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enemy-controlled seaways. Consairway rapidly expanded into a major ferrying operation which delivered flight crews and material to combat zones. Beatty invented the use of barometric readings to adjust flight paths en route over the
Pacific, now a standard fuel conservation practice. His training of pilots from experience in mountainous terrain proved especially critical in the Pacific theater as air routes over the
236:) carried the craft above 26,000 feet, setting an altitude record for a passenger flight in an unpressurized cabin. The passengers and crew used breathing tubes connected to oxygen tanks, but when the incident prolonged the flight, the oxygen was reserved for the crew only, causing the passengers to lose consciousness. The pass is sometimes called "Beatty Pass" in recognition of his development of the route.
411:, where he was surrounded by his Amazonian artifacts and other mementos of aviation and exploring. The OX-5 Aviation Pioneers named him their "Man of the Year" in 1973. Architect Fritz Woehle was given Beatty's permission to reconstruct the decor of his living room as part of an exhibit at the Birmingham Festival of Arts' 1975 Salute to
415:. In 1978 he and his wife agreed to donate their nearly 300 Jivaro artifacts to the Smithsonian Institution, which previously had only a small collection of Stirling's souvenirs from the 1930s expedition. The donation led to the couple being awarded the James Smithson Medal, the Smithsonian's highest honor.
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Nevertheless, his experience and the geographical and detailed flight information he recorded allowed Beatty to develop air routes and safety practices for commercial flights across the mountains. He implemented the first system for air-to-ground voice communications and his recommendation for pilots
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As his involvement at Platt-LePage waned, Beatty pursued numerous patents for new inventions, primarily relating to electronic circuits for communications. The first invention to go to market, however, was a type of highway signage that would indicate progress along the route and the expected travel
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head resulted, to their horror, in them witnessing the process performed on the head of their former packbearer, Sunga. Beatty occasionally used his radio equipment and
Stirling used a kit of chemical substances to awe and frighten the natives. Eventually the expedition boarded rafts for the long
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on the second floor of the
Matthews Electric building. He used the station to broadcast weather reports to the few receiver-equipped pilots in range and had his flying student and girlfriend Mary Alice Gatling play the piano in the broadcast booth (presumably the first live broadcast of music in
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Beatty was awarded the first patent for a circuit to allow telephone callers to leave messages when calls were unanswered. Utilizing a wire recorder, the device was marketed as the "Tele-Mat" telecorder by the
Pentron Corporation and sold for $ 250; located in the Atwell Building (designed by
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to direct its flight testing and delivery operations worldwide. The program he set up in 1941 between
California and Australia was designated "Consairway" and, using precautionary protocols Beatty initiated, the civilian-crewed program suffered no losses in its hundreds of flights across
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to report their grid-square location at 5-minute intervals was widely adopted and is credited with saving many lives. Another recommendation to vary routes seasonally to avoid dangerous climate conditions was also instrumental in making commercial flights viable in mountainous regions.
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monoplane wearing an early pressurized flight suit for his hundreds of search flights over the mountains. The site was buried in snow throughout Beatty's search and finally found by prospecting natives after an unusually warm summer.
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after his equipment was damaged by a lightning strike. He landed successfully and dropped anchor. After receiving fuel and supplies from another seaplane, he successfully took off in the rough seas and completed the flight.
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in 1951 and was made head of the company's research and development in electronic equipment in 1958. While there he patented the "Gain-Adjusting Audio Level
Terminator" (GAALT), a solid-state amplifier used to improve the
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In 1931 Beatty re-launched his ambitions for an expedition to South
America, adding the enticement of exploration of the interior of the continent to his plans. He secured the cooperation of Major Leslie Barbrook of the
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even adapted the technology to allow for sending company signals through its power lines, eliminating the need for separate telephone communications (a parallel to its earlier adoption of Beatty's radio station.)
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hired him to construct and install wireless (radio) telegraphy equipment along its steamer routes in Asia. He reportedly constructed the first voice radio station in mainland China during that engagement.
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Beatty, Donald C. (June 10, 1958) "Automatic, circuit-condition-change-responsive, on-off control for loudspeaking telephone and the like." Patent No. 3,041,411 granted June 26, 1962
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36:(United States). He began his flying career as a teenager by soloing a small plane he constructed himself with a motorcycle engine at his grandfather's farm near
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communications satellite launched on August 12, 1960 and has found its way into a wide range of orbiting and terrestrial signaling devices ever since. The
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time to the next destination city. His "Minute Maps", as they were called, were put into service on several routes in
Alabama and the mid-Atlantic.
