Tag Archive: history of aviation


Col. C. J. Tippett flew the C-47 Skytrain

Col. C. J. Tippett trained pilots to fly the Douglas C-47 Skytrain over the Himalayan Mountain route in 1942. The pilots were Flying The Hump.

World War II pushed aviation pioneering hard.

Safety did not come first, because people were already dying on the front lines, and beyond.

War changed the rules, and aviation history is full of flights that today, would be considered recklessly irresponsible. But the flights were unimaginably heroic.

The Hump was a name that WWII pilots used for the Himalayan Mountains, and flying it in 1942 without adequate navigation, information, weather reports, and technical support was an aviation nightmare.

But American pilots, in conjunction with other Allied pilots, flew it every day for almost three years at President Roosevelt’s request.

The US had been sending American pilots and aircraft to China to fight the Japanese invasion for years on an unofficial basis. The Flying Tigers had been mercenaries, flying combat air missions against the Japanese over the Chinese mainland, until the US joined WWII and Roosevelt was able to officially recognize their efforts.

America was directly fighting the Japanese in the Pacific and supporting Chiang Kai-shek’s battle in China.

By 1942, Japan had blocked the Burma Road in addition to coastal China, and the only way to get supplies to the Chinese forces was to fly them in, over an air route that is, even today, considered extremely dangerous.

The civil aviation infrastructure was called on to provide pilots with the skill to fly this route, and the newly-formed Civil Aeronautics Administration Standardization Center in Houston, Texas, was a natural source for training.

Cloyce Joseph Tippett, then a First Lieutenant in the Air Corps Reserve, was the Senior Advanced Flight Instructor at the Houston Standardization Center, and he also had plenty of flight time in the Douglas C-47 Skytrain, the aircraft assigned to the effort.

Tip trained pilots specifically for the conditions they would encounter on the route, and certified them for mulit-engine flying in the C-47.

Tip had been flying a CAA owned DC-3 for years and he was already known for his commitment to flight safety. Tip believed that preparation and training were the key. If the risk had to be taken, then the pilots had to be certified in instrument flying, multi-engine flight, and every kind of navigation possible. So he got to work.

The C-47 Skytrain was a version of the Douglas DC-3, the most reliable aircraft of the age. The C-47 had a reinforced floor and cargo door, making it more suitable for supply runs. But even so, the altitudes that pilots had to fly to get through and over the Himalayan Mountains were pushing the C-47’s design limits.

Additionally, the aircraft were often overloaded at take-off, and unpredictable weather forced pilots to push fuel ranges to skip flooded landing strips.

The crash rate was heartbreakingly high, but the pilots continued to fly the route, and the C-47 Skytrain performed admirably until finally replaced by larger, more suited aircraft.

In today’s aviation world of GPS navigation, constant radio communication, and multi-layered safety protocols, the conditions that routinely faced pilots flying the Hump were astounding… and unacceptable.

But not only did the pilots, crew, and support staff of the 1940s accept the conditions, they met the challenge and paid the price.

Some of the most courageous aviation pioneering took place there, and their stories are riveting. Tip was proud of the pilots he met and trained, and considered them his personal heroes.

 

 

Famous People Who Met My Grandfather… Sheriff Eugene W. Biscailuz

Col. C. J. Tippett and Sheriff Eugene W. Biscailuz

Sheriff Eugene W. Biscailuz was a Los Angeles legend, and the grandson of a gunslinging lawman. He was part of my grandfather’s pre-LinkedIn network that got him the job!

In the continuing series of famous people who met my grandfather… there’s a colorful story of a real life gunslinger in 1930’s Los Angeles, whom Tip encountered while trying to find a job as a young aviator.

Tip was job searching, and he had help from family. It was networking, old school:

Tip’s wife’s father, Harry Hossack, had a brother who worked in the Los Angeles, California, sheriff’s department. Harry’s brother had married a lady officer who reported directly to the Sheriff. The Sheriff knew every businessman in Los Angeles, particularly Mr. H. H. Wetzel, who was the Vice President of Douglas Aircraft. Douglas Aircraft was exactly the kind of company that Tip wanted to work for. So a connection was made for a woman’s brother-in-law’s son-in-law.

