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Dudley Steele was a frequent visitor to the Davis-Monthan
Airfield. He landed there 13 times between May 23, 1928 and
February 3, 1934. He carried passengers on five of his visits.
His passenger on January 22, 1929 was J.T. Whitlaw who was
"traffic manager" for Standard
Air Lines. He was faithful to three aircraft: Waco NC4278,
Stearman NC6439 and Stearman NC667K.
It is noted in the remarks column of his 5/23/1928 visit
that he was "Chairman Contest Com. National Air Races"
for the year 1928. He also flew as a passenger during the
1928 National Air Tour (see chapter 6 of the Forden book downloadable
from this reference).
Steele was also on the racing committee for the Cleveland
Races, 1939.
Dudley M. Steele entered aviation during WWI in the Army
air service. He was stationed at various flying fields, and
after the war ended was assigned to the U.S. Navy stationed
at Miami, FL. He was a flight instructor.
Image, below, of Dudley Steele and his mount, Stearman NC6439 (date and location unknown; anyone know?).
This Stearman (model C-3-B, serial number 179 was delivered
to Richfield Oil in March, 1928) landed at Tucson a total
of nine times between November 18, 1928 and April 3, 1929.
Steele flew it eight of those times. Note the leather jumpsuit.
Note also, on the fuel pit lid the brand name "Bowser" (hard
to read online, but very clear on the original photo). Thus
the phrase, "fuel bowser".
Dudley Steele, 1929
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NC667K, his other Stearman model 4C (later 4E) was delivered
to Richfield on September 29, 1929. It was sold in 1937 when
Richfield's aviation department was shut down for a while.
Regarding his post-WWI experiences, The Blue Book of Aviation
(reference, left) states, "After spending six years
as a salesman, Mr. Steele engaged successively as follows:
Purchasing agent for Nafziger Baking Co., Kansas City, and
commercial flyer, three years; salesman, two years, and publicity
and exploitation man for motion pictures, two years. In Sept.
of 1927 he entered the employ of the Richfield Oil Co., Los
Angeles, Calif., and is now [1932] with this organization
as aviation manager.
"Mr. Steele was in charge of construction for the 1922
Pulitzer air races, held at Selfridge Field, Mich., and has
for the past three years assisted in the annual Around-the-World
Flight Commemoration Races, Santa Monica, Calif. In 1928 he
was a director of the National Air Races, held in Los Angeles."
Image, right, from an unidentified newspaper, courtesy of Ruth Richter Holden. This is a classic portrait of a Golden Age pilot. Note the ubiquitous cigar in his right hand.
He was also an author. Early during his term of employment
with Richfield, he published this
article (PDF 1.8 MB) in Western Flying, May
1931. Titled, "Searching from the Air", the article
is a common-sense directive on how to search for downed aircraft.
Below, courtesy of Andy Heins, we have an image of Dudley Steele taken shortly after he published his article.
Dudley Steele, Left, June 1, 1931
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The gentleman on the right is unidentified, as is the reason why "X" marks the spot. This image is from Bettie Lund's album. She was the wife of Register pilot "Fearless" Freddie Lund. Note Steele's jacket and compare it with that in the link to NC667K. Comparing to this link, the airplane in the image above appears to be NC667K.
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Dossier 2.1.20
UPLOADED: 01/09/06 REVISED: 01/23/06, 04/20/06, 08/20/06, 01/15/08, 02/26/08, 03/07/08, 04/16/08, 06/19/08
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