Some History         Dick Grace authored the Squadron of Death in 1929 to recount his experiences and those of his fellow pilot in the dangerous world of stunting.  The squadron consisted of pilots whose stunts proved fatal.  Grace’s stunts included wrestling alligators, leaping into fire nets from tall buildings, and jumping over caldrons of molten metal while racing through a steel mill. He crashed over thirty planes intentionally and lived to spend the money. Many were not so lucky and joined his Squadron of Death.  RKO movie stu ..read more

Vance Breese remains one of the most interesting men of aviation’s golden age.  He was brilliant, controversial, brave, and skillful as a pilot as well as a aircraft designer and consultant.  His adventure began during the 1920s.  After a stint as a barnstormer, he achieved success in competitive events, flew the airmail for Pacific Air Transport, and designed aircraft.   The competitive events included the 1927 National Air Races and the Ford Reliability Tour. Breese Aircraft Vance Breese’s most successful design was the Model 5.  Serial #5, known as the Aloha ..read more

A First Flight Ninety-Nines’ charter member Achsa Donnels took her first plane ride in 1923.  She and several friends from Fresno College were enjoying a picnic at what is now Roeding Park.  Nearby, a couple of barnstormers were offering $5 rides in their Jenny airplane.  Adventurous Achsa didn’t hesitate, and after her flight, knew she wanted to learn to fly.  When her father discovered his daughter’s ‘foolish’ flying lessons, he put an end to them.  Achsa reluctantly obeyed and looked for other vocations.  “I decided on a musical career, playing for silent fil ..read more

Five Favorite Books The Winged Gospel by Joseph J. Corn An amusing and provocative study of the romance – one might even say religion – of aviation’s first half-century in America.  Corn draws upon a rich variety of sources and assembles fresh and interesting material to provide a scaffolding of interpretive approaches and questions. FavoriteAviation Book #1 Aviatrix by Elinor Smith Sullivan   One of the most human, heart-warming stories of aviation to appear.  The reader finds himself running along beside her, flying with her in the cockpit, helping her to fight off her a ..read more

Roscoe Turner learned to fly during WWI and logged over 10,00 hours by 1944. He won recognition as a sensational transcontinental speed pilot in 1929, carrying passengers from New York City to Los Angeles in 20 hrs., 20 min. and returning in 18 hrs., 30 min.  In successive years – 1932, 1933, 1934 – he established new continental speed records.  Roscoe Turner won the Thompson Trophy Race three times and landed in second place in the Speed Division of the MacRobertson International Air Race, London to Melbourne in 1934.  In 1939, he set a world’s record for a closed course at 29 ..read more

The Copper Room at the Yucca Valley Airport (L22) seems to have been the favorite destination “amongst the big money guys” who flew in with guests for dinner in their aircraft.  At one time, you could call in your drink and dinner order from the air.  You could talk to the bartender on the Unicom radio and order ahead.  It was pretty cool according to Tim Bullock.  “Yeah, a lot of these guys flew in with real style.  The owner himself, Mike Larrimore, had a beautiful Mooney painted real slick with the Red Baron logo painted blood red on a jet black plane.  But th ..read more

At the time of the First World War, most women were barred from voting or serving in military combat roles. Many saw the war as an opportunity to not only serve their countries but to gain more rights and independence. With millions of men away from home, women filled manufacturing and agricultural positions on the home front. Others provided support on the front lines as nurses, doctors, ambulance drivers, translators and, in rare cases, on the battlefield. One observer wrote that American women “do anything they were given to do; that their hours are long; that their task is hard; that for ..read more

Arthur Chin was an American pilot who participated in the Second Sino-Japanese War. Chin strongly felt a need to defend his father’s homeland when Japan invaded China. He subsequently joined the first group of U.S. volunteer combat aviators. Chin is recognized as the United States’ first flying ace in World War II.  Portland Chinese Flying Club Born in Portland, Oregon on October 23, 1913, Arthur Chin enrolled in Portland’s Chinese Flying Club after the Japanese invaded China.  He earned his pilot license in 1932 and subsequently left for Chin ..read more

Maxine Dunlap – New Pilot! Captivated by aviation following Lindbergh’s trans-Atlantic flight in 1927, Maxine Dunlap decided to become a pilot.  She earned her pilot license, #5894, at Mills Field in San Francisco in 1929.  Records note that she became the first woman in San Francisco to achieve this significant accomplishment. She joined the Ninety-Nines, an International Organization of Women Pilots, in 1930.  Competing in air meets and races followed.  She set the women’s speed record in light planes on a 100km course in 1935 during a Tulsa, Oklahoma meet.  Maxine ..read more

Born on August 12, 1912, Hazel Ying Lee (Hazel Yueying Li) grew up in Portland, Oregon.  Flying captured her imagination as a teenager.  To pay for flying lessons, she took a job as an elevator at Liebes Department Store in downtown Portland. This enabled her to enroll in the Al Greenwood Flying School with sponsorship by the Portland Chinese Benevolent Society. Barely nineteen, she became one of the first Chinese American women to earn a pilot license.  Hazel Lee and the Chinese Air Force As war loomed in China, Hazel Lee joined a squadron of volunteers training in Portland.&n ..read more