Excerpts from:

                         REVOLUTION IN THE SKY--
          THOSE FABULOUS LOCKHEEDS AND THE PILOTS WHO FLEW THEM
                                   by
                          Richard Sanders Allen

PICTURE:  New owner, new paint job, new pilot:  Roscoe Turner flies the
          former Black Hornet to a new coast-to-coast mark.  [p.40]

          And new idea:  Roscoe with his brainwave Gilmore.  [p.40]


          ...On Easter Sunday 1930, Colonel Lindbergh was satisfied with
  his gleaming new airplane.  Early in the morning he and Anne took off
  from Glendale for the East.  They were bundled in bulky, electrically
  heated flying suits, kept warm by the current from a wind-driven
  generator....Speeding along at an average of 171 mph, the pair just as
  casually broke the transcontinental record.  Even with a fuel stop at
  Wichita, their elapsed time was 14 hours, 45 minutes and 32 seconds.  As
  copilot and navigator, Mrs. Lindbergh automatically set a women's record
  for coast-to-coast flight.  Again it had "taken a Lockheed to beat a
  Lockheed."
          With the summer flying season coming on, the Lindbergh record
  was up for grabs.  One man who stood a good chance of beating it was
  Colonel Roscoe Turner.
          Deliberately flamboyant and a Southern gentleman (Mississippi via
  Virginia), Roscoe was always a keen competitor.  He had been an ambulance
  driver, an army lieutenant, and a top movie stunt pilot.  In 1930 the
  Turner attire was better known than his flying.  He was always
  magnificent in appearance, and affected a uniform of his own design
  consisting of power-blue tweed coat with Sam Browne belt, beige whipcord
  riding breeches, spotless boots, and all topped off by a white silk scarf
  and military cap with burnished wings.  Though it was the subject of
  banter and jibes, Roscoe had good reason for his sartorial elegance.  In
  his barnstorming days it had enabled him to win passengers and eat, while
  competitors in dirty overalls fought hunger pangs.
          Colonel Turner had been flying Vegas for Nevada Airlines, but was
  looking for a more permanent connection.  He had his eye on the
  Hornet-powered Lockheed Air Express which Herb Fahy had flown, the former
  BLACK HORNET.  Its current owner, the General Tire & Rubber company, had
  no competent pilot for it.  Casting about in his fertile mind, Roscoe
  came up with a promotion idea for using the ship that was really a
  stunner.
          He talked Earl B. Gilmore, head of California's Gilmore Oil
  Company, into buying the Air Express at a bargain $15,000.  Turner was to
  make record flights in it to advertise Gilmore products.  The oil company
  used a big lion's head as their trademark, so to clinch the sure-fire
  proposition Roscoe acquired a five-month-old lion cub, and planned to fly
  him as a mascot.
          In March 1930 THE GILMORE LION came into being.  Painted cream
  with red-and-gold trim, it soon became a familiar sight at western
  airports and flying events.  People flocked to see the Lockheed and its
  snappily dressed pilot.  Gilmore, the lion cub, was a star attraction
  too.  He even boasted a specially made and tailored Irvin Air Chute, with
  a suitcase handle for ready carrying.
          Turner and Gilmore did plenty of serious flying.  Roscoe put his
  sights on the transcontinental record and, with his emergence on the
  national scene, plenty of people who had never heard of California's
  Gilmore gasoline came to know Gilmore the lion.
          On May 13, 1930, the flyer took his mascot and the Air Express up
  over Banning Pass to the east in an effort to beat Lindbergh's
  cross-country time.  The plane was still fitted with the Hornet engine,
  and really gobbled the Gilmore gas.
          Over New Mexico, Turner encountered strong headwinds and terrible
  flying weather.  The lion cub got lonesome and tried to crawl up from the
  cabin into the busy flyer's lap.  At one point Roscoe was sure they would
  have to jump, and only the thought of a lion floating gently down on some
  unsuspecting rancher drove him on.  At a short stop in Wichita, the
  Lockheed was refueled while Gilmore happily devoured chunks of raw
  horsemeat.  Still bucking winds, the pair made a stop for oil in
  Middletown, Pennsylvania.  Then they ran out of gas before reaching
  Roosevelt Field on Long Island, and had to land short at Curtiss.
          THE GILMORE LION missed that one, but two weeks later Turner and
  his furry friend roared into Glendale, California, with a new east-west
  record of 18 hours, 42 minutes and 54 seconds.  They'd stopped only
  briefly in Wichita to replenish the needs of man, machine and beast.
  Gilmore rode proudly home on Mrs. Turner's lap.
          ...Billy Brock was an Ohio farm boy who had learned to fly with
  Glenn Curtis when hardly out of knee pants.  Cheerful, chubby Billy had
  graduated from flying mail, and had allied himself with Ed Schlee, a
  Detroit businessman.  By the acquisition of the right corners, Schlee had
  built up a thriving chain of service stations, and his Wayco Oil Company
  held the Shell distributorship for southern Michigan.  Billy taught Ed to
  fly, and gave him the itch to branch out into aviation.  After their
  daring and successful flight [1927 from Detroit to Tokyo, which included
  the first direct Atlantic hop from Newfoundland to London], this pair
  added complete aircraft sales and service to Schlee's chain of
  enterprises.  Their greatest coup was being appointed as a distributor
  for Lockheed in 1928.
  
