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This is an example of how the Davis-Monthan Airfield transient
Register provides wonderful snapshots of brief and exciting
periods during the Golden Age, and how, combined with other
sources (left), it is possible to bracket the Register entries
within the larger context that places the aircraft in Tucson.
Broadly, on pages 58-61, the Register lists 42
planes, pilots and passengers who landed at the field for
fuel and comfort during the 1928 National Air Races. Thirty-seven
of them placed in the race. Tucson was an important waypoint,
because once they reached it, there was only a day or so of
flying left before the finish line in Los Angeles.
Cessna Aircraft in the National Air
Races, 1928
For the Cessna Aircraft Company specifically, the plan was
to enter eight aircraft in the race. Among the Cessnas that
landed at Tucson, Earl Rowland piloted NC7107 (image, right,
from Rodengen) in Class A.
In the Class B category, Clyde
Cessna himself was flying
race number 97 (aircraft registration number not listed in
the Register). Jay Sodowsky was in NC5336, and Ed Schultz flew NC5035. There were four others, none of which logged
in at the Airfield. The Cessna “team” planned
16 stopover points across the country; five were overnight.
On September 5, 1928, at 5:43:45 AM, seven of the eight Cessna
airplanes departed Roosevelt Field, Long Island and began
their race. One of them dropped out before takeoff (Francis "Chief" Bowhan); another
landed for technical reasons soon after. The remaining six
made their way westward toward Mines Field, Los Angeles.
A few days later, four of the six landed at the Davis-Monthan
Airfield. One of them, Earl Rowland, would finally be the
first-place winner of the Class A race. As his suit of clothes
might suggest, Mr. Rowland had a rough trip over Texas and
elsewhere. Hot weather raised cylinder head and oil temperatures.
His engine developed ignition problems upon takeoff from
Ft. Worth. At El Paso a tire went flat. These problems were
repaired and he departed El Paso at 5 AM. The photo, left,
from Rodengen, is of Earl Rowland with Cessna BW NC7107
after winning the National Air Races, September 10, 1928.
His winning time was 27:00:31.
Mr. Rowland landed at Tucson on September 9th (with Wm. Kowalski
as passenger). They arrived from Lordsburg, NM, a field about
halfway between El Paso and Tucson. He did not record the
time of his arrival, but it was probably in the morning. He
departed the same day for Yuma, the next control point for
the race. He won the race on September 10th when he landed
at Mines Field.
The other three pilots, Clyde Cessna (who didn't list a passenger,
but was probably carrying Curtis Quick, since Quick was the
officially-registered pilot for the race), Mr. Schultz (carrying
R.W. Yahner), and Mr. Sodowsky (carrying Miss L.M. Westhoff),
all arrived at Davis-Monthan on September 11th, all inbound
from El Paso. They departed on the same day, and Mr. Shultz
ultimately took fourth-place, and Mr. Sodowsky 8th place,
in Class B.
Below is Cessna NC5035 flown by Ed Schultz to win fourth-place
in Class B, 1928 National Air Races. “My Name is Red
Wings” is written under the cockpit window.
Curtis Quick, Clyde Cessna and their airplane came in last
(14th in the B race), yet Cessna's new cantilever wing design
performed well enough to earn the Cessna Aircraft Company
$10,910 in prize money overall.
The second-place winner of the Class A race, Robert Dake,
also stopped at Tucson enroute (with Ted Taney as passenger).
He landed on September 9th flying American Moth NX7556. The
third-place winner, William Emery, also landed on the 9th
flying Travel Air NX6269. Dake and Emery signed in at Davis-Monthan
one after the other. But Rowland logged in four lines below
them. They landed in that order, too, at the Yuma checkpoint.
It was a close race, in which Mr. Rowland obviously made up
time between Yuma and Los Angeles.
Twenty-first place went to pilot Daniel
A. Kundle.
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UPLOADED: 7/2/05 REVISED: 12/20/05, 06/05/07, 09/29/07, 03/10/08
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