Frank Hawks

Last week, Frank Hawks shuttled to East Aurora, N. Y. to show off his polliwog to a prospect, Sportsman J. Hazard Campbell. He landed neatly on the polo field in a nearby estate at about 5 p.m., climbed out, chatted awhile with Prospect Campbell and a cluster of friends. Presently he and Campbell took off smartly, cleared a fence, went atilt between two tall trees, and passed from sight. Then there was a rending crash, a smear of flame, silence. Half a mile the fearful group raced from the polo field. From the crackling wreck they pulled Frank Hawks; from beneath a burning wing, Prospect Campbell — both fatally hurt. The ship that could not stub its toe aground had tripped on overhead telephone wires.

Following its repair, the aircraft was subsequently acquired in 1938 by the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois, where it remains on display.

Hawks announced his retirement from air racing in 1937 and joined the Gwinn Aircar Company, taking on the title of vice president in charge of sales. He toured the United States, giving flying demonstrations in the new "safety" aircraft, the Gwinn Aircar. By 1938, Hawks was listed as Gwinn Aircar Company Vice-President and Production Manager.

In 1936, Hawks approached Howell W. "Pete" Miller, chief engineer for the Granville Brothers and their famous Gee Bee racers, to create a racing aircraft to his own design. Hawks obtained sponsorship from the Gruen Watch Company and named the aircraft "Time Flies". The Hawks Miller HM-1 design featured streamlined lines including the unusual feature of "burying" the cockpit with a curved windshield contoured to fit the fuselage top extended in takeoff and landing but retracted in flight, with the pilot's seat lowered and the windshield flush with the fuselage. After its first flight on October 18, 1936, Hawks flew "Time Flies" on April 13, 1937, from Hartford, Connecticut to Miami, Florida, 4 hours and 55 minutes later. He then flew to Newark Airport, New Jersey, in 4 hours and 21 minutes but bounced on landing at Newark, and on the third bounce, a wooden spar had broken in the right wing, and others were also damaged. Short of funds, Hawks decided not to rebuild the aircraft which was sold to Tri-American Aviation where Miller rebuilt the aircraft as a two-seater, renamed the Miller HM-2, then the MAC-1 and Military Aircraft HM-1, to become a fast attack/observation aircraft. The aircraft was not successful in its new configuration, and after the sole example was destroyed in a crash, the project was abandoned.

Hawks continued to set records in his new aircraft, and on June 2, 1933, he set the west-to-east transcontinental airspeed record in "Texaco Sky Chief", flying from Los Angeles to Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, New York in 13 hours, 26 minutes, and 15 seconds at an average speed of 181 mph (291 km/h). After setting a bevy of new intercity marks, Hawks resigned from Texaco in 1935, but remained active as an aviation consultant and a test and demonstration pilot. Northrop hired him to fly the Gamma 2E attack bomber, a conversion of the original Gamma 2A. He demonstrated the aircraft to the Argentine Navy and effectively demonstrating the long-distance capabilities of the new type by flying 8,090 miles (13,020 km) from Buenos Aires to Los Angeles in three days. Taking off on May 3, 1935, with Gage H. Irving, Northrop's chief test pilot in the gunner's seat, Hawks broke 10 intercity speed records on the way to Los Angeles, with the resultant publicity ultimately responsible for orders of 51 Gamma 2E attack aircraft.

In Hollywood, Hawks was cast in a supporting role (as a pilot, of course) in the 1932 feature film Klondike and starred in a 15-chapter serial The Mysterious Pilot in 1937. Ironically, Hawks was killed Aug.

Hawks was also active in many causes; he flew noted humorist Will Rogers in a fund-raising campaign for the Red Cross to assist Oklahoma drought victims in 1931. During his odyssey with Rogers, they became friends and when the humorist realized that Hawks had natural acting ability, enlisted the pilot into his folksy act. Hawks gradually became more active in entertainment ventures with his long-running radio serial ("Hawk's Trail"), a starring role in Klondike (1932), and becoming the leading actor in a film serial, The Mysterious Pilot (1937). A prolific writer, he wrote a second book, Once to Every Pilot in 1936, along with numerous articles for publication, always promoting aviation.