  

                                       
          For going on two years, the Schlee-Brock Aircraft Corporation
  sold Lockheed Vegas throughout the Midwest and handled the sales of
  dozens of airplanes.  Business was excellent and Ed and Billy were kept
  on the jump, exhibiting and selling the speedy ships from New Mexico to
  New Jersey.  For a while the lively Schlee-Brock organization was a tail
  that nearly wagged the dog.  With a nation-wide distributorship and a
  subdealer setup, the Detroit-to-Tokyo flyers laid plans to take on the
  entire Lockheed factory output.  They contracted for sixteen planes a
  month, and were ready to invest $3,000,000 in them.
          This rosy financial bubble was pricked by the sale of Lockheed
  assets to the Detroit Aircraft combine, which had been put together right
  in Ed Schlee's home town....  [pp.39-41]

            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  PICTURE:  The five nonstop racers in 1930 all flew Lockheeds, and clocked
            in (l.-r.)  Art Goebel second, Roscoe Turner and Gilmore fifth,
            Lee Shoenhair third, Wiley Post first, and Billy Brock fourth.
            [p. 50]

          ...Again for the nonstop derby to Chicago the five entries were
  all Lockheeds.  The pilots gathered at the factory in Burbank to check
  out their ships, working with good-natured rivalry to prepare them.
  Swashbuckling Roscoe Turner readied his cream-colored Air Express, last
  year's Cleveland derby winner, with Gilmore, his "man-eating chipmunk,"
  tied and panting in the shade of a wing.  Art Goebel blocked out all but
  one window in his Vega (the former first WINNIE MAE and ex-SIRIUS) and
  packed the cabin with long-range tanks.  Keeping very mum about it, Lee
  Shoenhair taxied down by the railroad embankment, and secretly doped the
  tanks of MISS SILVERTOWN with a red fluid "called after some woman"--
  which turned out to be Ethyl.  Everybody's friend Billy Brock
  affectionately patted the tail of his red-and-cream NEW CINCINNATI, the
  veteran of his Jacksonville-San Diego record round trip.
          "This is all you fellows will see on the way to Chicago," he
  announced cheerfully.  Billy planned to tote Cincinnati announcer Bob
  Brown along, to broadcast from the Vega for the Crosley Radio
  Corporation.
          Wiley Post was the only unknown in the nonstop event, which he
  proceeded to win with a time of 9 hours and 9 minutes.  In a horse-race
  finish that delighted the crowd, Wiley managed to nose out Lee Shoenhair,
  who had left Los Angeles several minutes ahead of the WINNIE MAE.  In
  elapsed time it was Post, Goebel, Shoenhair, and Brock.  Roscoe Turner
  and Gilmore finished last, but didn't mind because they were soon far
  more "lionized" by the crowd than were the winners.
          Not evident to the Chicago spectators was the fact that the
  difference in time between Post, the winner, and Roscoe, in fifth place,
  was less than fifty minutes.  For a 1,760-mile trip this was certainly a
  good example of the long distance reliability of Lockheed
  airplanes....  [p.50]

            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
          ...Another pilot whose appearance in the aviation news was nearly
  as brief...was James Goodwin Hall, a well-to-do, thirty-four-year-old New
  York City stockbroker.  Handsome Jim Hall's mission was to publicize the
  work of The Crusaders, a national organization engaged in helping to end
  the federal prohibition against liquor.
          During the summer of 1931 Jim and his flashy yellow-and-black
  Lockheed were very much in the public eye, dashing from city to city on
  record shattering flights.  The ship was one of the first Altairs, a
  low-winged speed package with retractable landing gear.  It was named THE
  CRUSADER and carried the anti-Prohibition group's big shield emblem.
          Hall first beat Roscoe Turner's 1930 Canada-Mexico mark, flying
  the Vancouver-Aqua Caliente route in 7 hours, 48 minutes, 31 seconds.
  Next he clipped 46 minutes from Frank Hawks's New York-Havana record.
  covering the 1,400 miles nonstop in 8 hours and 35 minutes, Hall
  subsisted on only two oranges.  He was handed a Cuban cocktail when he
  climbed out at Havana.
          "This alone was worth the trip," remarked Jim gratefully.  "How
  about another?"...   [pp.102-103]

