Benton Baldwin was born December 11, 1908 at DeLand, FL. He married Flossie Gail Pinkerton of Riverside, CA on November 25, 1935. I do not know his date of passing. Does anyone KNOW?

Lt. Col. Benton Baldwin (R), April 17, 1945

Image, above, from his NASM dossier (left sidebar), shows Lt. Col. Baldwin on the right accepting the Legion of Merit award from Maj. Gen. Paul L. Williams. Photo taken at an airbase "somewhere in England", April 17, 1945.

Baldwin attended the University of California at Los Angeles from 1928-30; UC Berkeley from 1930-32. There is no notation in his record as to whether he completed an academic degree program. He attended the Air Corps Training Center, San Antonio, TX, 1932-33

According to his NASM dossier, Baldwin learned to fly in the Army Air Corps in October, 1932. He was based at Randolph Field, San Antonio, TX beginning in July, 1932, where he went through primary and basic flight training. He moved to Kelly Field for advanced flying school and specialized in bombardment. From 1933-34 he was stationed at March Field with the 9th Bombardment Squadron. It was during this time we find him at Tucson.

"Lucky" Baldwin landed once at Tucson on Thursday September 27, 1934. He carried a single passenger, Lt. Roscoe A. Dunahoo. Based at Riverside, CA, March Field, they were flying a Martin YB-12-A. Baldwin's twin-engine airplane was unidentified by number, but it was somewhere between 33-155 and 33-161, as there were only seven made according to the National Air Force Museum.

From 1934-35 Baldwin was based at Hamilton Field, San Rafael, CA with the 31st and 11th Bombardment Squadrons. There he experimented with liquid oxygen in bomber sorties at 25,000 ft. He was promoted to First Lieutenant January 22, 1936.

In 1936 he left the military and went to the Douglas Aircraft Factory, Santa Monica, CA in jig design. He stayed with them from February to May 1936. In 1936 he went to work for United Air Lines Transport Corporation. He earned the civilian Airline Pilot Rating (certificate No. 29879) and from 1936-37 he served as copilot; 1937-39 First Officer;1939-41 Reserve Captain for the airline. He was domiciled at Cheyenne, WY, flying the Salt Lake City and Chicago routes for the first two years. He then transferred with the airline to Newark NJ and was based at LaGuardia Field, Long Island, NY.

While with the airline, he performed some of the flying for the experimental work on the new ultra-high frequency absolute altimeter and the first television broadcast from and airplane. He also worked on ice removal from aircraft windshields.

On the eve of WWII, Baldwin was reappointed First Lieutenant on January 22, 1941. His NASM dossier does not cover his war service, but he achieved and rose quickly in the ranks (see photo above). In 1944, Baldwin wrote at least two historic summaries of Army Air Corps subjects for the Assistant Chief of Air Staff, Intelligence. One was about bombadier training methods and results (PDF 206pp., 6MB); another similar study for navigators (PDF 280 pp. 9MB).

After the war, he resumed his duties with United Air Lines. He was involved in one tragic accident in 1947 at LaGuardia airport. It cost 42 lives, including his copilot. His NASM dossier (left sidebar) holds a news article in the New York Sun of June 11, 1947 that documents the inquiry held after the crash. Time Magazine also reported the accident in their June 9th issue. They state the cause was wind shear in the face of an approaching thunderstorm. I have no further information about Baldwin's late career.

He was a member of the Army Air Reserve Association and the Air Line Pilots' Association.

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Dossier 2.2.21

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