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WAS HE A PIONEER WEST COAST AVIATOR – BARNSTORMER – INSTRUCTOR – AIRPORT
OPERATOR?
TAKE YOUR PICK
Earl Daugherty was born April 4, 1887 in DesMoines, IA. His
parents moved to Long
Beach, CA in 1902 and Earl graduated
Long Beach schools in 1904. He attended Long Beach
Business College, but it is unclear whether he was degreed. He
worked in a bank for a while, but became interested in flying. He
learned to fly at Dominguez Field, Los
Angeles, CA and received
license #87 from the Aero Club of California on December
23, 1911. He also earned a license from the Federation
Aeronautique Internationale on January 10, 1912.
Soon after he learned to fly, he accepted a job as pilot
and construction engineer for the Illinois Aero Construction
Co., Coal City, IL. This company built airplanes and
conducted a flying school and promoted exhibitions. He
flew their planes, carried passengers and gave exhibitions
in the Chicago area.
In September 1912 he flew to the Chicago Air Meet at the
Cicero Flying
Field. By the end of October, the mid-west
flying season was ending and Earl flew back to California. He
continued this shuttle between California and the mid-west
for the next two years, carrying passengers, performing and
instruction at each venue.
During WWI, Earl was a flight instructor at March and Rockwell
Fields. In 1919 Daugherty opened his own airfield on
the corner of American Avenue and Willow Street in Long Beach. Business was good; he hired more instructors
and bought more airplanes, and put on exhibitions to attract
customers. As part of his stunts he hired one Clarence
"Ace" Bragunier to wing walk. Please follow the link to see two spectacular images of Daugherty and Bragunier at work. By
1920 he was known as “The King of Aviation” in
Long Beach.
Through 1922-23 his business grew more and he and a colleague
organized the California Curtiss Company to operate on his
field. This venture made them sales distributors for
Curtiss planes and engines in southern California and Arizona. He
kept 7-10 airplanes busy with instruction, exhibition and
transport during this time.
He made national headlines in 1923 by marrying his wife
while piloting his own airplane over Long Beach. He
got into the growing motion picture flying business and made
a national reputation from his work in some of the early
aviation films.
In 1924 Long Beach was growing rapidly and Pacific Avenue
cut through his field. He moved to what is now the
Long
Beach Municipal Airport. In 1925 he announced
he was retiring from the rush of active flying and would
fly “by appointment only”. He continued
to deal in plane distributorships and as a west coast representative
for east coast aircraft manufacturers.
Below, from site visitor Mike Gerow, is an outstanding,
"never-before-published photo of Earl Daugherty from
my dad's collection. It's the clearest and most detailed
of the 'famous people' shots. You see E.D. standing
in front of the Ryan M-1 demonstrator [note the beautiful
damascene tooling on the cowls and wheel covers] .... probably
taken at Long Beach c. 1927. You can use it on your site
if you wish to, but I would only ask that you please credit
the Russell
T. Gerow Collection. The
original 4 x 6 print is perfectly crisp, clear and without
yellowing." I'm
happy to tell you the photo is, indeed, courtesy of the Russell
T. Gerow Collection. Thanks very much, Mike. See Milo
Burcham's page for other images from Mike.
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In June 1928 he became the west coast representative for
the E.M. Laird Company of Chicago, IL. He was given
a new Laird plane for demonstration work. Earl Daugherty
landed at Tucson on October 3, 1928. Again, he carried
as passenger his wife. They were westbound to Long
Beach, CA from El Paso, TX. They flew in 7617, the
new Laird LCB. The image, left shows him next to that
new airplane. Earl had two months and five days more to live.
On December 8, 1928 he was flying his Laird with two passengers
at the Long Beach Municipal Airport. During a barrel
roll, the left wings collapsed and he had no chance of regaining
control. His passengers were W.E. Monfort, City Editor
for the Long Beach Press Telegram, and Elmer Starr, Manager
of the Pacific Engraving Company. None were wearing
parachutes. Daugherty packed a lot into his 42 years.
Image, left, from a period newspaper. The same, but better quality, image
is viewable on the Joe
Lewis page.
Dossier 2.1.79
UPLOADED: 04/03/06 REVISED: 06/09/06, 01/02/08
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