisement for Camel cigarettes in 1942, which appeared in literally hundreds of different newspapers throughout the USA:

"Don't Let those eyes and that smile fool you. When this young lady starts talking airplanes, brother, you'd listen .. Yes, and with Instructor Peggy Lennox, it's strictly Camels, too - the flier's favorite. "Mildness is a rule with me", she explains,"That means Camels. There's less nicotine in the smoke" **

One of her students said "Miss Lennox is always patient, never gets sore, but boy, is she exacting! Every manoeuver has to be done just right before you learn anything else."

 Arrived from Nova Scotia on the 29 June 1942 with fellow ATA women pilots Una Goodwin and Mary Zerbel

After her time in the ATA, she sailed back to New York on the 'Queen Elizabeth' on 2 Dec 1945, with Roberta (and one-year old Guy) Leveaux, James MacCallum, Ann Wood and Gilman 'Ben' Warne.

Post-WWII, Peggy won the Montreal to Miami All-women Air Race in 1949, then in 1951 she finished first in the 986-mile All-Women International Air Race from Orlando, Florida, to Windsor, Ontario.

 Peggy in 1951, after finishing first

m. George B Firkal (a musician, divorced 1957)

m. Dec 1961 Wallace Jutten Drown in Duval, FL

Recipient of the Silver Wings Award in 1979, celebrating her 50 years of flying and "helping to break sex discrimination barriers for pilots and instructors"

Later owned apartments and stores in Fort Lauderdale, FL., and was known to fly prospective clients for a bird's eye view of the land.  "I stay with flying because once you get it in your blood, you're never the same", she said.

 d. Jun 1985 - Fort Lauderdale

** Please don't take this as an encouragement to smoke Camels, or any other Camelidae (e.g. llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, or guanacos.).

Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

  Father Robert W 'Bobby' Lindsay [d. 1943]; Mother Nora Etta [Fiscus] (m. 1944 W R Parrish)

Ed. Peacock Military Academy, San Antonio

His parents moved from Wichita Falls in 1936 and owned the Lindsay Gardens citrus packing plant, and the Lindsay-Niles canning plant in Mission.

prev. Crop Dusting

prev. exp. 400 hrs "most of them flying his family's Howard cabin plane"

Address in 1941: Lindsay Gardens, Mission Hidalgo, TX 

 Postings: 3FPP, 8FPP, 4aFPP, 1FPP

He travelled to the UK as co-pilot in a B-24; "My job is to keep the engines in line and I will only fly about four hours as solo pilot".

1 Accident, his fault:

- 26 Sep 1941, he tried to take off in a Proctor with the brakes on, and tipped it onto its nose.

He wrote to his parents in November 1941, "praising the English and their spirit, saying "They don't any more expect Hitler to take England than we do for him to take one of our cities."

After ATA, Bob joined the US Ferry Command.

Later a Lieutenant in the 10th Air Force in Burma, awarded the DFC and Oak Leaf Cluster to the Air Medal.

d. 12 Apr 1977 (age 55) - Reno, TX

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

1929

ATA

ATAM March 1941

Next of Kin: (mother)  Sibyl/Sibbel H B Livermore, 667 South Palm Ave, Sarasota, FL

Father d. 1935

Ed. Riverside Military Academy, Gainesville GA, and Sarasota High

prev. Crop Dusting pilot

Co-pilot of the Curtiss Robin 'Sealdsweet', which attempted (several times) to establish a 100-hour refuelling endurance flight record in 1929.. They refuelled from another Curtiss Robin named the 'Mor-Juce', but a series of mechanical problems meant they eventually abandoned the attempt.

prev. exp. 2400 hrs, "practically all on medium and heavy aircraft. Has a commercial pilot's license."

m. 1934 Carline [Whitney], 1 daughter Barbara b. 1936

 Postings: 6FPP

1 accident, his fault:

- 26 Feb 1941, he landed his Whitley at the wrong aerodrome and struck an obstruction when taking off again.

 "Smooth and accurate in the air. Is very fine type."

Seconded to AtFero 15 Mar 1941

 d. 14 Oct 1942 (age 33) in a Liberator crash after taking off from Trinidad. The plane had mistakenly taken off on the emergency fuel tanks only, and all engines stopped after the plane had climbed a few hundred feet.

Accepted for commemoration on the Ottowa Memorial in 2018.

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

M.--- *	First Officer	Leland Cooper Lloyd
	b. 20 Aug 1912, Houston, Texas	23 Mar to 28 Sep 1941

Father: Everett Cooper Lloyd, Mother: Nellie Fredericka

 prev. Petrolagar Laboratories, Chicago, Illinois; test pilot for North American Aviation; 'stunt pilot'

? m. 1934 in Texas, Katherine [Thiel]

Address in 1940: 647½ Main Ave, San Antonio, TX

  Draft Card, dated 16 Oct 1940

"Scar - 3in diameter - right arm"

Arrived in the UK on 28 April 1941, as did Raymond Sylvester Allen

 Postings: ---

Transferred to RAF Ferry Command

He was co-pilot of a B-25 that became uncontrollable over Platte County, Kansas, on the night of 18 Jul 1942. The crew of 3 parachuted to safety, Leland fracturing his heel.

m. 16 Apr 1943 in Clay, Missouri, Alice Genevieve [Heil]

d. 6 Aug 1943 in the crash of Hudson VI EW898 at Martintown, Ontario, Canada during a training flight. All 3 on board were killed; they were attempting a forced landing after fire broke out.

 Commemorated at Mission Burial Park South, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

* - File not yet seen

1932

ATAM

Father: Charles Paul Lofgren (originally Swedish), a travelling salesman (Music Tuition); Mother  Gertrude A [Payne or Moore], (English).

