HERE’S
A 1928 PIECE
OF EARLY AVIATION HISTORY.
A Celluloid
Pinback Commemorating the pilot
of the Fokker Trimotor "Friendship"
on June 18, 1928, when Amelia
Earhart became the first woman
passenger to cross the Atlantic
Ocean by airplane.
Distinguished Pioneer Pilot During the Golden Age of Aviation
WILMER
LOWER STULZ
(1900 – Killed-in-Crash 1929)
·
EARLY
AVIATION PIONEER – ONE OF THE EARLY BIRDS OF AVIATION!
·
MADE THE
FIRST NON-STOP FLIGHT IN THE COLUMBIA BETWEEN NEW YORK CITY AND HAVANA,
CUBA (C. 1300 MI.) ON MARCH 5,
1928,
·
PILOT OF
THE FOKKER TRIMOTOR "FRIENDSHIP" ON JUNE 18, 1928, WHEN AMELIA
EARHART BECAME THE FIRST WOMAN
PASSENGER TO CROSS THE ATLANTIC
OCEAN BY AIRPLANE, AND
· KILLED IN A CRASH WHILE STUNTING AT ROOSEVELT FIELD IN MINEOLA, NEW YORK ON JULY 1, 1929, TWO PASSENGERS WERE ALSO KILLED.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES: W. L.
STULTZ
Wilmer Lower Stultz (April 11, 1900 – July 1, 1929) was an aviator who made the first non-stop flight between New York City and Havana, Cuba. He flew Amelia Earhart when she became the first woman to make a trans-Atlantic flight. He died in a crash in 1929.
Srtultz was
born in Williamsburg, Pennsylvania, on April 11, 1900.
Stultz
joined the United States Army Air Force on 22 August 1917 and was assigned to
the 634th Aero Supply Squadron, reaching the rank of Sergeant. He was
discharged on 31 March 1919. Stultz then joined the United States Naval Air
Service in December that year, training at Pensacola, Florida. He served
at Hampton Roads, Virginia, testing the F5L flying boat.
On March 5,
1928, Stultz, Oliver Colin LeBoutillier, and Mabel
Boll on an improvised seat, made
the first non-stop flight in the Columbia between
New York City and Havana,
Cuba (c. 1300 mi.).
Stultz was
the pilot of the Fokker
Trimotor "Friendship" on June
18, 1928, when Amelia
Earhart became the first woman
passenger to cross the Atlantic
Ocean by airplane.
Stultz was
killed in a crash at Roosevelt Field in Mineola,
New York on July 1, 1929. Two
passengers were also killed. It was firstly reported that he had been
intoxicated on the flight, but later he was vindicated of the charge. He was
buried in the Presbyterian
Cemetery in Williamsburg, Pennsylvania.
Stultz Field in Tipton, Pennsylvania, was named in his honor.
Stultz was
married to Mildred Potts of Middletown,
Pennsylvania, on August 4, 1919.
WILMER
LOWER STULZ – EARLY BIRD OF AVIATION
Born in Williamsburg on April 11, 1900,
Wilmer Stultz joined the US Army Air Force in August of 1917 assigned to the
634th Aero Supply Squadron reaching the rank of sergeant. He was discharged on
March 31, 1919. Then, he joined the US Naval Air Service in December of
that year, training at Pensacola, FL.
He conducted the tests made on the
“Josephine Ford” plane in which Commander Richard Boyd made his famous journey
to the North Pole.
Following his discharge from the Navy Air
Service in 1923, he assembled and reconditioned a shipment of planes purchased
from The Curtiss Company by the Brazilian Navy Air Service.
During his stay in Brazil, he was elected
to the membership in The Aero Club of Brazil,
His reputation as a flier first assumed
national importance during the fall of 1927 when Commander Byrd approached him
requesting him to serve as assistant pilot on Byrd’s proposed South Pole
flight.
On March 5, 1928, Stultz, Oliver Colin
LeBoutillier and Mabel Boll made the first non-stop flight between New York
City and Havana, Cuba. Then, he was the pilot of the Fokker Tri-motor
“Friendship” on June 18, 1928, when Amelia Earhart became the first woman to
cross the Atlantic Ocean by plane.
Earhart became the first woman to cross
the Atlantic by air when she accompanied Stultz and mechanic Louis Edward
Gordon as a passenger aboard “Friendship”. They had departed from
Trepassey Harbor, Newfoundland, and arrived at Burry Point on the southwest
coast of Wales, twenty hours and forty minutes later.
Donald Woodward, heir to the Jell-o
Corporation, leased the airplane to Mrs. Frederick Edward Guest (nee Anne T.
Phipps aka Amy Phipps) for her to cross the Atlantic Ocean by air. She chose
the name Friendship for the plane. Mrs Guest was the daughter of Henry Phipps
Jr, an American Industrialist, and married Captain Frederick Edward Guest, a
prominent British politician and former Secretary of State for Air and a member
of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council.
Amy Phipps Guest, however, was a
multi-billionaire in her own right. Stultz and Gordon had been hired to fly the
plane. When her family ruled out her transoceanic journey, “An American girl of
the right type” was selected to make the flight in her place. Miss Amelia
Mary Earhart, a social worker, living in Boston, was interviewed and was the
candidate selected. Although Earhart was a pilot with approximately 500
hours of flight experience, she didn’t act as a pilot on this flight.
Stultz had his share of narrow
escapes. In 1924, he was forced to jump from an aircraft (presumably with
a parachute) at a low altitude because of low weather and fog that came about
unexpectedly.
In September 1928, he made the first-ever
loop in a twelve-passenger amphibian. His passenger was Carl Schneider, a
German war ace (WWI). At 1,200 feet, Schneider suggested the loop. They
fastened their belts, opened the engines, dived to 140 MPH, and executed the
loop. Fortunately, the airplane held together despite not being designed
for aerobatics.
On July 1, 1929, at about 12:30 pm at
Roosevelt Field, Stultz took off with two acquaintances as passengers in a Waco
Taperwing. Stultz executed a roll and recovered at about 250 feet. The airplane
had only been in the air for about fifteen minutes and was at two hundred feet
when it began to climb again, slowed, began sliding backward in the manner of
the “Falling Leaf” maneuver, rotated nose down, and plunged into the
ground. Both passengers were killed immediately and Stultz died shortly
after he arrived at the hospital.
The Newark Star Eagle of July 5, 1929,
headlined, “Stultz Very Drunk at Time of Death in Plane with Friends” and reported,
“there was a large amount of alcohol in the stomach and brain...and the
conclusion was the man was very drunk at the time of his death.” He is
buried in the Presbyterian Cemetery in Williamsburg.
Stultz Field in Tipton, Pa., was named in
his honor. However, when Paul Peterson Jr. was killed at the field when
he slipped on ice while propping a plane, his father Paul Sr. had the field
renamed Peterson Field.
Source: Authored by Eric Shields | Oct 10, 2024 [online]
The
pinback features a photograph of Stultz.
NOTE: The document comes with the biographical sheets/articles pictured in the listing photos.
A FINE ADDITION TO
YOUR AMERICAN AVIATION HISTORY COLLECTION.
I am a proud member of the Universal Autograph Collectors Club
(UACC), The Ephemera Society of America, the Manuscript Society & the
American Political Items Collectors (APIC) (member name: John Lissandrello). I
subscribe to each organizations' code of ethics and authenticity is guaranteed.
~Providing quality service & historical memorabilia online for over 25
years.~
WE ONLY SELL GENUINE ITEMS, i.e., NO REPRODUCTIONS, FAKES OR COPIES!