Plans Made For Air Meet Here May 24. Many Planes to Visit Airport; Speed Holman To Do Stunts. An aerial demonstration of considerable size will be held at the Grand Forks Municipal airport on the afternoon of Friday, May 24, with “Speed” Holman, noted St. Paul aviator, scheduled to do his sensational outside loop as the main feature of the day’s events, and with twenty of more St. Paul and other northwest planes taking part in the show. The air show will be a part of the second St. Paul to Winnipeg air tour, according to a decision reached on Monday by directors of the Grand Forks Commercial club who accepted the proposal of Winnipeg and St. Paul representatives to take part in the tour. The northwest group will take part, upon arriving in Winnipeg on the morning of May 25, in one of Canada’s greatest air shows with planes from all parts of Canada entered in addition to the northwest group which will stop off in Grand Forks, it was announced. A two-day celebration will be held in Winnipeg, May 24 being Dominion day and May 25, International day.
Many Planes Expected. Fifteen to twenty planes from St. Paul are expected to be in Grand Forks for the program here which will be the only stop on the hop from the Twin Cities to Canada, as well as planes from other northwest cities, including Fergus Falls, Minn. Holman, for the purpose of doing the dangerous “outside loop” which has only been executed in two cities in the United States previous to this time, will bring to Grand Forks his speedy Laird plane as well as an all-metal Hamilton machine. Other planes from St. Paul expected to be here, are several Husky training ships, a clipped wing Waco, Curtiss Robbins, and planes from the 109th aerial squadron. Details of the coming aviation show are now being worked out by the aviation committee of the Grand Forks Commercial club. Arrangements for the show will include further work on the airport to get it in the best possible condition for the many planes which will use the airport at that time. (Grand Forks Herald, Tuesday, May 7, 1929, Volume XLVIII, Number 158, Page 2)
Grand Forks’ Biggest Aerial Demonstration Will Be Held Friday. Thirty Planes on St. Paul Winnipeg Trip Will Join Local Ships Exhibition. “Speed Holman” Will Do Outside Loop Over Municipal Port; Flying Congressman M. J. Maas Of Minnesota Will Be With Aviators. Grand Forks, which has recently been termed the “air capital of the northwest,” will have its biggest aviation day on Friday, May 24, when thirty or more planes in the St. Paul-Winnipeg air tour will take part, from noon until dark in a big air demonstration at the Grand Forks municipal airport. Local Planes in Tour. Both George P. Reynolds, president of the Master Aeronautical corporation of this city and J. P. Hofstad, local plane owner, expect to have planes entered for the trip. Preparations are going ahead steadily in this city and at the flying field for the reception of the group of northwest planes, piloted by some of the outstanding pilots of the United States and led by Charles “Speed” Holman, operation manager and crack pilot of the Northwest Airways, in the big pathfinder plane. The ships will range in size from the huge Stanolind and the 12-passenger tri-motored transports to a tiny monoplane. Several planes from outside the Twin Cities, including three planes from Grand Forks, are expected to join the tour enroute and its sponsors predict that more than 40 will descend upon Winnipeg Saturday, according to Julius Perlt, aviation secretary for the St. Paul Association.
Preparations Being Made. W. W. Blain, secretary of the local Commercial club, and J. M. McNicol, head of the airport committee, state that the airport will be smoothed off and put into as good condition as is possible for the big show. Proper fencing at the airport and preparation of roads leading to and past the flying field is now in progress, and all necessary arrangements for the handling of the crowd which is expected are being made by local groups. All the planes will remain at the airport Friday night and will move on to Winnipeg to take part in Canada’s greatest air show at Winnipeg on Saturday. “Outside Loop” By Holman. “Speed” Holman, one of the world’s greatest stunt pilots, is expected to give visitors at the Grand Forks municipal airport plenty of thrills when he does his famous “outside loop,” the feature stunt of the air show here. This stunt is acclaimed by air pilots as one of the most dangerous and difficult of all aerial maneuvers, the completion of the loop coming from the bottom upward with the pilot on the outside and being completed while the plane is traveling at terrific speed. Holman, who will fly the pathfinder machine, an all-metal Hamilton monoplane, was victor in the transcontinental air derby of 1927, is holder of the world’s barrel roll record and the only commercial pilot to perform the difficult outside loop in a commercial plane. Holman recently made four successive outside loops in an informal stunt exhibition at St. Paul and is expected to demonstrate the stunt on the tour. Gene Shank of St. Paul, former holder of the world’s loop-the-loop record, will also be with the tour. Co-operating with the St. Paul Association of Commerce, which is arranging the tour, are the St. Paul Dispatch and Pioneer Press, which has chartered the Pathfinder plane to be piloted by Holman, and the Square Post of the American Legion and Contact club of St. Paul.
