Who is Clyde Pangborn

Clyde Pangborn was born in October of 1898 and led a largely uneventful childhood. After graduating high school he moved onto the University Of Idaho where he studied civil engineering for two years. Answering the call for volunteers to fight in WWI, Pangborn quit school to pursue his urge to fly.

During flight training, Pangborn was found to be quite an adept pilot and was promoted to Flight Instructor at Ellington Field in Houston Texas. It was while working as an instructor that Pangborn began learning aerobatic stunts.

He and his friend Lt. Reid were given an old Curtiss JN-4D, all they had to do was patch the Jenny up and get her in flying condition. They quickly became bored with flying straight paths and devised some mischief to relieve their boredom. Some of this mischief included diving on barnyards to make horses jump fences. They would even try to steal the hands off the clock tower and the knob from the flagpole in town. And to cover up the mischief they would paint over the plane's numbers with washable paint.

After leaving the Air Service in 1919, Pangborn had flying in his blood, so he became a professional barnstormer. It was during this time that he earned the nickname "Upside-Down". He would slow roll his plane onto its back and fly at a low altitude down the flight line. He also worked as a Wing Walker trying different stunts like transfers.

During his six year run as a barnstormer he piled up 125,000 air miles and a record number of plane to plane transfers; all without personal injury, in spite of a famous fall while attempting a car to plane transfer.

After the heyday of barnstorming Pangborn went the way of many aviators by chasing speed and distance records. In 1931, he and an old flying buddy, Hugh Herndon Jr. attempted to beat the around the world record set by Wiley Post but failed when they ran into mechanical problems and had to end the attempt by landing in Russia.

Not to be deterred from some kind of record the pair decided to attempt the non-stop transpacific record. Why not? They were already nearby.

On the way to Tokyo, the pair was arrested for espionage. Accused, tried, and convicted of photographing military installations they were fined $1000 each and were facing jail time. Eventually convincing the authorities to release them the pair lifted off from Samshiro Beach October 4th, 1931 in an attempt at that record.

Along the way Clyde Pangborn had to pull off an amazing feat of bravery. When he attempted to drop the landing gear, two struts didn't drop. Using skills he learned as a barnstormer Clyde crawled out of the plane barefooted and released the gear. This done against one-hundred mile an hour winds and a cold ocean below. Additionally, when the pair landed their craft they had to do so without gear. Their 4500 mile non-stop flight took 41 hours and 13 minutes, winning them the $25,000 dollar Japanese award and Pangborn was awarded the Harmom Aviation Trophy for his achievement.

Clyde went onto to be Roscoe Turner's co-pilot in the MacRobertson air race of 1934. After a series of miscues, their plane finished a close second, nearly winning the race.

During the pre-WWII era Pangborn was hired as a test pilot for the Burnelli company. His job was to sell the Burnelli aircraft to European interests. He also worked as chief test pilot for Belanca Aircraft.

But, with the outbreak of war, Clyde Pangborn offered his talents to the allies. Helping establish the Ferry Command of The RAF, he flew 175 aircraft to England, ferried materials needed to build English aircraft, and demonstrated British Lancasters. Somehow, he also found time to recruit American airmen to fly along with the British in the RAF. He found a loophole by shuttling the airmen through Canada since it was illegal at the time for Americans to participate in the European conflict.

After the war, Pangborn quietly lived until he died in New York City in March of 1958. He was buried with military honors in Arlington National Cemetery.

I have a real hard time patting myself on the back for any extreneous efforts and rewards. I pride myself for moving on and working hard to make sure that credit is given to those around me. In my previous occupation that was a downfall, because when working around men in skilled trades the culture demands that there is a fair amount of chest beating, drum pounding and horn blowing. What happens in that environment if you don't extremely self promote? You get lost or seen as not having the knowledge you do possess.

The other side of the coin toss, in my opinion, is that those who do a lot of self-promoting end up resting on their own laurels and losing the edge of real experience. That feeling of seeing others who deserve credit beam. The trust you build when you accurately take the blame.

To me, I'd rather be who I am rather than the man who won't move forward because his self built pedestal is comfortable.

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