Background
Clyde Edward Pangborn was born on October 28, 1894 in Bridgeport, Washington, United States. He was the son of Max J. Pangborn, a farmer, and Francis Opal Lamb.
Clyde Edward Pangborn was born on October 28, 1894 in Bridgeport, Washington, United States. He was the son of Max J. Pangborn, a farmer, and Francis Opal Lamb.
In about 1896 the family moved to Idaho, where Clyde Edward Pangborn graduated from St. Maries High School in 1914. He studied civil engineering at the University of Idaho for two and a half years.
Clyde Edward Pangborn worked for the Forest Service and, in 1915, served as deputy sheriff of Shoshone County. He enlisted as an army aviation cadet in the aviation section of the United States Army Signal Corps on December 19, 1917. He proved to be an excellent airman during flight training at Eberts Field, Arkansas, and Love Field, Dallas, Texas. He received a reserve commission as a second lieutenant and pilot in the Army Air Service in November 1918, too late to see duty overseas. For a few months he was a flight instructor on Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" training aircraft at Ellington Field, Houston, Texas, then was demobilized in March 1919. Like many other war-trained airmen, Pangborn determined to make a career of aviation. He became one of many "barnstorming" pilots who made a living by exhibition flying and offering rides at county fairs and similar events. Flying his own Curtiss JN-4, he barnstormed throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and California.
In 1921 he and Ivan R. Gates formed the Gates Flying Circus. Between 1922 and 1928, Pangborn flew approximately 125, 000 miles without injury. (During one flight he had to crawl from the cockpit to help a parachutist whose pull-out parachute was stuck in its container. ) Like many barnstormers Pangborn was somewhat superstitious, refusing to fly unless he was wearing a particular soft chamois vest. In 1929, Pangborn attempted to form a combination manufacturing concern and flying service, the New Standard Aircraft Corporation of Paterson, New Jersey. The onset of the Great Depression ended his hopes, and he joined the Bergen County, New Jersey, police department as a pilot with the police rank of lieutenant.
He returned to barnstorming in 1930, but the era of the barnstormer was rapidly drawing to a close. It was natural, in the post-Lindbergh era, for former barnstormers to attempt record flights, and from 1927 through the mid-1930's long-distance flight records were set with almost commonplace regularity. Wiley Post and Harold Gatty set an around-the-world record of eight days, fifteen hours, and fifty-one minutes. On July 28, 1931, less than a month after Post and Gatty's epic flight, he took off from Floyd Bennett Field, New York, with Hugh Herndon, Jr. , in a Bellanca monoplane. They flew to England, Germany, and Russia, but delays forced them to abandon their attempt at Khabarovsk. Next they determined to fly the Pacific. En route to Tokyo, Pangborn and Herndon passed over Japanese military fortifications, and upon landing they were tried as spies and fined $1, 025 a piece.
On October 3, 1931, they took off from Samishiro Beach, Japan, in the first nonstop Pacific crossing by air. Forty-one hours and thirteen minutes after takeoff, with Pangborn at the controls, they landed at Wenatchee, Wash.
In 1932 Pangborn went to work for C. D. Chamberlin's flying school. He then demonstrated aircraft for the Fairchild Company in South America. In 1934 he teamed up with an equally famous aviator, Colonel Roscoe Turner, to fly a modified Boeing 247D twin-engine transport from London to Australia in the MacRobertson Race. On October 20 the 247D left London; it landed ninety-two hours, fifty-five minutes, and thirty-eight seconds later in Melbourne, having flown 11, 325 miles. The race was won by a specially built De Havilland Comet racer, but the close finish of the 247D and another American transport indicated the beginning of American air transport ascendancy.
The Pacific and MacRobertson flights marked the apex of Pangborn's career. In 1935 - 1936, Pangborn demonstrated planes for the Burnelli Company and became chief test pilot for the Bellanca Aircraft Corporation. From 1937 until 1939 he promoted Burnelli interests throughout Europe. In 1939 they returned to the United States, where Pangborn assisted Americans wishing to enlist in the Royal Air Force. He also helped to organize the Royal Air Force Ferry Command, and completed more than 170 ferry flights across the Atlantic and the Pacific.
After the war Pangborn demonstrated Burnelli's "Flying Wing" twin-engined transport in a vain attempt to win military production orders for this interesting airplane. From 1950 until his death, he ferried aircraft for private individuals and governments. He also served briefly as a test pilot for Lear Aviation, and he was responsible for reducing the drag and improving the performance of the Learstar executive business transport. He died in New York City on March 29, 1958.
Pangborn was a pioneer aviator whose background and entry into aviation were similar to those of many other early pilots, such as James H. Doolittle and Charles A. Lindbergh. Although he did not attain the stature of these men, he was recognized as a competent airman who sought to demonstrate the potential that the airplane offered society. During his career, he accumulated more than 24, 000 hours of flying time. He held the world record for changing planes mid-air. Pangborn was the first aviator to make a nonstop trans-Pacific flight. Pangborn received a Harmon Aviation Trophy citation for 1931 and, shortly before his death, was selected to receive the Admiral William A. Moffett Maritime Aviation Trophy.
In 1937 Pangborn married Swana Beauclaire Duval, a French dress designer. They had no children.