Leave St. Paul Friday. The tour will open officially at 7:30 a. m. May 24, when the Pathfinder will leave the ground for the northward flight. Others will leave at brief intervals, beginning at 8:30 a. m. The Pathfinder will carry R. J. Dunlap, managing editor of the St. Paul Dispatch and Pioneer Press, who will bear greetings from Governor Christianson of Minnesota to Premier John Bracken of Manitoba, and from Mayor L. C. Hodgson of St. Paul to Mayor McLain of Winnipeg. In this plane also will be Julius Perlt, aviation secretary of the St. Paul Association, tour manager. Congressman Melvin J. Maas, a licensed pilot, termed the “flying congressman,” will come from Washington in an army plane and will accompany the tourists northward. He is a member of the aeronautics committee of the national house. Planes following the Pathfinder will be led by Major Ray Miller, commander of the 109th Minnesota National Guard air squadron and referee of the tour. Major Miller will fly one of the three squadron ships assigned to the tour. The United States naval aviation unit stationed in the Twin Cities will have service planes under the leadership of Lieutenant F. E. Weld.
“Stanolind” With Tour. Noteworthy among the group of visiting planes will be the Stanolind II, huge, new all-metal cabin monoplane of the Standard Oil company, which will bring members of the St. Paul city council to Grand Forks. The big tri-motored ship which carries two pilots and has a capacity of 16 passengers, was substituted for the old 11-passenger Stanolind which visited Grand Forks last summer. Other aircraft which will make the journey include a Lockheed Vega transport plane of the Universal Airlines; a monocoupe piloted by Mrs. Omlie (Phoebe Fairgrave), first woman to hold a pilot’s license in the United States and former holder of the world’s altitude record for the parachute jump, and privately owned craft from the Twin Cities and other parts of Minnesota. Some of the privately owned planes already entered in the tour include Waco machines flown by Ed Stern, Allan E. Greenman, Carl Luethe, G. F. Cornelius, Al Falk and Carl Morey, all of St. Paul, other Waco machines piloted by J. Harper, of Minneapolis and Chadwich of the Northwest Airways, St. Paul, a Waco-Hisso flown by Ray Bouchard, of Robbinsdale, Minn., an American Eagle flown by Roger Sargent of Duluth, and an Air King piloted by L. Smith and C. Lee of Minneapolis.
Negotiations are under way to enter the tri-motored transport plane of the Universal Airlines early this week. This plane will be piloted by Captain J. F. Westover. The larger ships will fly on an airline to Grand Forks while the smaller planes will deviate slightly to Alexandria, Minn., where arrangements have been made for refueling. All are scheduled to arrive in Grand Forks by noon to take part in the air demonstration here, which is being arranged under the direction of Mr. Blain. (Grand Forks Herald, Sunday, May 19, 1929, Volume XLVIII, Number 169, Page 11)
Local Field Is Ready For Air Visitors. Huge Crowd Expected for Friday; Large Ticket Sale. Preparations for the reception of the St. Paul-Winnipeg air tour which will arrive in Grand Forks about noon Friday, are practically complete and indications are that the event will be the biggest of the kind ever staged in the northwest. Charles “Speed” Holman will lead the air fleet to the Municipal airport here shortly before noon and following the pathfinder thirty of more planes will land to spend the rest of the day here and take part in the aerial demonstration planned for the afternoon. Airport in Fine Shape. Graders worked Wednesday and will continue until Friday smoothing off the field, cutting down all the small bumps and ridges which have developed in the surface, two new culverts are being installed on the airport road and fencing has been completed on the east side of the field, according to Dr. H. W. F. Law of the grounds committee. The sale of tickets to raise money for the staging of the air show is going along in fine shape, according to Secretary W. W. Blain, who is in general charge of arrangements for the program.
