ROCKY NELSON 1942 - 1951 FOUNDER - PRESIDENT, ARIZONA AIRWAYS VICE PRSIDENT, FRONTIER AIRLINES PHX Rocky Nelson was Founder and President of Arizona Airways from its founding in 1942 until its merger with Challenger and Monarch Airlines June 1, 1950 to form Frontier Airlines, headquartered in Denver. -Jake Lamkins (4/15/99) I have quite a ream of stuff too. I rummaged thru it with nothing found on Rocky's death. Also, a point of interest...my father, "Pic" Walker sold the first three DC-3's to Arizona Airways. Arizona Airways also had a fourth that, apparently, was never flown. I dated a girl in high school that was the daughter of one of Arizona Airways founders, Johnny Bulla, a well known golf pro. Johnny lives in the area and I just tried calling him for some of his recollections. However, no one answered, so I left my number. -Billy Walker (6/21/99) Rocky was the president of Arizona Airways from it's incoportation. He was a 1500 hour pilot, instrumental in the Arizona Airways preliminary flight school for the US Navy. (FAL captain EP Lietz was an instructor there before becoming an US Air Corps C-46 "Hump Pilot")... Nelson was a member of the National Aeronautic Association, president of State Development Co. from 1928-32, president of Nelson Engineering Corp, formed by him in 1932 and operated until 1941 when he formed his Navy flight school. The two largest share holders in the new airline were Nelson (8050 shares) with $80,000 subscribed and Vice President Johnny Bulla (4000 shares) with $40,000 subscribed. The Goldwaters had $21,000 invested. Other board members of Arizona Airways were: Bob Goldwater, JJ Glancy, JR Heron, Maurice Hackett, Bill Beatus, Jim Maffeo, JD Merill, Bill Chamberlain, EC Lockleer, Columbus Giragi, LR Inwood, Joe Bartles, JB Van Buren Wittman and Del Webb. Barry Goldwater was a "silent partner" and had a lot of input in the development. When Ralph Johnson and my Dad delivered the first DC-3 to Phoenix they were met by Barry and Bob Goldwater along with Bulla and a few others. The airplanes were purchased through the War Assets Office with my Dad's company, Plains Airways, acting as the broker. The titles passed direct to Arizona Airways. When the merger took place making Frontier, apparently no flight crews were part of it while the two seniority lists of Central and Monarch were merged with bad blood lasting to today! Most notable was the Les Schaffer/Ben Stuart saga... -Billy Walker (6/21/99) FRONTIER AIRLINES VICE PRESIDENT DIES IN TUCSON H.O. Nelson, Regional Vice president of Frontier Airlines, Inc. died this week in Tucson, Arizona. Nelson, 47, formerly President of Arizona Airways, which consolidated Monarch Airlines and Challenger Airlines Company into Frontier Airlines in 1950, had been Vice President of Frontier since the company was formed in June, last year. Born at Sisseton, S.D., in 1904, he was a graduate civil engineer from Stanford University. He had been head of a number of engineering projects, including the State Development Co., at Los Angeles, which he organized in 1928. In 1932 he formed the Nelson Engineering Corporation and in 1937 expanded the activities of this company to organize the Venn-Severin Diesel Distributors, Inc. Turning from engineering in 1941 to organize and operate a government flight training school for navy pilots at Safford, Arizona, he formed the Arizona Airways Company in 1943 for the purpose of providing scheduled air transport service within the state of Arizona. Mr. Nelson was the holder of a commercial pilot's license and an instructor's rating. He had flown more than 3,000 hours as a pilot. -Arizona Weekly Gazette, Friday, March 9, 1951 (From Ken Schultz 3/30/00) H.O. NELSON FUNERAL SET FOR TOMORROW Funeral services for Hillis Orville (Rocky) Nelson, one of Arizona's leading aviation figures, will be conducted at 2 p.m. tomorrow in A.L. Moore and Sons Mortuary. The Rev. Paul West of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral will officiate. The body will lie in state from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. tomorrow in the mortuary's Drawing Room Chapel. The place of burial has not been decided. Mr. Nelson, 46, died early yesterday in Tucson of a heart attack. An Arizona resident 12 years, he resided at 152 East Bethany Home Road. Mr. Nelson was founder of the old Arizona Airways and became Regional Vice President of Frontier Airlines when the latter merged last year with Arizona Airways and two other lines. He is survived by his wife, Pody, and a son, John, of Phoenix, and a brother, Leland, of Downey, Calif. -Phoenix Gazette, Wednesday, March 7, 1951 (From Ken Schultz 3/30/00) ROCKY NELSON FUNERAL TO BE TOMORROW State Aviation Expert, Frontier Executive Dead At 46 Funeral services will be held Thursday for H.O. (Rocky) Nelson, Regional Vice President of Frontier Airlines and Arizona aviation expert, who died of a heart attack Tuesday morning. Mr. Nelson, 46, died in a Tucson hotel. He had not been ill, but for several years had worked tirelessly on organization of the feeder airline, irrigation well development in Mexico, and in state aviation matters. Services will be held at 2 p.m. in Memory Chapel of A.L. Moore and Sons mortuary. The Rev. Paul West of Trinity Cathedral will officiate. The place of burial has not been determined. Mr. Nelson was credited with the major share of the successful effort to establish airline service throughout central and eastern Arizona after he had founded Arizona Airways as an intrastate service in 1946. When the intrastate operation failed because of finances, Mr. Nelson led a three year fight to preserve Arizona and New Mexico air mail routes granted Arizona Airways which has become a part of the Frontier system. The quiet-spoken, friendly aviation enthusiast also was an original member of the Arizona State Aviation Commission, organizer of the annual Arizona Aviation Conference, an aircraft dealer, and member of many flying organizations. A pilot, Mr. Nelson operated a navy flight school in Safford during the war. He came to Phoenix in 1945 to organize Arizona Airways and work as a partner in the Airsafe Company at Sky Harbor. He had lived in Arizona since 1940, coming here from California where he was active in irrigation well engineering and equipment firms near Los Angeles. He attended Stanford University and was a civil and mechanical engineer. He was born in Sisseton, S.D. Surviving are his wife, Pody; a son, John Rockwell; his mother, Mrs. Agnes Nelson, Downey Calif., and a brother Leland, Downey. Mr. Nelson lived at 152 East Bethany Home Road. -Arizona Republic, Wednesday, March 7, 1951 (From Ken Schultz 3/30/00) FL Club: Updated memorial webpage ROCKY NELSON 1942 - 1951 FOUNDER - PRESIDENT, ARIZONA AIRWAYS VICE PRESIDENT, FRONTIER AIRLINES PHX http://fal-1.tripod.com/Rocky_Nelson.html I updated and added several items to Rocky's webpage. -Jake Lamkins (5/27/10) Posted at FLacebook and the FL Club: AZ founder and FL vp Rocky Nelson's memorial webpage has been updated. http://FAL-1.tripod.com/Rocky_Nelson.html -Jake Lamkins (7/24/13)