Brooks landed at Tucson four times flying the same Fokker Super Universal, NC3318. His landings were on March 7, September 11 and September 21,1928 and June 7, 1929. Based in Denver, CO, he was traveling, with passengers, over the usual southern routes between Yuma, Phoenix and Douglas, AZ, and El Paso and Houston, TX.

On 3/7 and 9/20/28 he was carrying A.E. Humphreys, Jr., the owner of the aircraft. Brooks was pilot for Humphreys, and later flew for United Air Lines. On 9/11, Brooks was among the throng of pilots who passed through Tucson as part of the Class C group of the 1928 National Air Races. At the finish line in Los Angeles a few days later, Brooks, who piloted the airplane, but it was entered in the race by Humphreys, placed a respectable third, with a time of 27:24:53.

He was active in local aviation circles. A 1931 copy of Western Flyer cites Brooks as being, "...reappointed a member of the Colorado State Commission on Aeronautics. He will serve until May 1, 1935. Brooks was appointed last fall to fill out the unexpired term of the late Maj. Bruce Kistler."

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In the 1940s, Brooks was a pilot for United Airlines. Below are images provided by the daughter of an original United flight attendant that flew with Brooks. Doris (Imber) Trotter was one of the first stewardesses to fly for United. We are grateful to her daughter Judy Pulsifer of North Pole, AK for sharing these images. When Judy contacted me it was December 6, 2007. I suggested to her that the spirits of the Davis-Monthan pilots were out and about this holiday season, and that Brooks' assigned territory was the North Pole!

Her images celebrate the inauguration of DC-6 service between Denver, CO and Los Angeles, CA.

Pilot Brooks in 1947 with Stewardesses Doris Imber (L) and D. Call

Below, a long shot of the passengers that flew the inaugural.

Passengers for the DC-6 Inaugural, 1947

Below, a news article describing the inauguration. The article is from The Denver Post, September (11th?) 1947. Note the image in the article is not exactly the same as the one above. While we can still see the child's legs dangling at the top of the gangway, stewardess Call, clearly visible at top, has ducked back inside the airplane in the bottom image.

Denver Post, ca. September 11, 1947

The article tells of starlet Barbara Bates christening the airplane with a bottle of wine. The image below was taken just before the champagne was sacrificed. Bates is wearing the white coat. Stewardess Imber is at right.

Starlet Bates Just Before the Christening

Barbara Bates was on the cover of LIFE magazine in 1953. She was in many well-known movies including "June Bride" (1948), "Quicksand" (1950) and "The Caddy" (1953). She committed suicide at age 43.

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Dossier 2.1.55

UPLOADED: 03/11/06 REVISED: 12/12/07, 03/01/08