Ticket Sale Large. Large numbers of the dollar tickets which are good for entry to the grounds at any time during Friday or Saturday morning, have been bought by persons anxious to boost the business of aviation in Grand Forks which has made such rapid strides during the present year. The ticket solicitors, of course, will not be able to reach everyone before Friday, so Mr. Blain requests that all persons wishing to buy tickets for the air show drop in at the Commercial club rooms on South Fourth street, next to DeMers avenue, and they will be supplied. Local Planes in Tour. Two and possibly three planes from Grand Forks will join the air tour here and accompany it to Winnipeg to take part in the big air show there on Saturday. The two ships already entered from here are the two new Curtiss-Robin cabin monoplanes owned by the Master Aeronautical corporation. George Lowers, chief of staff for the Master concern, will fly one of the Robins and Al Berglund, another Master company pilot will be at the controls of the second machine, according to Geo. B. Reynolds, president of the concern. A third machine, a Travelair biplane, may be entered by John P. Hofstad, local plane operator. The air squadron which comprises a group of ships ranging from the huge 16-passenger Stanolind, carrying two pilots, to a tiny monocoupe, is expected to be at the airport here before noon Friday and the big show will start early in the afternoon.
“Flying Congressman” Coming. Well known people, including public officials and noted fliers will be with the group. Melvin J. Maas, known as the “flying congressman” will fly an army plane in the tour and will be seen here in company with representatives of the St. Paul city council, the St. Paul Dispatch and Pioneer Press, the St. Paul association, the Square Post of the American Legion and Contact club of St. Paul. Outstanding among those who make a business of flying and stunting in the air, is Holman, and close on his heels come Gene Shank, former holder of the world’s loop-the-loop record and Phoebe Fairgrave Omlie, former holder of the world’s parachute jump for women and first licensed woman pilot in the United States. Holman a Sensation. Holman’s sensational air stunting has long been the talk of the town around the Twin Cities, and while in Grand Forks, he has promised to do his most spectacular air maneuver, the “outside loop.” Recently while flying over the St. Paul flying field he did this hair-raising stunt four times in succession. He is the only commercial plane, and always wears a parachute in performing it because of the danger involved in its execution. Gene Shank, another famous “stunter,” will also entertain the crowds. His flying has attracted nation-wide attention in the past few years.
Mrs. Omlie To Be Here. Mrs. Omlie’s entrance into the field of aviation was as sudden as the pull of the rip cord that dropped her into space on her first parachute jump. It was back in 1921 that Phoebe Fairgrave, just out of high school and looking for both a career and excitement, went to the pioneer flying field in St. Paul, founded by the Curtis Northwest Aircraft company and asked for a pilot. She was greeted by Chief Pilot Ray S. Miller, now major in command of the 109th aero squadron, Minnesota National Guard, who also will fly one of the army planes in tour this month. The slight, wiry girl informed Major Miller that she wanted to make a parachute jump and asked him if he would fly her. He replied that he would. Miller took her aloft for her first ride and gave her what he considered a discouraging number and variety of stunts, but the next Sunday the girl came again to the airport this time dragging a borrowed parachute and sought out Vernon C. Omlie, a youthful North Dakota pilot.
