DAL TAYLOR 1947 - 1966 PILOT DEN PHX Billy - FYI - Ed was never a Chicashaw (sp?) pilot with Ray Wilson. Ed came to Monarch from Continental and he was Gen. Mark Clarke's private pilot during WWII. Dallas Taylor, for a while, flew top-brass in a C-54 also during WWII and knew Ed during that time. The only pilots that were with Ray Wilson were; Art Sinclair, Bert Clark, Jug Jella, Willie Hurt, Johnny Myers, Don Bridie and Warren Heckman. There may have been others but not with Monarch/Frontier. Just FYI With Best Wishes, -Ace Avakian (2/22/00) IN MEMORIAM "He was a pilot's pilot. The kind of fellow who built aviation in this country" Quietly, sincerely, this was the tribute expressed by a fellow pilot friend at learning of the death of Captain Dallas W. Taylor (52) in Tucson, Arizona. Always a top rated pilot, Captain Taylor devoted much of his effort and thought to aviation from the time he began flying in 1935. As a crew member with Frontier Airlines, he occupied the left seat since joining the company in 1947. For a number of years he was based in Denver before moving to the Phoenix Domicile in November, 1963. Shortly after Dal began his aviation career, he became interested in aerial acrobatics. He was stunt flying in and around San Antonio in the late 30s. Recently, he acquired a 15 foot long "Pitts Special" bi-plane. Captain Taylor had been selected by the United States as a team member in international acrobatic flying competition to be held in Russia this summer. He was putting his plane through its paces of exhibition flying at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base when the engine failed during a maneuver. During World War II, Captain Taylor piloted C-54s with the Air Transport Command across the Atlantic and over the Hump in China. All of us with Frontier Airlines express our deepest sympathy to his wife, Jeannie. -FRONTIER NEWS published June 1966 (From Ken Schultz 4/16/00) I just received a photo of Dallas Taylor in N-5T the Pitts Special he flew West in a few minutes after this photo was taken. Bill Bullock took the photo and knew Dal Taylor very well. Bill has another of the cockpit and the routine card he flew. Dal had told Bill that he wasn't feeling all that great, but was OK to fly. Then he did not stick to his routine. Bill said he never did that! So, Bill is of the opinion that Dal had a physical impairment of some sort just prior to the accident. Just thought this might be of interest albeit this happened many years ago. I didn't know Dal Taylor as he was a PHX based captain. So, I never had the opportunity to fly with him. Tailwinds... -Billy Walker (8/1/02) Do you have any info on Dal's date of death, birth, etc? Ace carries him as dying in 1966 and I have an article from the Jun 1966 FL newsletter about it. There's nothing at the Social Security Death Index for him. Their 60s records are spotty. Maybe Bill, who took the pic, has more info. -Jake Lamkins (8/3/02) My first flight in a DC-3/C-47, as a flight crew member, was when I was hired by Meteor Air Transport. This was a non-sked freight airline operating out of Teterboro, New Jersey. All flights were flown at night delivering Ford Motor parts from the Edgewater Plant to the Detroit, Michigan facility. Once unloaded, the airplane was then reloaded with parts bound for the Edgewater Plant. On the return flight from Detroit, we usually landed at Newark, New Jersey and flew empty to Teterboro. The contract with Ford Motor Company was for week days only. On week-ends, we would fly Time/Life magazines to cities along the East Coast: Buffalo, Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, etc. This first flight was with a furloughed copilot from TWA that was flying as captain for Meteor. His name is lost in my memory but I will never forget him. He smoked a cigar and he would determine all his positions by the length of his cigar! Once in flight, he would light up and hardly say a word. Then as we progressed, I would see him take a long puff, study his cigar and say, “...those lights down on our right should be Sharon, Pennsylvania.” I’d look down and sure enough, there’d be a city all lit up and I’d look over and nod to him. Nothing else would be said, except for our routine radio contacts along Green Airway 3, which incidentally was all static-filled, low frequency radio. Later, he would look at the cigar again and state that, “...here over Cleveland, we’ll head for Detroit City via Red 20.” I’d look down and through the clouds see large city lights then no lights, indicating the Lake Erie shoreline. Again, I would nod in agreement. As we approached lights up ahead, he’d look at his cigar and state, “...‘better get the gear down.” Checking my chart with my small flash light, I figured we were approaching Belle Isle and coming up on the Detroit City Airport. Once the gear was down, he’d open his window, look down, slam the window shut and call, “I’ve got a wheel.” I assumed I should do the same so I’d open my window and through the back-drop of lights, could see that the wheel on the right was down. (We did not have wheel-well lights.) I hated doing this because my hair would get all tangled up in the rush of air from the open window. (I had hair at that point in time.. .and it was black!) The airport at Detroit City had no runway lights - just flood lights. The captain actuated the flaps and seeing he was a little high, side-slipped! the airplane to a smooth touch down right on the flood-lighted runway! I’ll never forget that - or him! Now then, we’ll push the time machine forward, now as a copilot for Monarch Air Lines, there were moments that will live on in my memory. This particular flight was on a dark, snowstormy night when making an ILS approach to Stapleton Field on Runway 21. The wind was from the northeast which necessitated an ILS with a circling