Roscoe Turner, Early Image

Lion Tamer, Raconteur, Entrepreneur, Showman, Air Racer

Roscoe Turner landed and signed our Register four times between 1928 and 1931. Although most of our Davis-Monthan pilots had strong personalities, Turner was one of the more flamboyant aviators of the Golden Age. Click this link and this link to see other images of Turner on this site.

As many of our pilots, Turner was born on the cusp of the 19th century, on September 29, 1895, eight years before the first airplane flew. However, his rural upbringing in Corinth, MS made him understand he did not want to become a farmer, preferring to work with automobiles and motorcycles. He was a natural for airplanes.

In 1917 Turner enlisted in the U.S. Ambulance Service as a private, rose to sergeant, transferred to the Air Service as a balloon observer and left the service as a first lieutenant.

After the war, he became a lion tamer in a circus (intimations of things to come? See link below), a barnstorming and stunt pilot, wing walker and parachute jumper. He moved to Hollywood, flew for Howard Hughes in "Hell's Angels" and became a technical advisor for the movies and movie stunt flyer.

From the 1920s through the Great Depression, Turner had his hand in many entrepreneurial ventures. If he had a motto at all, it might have been, "There's always a way to make a buck." He operated a tobacco store named the Edgeworth Special out of a Sikorsky S-29-A. He owned 25% interest in the Motor Glide motorized scooter firm. He ran in the great races of the era, with sponsorship by major companies. He held a number of co-marketing agreements with companies such as Heinz 57 foods.

"Sky Blazers" Model Airplane

In fact, between 1927 and 1937 the entertainment industry jumped on aviation themes with movies, comic strips and radio shows about aerial adventures. Clubs were formed to help kids learn more about aviation. Turner was involved in the Sky Blazers (premium model airplane, left).

He was the principal for the Roscoe Turner Famous Flying Corps sponsored by Heinz 57 foods (below). Kids could send in Heinz product seals to acquire pins and certificates signifying various ranks such as lieutenant, captain and major. Note, below, the escalation in the number of Heinz 57 box tops required to gain promotion!

Advertisement: Heinz 57 Flying Club for Kids

An interesting thing about the Roscoe Turner Famous Flying Corps is the secret code used when club members greeted each other. I'm quoting from the left-most column of text, above. Specifically,

Interestingly, Turner's "10-4" is a fortuitous spin on a common police code. Police "10-code" dates from the 1920s. "10-4" in "10-code" means 'message understood'. Turner probably put his personal spin on it by tying it into his flight time.

As his career developed, he always flew in his self-designed uniform of blue with specially designed wings. That way, regardless of the day or time of his arrival at an airfield, he was always ready for interviews, dinners or other social occasions.

Below, we see Turner in full uniform with Lockheed Vega NC7954, the original "Winnie Mae", flying in Nevada Airlines livery. Turner was, during the late 20s, operations manager for Nevada. He flew NC7954 in the 1929 National Air Races. Although Turner never flew this airplane to Tucson, NC7954 landed three times flown by other pilots. Follow the link for details.

Roscoe Turner & NC7954

The airplanes Turner did fly to Tucson are Lockheed Vegas NC195E and NC7896, and the Sikorsky mentioned above, NC2756. He flew another Lockheed to Tucson, probably NR3057, his Air Express c/n 75.

Site contributor Tim Kalina shares the following striking image with us. During September, 1931, Turner delivered the Navy’s only Lockheed Altair, their XRO-1a. Here he is pictured beside the airplane. With derby hat, spats, kid gloves, pocket silk, necktie stick pin and watch fob he is nothing but the definition of dapper.

Mr. Kalina says about this image, "Turner personally delivered the XRO-1 to the Navy, hence his (unusual for him) formal ‘civilian’ attire. Since Turner was delivering a military aircraft to a military base I guess he figured it was best not to appear in his usual ersatz ‘military’ uniform." Scroll down to the last image on this page to see his ersatz outfit. As in many images of this era on this site, we can see the shadow of the photographer and his tripod falling on Turner. There is another observer whose shadow falls long into the wing root from the right. It appears to be of a woman in a skirt.

Turner With Lockheed Altair XRO-1a, September 30, 1931

The color of the airplane was equally dramatic (it wasn't painted as suggested, "black and gold", on the photo caption, below). Rather, from site visitor and modeler Roger Holden (via Mr. Kalina), "If the plane was painted correctly to the Navy regulations, the tops of both wing and horizontal tail should have been 'Orange Yellow' (the official name, which is actually not orange at all, unlike the distinctly different USAAC colour), with silver undersides. Fuselage is ‘Insignia Blue’ (sometimes called 'Admiral Blue', probably a popular name...), with silver stripe/lettering on the fuselage sides.” Mr. Kalina adds, "The U.S. Star (with red center) appeared on the wings at four positions, I think." You can see part of one of the stars between Turner's right shoulder and the vertical stabilizer of the airplane.

Further from Mr. Holden, "I dug out my copy of the Monogram book on painting U.S.Navy aircraft over the weekend and it gives a fairly detailed run down of the regs. for painting VIP aircraft like the XRO-1. The horizontal tail is silver, top and bottom (as your photo seems to show). The wing is yellow on top, silver underneath; stars in the 4 usual positions. All the silver fuselage markings are outlined with a red pinstripe. If the plane had the shuttered cover over the crankcase [it did not], the fixed portion was Insignia Blue and the movable portion was polished aluminum with clear lacquer coat."

Below is the caption glued to the back of the image above. Turner is scheduled to depart California to deliver the airplane to Washington, DC. This airplane, piloted by Turner fully accessorized in a three-piece suit, must have made quite a scene at intermediate fuel stops.

Turner With Lockheed Altair XRO-1a, September 30, 1931, Caption

Roscoe Turner, 1934

Roscoe Turner and Gilmore

In 1934, Turner placed second in the handicap division of the MacRobertson Air Race flying a Boeing 247D. This image of the cover of Time Magazine for October 29, 1934 commemorates that feat.

Roscoe has a strong web presence. Google just his name and you'll find over 25,000 hits. Follow this link for a brief but comprehensive review of his personality and career, including his acquisition and life with Gilmore, the African lion cub who worked and flew with him for about a year until the cub grew up. Undoubtedly, the lion's demands for in-flight meals took on a different dimension!

He placed second in the Bendix transcontinental race for 1935 (Tyrone, PA news article, left sidebar). The image, below, of Turner (R) and Benny Howard, was probably taken at one end or the other of that race.

Benny Howard & Roscoe Turner, Probably ca. September, 1935

This image is courtesy of Andy Heins. Note that Turner is dressed in his standard uniform, and that Howard wears what appears to be the insignia button of the National Air Races. They are probably discussing moustache waxes!

Roscoe Turner died June 23, 1970 just before his 75th birthday. He had received from aviation a fair measure against what he put into it.

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Dossier 2.1.156

UPLOADED: 01/24/07 REVISED: 10/31/07, 12/28/07, 04/15/08, 03/19/09, 03/28/09