Dropped 19,000 Feet. Omlie took her up and she dropped off the wing before a crowd of several thousand persons. Within a year she and Omlie had teamed up and were staging stunt exhibitions. Miss Fairgrave won the world’s altitude jump for women when she leaped from a plane at an altitude of 19,000 feet. After mastering the ordinary wing walking “stunts,” she learned to stand erect on the upper wing of the plane while her pilot put the plane through loops, barrel rolls and other hazardous maneuvers. While barnstorming in the south Miss Fairgrave decided her pilot was as good a companion on the ground as in the air, and the two were married in 1924. After doing stunt work for several years, the pair finally settled in Memphis, where Mrs. Omlie learned to fly her own plane and got a U. S. government pilot license. Mr. and Mrs. Omlie now have a large airplane sales business which requires nearly all their time but she still finds time to represent her company on airplane tours and last year was the only woman piloting a plane on the national air tour across the country from coast to coast. (Grand Forks Herald, Thursday, May 23, 1929, Volume XLVIII, Number 172, Page 11)
Twin City Planes Ready For Flight To Winnipeg Friday. Score of Fliers Will Participate in Annual Good Will Trip. St. Paul – (AP) – More than a score of pilots and fliers were prepared today for their hopoff here tomorrow in the second annual international goodwill air tour to Winnipeg. With the largest and the smallest planes in the tour already here, the fliers will take off Friday in the wake of the pathfinding plane piloted by Charles W. (Speed) Holman. The smallest plane is a monocoupe piloted by Phoebe Fairgrave Omilie, formerly of St. Paul but now of Memphis. Mrs. Omilie arrived here yesterday from Moline, Ill. She is scheduled to be the first to take off after the pathfinder. The largest ship in the tour is the Stanolind, the tri-motored transport plane of the Standard Oil company of Indiana, which will carry members of the city council on the tour. It arrived late yesterday from Chicago, piloted by R. Lamont and J. Phelps. Principals in the air tour will take part in a radio program to be broadcast by KSTP tonight especially for listeners, and Grand Forks, N. D., where the tour will stop before reaching Winnipeg. Julius Perlt, aviation secretary of the St. Paul association, is in charge of the tour which is sponsored by the association in co-operation with the contact club of the Americans and the Square post of the American Legion. Official sanction for the flight over the international boundary was received today from Secretary of State Stimson. The tour will fly over St. Cloud, Minn., it was decided, to assist that city in a three-day celebration opening its new municipal airport. Greetings will be dropped on the new field. (The Winona Republican-Herald, Thursday Evening, May 23, 1929, Volume 29, Number 82, Page 1)
20 Planes Leave St. Paul in Second Good Will Trip. St. Paul – (AP) – Bound on the second international good will tour between St. Paul and Winnipeg, 20 airplanes roared away into the north this morning with Grand Forks, N. D., scheduled as their first stop. The pathfinding ship, piloted by Charles W. (Speed) Holman, took off at 7 a. m., followed an hour later by the tiny monocoupe of Mrs. Phoebe Fairgraves Omlie. The others followed at intervals, including the huge tri-motored Stanolind. Grand Forks is the overnight stop and there the pilots and passengers in the flight will be entertained by the Chamber of Commerce. Saturday morning the air tourists leave for Winnipeg where they will take part in the aerial show to be given there. The tourists are scheduled to take off from Winnipeg Sunday morning for the return trip to St. Paul. (The Winona Republican-Herald, Friday Evening, May 24, 1929, Volume 29, Number 83, Page 6)
Page 1. Today Is ‘Air Day’ In Grand Forks. Planes of All Types; Famous Pilots Gather Here For Celebration. “Speed” Holman, Pathfinder Pilot of St. Paul-Winnipeg Air Tourists, Will do “Outside loop.” R. Lamont, Ray Miller Coming. Stanolind II, Tri-motored Fokker, Monocouple, and Other Planes to Spend Afternoon and Night at Municipal Airport. Louisville has its Derby day, New Orleans has its Mardi Gras, Boston has its Patriots day and Pasadena has its Carnival of Roses, but today is Grand Forks’ Air day on its own municipal airport. Today will be the greatest introduction to the air that this city has ever experienced. Planes of every sort and description will follow Charles (Speed) Holman, one of the greatest pilots of them all, who will bring the huge Pathfinder into the city about an hour ahead of an aerial caravan. Two giant three motored planes, the huge Stanolind II and a Fokker are expected to be in the tour along side of a tiny Monocoupe which will be piloted by one of the outstanding woman pilots of the country, Phoebe Fairgrave Omlie. Between these two extremes will be twenty or thirty other planes of practically every description.
