Dean Smith (pilot)

This article is about the American pilot. For other uses, see Dean Smith (disambiguation).

Dean Cullom Smith, circa 1924

Dean Cullom Smith (1899–1987) was an American pioneer air mail pilot, test pilot, flying instructor, Antarctic pilot, and airline pilot.

Early life

Smith was born in Cove, Oregon, on September 27, 1899. His parents were Joshua Cullow Smith and Rhoda B. Smith.

Education

Smith went to public schools in Oregon when a child. After high school he attended two years at a college.

Dean Smith, airmail pilot in 1922

Mid life and career

Smith enlisted in the aviation Section of the United States Signal Corps in July 1917. He became a flight instructor after receiving just under 57 hours of flying instruction. He was promoted to second lieutenant and stayed in the States for the duration of his service duties instead of being shipped oversees to the front lines. Smith was seventeen years old when he became a flight instructor and was the youngest ever in U.S. Army history.

In August of 1918 through January 1919, Smith was assigned to Gosport Instructor's School in Texas as an Army flight instructor. He then transferred to Rockwell Field in San Diego and taught the Pursuit School of instruction for fighter pilots. He was there until discharged in March of 1919. Smith then did barnstorming for a short time at carnivals and county fairs in various States. He then became an air mail pilot on May 21, 1920, which he continued until August 31, 1927.

“On Trip 4 westbound. Flying low. Engine quit. Only place to land on cow. Killed cow. Wrecked plane. Scared me. Smith.”

His next job was helping the United States Postal Service inaugurate air mail service. This included development of a transcontinental route, "inaugurating cross-country night flying and inventing the art of instrument flying", all of which were indispensible to the first scheduled mail service. Crashes came with the job, even more so than Barnstorming. As reported in his autobiography, during one run from Chicago he had to ditch into a pasture, landing on a cow. He sent a laconic telegram to headquarters reporting the mishap. Crashes were part of the job. Engines were unreliable, and pilots were using road maps. Bad weather was a constant risk. "The service averaged a forced landing every 800 miles, Smith said, and a dead pilot every 80,000."

Smith worked for Learning Curtiss Company, Fairchild Aviation, Hughes Tool Company, Douglas Aircraft Company, and American Airlines at one time or another.

Personal traits

Smith was 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighed 180 pounds. He was nicknamed "The Dean" and was known as a man of few words. He married Mrs. Elizabeth Schuyler (daughter of Mrs. Joseph White of Easton, MD) on January 3, 1931.

Societies

Smith was a member of the Aero Club of America. He was a member of "pathfinding aviation groups" including the Air Mail Pioneers Association and Quiet Birdmen. He also was the final president of the National Air Pilots Association, as it was subsumed in 1932 into the Airline Pilots Association. As a pioneer flier, he was named to the OX5 and Aviation Halls of Fame.

Byrd expedition

Smith was a pilot for Byrd Antarctic Expedition of 1928–1930 and was picked from a list of over 15,000 of America's best pilots. He flew the three-engined plane called the Floyd Bennett (in his honor to have made the Byrd expedition to the North Pole in 1926) and headed out for the South Pole on August 25, 1928. He came back from the expedition to his home town in Oregon for a festive welcome on July 21, 1930. Among the many questions the crowd had for him, the one that stood out was a question about the most impressive thing he experienced while at the South Pole. His answer was of the notable silence in the antarctic. He accounted for that by his humorist remark that no woman had ever been there. Smith went back to air mail delivery after being at the South Pole for two years with Byrd. He was decorated in 1930 with the Distinguished Flying Cross for assisting Byrd.

Later life and death

Smith died in Maryland on March 4, 1987.

Awards

Smith received the Harmon Trophy in 1934 for being America's most outstanding aviator. He was a recipient of the Detroit News Aerial Trophy.

He is a featured aviator in Chasing the Sun, which is a public television documentary on "the history of commercial aviation seen through the eyes of its innovators", produced by KCET Hollywood.

Published works

• Smith, Dean C. (1961). By The Seat of My Pants: A Pilot's Progress From 1917 to 1930 (1st ed.). Little, Brown. ASIN B0007DQ824.

See also

• Hadley Field

Sources

• Antarctica (1986). Antarctic. New Zealand Antarctic Society. He showed so much promise as a flight instructor – at 17 the youngest in U.S. Army history – that he was retained for the duration. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• Gardner, Lester Durand (1922). Who's who in American Aeronautics. Aviation Publishing Corporation. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• Oliver, Carl R. (October 1980). Plane talk: aviators' and astronauts' own stories. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-29743-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• Rodgers, Eugene (11 October 2012). Beyond the Barrier. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-61251-188-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• Smith, Dean C. (1961). By The Seat of My Pants: A Pilot's Progress From 1917 to 1930 (1st ed.). Little, Brown. ASIN B0007DQ824. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

Further reading

• Heppenheimer, T. A. (March 13, 1995). Turbulent Skies: The History of Commercial Aviation. Wiley. ISBN 0471196940. ISBN 978-0471196945. {{cite book}}: |format= requires |url= (help)
• Lajotte, Charles A. (October 1936). "When the Air mail was a pup". Western Flying.

External links

• Historic pictures of Dean C. Smith
• Story of Hadley Field and Dean Smith as the first night air mail pilot
• Smith's honeymoon picture with new bride at Miami air races in 1931
• Dean Cullom Smith 1899–1987 at earlyaviators.com