Background
Leslie Philip Arnold was born on August 28, 1893 in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. He was the son of Frank Leslie Arnold, a railroad worker, and of Cora Fiske.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Leslie Philip Arnold
Edit ProfileEducation
Following graduation from high school in New London, he worked as a tobacco salesman and, for four years, on the construction of submarines.
Career
He enlisted in the Army Air Service in 1917, after the United States entered World War I. Following flight training at Waco, Texas, and Issoudun, France, he was assigned to the First Aero Squadron shortly before the armistice.
After the war Arnold gained experience in various aspects of aeronautics, serving tours of duty at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in 1920 and at the Air Service Photographic School in 1922. He also participated in bombing experiments conducted by General William Mitchell off the Virginia Capes in 1921 and off Cape Hatteras in 1923.
The Air Service sponsored numerous long-distance flights during the 1920's, intended to test and develop technology, train personnel, and generate favorable publicity. By far the most ambitious project called for a round-the-world flight by four Douglas single-engine biplanes. Arnold flew in one of these planes as copilot to Lowell H. Smith. They took off from Seattle, Washington, on April 6, 1924.
Only two of the four aircraft completed the flight. Smith and Arnold, in World Cruiser Chicago, narrowly escaped disaster while attempting to cover the 560 miles from Ivigtut, Greenland, to Icy Tickle on the coast of Labrador. Some 200 miles from land, over the forbidding Davis Strait, their fuel pump failed. When the backup unit also broke down, Arnold had to operate an emergency wobble pump by hand.
It took nearly three hours of exhausting effort to reach Labrador. Smith and Arnold arrived back in Seattle on September 26, 1924, having flown 26, 345 miles in 363 hours and 7 minutes. The list of records established attests to the state of aviation in 1924 and the magnitude of their accomplishment. Foremost among their feats were the first aerial crossing of the Pacific Ocean and the first west-to-east crossing of the Atlantic. Arnold was the only member of the group to keep a complete log of the journey.
Arnold left the Air Service in 1928 to become assistant to Jack L. Maddux, an automobile dealer from Los Angeles and pioneer of scheduled air passenger service on the West Coast. When Transcontinental Air Transport, an early aeronautical conglomerate, absorbed Maddux Air Lines in 1929, Arnold became an executive with the merged carrier. Arnold had married Mildred Avery on August 13, 1917, but the couple separated on their wedding day.
In 1936, Arnold became vice-president of the newly formed Pennsylvania Central Airlines. Four years later, after supervising the rapid expansion of the airline's routes, he joined Eastern Airlines as assistant to President Edward V. Rickenbacker, a close friend.
Following American entry into World War II, Rickenbacker offered Arnold the senior position in Eastern's Military Transport Division. But Arnold declined, preferring to return to active duty with the Air Corps.
During the war he organized military air transportation. At one point he commanded the Ferry and Transport Services of the Air Service Command in Europe, a unit that played an important role in supplying the Normandy beachhead in 1944.
He retired at the end of the war with the rank of colonel. Arnold rejoined Eastern in 1946 as vice-president for leases and properties. He was responsible to Rickenbacker for all matters pertaining to the airline's use of airports, terminals, and hangar facilities in the ninety-odd cities served by Eastern and also advised airport committees on the design of facilities.
Arnold's influence on Eastern's development also was felt in a less direct manner. Rickenbacker, whose office adjoined Arnold's, frequently consulted his longtime friend and associate on matters far afield from properties and leases. Eight months after retiring from Eastern, Arnold died in Leonia, New Jersey.
Achievements
Personality
Arnold was characterized in his dealings with various airport bodies as "a shrewd negotiator but very fair. "
Connections
He married Priscilla Dean, a film actress, on October 6, 1928.
When his 1926 divorce was declared invalid, he sought a second divorce. This divorce was granted, and Arnold remarried Dean. They had no children.