Famous Pilots Coming. Pilots of national renown plan to accompany the tour to Grand Forks. In addition to “Speed” Holman, there will be Ray Miller, commander of the 109th Aero squadron, R. Lamont and J. Phelps, pilots of the Stanolind. Official entry in the tour of the Universal Air Lines Lockheed-Vega cabin monoplane was recorded Thursday. This plane is of the same type used by Col. Carl Ben Eielson of Hatton, N. D., and Sir Hubert G. Wilkins on their flight across the Arctic regions from Point Barrow, Alaska to Spitsbergen. Minnesota’s flying congressman, Melvin J. Maas of St. Paul is also a member of the party having flown to St. Paul in an army bomber from Washington to take part in the tour.
Fair Weather Forecast. Fair, warm weather, always important in connection with outdoor exhibitions and particularly so for air events, has been promised for today and is expected to draw crowds of people from the entire Grand Forks territory and many distant points to watch the maneuvers of the battalion of planes as they fly continually over the airport and city. The Pathfinder plane is scheduled to hop off from the St. Paul airport at seven o’clock this morning, and will be followed one hour later by Miss Omlie in her tiny plane, and from then on seventeen planes will take to the air at one minute intervals. They are expected to be joined by numerous planes en route. Greetings from St. Paul in the form of a special goodwill tour edition of the St. Paul Pioneer Press will be dropped from the pathfinder plane at St. Cloud, Alexandria, Grand Forks and Winnipeg. Holman will carry messages form Governor Theodore Christianson of Minnesota, and Mayor L. C. Hodgson of St. Paul, to the premier of Manitoba and the mayor of Winnipeg. List of Tourists. The tour is sponsored by the St. Paul association with the co-operation of the Square post of the American Legion and the Contact Club of the Americas has Grand Forks scheduled as its overnight stop. The planes will leave here early Saturday morning, arriving in Win-
Page 5. ipeg before noon and in time for an air derby today. Major Ray Miller, commander of the 109th aero squadron will be referee of the tour and will lead three squadron ships. He will be assisted by Captain George Mace, a flight commander in the squadron. Passengers in the pathfinder plane will include R. J. Dunlap, managing editor of the Dispatch and Pioneer Press; E. L. Vogt, aviation editor; Fred Fellows, general secretary of the St. Paul association; Mr. Perlt and L. F. Dow and A. Nakashian. Other pilots and their passengers besides Mrs. Omlie and Al Falk and J. L. Harper; G. F. Cornelius, A. E. Greenman and W. Peterson; C. J. Morey and C. J. West; W. Ramsey, R. Bouchard, Carl Uuethi and E. B. Stern and William Schley; Roger Sargent and mechanic; T. (Thunder) Johnson and Jack MacKay; Mark Hurd, R. Lamont and J. Phelps, pilots, C. J. Coleman, John Lane, L. W. Cameron, L. Seamer, P. C. Bradley, Jr., and Commissioners Clancy, Wenzel, Rohland, Sudheimer and McDonald; Delmar Snyder, pilot, E. J. Jacobson, Tom Murphy, W. W. Magee and T. W. Tuohy; Chadwick Smith, pilot, C. D. Johnston and A. E. Johansen; Captain Mace, pilot; Lieutenant T. D. Lane, pilot and Lieutenant Art Lund; Lieutenant A. W. Nelson, pilot and Major Miller, pilot.
