(Excerpted from Tex Searle's great memoir, The Golden Years Of Flying.) Captain Bert Hall began flying in July of 1937 at the old 21st South airport in Salt Lake City (when Vern Carter was the manager). He loves to reminisce about the days before WWII. There are still a lot of old pilots who will reminisce with this jump start to their memo- ries. Some of Captain Hall's early flights began with the Curtiss Wright Jr. pusher NC11831 with its 45-hp Saekely engine. He made it a point to fly everything he could possibly get his hands on and many of the younger generation may not recognize some of these early air- craft. Most were made of wood and fabric and were built before WWII. They were the pride and joy of the old aviators. The following list comprises the aircraft flown by Captain Hall, who was kind enough to let me search through his records. I've tried to be accurate with their classification and the type of engine installed. The J-2 Cub with a Continental A 40-hp engine; Cub E-2 with a Cont. 40-hp; Curtiss Robin with a Curtiss WR.185-hp engine; Luscombe 8A with Cont. A 65-hp; Waco F with a Kinner 125-hp engine; Monocoupe with a Lambert 90-hp engine; Pitcairn with Wright 250-hp; Fairchild 21 with Kinner 100-hp; Waco VKS-7 with Cont W-670 240-hp; Aeronca with Le Blond 85-hp; Eaglerock with Curtiss the 225-hp; Waco YKS-7 with Jacobs 225-hp; Cessna Airmaster with a Jacobs 165-hp; Kinner Sp'St. with Kinner 100-hp; Culver Cadet with Cont. 75-hp; 'Fairchild 22 with a Ranger inline 200-hp; Rearwin with a Franklin 80-hp; Porterfield LP with a Lycoming 65-hp; Fairchild 24W with Warner 145-hp. Besides the Bonanzas he flew vari- ous models of the older Beechcrafts with the Jacobs 285- hp, and the Pratt & Whitney 450-hp; also the Cessna 195 with a 300 hp Jacobs. Captain Hall was commissioned an ensign before Pearl Harbor, and during WWII he served as a com- mander in the United Stated Navy. An accurate log of the different aircraft he flew during his Navy career is recorded in full, and the number is astonishing. The Commander persuaded flight chiefs around the country to give him the green flag to check out aircraft based at their airfields. He loved a challenge and made it his goal to check out at least one new aircraft every month. After checking out the capabilities of an aircraft, the commander would sometimes roll it over on its back and practice flying a rectangular course while inverted. One aircraft in particular that many pilots know existed, but few know little about, was the Douglas transport designated the DC-5. The first model rolled off the production line 15 February 1939. A total of twelve were built and even with its high wing, it could pass as the younger relative to the DC-3, sitting on a tri- cycle, and many parts were interchangeable. Captain Hall states that the DC-5 was built to fill the needs of the short-range routes. There were three models built, the passenger model could accommodate 16 to 22 seats; the cargo transporter was ideal with its low profile: not requiring special loading equipment; the executive model with its club interior was especially built for William Boeing, president of Boeing Aircraft Company, as his personal aircraft. You could have your choice of either the Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp or the Wright Cyclone radial engine. With war clouds hovering near, the DC-5 was discontinued when the assembly line changed over for the production of needed SBD Dauntless dive bombers. The DC-5s the Navy and Marines flew were desig- nated the R3D. Commander Hall flew all three models for a total of 122 hours and 46 minutes. I have made only a partial list on this page of the more noted aircraft flown by the commander while in the Navy: 03U-l & 3 series P&W 1340-D 550-hpi SBU- 2 P&W 1535-98 7S0-hp; SU-2 P&W 1690-C 600-hpi NS-l LYC 220-hp; N3N seriesl&3 WR 78-8 23S-hp; NPI LYC 680-8 23S-hp; OS2U-3 P&W 98S-AN-2 4S0-hp; GH-l P&W 98S-AN-6 4S0-hp; J2F-S W 1820-S0 9S0-hp SNJ series2&3&4&S P&WI340- 36&AN-l SSO-hp; JE-1 P&W 1340-38 SSO-hp; JRF- 6B P&W 98S-AN-6 4S0-hp; F4F series 4 & 4B & 7 P&W 1830-36 & 86 & 20S 1200-hp; G36-B P&W 1830-86 1200-hp; JRF-S P&W 98S-an-6 4S0-hp; F2A-3 W1820-40 1200-hp; TBF-l&lB W 2600-8 1700-hp; GB-l P&W 98S-48 4S0-hp; BT-l P&W IS34-44 82S-hp; SNC-l W 97S-28 4S0-hp; J4F-2 RNGR6-440CS 200-hp; OS2N-l (S) P&W 98S-AN-2 4S0-hp; F4U-l P&W 2800-8 2000-hp; SB2A-4 W 2600-8A 1700-hp; F6F series-3 & 3B P&W 2800-10 2000-hp; RSO-S W 1820-40 1200-hp; FM-l P&W 1830-26 1200-hp; TBM-l W 2600-8 1700-hp; R4D seriesl&3&6 P&W 1830-92 1200-hp; GB-2 P&W 98SAN-l 4S0-hp; RSO series 3 & 6 P&WI830-84Al & W 1820-87 1200-hp; JRC-l Jacobs 7SS-9 22S-hp; SNB-l P&W 98SAN-l 4S0-hp; PBM-3R W 2600-12 1700-hp; PB2Y-P&W R-1830 1200-hp; RSD seriesl & 2 & 3 & 4 & S & 6 P&W-3 & 7 & 11 13S0-hp. Some of the aircraft flown were of the same category and same engine, but differed in the modification desig- nation of the engine. All told, Captain Hall's records show he has flown over 107 different aircraft including the previously named F4F Wildcat and F6F Hellcat