211:(September 3 that year), was too short – eight and a third miles (13.4 km) rather than the more customary ten miles (16 km) to make the race easier for the audience to follow – and that "Someone may get killed this afternoon." This proved to be prophetic. Davis was leading on the eighth lap, but missed a pylon. He banked to turn around and try to pass the pylon properly, only to stall and crash into the ground, dying instantly out of sight of the 60,000 spectators. He was 35 years old. The announcer lied and told the crowd he had bailed out.
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180:, dubbed the "Mystery Ship" by the press because its development had been kept a closely guarded secret. On September 2, 1929, he flew it to a win in event 26, a free-for-all speed contest – five laps of a triangular 10-mile (16 km) course – at the
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candy bar. Davis had previously worked for
Schnering, promoting his product by dropping the candy bars, attached to paper parachutes, from his airplane. In 1923, he created a national uproar by flying low between buildings in the business district of
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After his discharge in 1919, Davis purchased a surplus government Jenny, which he named "Glenna Mae" after his future wife, and turned to barnstorming in the southeastern United States. Eventually he sold the Jenny and bought three
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trainer rather than fighting the enemy in the skies over France. A superior informed him, "There’s a shortage of capable instructors and you’re needed here to teach others to fly." He trained under and was a friend of the
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in 1946. (The Doug Davis hangar was recreated in early 2015 at the
Candler Field Museum.) He set up an aviation school there, the Douglas Davis Flying Service. He also ran a charter service between Atlanta and
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from
Burbank to Cleveland (to compete in the National Air Races) at a speed of 216.24 miles per hour (348.00 km/h) in nine hours, 26 minutes and 43 seconds. Movie star
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Davis was also an accomplished air racer. In the 1928 Atlanta Air Races, he won or placed second in every race. In 1929, Travel Air got him to race its new airplane, the
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biplanes, all advertising "Baby Ruth", as well as a sign on the hangar in the background for "The
Douglas Davis Flying Service ... and School of Aviation"
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In 1926 or 1927, Davis constructed the first permanent aircraft hangar at
Candler Field, a converted auto speedway near Atlanta, which eventually became
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Flying Circus. Eventually the two merged and formed the Baby Ruth Flying Circus in 1924, sponsored by Otto
Schnering. Schnering was the founder of the
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70:. He graduated at the top of his class and was commissioned a second lieutenant. To his disappointment, Davis was made an instructor, flying a
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at a speed of 194.90 miles per hour (313.66 km/h). His civilian airplane was the first to defeat military aircraft. In 1934, he won the
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At the
National Air Races, he complained that the course for the last and biggest competition, the Thompson Trophy Race, held on
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140:. It made a big impression on the boy; he later said, "From that day on, I knew I had to fly." Tibbets would go on to pilot the
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His son, Doug Davis Jr., was six at the time of his father's death. He would become a successful painter before dying in an
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in 1917, Davis left school in his senior year without obtaining his diploma and enlisted in the
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at nasa.gov, including a photograph of
Candler Field, showing three of Davis's
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Cleveland's
Greatest Disasters!: 16 Tragic True Tales of Death and Destruction
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128:. In Miami in 1927, a candy distributor got Davis to let his 12-year-old son,
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Davis was inducted into the OX5 Club of
America Hall of Fame in 1972 and the
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Griffin, Georgia: We Could Have Been Famous... Volume 2: Heroes, 1890-1949
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He formed the Doug Davis Flying Circus, and through the early 1920s, his
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Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States
30:(November 12, 1898 – September 3, 1934) was an early American aviator,
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164:) and piloted the first commercial airline flight from Atlanta to
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230:, Paris, on June 3, 1962, at about the same age as his father.
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Old Glory Stories: American Combat Leadership in World War II
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Davis married Glenna Mae D'Hollosay on December 25, 1925.
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Article "Commercial Flight Opens Unlimited Opportunities"
491:. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. pp. 153–155.
640:"1929 National Air Races and Aeronautical Exposition"
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United States Army Air Service pilots of World War I
355:"Doug Davis – Air Racer, Barnstormer, Airline Pilot"
781:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1934
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664:. Hearst Magazines. September 1976. p. 137.
253:in 1991. There is a statue of him beside one of
124:weekend in 1926, he did the same promotion over
382:. Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame. Archived from
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771:Military personnel from Georgia (U.S. state)
550:"Pilot launched Atomic Age over Hiroshima"
83:Barnstorming and other business activities
38:, flight instructor and commercial pilot.
520:. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. p.
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470:"HR 1445 – Davis, Doug, Sr.; commend"
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301:. Lulu Press, Inc. pp. 319–321.
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410:. Gray & Company. p. 106.
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622:"Travel Air Model R, 1/16th scale"
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736:American aerospace businesspeople
204:gave him his $ 5400 prize check.
548:Eric Malnic (November 2, 2007).
62:When the United States entered
604:"Davis, Douglas H., 1900-1934"
380:"Douglas H. Davis (1899–1934)"
353:Staff writer (April 1, 2003).
68:United States Army Air Service
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626:National Air and Space Museum
259:National Air and Space Museum
251:Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame
244:Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame
146:dropped the first atomic bomb
776:People from Zebulon, Georgia
476:. Georgia General Assembly.
295:Cobb, KyL (April 2, 2016).
224:Air France Boeing 707 crash
120:distributing candy. On the
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756:American aviation pioneers
487:Kingseed, Cole C. (2006).
153:Atlanta Municipal Airfield
676:"1934 National Air Races"
142:Boeing B-29 Superfortress
111:, which manufactured the
512:Marx, Joseph L. (1967).
194:Wedell-Williams Model 44
658:"Air Racing Roars Back"
445:Early Birds of Aviation
242:Plaque of Davis at the
138:Hialeah Park Race Track
570:"Candler Field Museum"
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109:Curtiss Candy Company
72:Curtiss JN-4D "Jenny"
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172:Air racing and death
136:to the crowd at the
741:American air racers
608:Delta Flight Museum
516:Seven Hours to Zero
261:in Washington, DC.
158:Birmingham, Alabama
52:Griffin High School
28:Douglas Henry Davis
23:Douglas Henry Davis
574:peachstateaero.com
255:Eddie Rickenbacker
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182:National Air Races
46:Davis was born in
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662:Popular Mechanics
555:Los Angeles Times
498:978-1-59114-440-3
178:Travel Air Type R
162:Eastern Air Lines
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761:Barnstormers
711:Find a Grave
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582:. Retrieved
578:the original
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474:legis.ga.gov
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441:"Doug Davis"
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388:. Retrieved
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130:Paul Tibbets
126:Coney Island
101:barnstorming
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731:1934 deaths
726:1898 births
680:airrace.com
644:airrace.com
192:, flying a
64:World War I
58:World War I
32:barnstormer
720:Categories
707:Doug Davis
584:2017-11-28
390:2017-11-27
265:References
228:Orly Field
118:Pittsburgh
105:Mabel Cody
94:Travel Air
42:Early life
209:Labor Day
186:Cleveland
113:Baby Ruth
36:air racer
530:4050364
257:in the
701:Waco 9
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234:Honors
134:Waco 9
144:that
90:Wacos
526:OCLC
493:ISBN
412:ISBN
303:ISBN
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184:in
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