McNicol in Charge. Harry McNicol, postmaster and air enthusiast, who is chairman of the Grand Forks Commercial club airport committee will be in general charge of the aerial celebration. Captain L. E. McGraw of the United States army will have charge of traffic and will be assisted by Joe Rabinovich, commander of the Grand Forks post of the American Legion. Mr. McNicol will have as lieutenants Don E. Whitman, H. L. Barnes, W. B. Arnold and Edgar A. Berg, who have been members of the finance committee. City Commissioner H. W. F. Law will have charge of the grounds, and will be aided by Commissioner J. D. Turner and County Commissioner J. O. Fadden. W. W. Blain, secretary of the Commercial club will be general secretary of the affair.
Large Crowd Expected. Practically all Grand Forks is expected to drive to the air port today, and traffic will be under the direction of Chief of Police Henry Knudson, who will have an extra detail of police on duty all day. Entrance to the airport will be provided from both ends and the center of present entrance will be used for official cars. All in all the tour will bring together one of the most notable aerial assemblages that has taken place in this section of the country. In so far as is possible the local committees have completed every possible arrangement for the entertainment of the visiting airmen, and the celebration is primed to start the minute the pathfinder plane taxis to a standstill at the airport. The landing circle was put in Thursday afternoon. George A. Reynolds, general manager of the Master Aeronautical corporation of this city will have his two pilots ready to meet the tour, George Lowers and Al Berglund, with Curtiss Robin planes and J. P. Hofstad with a Travelair biplane will be the local pilots who will greet the tourists when they stop here en route to Winnipeg. Co-operating with the Grand Forks police in handling the traffic to and from the airport and the crowds at the landing field will be members of Grand Forks post No. 6 of the American Legion with Commander Joe Rabinovich in charge.
Planes of Many Types. A late entry in the St. Paul-Winnipeg air tour appeared on Thursday day when George Albrecht, Mrs. Albrecht and Nick Reuter, all of Garrison, N. D., landed at the Grand Forks airport in an Eagle Rock biplane, powered with a 130-horse power Comet motor. Albrecht will fly during the air show Friday and will leave with the Goodwill tour for Winnipeg Saturday, he said, on his arrival here. The big pathfinder plane, piloted by Charles “Speed” Holman will have an hour start of the main body of the tour group and is scheduled to reach the Grand Forks flying field around 10 o’clock in the morning with the rest of the air fleet to come about an hour later. Stunt flying of all kinds including Holman’s sensational “outside loop” is on the program which will continue throughout the afternoon and until dark this evening. Special entertainment including a dance for the members of the goodwill group is scheduled for later in the evening. On the way up from St. Paul the air tour will pass over St. Cloud, Minn., to assist that city in a three-day celebration opening the St. Cloud municipal airport, but the planes will not stop at that point, it was announced Thursday.
The Stanolind arrived in St. Paul from Chicago on Wednesday piloted by R. Lamont and J. Phelps, and will carry representatives of the St. Paul city council and others to Grand Forks. Today and Saturday will be special sales days at Grand Forks business places and bargains are being offered by merchants of this city at many stores as an added attraction for the crowds which are expected to visit the city. The ticket sale for the big show has progressed in fine shape, according to Secretary W. W. Blain of the Commercial club of this city, who is handling the general arrangements for the air program, and all indications point toward a big day Friday in the opinion of those in charge. Organization officials of the tour will be entertained at a special dinner at the Ryan hotel at 6:15 o’clock this evening, it was announced Thursday. When the air show is over, a special reception and dance in honor of all members of the Goodwill tour will be given in the dance pavilion at the North Dakota state fair grounds by the Grand Forks post of the American Legion. Casey’s orchestra will furnish the music. All the members of the tour will remain in Grand Forks over night and will hop off for Winnipeg Saturday morning to take part in a great air show at Winnipeg that day. (Grand Forks Herald, Friday, May 24, 1929, Volume XLVIII, Number 173)