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on June 16, 1916. The flight ended with a crash landing. Not long afterward he designed and constructed a hand-powered submarine which he sank in
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Stirling, M. W. (1938) "Historical and
Ethnographical Material on the Jivaro Indians." Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology,
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Beatty, Donald C. (January 27, 1956) "Sound amplifying apparatus for telephone and like circuits." Patent No. 2,826,636 granted March 11, 1958
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Beatty, Donald C. (March 4, 1949) "Apparatus for delivering and receiving telephone messages." Patent No. 2,539,565 granted
January 30, 1951
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Beatty, Donald C. (July 23, 1948) "Apparatus for delivering and receiving telephone messages." Patent No. 2,525,763 granted October 17, 1950
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to oversee Consolidated's modification of aircraft for leasing to European powers. In order to overcome a bottleneck in outfitting the
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Beatty, Donald C. (February 9, 1954) "Sound amplifying apparatus for telephone circuits." Patent No. 2,786,099 granted March 19, 1957
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for financing. With a $ 25,000 check in hand he and his wife attended the christening of the "Simon Bolivar" amphibious airplane at
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and a few fellow aviators to form the "Birmingham Flying Club" in 1919 at their own "Roberts Field". The unit was recognized as the
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Alabama). An improved radio circuit Beatty developed for the station was the subject of his first U. S. patent, awarded in 1922.
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in electronic communications. The device was widely adopted, even appearing on the Kennedy Presidential Train. It was used by
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Beatty, Donald C. (November 6, 1963) "Self-regulating compression amplifier." Patent No. 3,275,946 granted September 27, 1966
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Beatty suffered a stroke on his 80th birthday and died in Birmingham three months later, on July 12, 1980. He was buried at
346:, the Pentron Corp. was one of the largest producers of audio tape recorders carried under the brand names of such firms as
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Beatty, Donald C. (September 17, 1945) "Road sign with location indicator." Patent No. 2,492,679 granted December 27, 1949
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In addition to their photographs, the expedition collected numerous artifacts and live animal specimens. A "tiger cub" (
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Beatty, Donald C. (August 2, 1961) "Gain-adjusting audio level terminator." Patent No. 3,182,137 granted May 4, 1965
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362:. Beatty's other telephone-related innovations included the first automated dialer and a hands-free telephone set.
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and submitted as the official nominee of the Alabama Wing. Submission form reproduced in Beatty-1998
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559:"Donald Croom Beatty" nomination to the OX5 Aviation Pioneers Hall of Fame (1975) sponsored by
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on July 1, 1939 and made reports on all non-military aviation incidents in the western states.
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reporter, as historian. Hopes for the flight, which were widely publicized, were dashed by the
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In 1933, while Beatty was piloting a Panagra passenger flight from Los Cerillos airfield in
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route selecting, a more efficient method of air navigation for long, over-water flights.
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In 1921 Beatty constructed Alabama's first experimental voice radio station, then called
29:(April 11, 1900 – July 12, 1980) was an American aviator, explorer, and inventor.
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unit, on January 21, 1922. Beatty qualified as a military pilot at
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Beatty was the son of Isaac Beatty, Jr and Hughie Duffee Beatty of
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Beatty was inducted into the Alabama Aviation Hall of Fame at the
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Donald Croom Beatty: Alabama's Aviator, Explorer, and Inventor'
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and, in 1924, was commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant in the
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at age 17. He was sent to the Navy Radio School set up at
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In 1929, Beatty recruited investors from Birmingham and
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Beatty signed on as the first employee of Birmingham's
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in 1982 and the Alabama Men's Hall of Fame in 1992.
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365:Beatty is also credited as one of the pioneers of
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531:"Alabama Men's Hall of Fame, Donald Croom Beatty"
138:and William Stirling, chief ethnologist for the
570:. Huntsville, Alabama: Albright & Company
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674:People from Elizabeth City, North Carolina
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504:"ELECTRONICS EXECUTIVE IRV ROSSMAN, 81"
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294:Meanwhile, Beatty himself relocated to
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478:"The Buildings of Alfred S. Alschuler"
573:Carmichael, Mary Alice Beatty (1998)
480:. CommunityWalk. 2014. Archived from
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590:at the Alabama Aviation Hall of Fame
313:In 1944 Beatty left to work for the
659:People from Mountain Brook, Alabama
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306:flight crew training facility in
669:American aviation record holders
644:Marion Military Institute alumni
278:, Beatty accepted an offer from
679:20th-century American inventors
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315:Platt-LePage Aircraft Company
154:on October 18 of that year.
94:United States Army Air Corps
19:For the American judge, see
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265:Civil Aeronautics Authority
239:In 1935 Beatty, piloting a
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566:Beatty, Mary Alice (1986)
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427:Southern Museum of Flight
128:Wall Street Crash of 1929
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49:Marion Military Institute
269:Santa Monica, California
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319:Eddystone, Pennsylvania
140:Smithsonian Institution
639:20th-century explorers
506:. ChicagoTribune. 1993
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654:Explorers of Amazonia
396:Alabama Power Company
384:Signal-to-noise ratio
284:San Diego, California
280:Consolidated Aircraft
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234:Clear-air turbulence
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484:on February 5, 2017
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367:barometric
90:Montgomery
289:Himalayas
510:June 25,
390:for the
360:Motorola
152:New York
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308:Bermuda
304:Convair
274:Before
205:Panagra
159:Ecuador
38:Tarrant
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