            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  PICTURE:  They helped to make it one small world: chance meeting at the
            Lockheed factory in 1935 gives (l.-r.) Amelia Earhart, Wiley
            Post, Roscoe Turner and Laura Ingalls a professional look at
            WINNIE MAE'S faithful Wasp.  [p.117]


            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  PICTURE:  Irrepressible Roscoe finds space to plug Christmas for a
            California newspaper in 1929, decorates the tail of his
            streamlined Vega Sirius with likeness of a mascot [turtle] that
            belies his ship's- and his airline's- records.  [p.124]

          ...Nevada Airlines, Inc., is another name little known today.
  Organized in 1929 to fly from Los Angeles to Reno, it also operated a
  route from the divorce capital to Las Vegas.  Among its officers were
  former Lockheed executives Ben S. Hunter and Ray Boggs of Los Angeles.
  Nevada's manager of operations was the incomparable Roscoe Turner, just
  beginning to make his name synonymous with speed.
          Roscoe organized the line, flew its planes, publicized it every
  chance he got.  Nevada's backers supplied four Vegas powered by Pratt &
  Whitney Wasp engines.  With a 3 1/2- hour run for the 475 miles between
  L.A. and Reno, Turner was certain the schedule could be stepped up.
  "Nevada," proclaimed Roscoe, "will be the fastest airline in the world."
  There is little doubt but that it was.
          The flamboyant manager of operations chose the oldest of his four
  Vegas to streamline and make into a showpiece for attracting attention
  and business to the airline.  This was the first of F.C.Hall's WINNIE
  MAES, the one flown briefly by Wiley Post and sold back to the factory
  during a period when the oilman had no need for it.  When Roscoe Turner
  flew the ship it was the SIRIUS, and had the first cowl and pants to be
  sported on a Vega used as a commercial transport.
          This was before Turner had acquired Gilmore the lion, but his
  fondness for mascots was asserting itself.  He carried a rabbit's foot, a
  teddy bear and a live turtle on his flights, and a likeness of the turtle
  adorned the tail of the airplane.
          Roscoe maintained far from a turtle's pace in promoting Nevada
  Airlines.  Just to prove that full transcontinental passenger service
  was feasible, he flew the SIRIUS from Los Angeles to New York in 19 hours
  and 53 minutes, with four stops en route.  Behind him in the cabin sat
  a police lieutenant, a navigator (the then-unknown Australian named
  Harold Gatty), a mechanic, and a reporter.  Even with load of four and
  the turtle, the plane made the trip only a couple of hours behind the
  existing nonstop record set earlier in the year by Captain Frank Hawks's
  Lockheed Air Express.
          At Cleveland in September of '29 Turner placed third in the
  closed-course, 50-mile event of the National Air Races, and the name of
  Nevada Airlines was spread by newspapers and movie newsreels from coast
  to coast.
          Back out West, Reno was popular as a resort, and big-name stars
  of the movies flew up with Roscoe and his fellow pilots in the 4-place,
  star-named Vegas, proud to be traveling on the "Fastest in the World."
  Boxoffice luminaries like Loretta Young, Joan Bennett, Clark Gable and
  Fred MacMurray hopped up to Reno, not necessarily to shed a spouse.
  Still, since many of the customers had in mind the tossing of a ring in
  the Truckee River after their decrees were awarded, Nevada Airlines got
  the nickname of The Alimony Special.  Among the other pilots was "Little
  Jack" O'Brien, decked out like Roscoe in a uniform complete with Sam
  Browne belt.
          During nearly a year of operation, Turner's pioneer effort put
  air transport in the public eye, flew nearly a thousand miles a day,
  never had a forced landing, never hurt a passenger.  The closest they
  came to recording an injury was the time an irate wife chased her husband
  into a Vega.  As he cowered behind a seat she pummeled him with an
  umbrella and berated him for losing a bundle at the gaming halls in Reno.
          If it had not been for the financial crash of 1929, the Fastest
  Airline In The World might have kept going and expanded into the big
  time.  It quietly folded, though, and Lockheed reluctantly repossessed
  Nevada's speedy little fleet, and Roscoe Turner went on to greater
  flying achievements....  [p.123-124]