Page 1. Air Tour Takes Off For Winnipeg Today. 22 Pilots Complete First Great Aerial Exposition In City. Canadian Plane Escorts Entourage To Northern City; Grand Forks Lions Club Entertains Group At Dinner. Twenty-two airplanes which yesterday participated in the greatest aerial exhibition ever staged in Grand Forks will take off this morning from the local airfield on the last lap of their St. Paul to Winnipeg Goodwill tour. Headed by Charles “Speed” Holman in his Pathfinder plane, which is due to take the air at 7:30, the other planes in the squadron will follow an hour later. Providing wind conditions are similar to those that prevailed yesterday the leading plane is scheduled to arrive in the Canadian city 45 minutes after leaving Grand Forks. Two Local Entries. Of the planes making the trip to Winnipeg, two are entries of local firms, the others being those among the original starters from St. Paul or from other points in North Dakota. The tour will be escorted from Grand Forks by a Canadian plane which arrived in the city at 8 o’clock last night, a Gypsy Moth monocoupe piloted by W. Partridge and carrying as a passenger C. B. Pyper, editor of the Winnipeg Tribune. To eliminate a stop at the border all planes entered in the tour were inspected by officials of the customs service at the airfield last night, and will make the flight to Winnipeg without a stop. Lions Club Entertains. Last night, organization officials in charge of the tour, members of the St. Paul city commission, pilots, airport officials, and the presidents of the service clubs of the city were entertained at a special dinner given in their honor by the Grand Forks Lions club at the Hotel Ryan. R. J. Dunlap, managing editor of the St. Paul Dispatch and Pioneer Press acted as toastmaster at the program of short talks given by St. Paul visitors at the dinner. Among those who gave brief talks
Page 2. on the purpose of the tour and the splendid reception the people of Grand Forks territory have given it were: Commissioners, Otto Rohland, H. C. Wenzel, and George C. Sudheimer; Major Ray Miller of the 109th aero squadron; Phoebe Fairgrave Omlie; and P. C. Bradley, president of the Contact club. After the dinner the guests were taken to the airport for the evening program, and following this were entertained at a dance given by the American Legion at the fair grounds pavilion. Major Miller Arrives Later. Most of the planes entered in the tour had landed at the local field by 3:00 o’clock yesterday but there were several which did not arrive until later in the afternoon. Among these was the Douglas biplane piloted by Major Miller, who is acting as official referee of the tour. Major Miller is the oldest ranking officer in point of service to National Guard air corps throughout the United States and claims more flying hours to his credit than any aviator in the country. He is at present senior officer of the 109th aero squadron. He was accompanied on the trip from the Twin Cities by Howard Kahn, editor of the St. Paul Daily News. Other planes which did not arrive at the local field until after the afternoon program had been completed were a Waco 9, driven by E. J. Moray who landed at 5:25; another Waco piloted by James Harper, and the Canadian monocoupe which is to escort the squadron across the border this morning. The lateness in arrival of several of the planes in their flight from St. Paul is accounted for by the fact that those of small gas capacity stopped at both Alexandria, Minn., and Fargo.
The outstanding feature of both the afternoon and evening programs at the air port yesterday was the exhibit of stunt flying given by “Speed” Holman in a tapered-wing Waco plane. The northwest’s premier aerial daredevil treated the crowd to a dazzling assortment of fast barrel rolls, whip stalls, horizontal spins, loops, whips and other daring air maneuvers. In expressing regret that he would be unable to give his famous “outside loop” stunt, Holman declared that if he had been able to bring his Laird racer on the tour he would have performed the feat as advertised. The Laird is being tuned up to enter the Gardner cup races from Fargo to St. Louis next Monday. “Speed” is the only commercial aviator performing the difficult “outside loop” as a regular feature of his exhibitions. Pilots Do Stunts. Chad Smith, chief pilot for the Northwest Airways, Inc., also gave an exhibition of stunt flying in the afternoon, using the same Waco plane as Holman did. Other fliers who put their planes through difficult paces were Vern Roberts and Miss Florence Klingensmith, both of Fargo and both using monocoupes. The biggest ship of the tour is the giant three-motored Ford, operated by the Standard Oil company, the Stanolind. On this plane are traveling the five members of the St. Paul city commission and several business and professional men from the Twin Cities. Representatives of the Standard Oil company in this vicinity and the members of the Grand Forks city council were taken for flights in this monster of the air piloted by Rodney Lamont and James L. Phelps.
