Gilbert George Budwig was born November 17, 1895 in Cleveland, OH. He died in 1978 (anybody know date?). In between he did most things in aviation. He learned to fly in 1914 (he's a member of the Early Birds of aviation), but information is lacking as to where and what types of aircraft he learned in. He engaged in exhibition and passenger transport for a short time, then gave up flying.

He resumed flying at the beginning of WWI and entered the Buffalo, NY Curtiss Flying School in 1916. He became a civilian military flying instructor and, during WWI, served at Chanute, Kelly, Rockwell and March Fields.

Budwig had a short career as an airmail pilot from April 1, to May 24, 1919, testing new planes and flying the New York to Chicago route. An incident cited in an New York Herald of April 7, 1919 probably explains why. The headline reads: "MAIL FLYER LANDS UPSIDE DOWN BUT EMERGES UNHURT".

He was testing a Haviland-Ford aircraft and departed Belmont Park in the late morning. It goes on to cite engine failure as the cause of a downward glide from 2,000 feet. He landed in farmland near Hempstead, LI, NY. The airplane turned turtle, but he was not injured. Rather, he was found smoking a cigarette when "rescuers" arrived.

Later in 1919 he co-founded the Queens Aerial Transportation Company with two other ex-airmail pilots at the Queens Village Airport, Queens, NY. The new firm gave flight instruction, performed aerial advertising, offered exhibitions and carried passengers.

He moved to California in early 1920 and operated a passenger carrying business out of Venice. With Fred D. Hoyt he formed the Hoyt-Budwig Company at the Venice Airport doing commercial flying and flight testing for local aircraft firms.

In February 1920 he was involved in the budding movie business that was embracing aviation plot lines. As such, he perfected, with other movie pilot notables (e.g. Hoyt, Al Wilson), transfers of stuntmen from aircraft to aircraft, and controlled crashes and aerobatics.

In May 1920 he conducted flight tests of the new Lockheed Model S-1 sport plane. In September he became the personal pilot for Los Angeles banker L.C. Brand. He flew Brand on numerous tours of the west and southwest. He remained Brand's personal pilot until 1924 when he started the Budwig Radio Company at Glendale, CA.

In 1927 he became Director of Air Regulation, U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, DC until 1933. He came to Tucson twice, on 10/28/1928 and 10/24/1931. Both times he was flying Department of Commerce aircraft, NS-15 (please click to see an image on this site of this airplane), a Ryan, and NS-2, a Stearman. He carried a single passenger each time. Based in Washington, DC, their itineraries covered the southern route from El Paso, TX to Los Angeles, CA.

In the early 30s, at his post with the Department of Commerce, his greatest achievement was the framing and promulgation of the Scheduled Air Transport Rating, SATR, required of all pilots flying scheduled operations as of January 1933. Budwig's own transport license was #39.

Realizing the value of blind flight training, after months of preparation, he announced in the summer of 1932 that every one of the 600 transport pilots at the time would have to qualify under the requirements of the new SATR. This necessitated spending thousands of dollars by transport companies for equipping training planes and an average of about 17 hours in the air to train each of the pilots. Although one of the most drastic regulations to-date, its efficacy has been proven over and over through to the present time. To understand how closely Budwig's decision followed the very first solo instrument flight, please visit this page for Davis-Monthan pilot Albert Hegenberger.

All 21st century air transport pilots must be rated to fly under instrument conditions. As such, they can fly from point A to point B by reference solely to navigational instruments in the aircraft, with no assumption of being able to see the ground or anything else around the airplane. Try that some time.

In 1933 he left the DOC and formed the Budwig Manufacturing Company to manufacture horticultural equipment. In 1940 he became President of Aircraft Components, Inc., manufacturers of stainless steel and aluminum sheet metal aircraft component parts.

He retired to Ramona, CA.

Dossier 2.1.59

UPLOADED: 03/12/06 REVISED: 02/17/07, 11/25/07