Are You A Tucson Aviation History ACE?

Just four months after Charles Lindbergh's historic non-stop flight from New York to Paris, France, the "Spirit of St. Louis" pilot landed at Tucson's new municipal airport for its dedication at 2 p.m. on Sept. 23, 1927. At the time, it was the largest of its kind in the United States. Reports say some 20,000 turned out to catch a glimpse of the aircraft as it landed and to hear Lindbergh speak at the University of Arizona football field. Local resident Hal Burns created a cactus "Spirit of Tucson" plane made of cacti in the likeness of Lindbergh's historic plane for the event. Watch a video of Charles Lindbergh's arrival in Tucson.  Read more.

Aeronaves de Mexico, known as Aeromexico today, was the first airline to offer flights to Mexico out of Tucson. Interestingly, the designation of "international airport" has nothing to do with offering international flights, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. By federal statute, this means flights coming from the south must stop at an airport with this designation for customs clearance. It also means the airports are required to be available 24 hours a day for international flights. Read more.

On January 22, 1986, the Space Shuttle Columbia landed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base for a refueling stop before heading for Texas, where they would spend the night before heading for Florida. Space shuttle Columbia visited Tucson twice — in January 1986 and January 1990. NASA's oldest shuttle rode atop a Boeing 747 transporter, which stopped at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base to refuel on the way from California back to Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Shuttles Challenger and Atlantis also made piggyback pit stops at D-M over the years when returning to Florida. In June 1991, a planned stop by Columbia and its transporter was waved off due to extreme heat in Tucson. Higher temperatures reduce lift on any aircraft, requiring higher takeoff speeds and greater runway lengths.

Katherine Stinson, who was the fourth woman in the United States to obtain her pilot's license, took up flying to perform in exhibitions. A pianist, she thought she could use the money garnered from these events to pay her way to Europe for more music instruction. "The flying schoolgirl" dropped music in favor of aviation, however, and moved to San Antonio, Texas where Stinson and her sister, Marjorie, began a flying school. In addition to being the first woman to perform a loop-the-loop in her aircraft, Stinson was also the first woman authorized to carry mail by air. She performed this feat regularly as part of her exhibition, and carried a bag of mail in her plane from the Southern Arizona Fair Grounds on South Sixth Ave. before dropping it in a lot behind the downtown Tucson post office in November 1915 — making it the first air-mail delivery in Arizona. Read more.

We have Tucson businessmen Emmanuel Drachman and George Kitt to thank for bringing the very first "air show" to the Old Pueblo in 1910. Hamilton, who was performing at an aviation conference in Phoenix, was paid $2,000 to travel to Tucson by train — with his plane attached — to dazzle local residents. According to the U.S. Air Force, Charles "The Birdman" Hamilton was a no-fear guy, who started out as a stunt parachutist and airship pilot before becoming one of the early aviation aces. He survived 63 crashes, endured broken legs, smashed collar bones, cracked ribs, dislocated arms and a plethora of other injuries. It was not flying, however, that finally claimed Hamilton's life in January 1914 — it was a bout of tuberculosis and phenumonia. Read more.

Later acquired by American Airlines, Standard Air Lines established the first round-trip passenger air service between Los Angeles, Phoenix and Tucson in 1927. The airlines' president, Jack Frye, was the pilot. In November 1929, Frye piloted the first commercial air service — from California to Tucson — in a Fokker luxury plane. Standard was the only commercial passenger service at the Tucson airport until Frontier Airlines introduced daily flights to Phoenix and Nogales in 1950. Read more.

Known by several names — Macauley Field, Fishburn Field and Army Field included — Tucson Municipal Flying Field became a regular refueling stop for the United States Army Air Service, which was the precursor to the United States Air Force. Early Arizona aviation pioneer Charles Mayse offered flight lessons at the site. Due to its popularity, the airport quickly outgrew its 83 acres. In 1931, the field was used as Tucson's fair grounds before the land was donated to the Tucson Rodeo, better known as "La Fiesta de los Vaqueros." Want to see a relic from the old municipal airport? Visit the Tucson Rodeo Parade Museum at 4823 S. Sixth Ave. — the large building was the city's first airport hangar. Read more.

The outbreak of World War II brought B-24 Liberator crews to train at Davis-Monthan Field in February 1942. B-24s would fill the skies over Tucson until late 1944 when the U.S. Army Air Force's latest bomber arrived — the B-29 Superfortress. Davis-Monthan was home to the B-29 until V-J (Victory over Japan) Day in August 1945. Read more.

Rodgers — who took flight lessons from Orville Wright — was sponsored by Armour and Company to take the 30-day coast-to-coast flight challenge. That's why he named his Wright aircraft after the company's grape soda, Vin Fiz. He set out for the Pacific Ocean from Sheepshead Bay, New York, on Sept. 17, 1911. Unfortunately, his attempt endured multiple stops due to aircraft maintenance, crashes and other delays — including a stop at Tucson's municipal airport. When Hearst's 30-day challenge expired, Rodgers had only made it to Kansas City, Missouri. He finally arrived in Pasadena, Calif., on Nov. 5, 1911 — 49 days after starting his journey. Rodgers stayed in Pasadena to give flights to tourists in his Vin Fiz, and lessons to wannabe aviators in another plane, the Model B. He was testing the Model B on April 3, 1912 when reports say the pilot swerved to avoid a flock of seagulls before the aircraft crashed into the Pacific Ocean — near the spot where Rodgers had completed his transcontinental flight. He was killed instantly. A reconstructed version of the Vin Fiz is on display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. Read more.