-
When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
A-1 flight jacket 1930's photos
- Thread starter NickG
- Start date
zoomer
Well-Known Member
Let's play picture detectives!
I'm gonna date the first picture before 1930, simply because some of the Navy fliers are wearing breeches and/or high boots. This wasn't done much after the 20s. However, I have no dates or other info.
The uniform of white cap covers with greens suggests that this was a summer pic, during a time when khakis were not authorized. Navy fliers had first worn khaki back before WW1, but at times during the 20s, they were only worn by submariners. Again, info is very sketchy.
The second pic shows the tradename STANAVO on the beret of the flier at the left. This was Standard Oil's aviation division, formed in 1929 (source). So that's a "not before" point.
Finally, I strongly suspect the bareheaded man on the right, AND the beret wearer in the 1st pic, is "Deuce of Aces" Clarence Chamberlin. He had his own Lockheed Vega, the plane in the top shot.
Since the bareheaded man in the 1st pic so resembles the bereted man in the 2nd pic, I suggest they're the same man, and that these pix were taken on the same flight. Who was he, and when was that? - I'll keep working on it!
I'm gonna date the first picture before 1930, simply because some of the Navy fliers are wearing breeches and/or high boots. This wasn't done much after the 20s. However, I have no dates or other info.
The uniform of white cap covers with greens suggests that this was a summer pic, during a time when khakis were not authorized. Navy fliers had first worn khaki back before WW1, but at times during the 20s, they were only worn by submariners. Again, info is very sketchy.
The second pic shows the tradename STANAVO on the beret of the flier at the left. This was Standard Oil's aviation division, formed in 1929 (source). So that's a "not before" point.
Finally, I strongly suspect the bareheaded man on the right, AND the beret wearer in the 1st pic, is "Deuce of Aces" Clarence Chamberlin. He had his own Lockheed Vega, the plane in the top shot.
Since the bareheaded man in the 1st pic so resembles the bereted man in the 2nd pic, I suggest they're the same man, and that these pix were taken on the same flight. Who was he, and when was that? - I'll keep working on it!
zoomer
Well-Known Member
Mystery solved.
Know what I did? I finally looked up the filenames on Nick's photos!
:roll: Give me the Duh Trophy for today, huh?
These pix are from a record New York—Buenos Aires hop of 1930, piloted by Lieuts. Clements McMullen and W.W. White, USAAC.
McMullen, later a major general, was at the time stationed at Wright Field, OH, and White at Kelly Field, TX.
This was not an Army flight, of course, so they wore civilian clothes. And those aren't US Navy fliers. They're Peruvians!
Original AP photo captions follow.
"Associated Press Photo 26 February 1930. McMullen and White photographed on their arrival at Las Palmas Airfield. Left to Right: Commander Melgar, Chief of the Las Palmas Airfield; the American Military Attaché, Captain Harold Harris; Lieutenant Clements McMullen; Commander Harold B. Grow, Chief of the Peruvian Air Forces; Lieutenant White; and Sergeant Majors of the Peruvian Army, Alvarillo and Chilardi."
"Associated Press Photo, 5 March 1930. Lieutenants White and McMullen photographed on their arrival at the Argentine army aviation field El Palomar from Santiago, Chile completing their flight."
More info and pix on McMullen and the flight here.
Time article on Cmdr. Harold Grow's imprisonment by the Peruvian junta who took power in September, 1930.
Nothing more on White and no more A-1 pix.
PS: White was probably Will W. White, who had some kind of pilot position with Standard Oil and stayed with the company for many years.
Standard may actually have owned this Vega aircraft - they owned several including NC106N, shown here with Standard exec Col. Edwin Aldrin Sr. (father of Buzz). Note the prop spinner, which most Vegas lacked.
Know what I did? I finally looked up the filenames on Nick's photos!
:roll: Give me the Duh Trophy for today, huh?
These pix are from a record New York—Buenos Aires hop of 1930, piloted by Lieuts. Clements McMullen and W.W. White, USAAC.
McMullen, later a major general, was at the time stationed at Wright Field, OH, and White at Kelly Field, TX.
This was not an Army flight, of course, so they wore civilian clothes. And those aren't US Navy fliers. They're Peruvians!
Original AP photo captions follow.
"Associated Press Photo 26 February 1930. McMullen and White photographed on their arrival at Las Palmas Airfield. Left to Right: Commander Melgar, Chief of the Las Palmas Airfield; the American Military Attaché, Captain Harold Harris; Lieutenant Clements McMullen; Commander Harold B. Grow, Chief of the Peruvian Air Forces; Lieutenant White; and Sergeant Majors of the Peruvian Army, Alvarillo and Chilardi."
"Associated Press Photo, 5 March 1930. Lieutenants White and McMullen photographed on their arrival at the Argentine army aviation field El Palomar from Santiago, Chile completing their flight."
More info and pix on McMullen and the flight here.
Time article on Cmdr. Harold Grow's imprisonment by the Peruvian junta who took power in September, 1930.
Nothing more on White and no more A-1 pix.