He held many city-to-city speed records in the 1930s, and set new transcontinental speed records in 1929 and 1930. Hawks' most famous plane was the Texaco No. 13 Travel Air Mystery Ship. Travel Air built five of these sleek racing planes to secret specifications. Texaco No. 13 was the fourth of five to be built and was purchased by the Texas Oil Company and piloted by Hawks in many races and record setting flights. It differed from the other models in having special instrumentation for long distance flights. Texaco No. 13 now hangs in the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. Hawks was the childhood hero of many an air-minded youth and supplemented his pilot's pay with all sorts of merchandising and commercial endorsements. He was a paid spokesman for the Marmon Automobile Company. There were at least two fan clubs for Hawks: Frank Hawks' Air Hawks Club sponsored by Post Bran Flakes and Capt. Hawks Sky Patrol sponsored by a radio network in conjunction with Hawks radio show. Club membership pins in the form of a set of wings with Hawks' likeness at the center, are hot memorabilia items. In addition to his radio program, Hawks was featured on gum trading cards and in Big Little Books.

In December 1928, the Trimotor was destroyed in a crash at Floresville, Florida. In early 1929, Hawks was approached by Lockheed to ferry their new Air Express (NR7955) to New York in time for an air show. On February 4, 1929, flying with Oscar Grubb, superintendent of final assembly at the Lockheed factory, who had volunteered to serve as flight engineer to pump fuel from auxiliary fuselage tanks, Hawks set a transcontinental speed record. He flew from the Lockheed factory in Burbank, California to New York in 18 hours and 21 minutes. Hawks shortly after convinced Texaco to purchase the record-breaking Lockheed Air Express, named "Texaco Five" as a replacement for "Texaco One". Four months later, Hawks shattered the record again by 43 minutes in "Texaco Five". The aircraft accumulated some 90,000 miles (140,000 km) before being lost in a January 1930 accident when Hawks attempted a takeoff from a soggy field in West Palm Beach, Florida, destroying the "Texaco Five" in a spectacular crash that catapulted it into a row of three parked aircraft. Hawks walked away from the carnage with no injuries.

By 1927, Hawks continued to eke out a living as a pilot but with money from his wife, Hawks purchased a Mahoney Ryan B-1 Brougham (NC3009) he named the "Spirit of San Diego." In the aftermath of Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight, he flew to Washington with his wife on board, to greet the triumphant Lindbergh, and in the ensuing glare of publicity, Hawks was hired by the Ryan Aircraft company to be its official representative. In the Ford National Reliability Air Tour, Hawks placed sixth and earned $1,000.00 in prize money. With the public idolizing Lindbergh, Hawks toured the country, selling rides in the aircraft "like Lindy flew."

On May 7, 1922, Hawks landed his small Standard biplane within the grounds at the Stadium Jalapeño at Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, as part of the inaugural ceremonies. In 1924 Hawks was hired by Compañía Mexicana de Aviación as a pilot flying special charter service routes, piloting his Standard J-1 two-place modified for five-place passenger service. While in Mexico, Hawks managed a large 30,000-acre (120 km) ranch and estate near Tampico, using his aircraft to fly to Mexico City and back, to run errands such as carrying payrolls to the oil field companies operating around Tampico.

Hawks began to be in public eye when he joined the Gates Flying Circus and was involved in a demonstration of the first in-flight refueling in 1921. Earl Daugherty in his JN4D Jenny had been touted as being able to stay in the air for 24 hours. Hawks flew his Standard J-1 World War I trainer carrying wing-walker Wesley May aloft to join up with Daugherty, circling over Long Beach, California. May, carrying a five-gallon can of gasoline, stepped over to Earl's ship and poured the gas in the Jenny's tank.

Leaving active duty in 1919, Hawks was promoted to a captain in the United States Army Air Service Reserve. During the immediate postwar years, he did a stint of aerial barnstorming in the United States and Mexico. Besides his barnstorming feats, Hawks became known for his appearances at aerial exhibitions and on December 28, 1920 he took a 23-year-old Amelia Earhart on her first flight at a state fair in Los Angeles, California. Earhart's father arranged for the flight and paid the fee of $10 for a 10-minute "hop".

Frank Monroe Hawks was born March 28, 1897, in Marshalltown, Iowa. He was an early aviation enthusiast and racing pilot. He served in the U. S. Army Air Service in WWI, attaining the rank of captain, and was a flight instructor at Love Field in Dallas, Texas. After the war, he was a professional pilot, setting speed records in experimental and often dangerous new aircraft.