In direct contrast to the size of the Stanolind is the monocoupe flown by Phoebe Fairgrave Omlie, noted woman flier and parachute jumper. There are also several other monocoupes making the tour. Another of the larger planes is the Hamilton Pathfinder which “Speed” Holman is operating. Traveling aboard this ship are: R. J. Dunlap, managing editor of the St. Paul Dispatch and Pioneer Press, E. J. Vogt, also of the Dispatch, J. L. Perlt, aviation secretary of the St. Paul association, A. Naskashian, L. F. Dow, F. P. Fellows and James Kelly. Greetings from St. Paul were dropped at both St. Cloud and Alexandria, in the form of special editions of the St. Paul Dispatch and Pioneer Press. Holman carries messages from Governor Theodore Christianson, of Minnesota and Mayor L. C. Hodgson of St. Paul to the premier of Manitoba and the mayor of Winnipeg.
Local Men Praised. Julius L. Perlt, aviation secretary of the St. Paul association, who arrived in the Pathfinder, had the highest praise for the manner in which J. H. McNicol, chairman of the airport committee, who had general charge of the air program here, handled the arrangements for the day, as well as for the treatment accorded the members of the tour. Other officials of the tour praised the Grand Forks airport for its location and fine equipment as well as the spirit of airmindedness which (?). W. W. Blain, secretary of the Grand Forks Commercial club, was in general charge of yesterday’s program and assisting him were a committee composed of Don Whitman, W. B. Arnold, Joseph Rabinovitch and Thomas McElroy. Dr. H. W. F. Law was chairman of the grounds committee. Members of the city council who contributed in a large way to the success of the event were J. D. Turner, H. O. Hall and J. A. Dinnie. John Fadden, Lieut. L. E. McGraw, Victor Johnson and Dr. H. E. Foley were other Grand Forks people who had a part in making this the biggest meet of its kind ever held in the city.
Is Second Tour. The present tour if the second of its kind, the first being staged last year. It is sponsored by the Square post of the American Legion and the Contact club of St. Paul, together with the St. Paul Dispatch and Pioneer Press. The different classifications of the planes which took part in the tour and in the local exhibition is divided as follows: 1 Eaglerock, 1 Canuck, 1 Air King, 3 Monocoupes, 1 Hamilton, 1 Ford, 5 Travelairs, 6 Wacos, 2 Douglas army planes, 2 P. T. army training planes, 1 Lockheed and 1 D. H. Moth. North Dakota aviators who brought their planes here for the event were: George Albreckt, Garrison; Bruce Wright, Michigan; R. M. Wells, Langdon; C. Skinner, Langdon; A. Burnauck, Fargo; Axel Swanson, Jamestown; Miss Florence Klingensmith, Fargo, and J. L. Schroeder, Erie. (Grand Forks Herald, Saturday, May 25, 1929, Volume XLVIII, Number 174)
Aviator Well Known to Northwest Fliers. St. Paul – (AP) – Vernon Omlie, Memphis aviator who was one of eight persons killed in the airplane crash near St. Louis, was well known in Twin Cities flying circles. Omlie flew at the old Curtis airfield near the state fair grounds a number of years ago and there became acquainted with Phoebe Fairgrave, whom he later married. Mrs. Omlie, nationally known aviatrix, piloted her own plane on a St. Paul good will tour to Winnipeg eight years ago when a stop was made at Grand Forks, N. D., where Mrs. Omlie and the late Charles (Speed) Holman staged an aerial show. (The Winona Republican-Herald, Thursday Evening, August 6, 1936, Volume 36, Number 145, Page 6)