Charles W. "Charley" Mayse was a frequent signer of the Davis-Monthan Airfield Register. His signature, and those of his passengers, appears ten times between February 15, 1926 and May 8, 1932. It is surprising that his name doesn't appear more frequently, as he was a local Tucson aviator who operated out of our Airfield and gave flight instruction there.

In the image above, Mayse is to the left, behind Santa Claus, in this photo taken in 1923 at Douglas, AZ. The Shell Oil Company provided candy for the local children in exchange for advertising on the lower wing of Mayse's Hisso Standard.

The image, below, shows Mayse in Stetson hat. The date of the image is unknown, but it is after June 1923, when Lola and Charlie were married. Image courtesy of dmairfield.org friend, Andy Heins. The aircraft in the background is a Waco cabin-type, which Mayse had sold to the McElroys.

L to R, Clarence McElroy, Charles Mayse and wife, Lola, and Gordon McElroy

It is interesting to note that at least three of Mayse's landings were greeted with inspections by the U.S. Border Patrol. In the Remarks column of the Register appears the notation, "Inspected Robert R. Budlong Patrol Inspector". No reason was given for the inspections, nor was none apparent, given that Mayse's itineraries on these flights were not trans-border.

At left, an early article in the Tucson Citizen of November 1, 1925 describes pilot Mayse giving an airplane ride to a local cattleman. This article precedes by just a few months the first signing of the Register by Mayse (on 2/15/26). The "Standard airplane" referred to in the article is most likely the one Mayse landed with on 2/15/26 and on 3/13/26. At this time, the Airfield was at its South 6th Avenue location (on the corner of Irvington Rd.). The Standard could also be the one pictured above.

At the time of this article, Mayse "is back .... to remain in Tucson for the winter...." from his home in Salt Lake City, UT. W.C. Maus, mentioned in the article, only shows up in the Register once as a passenger with Glover Johns years later, sometime between early April and mid-May 1934.

There wasn't a whole lot going on at the Airfield during these years. Another article from the Citizen, dated July 28, 1927, cites the purchase of an aircraft by local linotype operator, E.R. Griswold (didn't sign the Register). The article states, "With this plane on the ground, the number will be exactly two...." airplanes on the field. The relevance of this article is that Griswold was not a pilot, and, "...he admits that the intricacies of an airplane are still a mystery to him, but he hopes to solve these under the tutelage of Carl [sic] Mayse this fall. Mayse is a professional in the air game, and has been teaching aviation for a number of years, along with his commercial flying."

In another article published in the Tucson Citizen on October 14, 1927, Mayse and Gilbert Sykes, a parachute jumper and a pilot whom Mayse had taught to fly, are found flying and jumping at an air show at Duncan, AZ.

By one account (Abbey reference, left sidebar) Mayse was undereducated, profane, opinionated, sexist and impulsive. But enough flattery. The life he carved absorbed these shortcomings and left him a well-known character in southwest Golden Age aviation. He is mentioned numerous times in the Reinhold reference, left sidebar.

His ownership of Curtiss Oriole 2728 demonstrated his impulsiveness, with a modest regard for aviation safety. For that Oriole he, “remodeled the engine section with steel tubing, put on DeHavilland axle and widened the wheel tread (750x125 wheels-900x200 tires). Put on wind-driven gasoline pump from Martin bomber.”

Mayse died on July 4, 1950, at age 64 (although I have seen notation that his birth was during 1889, which would have made him 61), in Douglas, AZ where he had moved in 1935 to operate that city's municipal airport and a flight training school. He also operated private charter flights into Mexico and was a sales representative for Waco aircraft.

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Dossier 2.1.25

UPLOADED: 03/01/06 REVISED: 05/03/07, 11/18/08