built by Grumman and the F4U built by Chance Vought. Included in his logs are two identical aircraft built by dif- ferent companies; the TBM torpedo bomber built by General Motors, and the TBF torpedo bomber built by Grumman. Commander Hall continued on to master the multi engine transports. This doesn't include the DC- 3s or Convair series and the Allisen propjet 580, nor the Boeings he flew while employed with Frontier Airlines. An amazing number of assorted aircraft flown in one lifetime. Could this be some kind of record? A comment might be made here that it would be a difficult task to find a more qualified pilot in any major airline to occupy that left seat of the front office. It was a privilege to sit in the front office with Captain Hall who was quick to share the knowledge he had gained from many years of pushing throttles on a variety of air- craft. Crews particularly benefited from his information on how to out wizard Mother Nature. He wanted those Pratt & Whitneys finely tuned, the props synchronized and no time wasted in flying from point A to point B. "If you didn't, it was shiver me timbers." Captain Hall, passed on some very useful informa- tion. "When encountering a problem with your aircraft, use the five finger checklist." Then pointing at the five fingers on his hand he illustrated. "Number one, fly the airplane." "Number two, determine what's wrong." "Number three, fly the airplane." "Number four, rectify what you can." "Number five, fly the airplane." An undetermined number of pilots over the years became so engrossed in solving a problem with their air- craft, that they neglected to check their flight status and flew into mountains or descended into swamps. I might add that with emphasis directed at flying the airplane, these tragic events are a thing of the past. Commander Hall relates an experience that happened during WWII, when he was flying an R5D transport (the military version of the DC-4) with military person- nel aboard. It was a black night. He tied a white glove to each side of the control yoke, and with the autopilot manipulating the controls, he hit the cabin attendant call button. Then he and the first officer hurriedly hid in a forward storage compartment where they mirthfully awaited the arrival of the attendant. The female cabin attendant stepped into the cockpit and found the crew missing. The florescent glow from the instrument lighting radiated off the gloves, giving them an eerie glow. She watched as the yoke continually moved about as it responded to the commands from the autopilot. Her impression was that eerie hands were manipulating the yoke. With a whispered gasp she froze, slowly backed out of the cockpit in stark terror, and hur- riedly returned to the cabin. Feeling a little passive, the commander sent his first officer into the cabin to soothe her feelings and explain what she had observed. The first officer entered the cabin just as she was telling (with great apprehension) the other cabin attendants that a phantom with eerie hands was flying the ship. The continuation of the trip was a long haul for the flight deck crew: there were no refreshments brought to the cockpit by the cabin attendants. Captain Hall tells of one proud pilot who flew for the Lockheed Company in the thirties who had a spotless record of no incidents while flying the Lockheed 10, and he intended to keep it that way. The day came that the Lockheed 10 lived up to her reputation by swapping ends in a perfect groundloop scraping a wing tip and damaging a couple of ribs on her outer right wing. Not wanting his employer to know of the groundloop, and trying to cover the fact that the Lockheed had got away from him on landing, he talked an off-line mechanic into agreeing to repair the damaged wing. The mechanic insisted there be one provision, that the captain would supply the two outer wing ribs for the repair. The captain put in a call to the Lockheed plant and requested the parts. Lockheed was very meticulous and wanted the history leading to the failure of the two ribs. The captain, not identifying himself in hopes of remain- ing incognito, said, "never mind the cause of the failure, just send what I've requested." Lockheed insisted that without a detailed history, the order would not be filled. The captain, acquiescing, said, "We got into a kind of tight situation, I took care of my side of the aircraft, but the copilot failed to take care of his side." Captain Hall tells about the time the big four-engine PB2Y Coronado flying boat had been refueled and read- ied for its lengthy patrol when the fueler realized he had added more fuel than requested by the aircraft commander. He explained the fuel problem to the ship's crew chief. The salty old chief answered, "Don't worry your mind me lad, besides the regular fuel load, the captain always likes a hundred gallons added for him. I like a hundred gallons added for me, and we like a hundred gallons added just for the hell of it, and you'd be mud- dled, me lad, how many times we've made it back just for the hell of it."