Sheriff Eugene Warren Bicailuz wrote a letter of introduction for Tip on June 9th, 1936, and Tip got the job. He was a junior project engineer at the Douglas aircraft factory, as the fantastically popular DC-3 was rolled out and away.

Tip’s account of the job is delightful, and the letters in his archive from Sheriff Bicailuz are treasures. Tip included his experiences on the factory floor in his memoir, which is almost ready for publication.

Biscailuz is mainly known to history for his creation of the California Highway Pattrol, the best of its kind then and now. He joined the LA County Sheriff department as a clerk, after graduating college with a law degree, and moved up. He was proudly Hispanic, descended from Spanish Basque settlers with roots deep in the pre-American culture of Los Angeles. Biscailuz’s grandfather was one of LA’s first lawman and died in a shoot out on the muddy streets in the 1800s.

Sheriff Biscailuz, in his own time, faced down a hail of bullets and braved a live bomb to talk down a labor dispute.

There’s a story there… of Sheriff Biscailuz and his father, and his grandfather. Grandfather stories are my specialty… perhaps one day.

If you are interested in being on the book announcement list, please email me. It’s a richly detailed journey through an amazing period of history.

 

What is ICAO? (International Civil Aviation Organization!)

Col. C. J. Tippett and the International Civil Aviation Organization

Col. C. J. Tippett typed up reams of reports on this letterhead from 1948 to 1960. The International Civil Aviation Organization’s logo was based on founding parent, the United Nations. It’s a map of the world circled by two olive branches, to represent global peace, with wings, to represent aviation, and initials intended to represent the languages of the first ICAO convention. After 1960, Cyrillic and Chinese letters were added, but Tip’s tenure was before that much world peace had been accomplished.

My grandfather, Col. C. J. Tippett, was the Director of the South American Office of the International Civil Aviation Organization from 1948 to 1960… but what is ICAO? 

One of the many historically significant things that happened after two atomic bombs ended the Pacific part of World War II was the formation of the United Nations. Two wars had involved enough nations to be named “world wars” and many people felt it was time for some kind of “world government.”  Or at least oversight.

One of the first concerns of the United Nations was regulating nuclear science, since it clearly had already been weaponized. Their next concern was aviation, since the atomic weapons had been dropped from an airplane. Military aviation was not on the UN table, every victorious post-war country made that very clear, but civil aviation was under discussion.

The ready availability of war surplus aircraft was making it possible for almost every country with an organized government to stock up and form commercial airline companies, which were starting to fly all over the world…
And into each other.

So on April 4, 1947, the United Nations formed the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to “promote the safe and orderly development of international civil aviation throughout the world.”

The organization was headquartered in Montreal, Canada, but all of the plans would be implemented through four regional offices. There would be an office in Paris, Bangkok, Cairo, and Lima. Each office would have a director, and this is where Colonel C. J. Tippett came in.

The Director of the South American office, in Lima, Peru would be responsible for civil aviation policy in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, British and French Guyana, and Surinam.

The United States was only a member nation of the UN, and not officially in a leadership role. But when it came to influencing South America, there was powerful concern in North America, and the US State Department knew exactly who they wanted in charge of the Lima office.

Tip had already been working extensively in Argentina and Brazil. He was well known, and well liked, by many highly-placed people in South American governments, and had ties to so many Washington offices that it was hard to figure out which one was in charge of him on any given assignment. Tip was the only American offered an ICAO directorship, and the rest is history… described in his own words, and in mine, in the book.

He met fascinating people and did amazing things – too many to tell here, but one of his most significant early accomplishments was establishing English as the language of air navigation and communication throughout his region, even before it was adopted as the worldwide official language of civil aviation.

Safety was Tip’s top priority throughout his aviation life, and in his experience, there was no time to reach for a dictionary for a translation of… “Clear the runway, I’m coming in hot!”

Famous People Who Met My Grandfather… Dr. George Washington Carver

Col. C. J. Tippett met Dr. George Washington Carver in 1941

Col. C. J. Tippett shook hands with Dr. George Washington Carver before going on to certify one of the first classes of students who would become the Tuskegee Airmen. Thanks to Wikipedia for this public domain image of Dr. Carver.

Col. C. J. Tippett followed his love for flying through some of the most pivotal events of world history. While he never intended to set records and shake hands with famous people, he did it anyway.

