F. Trubee Davison landed at Tucson as pilot-in-command on Monday May 23, 1927 at 10:00 AM. He was flying an Army Fokker C-2, which could be the one named "Bird of Paradise" (26-202) flown from California to Hawaii by Lester Maitland and Albert Hegenberger in June, 1927. Indeed, Lester Maitland was one of his five passengers, as were members of the "Bird of Paradise" crew. As pilot, he wrote in the Remarks column of the Register, "A real privilege to be the first to land on the new magnificent Tucson Field." I'm not sure what "first" he was alluding to, unless he arrived somewhere near the time the location of the airfield was moved from the corner of 6th and Irvington to the area near today's Air Force Base.

New York American May 9, 1929

Davison also landed twice as a passenger. First on Saturday, May 11, 1929 at 6:00PM in Fokker C-5, 29-405, flown by Lester Maitland. The C-5 was the Army's version of the civil F-10A with three 330HP Wright engines. Davison holds the distinction of becoming the first Assistant Secretary of War for Aviation during 1926 when the office was created by an act of Congress. In this role, he spent a lot of his time in the air visiting military aviation installations around the U.S. This trip in the "monster" Fokker transport was documented in the New York American of May 9, 1929 (left). Note the slight exaggeration of total horsepower for the airplane.

Departing Washington, DC, this article suggests they visited at least five military installations in the two days before they reached Tucson. This would have been an ambitious itinerary at the time. Note that Tucson is not mentioned in the article, but it is clear from Register page 18 that Maitland, Davison and their three passengers, Col. David L. Stone, SSgt. Roy Hooe and Pvt. Collins did land there.

Further evidence that he maintained this aggressive schedule is found in the Newark Star-Eagle of May 11, 1929. It reported Davison at Randolph Field, San Antonio, TX speaking in favor of hastening construction of the "West Point of the Air", a new military flying school, at Randolph. After his Texas talk, he arrived in Tucson the same evening at 6:00PM.

Interestingly, above, "Flying West" is a metaphor used today for when a pilot dies. It would be interesting to know the etymology, and if use of the term originated before this article was published and the journalist was simply naive, or if the phrase took on the metaphorical meaning in the American lexicon after 1929. Does anyone KNOW?

His second landing as a passenger was probably on May 11, 1931 (interpolated from the Register) overseeing Air Corps exercises. He was in Lockheed Altair NR8494 flown by Ira C. Eaker. Later a general, then Captain Eaker was Davison's hack pilot for this trip.

Below, an image of Davison from February 20, 1930 in his role as Assistant Secretary of War for Aviation. He wears the classic winter flying suit, which looks like the W-214 model with electrified lamb fur lining and nutria collar (about $225). His suit may be seen in this REFERENCE, page 7. The airplane appears to be a Fokker C-2. Note the port engine's starting crank just over his left shoulder. This airplane could very well be the C-2 he brought to Tucson.

F. Trubee Davison, Asst. Sec. of War for Aviation, February 20, 1930

Below, the annotation on the back of this image. These images come to us through the courtesy of Tim Kalina.

Photo Caption, F. Trubee Davison, Asst. Sec. of War for Aviation, February 20, 1930

The NASM dossier for Davison, cited in the left sidebar, contains many brief news articles that mention his activities during the late 1920s-early 30s. His work was broad, and the articles involve not only his inspection tours (some mentioning his pilots and the big Fokker transport), but also his foreign travel, speaking engagements, radio broadcasts and an aviation bill conference held in his airplane between New York City and Albany (January 25, 1928). And this, worth quoting for its humorous absurdity, published April 10, 1929 in the New York Sun.

Apropos Davison's aerial inspection duties, in the New York Times of February 24, 1929 Davison reported that since he took his present position as Asst. Secretary of War 31-months earlier, he had flown 50,000 miles, or twice the distance around the world, without serious delays or mishaps of any kind. This record ended in October 1931 whan the Washington Herald and Washington Post (October 28, 1931) reported a gear-up landing, probably in the Altair, that resulted in no injuries to him or his pilot. Throughout, he had the services of military pilots to ferry him, and he was accompanied on at least one ocassion by Register signer Major Gen. James E. Fechet. Among his pilots were Lester Maitland and Ira Eaker, mentioned above, as well as Register signer Elwood Quesada (who negotiated the gear-up landing).

A series of articles in the New York Times between October 17 and October 31, 1930, documents the aerial campaigning activities (in an American Eagle aircraft with Ira Eaker piloting) for the Republican party by Davison and some Washington politicians supporting the candidacy of Charles H. Tuttle for New York State governor. This series of articles covers an historic event. The final one states that the campaign was, "...the first campaign by airplane on record .... the tour had covered 2,700 miles and twenty-four hours of actual flying time, with thirty-one stops. In the course of the tour the air campaigners addressed forty-one meetings."

Davison was born February 7, 1896. Born into wealth, after being graduated from Groton he was a 1918 graduate of Yale. At the opening of WWI, he formed the Yale Naval Aviation Unit. He was taking flying lessons at Huntington, L. I., in 1917 when his airplane crashed and he was injured. His recovery was slow and the aftermath of his injuries precluded a military career in aviation, but he boosted and financed the Naval Aviation Unit, even from his hospital bed, during the War. After WWI he earned a law degree at Columbia and worked for the firm of White and Case in New York City. His father died in 1922 and left him $4,500,000 in a trust fund. Interestingly, his father's will was published in its entirety in the New York Times of May 12, 1922.

Thus larded, he entered a life of politics. From 1921-1926 he was elected to the New York State Assembly (Nassau County; 2nd District). Time Magazine of August 24, 1925 featured Davison on its cover. He had been appointed Chairman of a prestigious new office, the National Crime Commission, to organize a national movement for the reduction of crime. With Prohibition in full swing, consider the context of his responsibilities in this assignment! He served that office until 1927.

He served the office of Assistant Secretary of War for Aviation from 1926-1933. In 1932 he ran for New York's Lieutenant Governor, but was not elected. He was president of the New York Museum of Natural History, 1933-1951, and Director of Personnel for the Central Intelligence Agency, 1951-1952. His papers, scrapbooks and photographs spanning his career are archived at Yale University.

In 1940 he was an alternate delegate to the Republican national convention. He was associated with the Skull and Bones Society at Yale, with all the conspiratorial rumor and baggage associated with that organization, which is well-beyond the scope of this Web site. A Google search will get you information about that affiliation.

Davison passed away November 14, 1974. Some sources list his date of passing as 1976, but his NASM dossier contains a letter from his wife dated April 22, 1975 which clearly cites 11/14/74 as the date of death.

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Dossier 2.2.68

UPLOADED: 10/13/08 REVISED: