Albert F. Hegenberger was born September 30, 1895 and died in Florida on August 31, 1983. He graduated from MIT with a degree in aeronautical engineering. He was well-equipped for his stellar career in aviation.

He signed into the Davis-Monthan Register as a passenger on June 20, 1927. He was flying with Lester Maitland and they were on their way to San Francisco to begin a flight that would take them across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii. They would be the first pilots to do so. Please follow this link to view a short motion picture clip of Hegenberger and Maitland with their airplane on the ground at Tucson.

Their airplane was an Army Fokker C-2 trimotor transport, 26-202, specially outfitted, strengthened and equipped for the flight. They wrote "Honolulu or bust" in the remarks column of the Register. They did make it to Wheeler Field, Oahu. Click here to see an image of Hegenberger and Maitland on this site when they stopped at Tucson. This image most certainly was taken near the time of filming the motion picture above. Hegenberger and Maitland received the Distinguished Flying Cross for this flight.

Below, a succinctly tabulated artifact from the trans-Pacific flight, found in the NASM dossier cited in the left sidebar. It is their flight log, with timing and positional information, hand-written by Hegenberger. Imagine traversing 2,400 miles of open ocean based on your "most probable fix". If you are a navigation buff, you'll enjoy this raw, Golden Age treasure.

Flight Log for the Trans-Pacific Flight

Hegenberger is one of the many examples of Davis-Monthan pilots who made significant contributions to the science and practice of military aviation, with its attendant spinoffs to civil flying. His trans-Pacific flight is a key contribution, well-documented on the web, and generally considered the highlight of his career.

However, less appreciated but more impactful to this day, on May 9, 1932 Hegenberger piloted the very first official solo blind instrument flight. The key words here are 'official' and 'solo', because in 1926 Howard Stark developed his "1-2-3 System" of blind flying by reference to the turn coordinator (see page 9 of the Miller reference in the left sidebar). According to Miller, Stark flew many unofficial, straight and level blind flights over the Connecticut hills carrying mail between New York and Boston.

Likewise, in September 1929 Jimmy Doolittle flew an airplane from the ground, around a planned course, and returned it successfully to a landing by reference to instruments alone (it was a fair-weather day and he was under a canvas hood and could not see out of the cockpit). But, he had a check pilot with him in the other cockpit. Hegenberger made his official 1932 flight alone, in bad weather.

His feat is documented simply and tersely on a page from his pilot log, preserved in his dossier at the National Air & Space Museum. This (image below) is how it was noted:

May 9, 1932 Solo Instrument Flight Logged

The key wordings on this image are difficult to read, but his star indicates the date of the first solo instrument flight. The starred footnote barely readable on the original says: "One of the [nine] flights on 9 May 1932 was the solo flight. First ever."

Take another good look at this image, ladies and gentlemen. It represents a profound turning point in aerial science and practice. Before the star, all flight was dependent upon good visibility. After the star, we ventured alone into clouds with impunity. And so it was, recorded tersely in the flight log of a modest pilot.

To be sure, this event was not an overnight accomplishment. Hegenberger began his efforts to understand the needs, requirements and technologies of military instrument flying back in 1918. Through years of incremental experimentation and refinement he brought the system to an operational point in 1933 where it was installed at four Army flying fields. Two classes of flying officers were trained on its use (under the order and support of B.D. Foulois, then Chief of the Air Corps). The officers received it enthusiastically.

Although the development of the system took over a decade, its deployment was very rapid after its value, ruggedness and safety were proven. The second of the two classes of instrument-trained officers was deployed to the four flying fields to act as instructors for other pilots.

By September 1934 the military was inviting, via an intense PR program through the Department of Commerce, representative civilian air lines to send selected groups, including operations and technical personnel as well as pilots, to Patterson Field in Dayton, OH to participate in individual demonstrations of the system. It was rolled out rapidly to airways and airfields that formed the early network of commercial air transport across the country.

In 1934 Hegenberger received the oak leaf cluster to his Distinguished Flying Cross, and won the Collier Trophy for his work with instrument flying. This brief "filler" article appeared in the August 8, 1935 issue of the British journal Flight (p. 152).

He was the second of seven Davis-Monthan Register pilots and passengers to receive the trophy between 1921 and 1955, a brilliant testimony to the competence of the people who signed our Register so long ago.

Dossier 2.2.102

UPLOADED: 01/14/07 REVISED: 04/02/07,11/19/08