The family (including their 5 children) moved to New Jersey in January 1917.

Ed. Detroit, North Western High School

He was shipwrecked when on a boar-hunting trip in 1932 and the 7 crew and passengers spent 3 days marooned on Santa Cruz Island, about 30 miles off the California coast.

prev. Private in US Army Reserve 1931-35; Air Line Pilot for Transportes Aereos Centro Americanos (TACA) in Costa Rica, Panama, Nicuragua, San Salvador, Guatemala, USA, Canada and Honduras.

prev. exp. 1650 hrs

Address in 1941: 2716 S Willard Ave, San Gabriel, Los Angeles, CA; later 805 N 2nd St., Alhambra CA

Exempt from US Draft 'due to previous military experience'.

 Postings: 15FPP, 6FPP, 16FPP

Suspended for 2 days from 4 Jul 1941 for 'Refusal to obey orders'

2 accidents, 1 his fault:

- 13 Jul 1941, his Swordfish lost its tail wheel;

- 16 Dec 1941, his Anson hit an iron stake while taxying.

Oct-41: "A good pilot who carries out all his work well. Would be a greater asset to the pool if he was more cheerful and cooperative"

Dec-41: "As above, except that he is now a more cheerful and therefore pleasanter member of the pool."

Flew to New York on a TWA flight 16 May 1943.

After ATA, sailed back to the US on the "Queen Mary" on 29 Sep 1943.

Address in 1948: Majorca Ave, Miami, FL, when he was a pilot for Skyways International.

d. 22 Apr 1959 (age 46) - Orange Co, CA 

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

As a Captain in the RFC, 1917

1941

"Recognised as one of the greatest of US World War aces with 12 victories, Major Lord holds the DFC and Bar, the Croix de Guerre, the Order of St. Anne, the Order of St. Stanislaus and the White Army Medal."

Briefly, he:

- left home at 16 and joined the state militia on the Mexican border, then

- Joined the RFC, renouncing his US Citizenship to do so, and was credited with shooting down 12 German aircraft (although he later told people it was 22) and one balloon. In one engagement, he single-handedly attacked 20 German planes, shot down two and scattered the rest;

- he then went north into Russia to lead a squadron fighting near Archangel in the Russian Civil War, at one stage "blasting the enemy with empty whisky bottles";

- he then "killed time" by fighting for the Government in the Mexican Revolution of 1921 and from then until 1932 he barnstormed in the US with a flying circus.

- He then fought for the Chinese Government against the Japanese in Shanghai and Peiping;

- 3 years later he was fighting for the Government in Honduras,

- And in 1937, [of course], he fought in the Spanish Civil War against German and Italian air forces.

 He then operated a flying school for a few years, but found it "pretty dull" and tried to rejoin the RAF when WWII broke out, but they obviously felt that the ATA was a more sensible place for a 47-year-old pilot.

d. 21 Jul 1967 (age 70): he was murdered in Apple Valley, CA.

He was found in a desert cabin belonging to Norval Elma Austin, which "was a shambles, with broken bottles all over the floor, giving every indication of a struggle." 

The body was identified by his wife. She later said that Frederic was physically unable to do much work around the house, and had hired Norval to do yardwork and other heavy chores, but had fired him "several times".

Norval was arrested 2 days later, and found guilty of second-degree murder in 1968. He died in 1982.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic_Ives_Lord

ATA

findagrave.com

Father: Wilbur W Lowman, mother Blanche C [Liefer, later m. Walter Ross]

Ed. Warsaw High School, IN

Next of Kin: (Mother) Mrs W S Ross, Winona Lake, Kosciusko, IN

prev. Airline Pilot and Instructor, but also...

 Paul and Jerry II

In 1937, as "Winona Lake's Lion Tamer", he rode a surfboard behind a speedboat with a lion called Jerry. However, when Jerry I died, he tried taming a new younger one, which didn't go so well; Paul needed four stitches in a wound in his neck the lion gave him when they opened the cage. Jerry II then escaped, twice, terrorised the local residents and demolished a gift shop. "Owner Lowman is now looking for someone who would like a nice pet lion."

By 1940 he was a self-employed Painting Contractor.

He was fined $5 for reckless flying over Mentone, IN in Sep 1940.

Arrived in the UK 15 Jan 1941

Postings: 1FPP, 14FPP

Off sick from 2 to 18 Sep 1941 with "orthopaedic derangement" of knee

 1 accident, not his fault:

- 2 Oct 1941, he successfully made a precautionary landing in a Mohawk after a starter gasket blew.

"A keen and hard working pilot" "Carried out his duties satisfactorily"

m. 1943 Barbara June [Sherman] (2 daughters, 1 son) [d. 2004]

Later joined RAF Ferry Command then post-WWII he was a pilot with National Airlines Inc. of Florida from 1952, having given the ATA as a reference.

1963, landscaping his garden at 5950 SW 104th St, Miami.

d. 9 Dec 2002 (age 89) in Miami, FL, after a long ilness (Parkinson's).

"Paul's great love of flying kept him going until 72. His last was a glider plane."

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):

W.103 *	3rd Officer	Betty Ann Lussier
+	b. 20 Dec 1921, Medicine Hat, Alberta Canada	11 Nov 1942 to 28 Apr 1943

Father: Emile John Lussier DFC [b. Illinois, RAF in WWI, Squadron Leader in the RCAF in WWII] 

Mother Vera [Fleming, Canadian]

Her father's parents were born in France and England, her mother's parents were American and Canadian.

The family moved to Rock Hall, Maryland in 1924, where they ran a dairy farm.

Ed. Rock Hall High, Washington College, University of Maryland