DOUGLAS B. NETHERWOOD 1885?-1943

 

DOUGLAS BLAKESHAW NETHERWOOD from Who's Who in American Aeronautics, 1928 Maj., Air Corps; born, Birmingham, England, Feb. 4, 1885      Aeronautical Activities and War Service:Detailed for aviation duty in the Signal Corps, Dec. 10, 1913; and learned to fly at San Diego, Cal., in Wright Type "B" airplane No. 3; left San Diego for Phillipine Islands, Jan. 2, 1916; on aviation duty Corregidor, Manila, P. I, until return to U. S., July 1918; duty O. C. S. O., Wash., D. C., Aug. to Nov. 1917; duty as Com. Officer, Love Field, Nov. 21, 1917 to April 27, 1918; organized and established Aviation Repair Depot, Dallas, Tex., early in 1918 and commanded that station continuously until it was closed on March 28, 1921.      Flying Rating: Pilot license No. 312; expert aviator's cert. No. 41,      Present Occupation:Chief Finance Section, Office Chief of Air Corps. Address: 3520 Rodsman St., N. W. Washington, D. C. Editor's Note: This information comes from the CD Who's Who in American Aeronautics, 1928. It is just one of many valuable resources which are available from Steve Rhode's RareAviation.Com. It may be accessed by clicking on: RareAviation

 

"Aviation Experiences of Douglas B. Netherwood" by Col. Douglas B. Netherwood      When a 2nd lieutenant in the Coast Artillery Corps, was detailed in the Signal Corps in December 1913 for aviation duty and reported at the Signal Corps Aviation School, San Diego, Calif, on Dec. 17, 1913. Received flying training under Mr. Oscar A. Brindley, the first civilian instructor regularly employed by the Signal Corps. Received dual instruction in Wright Type B airplane No. 3 and made first solo flight in that airplane on February 7, 1914. Learned to fly with the Curtiss control system at San Diego in 1914 when that system was adopted as standard and the Wright system discontinued. Received F.I.A. Aviators Certificate No. 312, in 1914. Rated Junior Military Aviator in Aug. 1914. Expert Aviators Certificate No. 41 received in 1915. Rated Military Aviator in Aug. 1917. Rated Airplane Pilot in 1920. Rated Airplane Observer in 1932. Rated Command Pilot in 1939. Rated Combat Observer in 1939. To read the rest of his summary of his military career, click on: Next.

Douglas B. Netherwood, Autobiography      Born in B. (Birmingham) Eng. was brought to the U.S. at age of 2 yrs. Spent boyhood on father's farm & ranch 16 mi. N.W. of Brady, Texas. Once when looking at young hawks in their nest in the top of a tree was struck on the head by the mother hawk and hastily retired to a lower position. Herded sheep when a boy in order to protect the flock against the coyotes which were numerous in Texas in the "gay nineties." At about the age of 14, received a 22 caliber rifle and earned pocket money by shooting prairie dogs, rabbits and rattle snakes, upon which his father paid a bounty of one cent each. Got Jack rabbits raised to two cents each because of their large appetite. Best record was 87 prairie dogs out of 100 shots.      Raised cotton as a "share cropper" on his father's farm and thereby earned most of the money subsequently used to put him through college.      Was interested in mechanical devices from an early age and had the boyhood ambition to become a locomotive engineer. Studied mechanical engineering at home on the farm and made a working model of a steam engine with slide valve and Stephenson built motion reversing gear. One evening, the family showed the model to Mr. Tom Bell, an overnight visitor, whereupon Mr. Bell said "that boy should go to the Agricultural and Mech. College."      Was first taught at home by his father and later attended country schools with one teacher for the entire school. In 1904, when the model was shown to Mr. Bell, had had a total of about 24 months in the country schools. To read the rest of his fascinating story, click on: Next.

 

VI BOMBER COMMAND in Defense of the Panama Canal 1941-1945 Brig. General Netherwood is mentioned on the website. You may access the site by clicking on: Douglas B. Netherwood You may want to use your "Find" function on "Netherwood".

 

Letter to Patricia Netherwood from her uncle, William Netherwood      Your grandfather, Douglas Blakeshaw Netherwood Sr. was born in the middle eighteen eighties and your grandmother was born in eighteen ninety nine (but she never acknowledged it because she didn't want to have been born in that century and always declared her birth to having been in the year nineteen hundred) lived at "Love Field" Texas where he was the Commanding Officer. He'd had a childhood on a share-cropper farm which was the main source of support and from which he left, to attend Texas A&M, Harvard and eventually The Army War College. However, when he graduated from Texas A&M he could not get a commission, lacking an American birth certificate (as he was born in England) so he enlisted in the Army Signal Corp. to hasten his citizenship and thereby establishing a situation (where) he actually rose from "Private" to "General" over the ensuing years.      With the advent of aviation and the Wright Brothers he took an interest in flying and became one of the sixteen pilots in the "Aviation branch of the Signal Corps" finally named- "Army Air Corps." And, went on to command Air fields through out the world such as Nicols Field in the Philippines, the Nineteenth Bomber Wing at Albrook Field Panama, Borenquen Field in Puerto Rico and of course Mitchell Field, Long Island, with the Aviation building at the New York World's Fair which started in 1939. Here he had offices and display areas for some of his airplanes. These selected passages were kindly supplied by Patricia Netherwood

 

ONLINE RESOURCES      If you search for "Douglas Blakeshaw Netherwood", using the Google search engine, (5-21-04), you will find about 7 links. None of them refer to this pioneer aviator, although one does link to the story of his son, Douglas Blakeshaw Netherwood, Jr., Col. U.S.Air Force, who is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

 

Douglas Blakeshaw Netherwood was in an aircraft (I believe an Army high-wing, single-engine, 2-seater, Piper-like utility aircraft) somewhat like the attachment that was being flown by an NCO who had taken off with my grandfather from an airfield in Florida and never returned.       In the early 1960s, a nearly intact fuselage of this aircraft was found in the Okeefenokee Swamp of Florida by an airboat hunting or fishing party. The only artifact found in the cockpit was a flight boot believed to be the pilot's. There was no evidence of it having been a fatal crash, but anything else would be speculation Via email from Blake Netherwood, 12-4-05 Grandson of D. B. Netherwood,   Editor's Note: If you have any more information on this Early Bird, please contact me. E-mail to Ralph Cooper   Back