Photograph of four men in front of an airplane. The three men on the left, Thomas Colby, Charles W. Meyers, and Bill Baldwin, were the team of Plane 19, a Waco, on the 1928 Ford National Reliability Air Tour; the man on the right is unidentified. The tour reached the Swan Island airport in Portland on July 16, 1928. Meyers was the pilot. The name Meyers is painted on the plane and the number 6528 appears on its tail. The text “T. B. Colby — Charles Myers [sic] — Bill Baldwin” and number 2 are written on the negative. The the writing is visible on the right side of the image.
Portrait of a man with a mustache standing next to an air plane. His eyes are closed and he is wearing a collared shirt and bow tie. On his shirt is a wing-shaped pin bearing the words “National Air Tour” and “pilot” on it. This photograph may be related to image No. 371N2270.
Photograph of a picture of two unidentified men, probably aviators, standing next to an airplane. The man on the right is wearing a heavy flight suit, an aviator cap, and goggles; the man on the left is wearing a heavy jacket , trousers, and an aviator cap and goggles. An “X” is marked on the original picture above the man on the left, and the words “Metcalf Photo.” are written at he bottom.
Photograph of a crowd watching as two men refuel Captain Frank M. Hawks’ plane at Swan Island airport in Portland on Saturday, January 23, 1932. Hawks is standing in the cockpit. He made two brief fuel stops in Portland that day while flying from Agua Caliente, Mexico to Vancouver, British Columbia, and back in a successful attempt to set a speed record. On Sunday, January 24, 1932, the Oregon Journal published a story about Hawks’ flight on Page 1, under the headline “Hawks Sets Record for 2-Way Dash.” According to the story, Hawks set a new round-trip speed record of 13 hours, 43 minutes, 59 seconds.
Photograph of two men refueling Captain Frank M. Hawks’ plane as Hawks speaks with an unidentified man at Swan Island airport in Portland on Saturday, January 23, 1932. Hawks made two brief fuel stops in Portland that day while flying from Agua Caliente, Mexico to Vancouver, British Columbia, and back in a successful attempt to set a speed record. A cropped version of this photograph, along with image Nos. 371N1082 and 371N4991, was published on Page 1 of the Oregon Journal on Sunday, January 24, 1932. The photographs were published under the headline “Speed King Refuels Here on Flight.” This photograph had the following caption: “Attendants at the airport refueling the ship while Hawks chatted with bystanders for a few minutes.” The photographs accompanied a story headlined “Hawks Sets Record for 2-Way Dash.” According to the story, Hawks set a round-trip speed record of 13 hours, 43 minutes, 59 seconds.
Photograph of Captain Frank M. Hawks in the cockpit of his plane on Saturday, January 23, 1932, at Swan Island airport in Portland. Hawks had stopped briefly for fuel while flying from Agua Caliente, Mexico to Vancouver, British Columbia, and back in a successful attempt to set a speed record. A cropped version of this photograph, along with image Nos. 371N4991 and 371N4992, was published on Page 1 of the Oregon Journal on Sunday, January 24, 1932. The photographs were published under the headline “Speed King Refuels Here on Flight.” The photographs accompanied a story headlined “Hawks Sets Record for 2-Way Dash.” According to the story, Hawks set a round-trip speed record of 13 hours, 43 minutes, 59 seconds. Image note: The name “Hawks” is written on the negative and is visible at the top of the image.
Photograph of Captain Frank M. Hawks in the cockpit of his plane on Saturday, January 23, 1932, at Swan Island airport in Portland. Hawks made two brief fuel stops in Portland that day while flying from Agua Caliente, Mexico, to Vancouver, British Columbia, and back in a successful attempt to set a speed record. A similar photograph, image No. 371N1082, was published on Page 1 of the Oregon Journal on Sunday, January 24, 1932. It accompanied a story headlined “Hawks Sets Record for 2-Way Dash.” According to the story, Hawks set a round-trip speed record of 13 hours, 43 minutes, 59 seconds.
Portrait of a man, the aviator, explorer, and United States naval officer Richard E. Byrd, wearing an overcoat and a visor cap. The text “Comander Byrd [sic]” is written on the negative and is visible at the top of the image. See related image Nos. 371N0389 and 371N3646.
Photograph of two men standing outside a building and looking at one another. The man on the left, the aviator, explorer, and United States naval officer Richard E. Byrd, is wearing an overcoat and visor cap. The man on the right is wearing a hat, overcoat, and tie. The text “Com. Byrd” is written on the negative and is visible in the upper left corner of the image. See related image Nos. 371N0390 and 371N3646.
First Lt. Charles Richard Stanton was the first black bomber pilot in the U.S. Armed Forces—he flew 81 combat missions in Europe during WWII. He was born in Maryland in 1920, but had moved with this family to Portland by the 1930s. He enlisted in 1942 into the Air Corps for the duration of the war, plus six months. He died in 1991, and is buried at the Willamette National Cemetery in Portland.
