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HIS AIRLINE IS IN OPERATION TODAY
J. Parker Van Zandt was
a prolific visitor to Tucson, landing ten times during the
four months between November 5, 1927 and March 6, 1928. Curiously,
he carried mostly the same passengers with him each time
(one Louis J. Kreutz being on six flights). For the eight
visits that he identified his aircraft by registration number,
he was flying Stinson SM-1 Detroiter NC1517.
The following image of Van Zandt, right, with passengers
for Scenic Airways, Inc., taken about 1928 is available here.
Pilot Van Zandt was the founder of Scenic Airways, which
operated out of Phoenix with tours of the Grand Canyon. In
1927, when he flew over the Canyon to deliver a plane for
the Ford Motor Company, he was so impressed he established
Scenic Airways. Later he bought three farms on the outskirts
of Phoenix and built a landing strip, a hangar and an office
for Scenic. He called it Sky Harbor. The city of Phoenix
kept the name when it bought the airport from
Van Zandt in 1935.
The first flight from Sky Harbor was aboard a Ford Tri-Motor
on November 18, 1928. Hard times fell on the airline
in October 1929 when the Great
Depression set in, causing sale of the company
and assets to some local Arizona pilots. The company
changed its name Grand Canyon Air Lines (two
words). A short while later the name was simplified and
changed it to Grand Canyon Airlines. The company still
operates as the Grand Canyon Airlines from the south rim
of the Canyon.
The first commercial air tour of Grand Canyon was on October
3, 1927, making his visits to Tucson significant in that
they are only months after Van Zandt founded his business.
He began flying as an officer with the Signal Corps in World
War I and remained an Army pilot until 1926. Through his
flying career Mr. Van Zandt was a consultant for the Civil
Aeronautics Board, director of aviation research at the Brookings
Institution and, in the late 1940's, Deputy Assistant Secretary
of the Air Force. He wrote widely on aviation (references,
left).
He led a full life. The obituary, right, for J. Parker Van
Zandt appeared in the Tucson Citizen on Thursday June 7,
1990.
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Dossier 2.1.29
UPLOADED: 02/11/06 REVISED: 03/01/06
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