The aviators: First regional air service delivered Gazette to subscribers

The weather was fair and the trip to make the first air delivery of The Gazette was set.

Spread over two days, the first run to Belle Plaine, Independence and Vinton was scheduled shortly after 2:30 p.m. on July 18, 1919. Mount Vernon, Springville, Monticello and Anamosa were covered the next day.

Pilot Lt. Victor J. Obenauer and his mechanic, L.D. Drake had made three previous trips to take pictures of each town from the air. Those photos along with stories about each town were published in The Gazette's first ever 'Airplane Edition.' Each paper was individually wrapped and marked with the name of a subscriber. All papers for each drop were then bundled together.

'This is something entirely new in this state and in fact has only been attempted in a few cities of the United States. It spells the beginning of a new era for both airplane transportation and newspaper enterprise,' said a Gazette article.

It also was a new era for daredevil air photography. Returning from a picture-taking session over Mechanicsville, Drake crawled out on the plane's right wing as it traveled a mile a minute at 2,000 feet. He set a little vest pocket camera and took a picture of pilot Obenauer in flight. The photo appeared on page 2 of the 'Airplane Edition.'

The flights originated from a 40-acre tract south of Cedar Rapids leased to Forrest McCook and George Doty, who had formed the McCook-Doty Aeroplane Co. McCook was a partner with his father in the P.T. McCook Clothing store and Doty was the manager of the Overland Doty car dealership when they joined forces in 1919.

Pilots were McCook and Obenauer, both veterans of British-American flying forces overseas.

The first of McCook-Doty's planes arrived on June 27, 1919 at the field. The company claimed it would have six former Army aviators, each of whom had more than 500 hours in the air as either an instructor or fighting pilot, and five of the latest Curtiss planes.

The aviators operated out of Doty's Overland garage at Third Avenue and Eighth Street. The company acted as agent for plane sales, offered commercial work and gave flight instruction. The McCook-Doty Airdrome was south of 23rd Avenue (now Wilson Avenue SW) and west of Ely Road (now C Street SW). As the first of an expected five planes was assembled, the field was described as a small city with hangars erected for the planes, tents and refreshment stands for employees, visitors and passengers.

The airplane itself was described in a Gazette story. 'The McCook-Doty plane is one of the latest types of Curtiss make machines, and is a magnificent mechanical bird. The material used in the wings is of a light drab color which glistens in the sun. The rudder is painted red, white and blue and there are two bulls eyes of the same colors painted on the wings. The wing-spread is forty-four feet and the length over all is 28 feet. It is equipped with a 90 horsepower motor.'

About 4,000 spectators watched Obenauer's stunt flying in July that included cartwheels, full rolls and spinning nose dives. Of the 10 passengers taken for rides, I.A. Murphy, manager of the Murphy Cadillac Co., said, 'It's the only thing I ever rode in that beats a Cadillac.' Many in the crowd complained there wasn't enough parking as cars lined the road almost back to the city limits.

The next day, the plane was taken up to take photos of the seven towns for The Gazette's special edition. Obenauer and Drake reported that they spied what they thought was a toy balloon and decided to give chase. What turned out to be an army balloon was nearly 1,000 feet higher than the plane. Obenauer took the plane up to between 3,500 to 4,000 feet and circled the balloon, once as close as 25 feet, as Drake took photos.

McCook-Doty company had a voice in Midwest aviation in 1920 when the officers and pilots attended an aviation conference and exposition in Chicago in January, representing the Chamber of Commerce and Cedar Rapids' interests.

The company continued on for a few more years hosting flying circuses on the McCook-Doty field, but by 1926, McCook was focused on keeping the family business afloat when it was forced to vacate its store and relocate to the second and third floors of the McClellan building at 203 First Ave. He later moved to California, where he was an instructor with the California Flyers Inc., retiring in 1959. He died in 1961.

George Doty moved his family to Long Beach, Calif., in 1922. He died there in 1943.

Victor Obenauer became the pilot for the Cedar Rapids Denecke department store's publicity department. He was promoted to assistant store manager in 1921, the same year that a young U.S. Aviation Corps lieutenant, Dan Hunter, began giving flight exhibitions in his Curtiss biplane. By 1924, the Cedar Rapids realtors' association established an airplane landing field at Ingleside, just outside the city limits. The location, part of which is now occupied by Colorweb Printers, was recommended by aviation authority Dan Hunter, who was conducting an aviation school at Rockford Road and Eighth Avenue with nine Curtiss planes.

In 12 more years, Dan Hunter would not only be the airport operator, but also the pilot of The Gazette's new airplane, a single engine Stinson Detroiter.

l Comments: (319) 398-8338; diane.langton@sourcemedia.net