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Lt. Clarence E. Crumrine (born March 26, 1893) landed once
at Tucson on June 11, 1928. He carried one passenger identified
as G.R. Marley. Based at Dayton, OH (Wright Field) they were
westbound from El Paso, TX to San
Diego, CA. They flew in a Douglas O-2, 25-403.
Earlier, in July, 1920, Crumrine piloted one of four Army deHavilland
DH-4B aircraft from Mitchel Field NY to Nome, AK. This flight
became known as "The
First Alaska Air Expedition". The group called themselves
the Black Wolf Squadron. The total mileage was 4,500, by
way of stops at Erie PA; Grand Rapids, MI; Winona and Minneapolis,
MN; Fargo, ND; Portal ND; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Edmonton
and Japer, Alberta; Prince George and Hazelton, British Columbia;
Wrangell, AK; Whitehorse and Dawson, Yukon Territory; and
Fairbanks and Ruby, AK.
Others making the flight were: Capt. St. Clair Streett,
Sgt. Edmund Henriques, Captain Streett’s
mechanic in aircraft number one; Lt. Clifford
C. Nutt, pilot, and Lt. Erik
H. Nelson,
navigating and engineering officer in aircraft number two;
Lt C.E. Crumrine, pilot, and Sgt. James D. Long, mechanic,
in aircraft number three and Lt. Ross C. Kirkpatrick, pilot,
and MSgt. Joseph E. English, mechanic, in aircraft number
four. The crew earned the Mackey Trophy for 1920 for their
effort. An image of
Crumrine in a group photo taken around the time of the Alaska
flight is available here on
dmairfield.org. This same photograph, from a different source, is displayed on the Group Photographs page.
In September 1922, Crumrine was involved in an air squadron
exercise at Mitchel Field, NY where there was a crash of
a large Martin bomber. The news made the September 24 issue
of the New York Times (left sidebar). The exercise was commanded
by then captain Ira C. Eaker (his
name was misspelled "Baker" in the Times). The bomber asended
late in the exercise, at about 11:30PM, as part of the regular
routine. The field was brilliantly illuminated with spotlights
and parachute flares and about 25,000 people were present
to watch the spectacle. There was a shallow fog, as well
as smoke, over the area. The bomber fell to the ground at
a steep angle from about 500'. There was no cause suggested
for the crash, as the airplane had been flying normally out
of the range of searchlights for some time before the accident.
Six airmen on the bomber were killed.
Crumrine also served as the advance officer of the 6th
Division for the World
Flight of 1924. Follow the link for several images of
the World Flight aircraft, pilots and crew. After WWII, in the late 1940s, he crossed paths with Register pilot Lee Willey as they shared command duties at the Topeka Army Air Field, Topeka, KS. Specific mention of Crumrine is found in a news article exhibited as part of the Willey Collection, Military Service.
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THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 10/15/07 REVISED: 07/08/09, 03/11/10
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