In 1941, Tip was an instructor and inspector for the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) and had his hands full certifying all the students involved in the Civil Pilot Training Program (CPTP). He got a call from his superiors asking him to fly to a university in Alabama to certify a class who were ready to fly.

But that part of Alabama wasn’t Tip’s territory. He asked Bill Robertson, his CAA boss, why the local instructors couldn’t handle the call…. and the rest of the story is history, told in my book – which is in final draft form….

Tip was met at the airport by …”an elderly gentleman with two black men accompanying him…” It was Dr. George Washington Carver, and Tip not only shook his hand, he sat down with him and figured out how to go about the historic process of testing and certifying a class of students who would become some of the first Tuskegee Airmen.

Dr. Carver was accompanied by Dr. George Washington and Dr. Jones. The three men had worked hard to bring the opportunities inherent in the CPTP to Tuskegee University.

Dr. George Washington Carver had devoted his career to agricultural programs intended to help free black men be successful as farmers. He made great progress with peanuts, and was active in Alabama’s black leadership. He would live long enough to see his Tuskegee students successfully join the US Armed Forces, but not long enough to see the end of segregation in America.

Tip treasured the memory of shaking hands with Dr. Carver in 1941 and his description is full of details.

The book, and associated magazine articles are coming out soon… join the mailing list for notifications, and be assured that I never, ever, use that mailing list for any emails other than my own.

 

 

 

 

Cloyce Joseph Tippett’s first ship was a Curtiss JN4, the Curtiss Jenny

Col. C. J. Tippett owned a Curtiss JN4

The Curtiss Jenny was Tip’s first plane. He learned to fly in 1929, when he was sixteen years old.

Like Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart, Cloyce Joseph Tippett learned to fly in a barnstormer that landed in his hometown. Unlike them, he lived his life of record-setting aviation accomplishment away from public attention. Until now.

Tip wrote a memoir of his aviation life and passed it to me to turn into a book, which is getting close to being ready to read. It’s currently a completed draft that I’ve sent off to an agent with great hopes of traditional publication… but if not – self publishing remains a viable option!

The barnstormer, named George, who landed in Tip’s town, was flying a Curtiss Jenny and offered Tip the chance to buy it… for $700.

That’s wasn’t a great deal for Tip, but he didn’t pay attention to that. He was focused on how he could get the Jenny, given that  – as a sixteen year old, he didn’t have $700.

It was also 1929, and within a month, the Great Depression would begin, and within a couple of years, the Curtiss JN4 would be considered unsuitable for general flight due to safety considerations. But it was a plane and Tip had the flying fever. He did get the Jenny and he did learn to fly.

And went on to join aviation history… and live a life of celebrity and adventure… all starting with his Curtiss Jenny, JN4.

The Jenny was a World War I training plane. It had two cockpits, one behind the other, so that the student could fly while the teacher was present and watching. But there would still come a day when the teacher stepped out and the student flew solo. Tip remembered his first solo for the rest of his life.

There were so many surplus JN4 aircraft after the war, that it became the most common aircraft in US skies. If an airmail letter was delivered in the late 1920s and early 1930s, it was probably flown in on a Jenny.

In the course of his aviation career, Tip flew over 98 different aircraft – a stunning number of ships, even by today’s piloting standards.

The book, as well as magazine articles about his story, are coming out soon… and I’ve got a mailing list building for people who want to be notified when the stories come out. I never, ever, use that mailing list for any emails other than my own, and you can sign up here.

 

Col. C. J. Tippett’s 1943 Record Flight in a Fairchild PT-19A

Fairchild PT-19A and Colonel C. J. Tippett 1943

Col. C. J. Tippett flew over 11,500 miles solo in this Fairchild PT-19A, setting the record for the first and longest single-engine solo flight from North America to South America in January, 1943.

In the history of aviation that covers Col. C. J. Tippett’s time as an aviation pioneer, records were set and broken so often that I had to give up trying to track them all as I did the research for Tip’s biography, working titled “When No-One Else Would Fly.”

While Tip did not intentionally try to set a first-in-flight record, he did it… in the course of his duties.

In January, 1943, Tip was ordered to bring down a brand-new Fairchild PT-19 for the training program he was building in Argentina at the State Department’s request. Tip’s civil aviation contacts in the Argentine government had hinted, in the form of a written request, that the gift of such an aircraft would be a nice goodwill gesture. The State Department agreed and requisitioned the plane, then informed Tip that he had to come up to the United States and bring it down in person because German submarines were sinking too many ships to risk sending it by sea.