PS: White was probably Will W. White, who had some kind of pilot position with Standard Oil and stayed with the company for many years.
Standard may actually have owned this Vega aircraft - they owned several including NC106N, shown here with Standard exec Col. Edwin Aldrin Sr. (father of Buzz). Note the prop spinner, which most Vegas lacked.
zoomer
Well-Known Member
Thanks Dean.
A slow Saturday around the place, and plenty more sleuthing, shows that NC106N is definitely the plane from the NY–BA flight.
Golden Years of Aviation, a historic aircraft registry, has a bloc of 6 Vega Model 5's built in Sept., 1929, numbered NC100N-106N. Standard Oil took delivery of 2 ships, NC105N and NC106N.
NC105N is known to have come off the line in red and white Standard livery - apparently not all white as is '106N above. It was then sold to a small air carrier in Texas, which went under in 1932, then back to Standard, who gave it an "eagle" livery to promote Stanavo products.
'105N ended up owned by Joe Costa, who attempted to fly it from Elmira, NY, to Rio in 1937, but totaled the plane in the Brazilian jungle (and lived to tell about it).
So much for '105N. This page on Maj. Edwin Aldrin Sr. gives NC106N's picture and the following inscription on the fuselage:
"This Engine Has Flown 65,000 Miles" and "Holds Many Speed Records in North and South America and Europe" and "Serviced and Lubricated with Standard and Stanavo Products"
BTW, it was Aldrin who ferried the ship to Dayton for McMullen's 1930 flight!
I have no info on which European speed records NC106N might have made, if any. Probably the same engine in another airframe.
Sometime in 1932, '106N was repainted in the "Eagle" scheme used on '105N. Standard later sold it to Jimmy Mattern, who took the fuselage and tail and cannibalized them to the wing and gear of his own Vega, "Century of Progress", which he'd cracked up in Russia in July, 1932, en route to Moscow. He kept the Eagle design of '106N, but painted out the Stanavo logos.
Jimmy attempted another Moscow run in this ship in June, 1933. This time, he crashed in Siberia. He survived, but the Vega was abandoned on the tundra.
Registry file for NC106N, mentioning the McMullen-White flight.
A slow Saturday around the place, and plenty more sleuthing, shows that NC106N is definitely the plane from the NY–BA flight.
Golden Years of Aviation, a historic aircraft registry, has a bloc of 6 Vega Model 5's built in Sept., 1929, numbered NC100N-106N. Standard Oil took delivery of 2 ships, NC105N and NC106N.
NC105N is known to have come off the line in red and white Standard livery - apparently not all white as is '106N above. It was then sold to a small air carrier in Texas, which went under in 1932, then back to Standard, who gave it an "eagle" livery to promote Stanavo products.
'105N ended up owned by Joe Costa, who attempted to fly it from Elmira, NY, to Rio in 1937, but totaled the plane in the Brazilian jungle (and lived to tell about it).
So much for '105N. This page on Maj. Edwin Aldrin Sr. gives NC106N's picture and the following inscription on the fuselage:
"This Engine Has Flown 65,000 Miles" and "Holds Many Speed Records in North and South America and Europe" and "Serviced and Lubricated with Standard and Stanavo Products"
BTW, it was Aldrin who ferried the ship to Dayton for McMullen's 1930 flight!
I have no info on which European speed records NC106N might have made, if any. Probably the same engine in another airframe.
Sometime in 1932, '106N was repainted in the "Eagle" scheme used on '105N. Standard later sold it to Jimmy Mattern, who took the fuselage and tail and cannibalized them to the wing and gear of his own Vega, "Century of Progress", which he'd cracked up in Russia in July, 1932, en route to Moscow. He kept the Eagle design of '106N, but painted out the Stanavo logos.
Jimmy attempted another Moscow run in this ship in June, 1933. This time, he crashed in Siberia. He survived, but the Vega was abandoned on the tundra.
Registry file for NC106N, mentioning the McMullen-White flight.
greyhound52
New Member
So is that an A1 with a zipper? Great work btw Z. In any case it is a cool looking jacket.
NickG
New Member
Correct om your research in regards to what these images represent and therefor dating is easy: 1930.
I fully agree a 1930 dated image of a zippered coat is extremely rare!
Here's a link to an auction for a 1933 MONTGOMERY WARD and CO. catalog.
It explains (and illustrates) that even 3 years later in 1933 zipper closures were still new technology for garments. They are referred to as "slide fasteners", automatic slide fasteners and hookless slide fasteners, but not yet as "zippers".
http://cgi.ebay.com/30s-Fashion-Catalog ... 439d448122
I fully agree a 1930 dated image of a zippered coat is extremely rare!
Here's a link to an auction for a 1933 MONTGOMERY WARD and CO. catalog.
It explains (and illustrates) that even 3 years later in 1933 zipper closures were still new technology for garments. They are referred to as "slide fasteners", automatic slide fasteners and hookless slide fasteners, but not yet as "zippers".
http://cgi.ebay.com/30s-Fashion-Catalog ... 439d448122
