EARL BIRD MEETING ca 1937

EARLY BIRDS American Airlines flight for the Early Birds, Newark, N.J., ca 1937 (Left to Right)   1. J. C. Mars, 2. Geo. McLaughlin,   3. Stewart Cogswell, 4. Wm. Mattery,   5. Frank Goodale, 6. Robert Carolin,   7. Dr. Jerome Kingsbury, 8. Hugo Sundstedt   9. Wilbur R. Kimball, 10. Dean Lamb, 11. Dr. Henry W. Walden, 12. Ernest L Jones 13. Bertell King, 14. Chas. R. Witteman, 15. Geo. Scragg, 16. Mortimer Bates 17. Horace B. Wild, 18. Hank Miller, 19. Billie Miller, 20. Cord Meyer 21. Augustus Post, 22. Dr. Wm. Christmas Contributed by Scott T, 8-29-10

 

JAMES C. MARS DIES - 1944      A heart ailment ended the life of James C. Mars, picked as a member of the American team at Belmont in 1910. As a first lieutenant in the aviation section of the Signal Corps in World War I, Mars trained soldiers to fly. After his discharge from the army in 1918, he built an airport in Westchester County, New York, and acted as instructor there until the airport was bouoght by the Westchester Park Commission in 1924. For a time he was a real estate operator in New York and Florida, then he went into the gas engineering business. He lived in Los Angeles until 1942, when he moved to South Pasadena. Mars died in the Los Angeles Veterans Hospital on 25 July, 1944 at age sixty-eight. from Blue Ribbon of the Air by Henry Serrano Villard, 1987      Editors Note: I was privileged to know Henry during several years before his death. He was an fascinating companion and a lifetime friend of aviation. I heartily recommend his book to you for more on Mars and for the complete story of the Gordon Bennett Race.

 

Editor's Note: If you have any more information on this Early Bird, please contact me. E-mail to Ralph Cooper   Back