Tip whipped out a map and pencil and quickly calculated that this flight would be the longest single-engine flight from North America to South America… and since he would have to have an extra fuel tank installed in the second cockpit, he was obviously going to have to do it solo.

And during wartime.

And over some of the most challenging terrain in the world.

And rely on pin-point navigation to locate the landing strips isolated in jungles and mountain tops.

With nothing but a radio and a compass.

But, he did it!  At the Fairchild factory in Hagerstown, Maryland, he had a hatch cover installed over both tandem cockpits, which turned the ship into a PT-19A. He borrowed a parachute from a fellow officer, made sure he had his fuel-filtering chamois cloth close by, and took off for Buenos Aires.

The story of his record-setting flight, written in the first person and enhanced by notes from his flight logs and letter archives, is one of the highlights of “When No-One Else Would Fly.” Tip details every landing site, flight time, and how he navigated. His story of the one in-flight engine failure is riveting. The journey comes alive through his recount.

The book is almost ready for publication. I’m in the process of submitting to traditional publishers in case they want to join me in this way-cool project before I self publish it. Sign up here to join the email list announcing when the book is available, and any other events related to Tip’s story.

It was the first and longest solo single-engine flight from North America to South America, and Tip did it only because the plane was needed in Argentina and the Fairchild factory did not offer delivery. The crowd that met him on arrival included the American Ambassador to Argentina, Mr. Norman Armour, and Dr. Samuel Bosch, the director of Argentina’s civil aviation department, and Rear Admiral Marcos Zar, as well as numerous representatives of Argentina’s civil aviation establishment.

The ensuing asado was legendary.

 

 

Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum Has Many Of The Aircraft Models That Tip Flew!

In the cockpit with Col C. J. Tippett

Standing in the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, I can really imagine how it was to fly these amazing aircraft. Except The Spruce Goose. That defies imagination.

The Beechcraft Staggerwing and the Republic RC-3 Seabee, and the Fairchild PT-19, and the deHavilland Vampire…
Colonel Cloyce Joseph Tippett would have recognized every plane in there, because he flew almost every kind of plane in there!

All in one place, all in perfect condition, and I could walk right up to them all.

There’s a Douglas DC-3, and a Curtiss JN4, and a Curtiss Robin… and that’s not even the full list.

It was so awesome that I didn’t even notice the Gigantic Enormous Legendary aircraft sitting in the middle of them all.
The Spruce Goose, sitting right there.

I was staring at the helicopters, fighters, and B17 Flying Fortress.

This is the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon.
It’s under an hour from my home in Portland, Oregon and it’s way way bigger than I ever imagined.

The museum was created by Captain Michael King Smith and his father, Delford M. Smith. Captain Michael King Smith had a powerful passion for aviation and dreamed of founding a museum. As Captain Smith pursued flight all the way to the cockpit of a jet fighter for the US Air Force, he and his father collected the aircraft for the museum. When Captain Smith died in a car accident in 1995, his father completed the vision. This understated fact, described on the Evergreen website, doesn’t capture the story. When I stepped inside the Evergreen Aviation Museum, I immediately realized that this was a labor of love and respect beyond a simple passion for aviation. This museum is bigger, better, and more comprehensive than any I had been in since the Smithsonian in DC.

These are some of the aircraft that my grandfather, Col. C. J. Tippett, flew during his lifetime of aviation pioneering – the basis for my book about his adventures. The opportunity to walk among these aircraft is invaluable. To see the size of the cockpits, the reach of the wings, the materials they are built from, and to imagine Tip flying them.

I had heard about the museum but I never imagined it was so amazing. I thought it was going to be hard to find, but the signs on the road were clear, and the full-size, real-life, retired commercial aircraft sitting on top of the waterpark at the museum caught my eye in time for me to make the turn. (There is also a waterpark there, also awesome, and totally overlooked in my aviation-drenched mind.)

I not only highly recommend this museum for anyone living in, or visiting, Portland, Oregon… I think I’m going to go back there this weekend!

 

Copyright 2012 Corinne Tippett & The Westchester Press
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