approach to runway 3. The captain was Willie Hurt. We, hazily, broke out of the clouds at about 200 feet. Willie spit on his gloved right hand and then his left and said, “Hang on!” He opened his window, bent the airplane around and greased it on runway 3. When on the ground, he closed his window and called for the flaps up and when I looked at him he looked like a snow man! There was ice and snow in his hair, his eye brows and lashes! He actually was making a visual approach with his head out the window! On this particular series, when over by Delta, Utah on Amber Airway 2, we had so much ice on that old DC-3, the props would stall occasionally and Willie would shift the props through and we’d hear the sleeves of ice banging along the side of the airplane. The air intake over the engine had a hole about the size of a silver dollar because of ice! And, on we went homing on the Emery “H” marker bound for Price, Utah! Ev Aden was Chief Pilot at that time and in those days among other duties, he also was like the Chaplain in the military. If one had personal problems, one would go to Ev and talk things over. He would comfort us like a Father. I remember a time when I first got my Amateur “Ham” radio license. Excitedly, I told Ev about it. He actually came over to my house and we made a radio contact (I think in Canada) and Ev talked on my radio. I wonder how many Chief Pilot’s you could do that with today? Another favorite was Les Schaffer. I learned a lot from him. One that comes to mind is how to change from Celsius to Fahrenheit without mental gymnastics. Take the Celcius reading, double it, subtract 10 percent and add 32. None of this 5/9th or 9/5th stuff. 2C-l0%+32=F F-32+l0%/2=C This comes closest to the exact figure. (In Canada, for an approximate figure, they double the Celcius and add 30 for a Fahrenheit temp.) The captain that would make the smoothest landings - every time - regardless of the wind and weather was Jug Jella. Up to this time, I was flying with captains that were ex-military with heavy C-47 time. Jug was not ex-military but could he land that ‘3! And, as a bonus, one of the nicest guys to fly copilot for - on or off the airplane, for that matter. The shortest short-field landing I ever rode through was with Fred Hart. He told me on the approach to Runway 8R (again at Stapleton), he intended to land so as to turn up the first taxiway to the north. I looked at him quizzically (is there such a word?) and must have had a smirk of doubt on my expression. He three-pointed the 3 and we turned north on the first taxiway! . By the way, I loved him! Dal Taylor would have me keep my feet on the floor and control the ‘3 directionally, on take-off using aileron only, till we were airborne. Again, one of the greats! I loved (almost) every captain I ever flew copilot for. We all have our favorites. With all respect, 1 have not mentioned any of the captains that were with the original Challenger Air Lines because I had checked out as captain about the time of merger of our companies. I did fly with Bob Nicholson (ex Challenger) when he was an instructor in the Boeing 727. I had a different flight instructor but had one session with Bob. I learned more in that one hour or so with Bob than I had in all the previous hours of training with the other instructor. With all the flying that I have done and of course, most of it was with Frontier, I enjoyed the DC-3 the most. I’ve said it many times that when I dream of flying - I’m always flying the DC-3. I’ve had many pleasant memories with (almost) all the captains I’ve flown with. Likewise, I’ve had many pleasant hours flying with the many copilots and flight engineers of Frontier. I know I’ve seen the best of it all and loved every bit! There were times when a copilot would be getting ready to check out as captain and would ask me what advice I could offer. I would get serious and with all sincerity say, “Remember you’re the captain but just don’t ever forget, you were a copilot!” -Ace Avakian in the FARPA NEWSLETTER JAN/FEB 2003 (2/4/03) Subject: Dal Taylor I just ran across your website listing my Great Uncle, Dal Taylor on it. My mom has lots of information on Dal, he was her fathers brother. I have notified her that I found your site and asked her to contact you with information on Dal. -Jimmy Settles (10/28/04) Subject: Dal Taylor My name is Jimmy Settles. I just happened across http://fal-1.tripod.com/ObitsPilots.html and saw that my Great Uncle Dal Taylor is listed there. Dal was killed flying the Pitts when I was only 6 years old, however he was the brother of my mom's father and she knew him well. She has all information about Dal. I sent a message to the link on the website and thought I would also send a message to you. I notified my mom about the site and asked her to get together information about Uncle Dal for the site. -Jimmy Settles (10/28/04) It was great hearing from you, Jimmy. I look forward to hearing from your mom. -Jake Lamkins (10/28/04) Subject: Dal Taylor photos Here are a couple of “new” photos of Dal Taylor taken before his fatal accident. I included one sent sometime ago that was taken just minutes before his crash. -Billy Walker (5/17/10) Thanks, Billy, I'll add to his memorial webpage. -Jake Lamkins (5/17/10) Still cannot find anything at SSDI or on web search. D W TAYLOR Pilot seniority date of 1/8/47 on the 9/1/55 FL/ALPA seniority list. -Jake Lamkins (5/17/10) Posted at the FL Club: Subject: Updated memorial webpage DAL TAYLOR 1947 - 1966 PILOT DEN PHX http://FAL-1.tripod.com/Dal_Taylor.html Several more pix and pieces of info posted. Post your remembrances of Dal. -Jake Lamkins (5/21/10) Dal Taylor...he was one of the best of the best. I flew copilot for him many, many times and I believe he 'saved' me as far as staying with Monarch is concerned. -Ace Avakian (5/22/10)