            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
          ...However, it was the airlines crisscrossing the United States
  of Mexico that made fullest use of Lockheeds as passenger- and
  cargo-carriers.  For two decades nearly forty of the strong, sleek ships
  would be a familiar sight on dusty flying fields from Nogales on the
  Sonora-Arizona border down to Chetumal in the Yucatan Peninsula.
          Theodore T. Hull of Los Angeles brought the first Vegas into the
  country in 1929.  Hull, a thirty-six-year-old banker with a private
  pilot's license, had got the idea of servicing the Republic with an
  airline while on a flying tour of Latin America.  He reasoned that making
  the big jump of converting Mexican transportation from slow rail and even
  slower muleback to airplanes would be an excellent business proposition.
          In the lush days of early 1929 there were enought financial
  backers in the United States who agreed with him....
          Hull didn't economize on aircraft and he didn't economize on
  talent, either.  He wanted experienced men who could start and run a
  sizable air network right from scratch.  The majority of C.A.T.'s
  [Coporacion Aeronautica de Transportes, S.A.] orginal personnel were
  North Americans: ...and, among the ...other Yankee pilots, "Little Jack"
  O'Brien, formerly of Roscoe Turner's Nevada Airlines....  [p.146]

            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  PICTURE:  Tactful Mister Turner sheds his uniform to deliver the Navy's
            new Altair command transport to Anacostia  [p.162]

          ...With all the activity going on in the Army, it was not like
  the Navy to be hesitant in acquiring a command transport of its own.
  Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Aeronautics was young David S.
  Ingalls.  Largely at his instigation, a new metal Altair was purchased
  from Detroit-Lockheed in October 1931.  The Navy went its rival service
  one better, and hung a 625-hp Wright Cyclone power plant on the nose.
          Secretary Ingalls wanted to see naval aviation give some
  consideration to a plane with retractable landing gear, and the Lockheed
  was the first U.S. Navay aircraft to be so equipped.  It was also the
  first low-wing monoplane in naval service, with the exception of imported
  Junkers float planes and a racer.
          The Altair was tested by Marshall Headle before being flown East
  for delivery by none other than Roscoe Turner.  Instead of his pale-blue
  uniform with its Sam Browne belt, the irrepressible Roscoe handled the
  ferry flight dressed in a dark business suit, derby hat, spats and
  gloves....  [p.162]

            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
          ...Mention has already been made of Roscoe Turner, his lion cub
  Gilmore, and their work in publicizing California's Gilmore Oil Company.
  On July 16, 1930- three weeks after making a new cross-continent record-
  man, lion and Air Express set a new mark for the three-nation flight from
  Vancouver, British Columbia, nonstop to Aqua Caliente, Baja California,
  Mexico, of 9 hours, 14 minutes and 30 seconds.
          Even when not breaking records, the two made a stellar publicity
  team.  At the best hotels they simply signed the register "Roscoe and
  Gilmore,"  and were universally accepted.  Unfortunately the lion grew
  fast, and soon his 500-pound bulk was more payload than Roscoe could
  afford to carry.
          After 25,000 miles of flying, Gilmore had to be grounded, and was
  put on exhibit in a special enclosure on the gorunds of the United Air
  Terminal in Burbank.  Among the crowds that flocked about his cage, the
  lion could always sense the presence of either Turner or his longtime
  mechanic, Don Young, and had a special type of growl to greet them.  But
  the uncanny thing was that, among the hundreds of planes that put down
  and took off from the terminal, Gilmore ALWAYS came alert with
  recognition on the arrival or departure of the Lockheed in which he'd
  flown so many miles.  Since it was the only Air Express flying in the
  area, perhaps he recognized it with a special lion's sixth sense, or by
  some peculiar swish of the parasol wing inaudible to human ears.
          Eventually, title to the sturdy Air Express went to Colonel
  Roscoe Turner himself, and when not flying racers he used it for personal
  transportation for eight years.  Through an arrangement with the
  Macmillan Petroleum Corporation of Long Beach, California, he flew the
  ship as ROSCOE TURNER'S MACMILLAN RING-FREE EXPRESS and publicized their
  products as he had those of Gilmore Oil.  Roscoe had quite an affection
  for the ship and referred to it as "my baby."  Finally, after eleven
  years of rough service, the plane was declared unairworthy, and Don Young
  reluctantly dismantled and scrapped it.
          And Gilmore?
          Since the lion had so long been his companion and friend, Roscoe
  Turner put Gilmore in a Los Angeles private zoo, and paid for his upkeep
  for over twenty-five years.  When the famous lion died in 1957, his pilot
  arranged for a taxidermist's services and flew Gilmore east to a
  permanent resting place in the Turner Trophy Room at his Indianopolis
  home.
          "He's not one of the trophies," explains Roscoe.  "The trophies
  belong to him as much as they do to me."...  [p.166]

            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      Source:  Richard Sanders Allen.  REVOLUTION IN THE SKY-- THOSE
               FABULOUS LOCKHEEDS AND THE PILOTS WHO FLEW THEM.
               Brattleboro, VT: Stephen Green Press, 1967.




      Data transcription by:  Milton Sandy, Jr. May 10, 1993.