This is a case of going with what you have. The Register entry for this pilot simply says "Bob Wolf". There is only one Robert A. Wolf in the biographical files at the NASM (dossier number cited, left sidebar). Given that his might be called a common name, our "Bob Wolf" may not be NASM's "Robert A. Wolf". Hopefully someone will be able to review this page and give us a "yay" or "nay" as to the identity of our pilot (right sidebar).

The NASM information on Robert A. Wolf is sparse, consisting only of an entry for the Directory of Aeronautical Engineering that was published January 1, 1943. According to the entry, Wolf was born in Appleton, WI, September 4, 1907.

He attended Lawrence College from 1926-1928, the University of Michigan from 1928-1932 (B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering and M.S. in 1932). He went to work immediately for Consolidated Aircraft Corp., the parent company of which was founded by Register pilot Reuben Fleet. Wolf was put to work on stress analysis and structural research.

In 1935 he moved to the Bell Aircraft Corp. as and engineer in control systems design. He worked for Bell at least until 1943, the date where the NASM record ends. He moved through the ranks from group leader and section chief to design engineer and Chief Research Engineer. This last assignment involved new aircraft development for Bell, which may have included jet technology. He was a member of the "A.F.I.Ae.S." (does anyone KNOW what that abbreviation means?). That's all I have. If you know better than I do, please use the link in the right sidebar to contact me.

Here is how the puzzle is unraveling. On 3/17/08 I was contacted by Robert A. (Alban) Wolf's niece. She corroborates the information above. However, to her knowledge, her uncle was not a certificated pilot. Further, her examination of his signature in the Register fails to compare favorably with a known signature of her uncle.

Regardless, our pilot Bob Wolf arrived at Tucson Wednesday, September 6, 1933 at 8:15 AM. He was solo in NC11440, a Waco QCF-2. He was westbound, arriving from El Paso, TX headed for his home base of Los Angeles, CA. His airplane was, at the time, owned by Mid-South Airways, Inc. Memphis, TN. There is no indication in the Register of the purpose of this flight.

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Dossier 2.1.179

UPLOADED: 01/25/08 REVISED: 04/14/08