The Hall of Fame of the Air

An illustrated newspaper feature from 1935 - 1940

By Stephen Sherman, Mar. 2007. Updated April 11, 2012.

Up in my father's garage attic, along with unopened lawn mowers and fireplace andirons, we came across these cartoons he had saved for six decades --- the "Hall of Fame of the Air" (HFA). Every Sunday in the late 1930's, newspapers ran this cartoon feature, depicting the feats of legendary aces and early aviators. Next to each pilot, an airplane associated with him was shown.

Well-known American aviation artist Clayon Knight (1891 - 1969) created HFA. He was also the father of Hilary Knight, author of  "Eloise," the little girl who lived in New York's Plaza Hotel. Clayton Knight had served with a British fighter squadron in WWI. His artwork from the Depression era and World War Two typified the iconic, heroic art of the period, used in propaganda posters. In WWII, along with Billy Bishop, he helped to organize the Eagle Squadrons, volunteer American fighter pilots who flew with the RAF before Pearl Harbor.

The scans below show the development of the HFA itself. Beginning in 1935, the first weeks featured world-renowned aviators like Lindbergh, Earhart, and Doolittle. These early strips were also rather small, about nine by five inches. On June 23, in a feature on Raoul Lufbery, the strip introduced a new, larger format, now fourteen by seven, doubling its previous size. Aviation was big news in 1935! In the next month, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker's by-line appeared. Whether "America's Ace of Aces" wrote the pieces or not; his name added authenticity to the strip.  The Hall of Fame of the Air ran at least from 1935 to 1940. As the weeks wore on, into 1936, ever more obscure aviators graced its panels. My son read Lawrence Sperry's piece, which noted that he used to land his small airplane on the street. "Gee, it doesn't seem like someone had to do much to get into this Hall of Fame of the Air." My father's collection starts in February, 1935 and includes thirty-nine items, the last one dated September, 1936. From other web sources, I found a reference as late as March, 1940.  The comic strip was collected into this book, which occasionally can still be found.

In the scans, one can see taped corners, pin holes, and occasionally missing pilot sections; evidence of my Dad having cut up and tacked pictures to his wall or notebook. From the condition of the clippings, he was very fond of Jimmy Doolittle, and also the Northrop "all-metal high-speed" plane.

Date	Pilot (click for full-size image)	Plane (click for full size image)	Pilot	Plane
Feb. 17, 1935			Charles Lindbergh	Spirit of St. Louis, Ryan monplane
Mar. 3, 1935			Jimmy Doolittle	Laird racer
Mar. 24, 1935			Amelia Earhart	Lockheed Vega
June 16, 1935			Clyde Pangborn	Boeing 247-D
The large-format, 14 x 7, panels begin.
June 23, 1935			Raoul Lufbery	French Voisin bomber
June 30, 1935	n.a.		n.a.	Ansaldo S.V.A. pursuit plane
July 7, 1935	Bernt Balchen		Bernt Balchen	Fokker Trimotor
July 14, 1935			George Vaughn	Curtiss O-1 Falcon US Army Air Corps observation plane
July 21, 1935	Capt. Dieudonne Costes		Capt. Dieudonne Costes	French Breguet 19 Super Bidon "Point d'Interrogation" or "Question Mark"
Captain Eddie Rickenbacker's byline added.
July 28, 1935			Jack Frye	Northrop all metal high speed plane
Aug. 4, 1935			Lt. Col. Ralph Royce	Boeing P-26
Aug. 11, 1935			Capt. Albert Ball	Sopwith Triplane
Aug. 18, 1935			Col. Charles Kerwood An American who served with the French and Greek armies, as well as the Foreign Legion and the Lafayette Escadrille	French Latecoere 26 used by the Greek air force and as an ambulance plane
Sept. 1, 1935			Oswald Boelcke	Pfalz Scout D-III
Sept. 8, 1935			Frank Hawks	Travelair Mystery Ship
Sept. 15, 1935			Bert Hall	Maurice Farman pusher biplane
Sept. 29, 1935			Casey Jones	Curtiss Hawk P-6
Oct. 13, 1935			Major Ernst Udet	Fokker D-7
Oct. 20, 1935			Capt. Boris Sergievsky	Sikorsky S-43 amphibian
Nov. 3, 1935			Edward 'Mick' Mannock	Airco D.H. 5 rotary engine scout plane
Nov. 17, 1935			Capt. Frederick Libby	Bristol F.E. 2b two-seater pusher biplane
Nov. 24, 1935			Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith	Lockheed Altair
Dec. 1, 1935			James H. "Jack" Knight	Douglas M-2 biplane
Dec. 8, 1935			Col. Harold Hartney	English AVRO 504 widely used biplane trainer
Jan. 5, 1936			Ernst Heil	Junkers Ju-52
Jan. 12, 1936			Lt. Joseph Wehner	French SPAD XIII
Jan. 19, 1936			Grover Loening	Loening OL-5/OA-1 amphibian
Feb. 2, 1936			Lawrence B. Sperry	Sperry Messenger
Feb. 9, 1936			James Norman Hall	Bleriot-SPAD 91
Feb. 16, 1936			Robert Loraine An English actor who learned to fly in the early days of aviation. He fought in the Boer War and World War One.	D.H. 4 An English two seater observation and bombing plane
Feb. 23, 1936			John Sutton	Burgess-Dunne tailless plane
Mar. 1, 1936			Alexander de Seversky	Seversky BT-8 basic training plane
Mar. 8, 1936			Billy Barker	Sopwith Camel
Mar. 15, 1936			Jimmy James	Boeing Model 40 mailplane
Aug. 23, 1936			Charles W.A. Scott	De Haviland 88 Comet
Sept. 14, 1936			Swanee Taylor	Curtiss Tanager
Jan. 30, 1938	Lt. Charles Bauch	the Shenandoah airship	Lt. Charles Bauch	the Shenandoah airship
Oct. 15, 1939	Blanche Stuart Scott	n.a.	Blanche Stuart site	n.a.
Mar. 31, 1940	Homer Berry	n.a.	Homer Berry	n.a.
a few, undated airplane images
n.a.	Capt. Elliot Springs		Capt. Elliot Springs	S.E. 5
n.a.	n.a.		n.a.	Bleriot XI monoplane
n.a.	n.a.		n.a.	Taper-wing Waco