Coincidentally this weekend, I sat down for lunch at Camarillo Airport with a couple who I met on a genealogy research trip and who happen to own a private plane! Plus, one is the Air Boss for the Wings Over Camarillo annual air show in California. Planes truly seem to be this week's overall theme. We chatted a bit about what motivated them to start flying, as well as touching on some of my own family's aviation history.
I've never taken up too much interest in the business of airlines or flights or even space exploration, though I've certainly been intrigued with others who have. My aunt is a retired flight attendant, a cousin worked for Boeing (I think on the B-52 bombers? I likely don't have my facts straight there), and my maternal grandfather was a part of the Apollo 11 mission. Aside from taking commercial flights to my vacation destinations and one helicopter ride over the Pt. Mugu and Malibu area, I've never really had any further connection to planes. Although I did hold my 33rd birthday at the 94th Aero Squadron in Van Nuys, and I have toured Grand Central Air Terminal in Glendale.
I'm more of a nautical girl, really. You can find me on a cruise almost every year!
But thinking about it, I probably should have grown up with aviation on my mind since I know my dad was originally set on becoming a pilot; his brother, too, but unfortunately for the both of them, they were colorblind, so it just wasn't an option. When jets or planes fly overhead, my dad is always quick to identify them. And I know he attended his fair share of air shows like the one he filmed in the YouTube video below:
This was the Point Mugu Space Fair likely around the year 1967. It began in 1960 and is now commonly referred to as the Point Mugu Air Show. Its original feature performance was put on by the Blue Angels, as well as the navy's missile central that would drop live bombs.
My dad's father, Harry, worked for a couple manufacturers, which I'm assuming first sparked the interest for my dad. Here's an image of Harry (at the nose of the plane with his back facing the camera) at Edwards Air Force Base in Kern and San Bernardino Counties, California, leaning on the X-1 (the first aircraft to ever break the sound barrier, in 1947) and chatting with its test pilot, John Griffith. My dad and I separately stumbled upon this image on the internet in a CNET.com article, funny enough:
Harry spent many years working for North American Aviation in the greater Los Angeles area, which later became known as North American Rockwell, and has since been swallowed up by Boeing. The 1950 U.S. census was taken during his stint there. The enumerator recorded him living on Keene Avenue in Compton, California with his wife and two kids at the time and working approximately 45 hours a week in an experimental department for an unnamed aircraft company in the private division:
He's seated on the far right in this photograph (above) taken in 1967 when he reached 25 years of service with NAA. Warren Swanson, then president of the L.A. division, is seated in the center.
And here Harry is with Swanson, accepting his commemorative service pin, and also with Walt Spivak, chief engineer of the XB-70 Valkyrie and designer of the Rockwell B-1B:
The following document still exists from 1959 detailing his employment run with North American beginning in 1942 (during World War II) and leading up to that year:
It wasn't all work and no play for Harry, though. He also made sure to perfect his golf swing with his work buddies. Here he poses with Tom O'Leary, who worked in a different department than him (their badge buttons also help tell this story: Harry was a Leadman in Dept 9 and Tom worked in Dept 73). Harry took the time to note their golf handicaps on the back of the photo. Harry, 4, and Tom, 20.
Another cool aspect of his job was working in Hangar 1 at Los Angeles Airport (on what was then known as Mines Field and is now a cargo building at LAX). It was the first structure built there in 1929 and is now on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Plus, his extensive time at airports gave him the opportunity to see Air Force One in person. Here's a couple snaps he took on one such occasion.
For at least a year or two (maybe more - I'm unsure), Harry worked for Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica. I recently attempted a deep dive into researching the below photo of him holding my aunt Sandra in 1942 in front of their U-shaped apartment building to try and learn where exactly in Santa Monica they lived. I hadn't been able to locate their exact address during that time period, but with the help of other internet sleuths based in and around the Santa Monica area, I am rather positive it was at 1332 and 1336 Ocean Park Blvd.
Here's a Google Street View screenshot from May 2024 looking at, what appears to be, the same building featured in the 1942 photo.
Even if that address is not exactly right, there's good reason to believe it was one of the complexes on that single city block. It turns out that, at the very least, the two complexes next door to this one were bought and owned by Douglas Aircraft and used to house some of their employees!
Here is a modern aerial view which allows you to see the unique architecture style of these partially U-shaped courtyard buildings. The red indicator is placed on 1332 Ocean Park, but I believe, due to the orientation of the photographs I have of Harry and aunt Sandra, they probably resided in its twin building, number 1336.
Aside from a few photos, another hallmark item in our family's possession tying Harry to Douglas is an aluminum boat produced by the company's employees following World War II in order to keep them working. Growing up, I went on several excursions and fishing trips in that thing. Here's a fun advert I found about it from 1947:
The boat currently resides in my parents' basement. It's a row boat but can be a motor boat. It's now really just proof that you actually couldn't keep my grandfather Harry grounded! He was always jetting off somewhere, whether in the sky or on the water. He may have just been plane crazy.
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