Clarence Duncan Chamberlin
Encyclopedia
Clarence Duncan Chamberlin (November 11, 1893 – October 30, 1976) was the second man to pilot a fixed-wing aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean
, from New York to the European mainland, while carrying the first transatlantic passenger.
to E.C. Chamberlin, who owned a jewelry store. He graduated from Denison High School
in 1912 and then attended Denison Normal and Business College for a year before attending Iowa State University
for two years. He then served in the Army Air Service during World War I
. When the war ended, Chamberlin returned to Denison, Iowa
and ran a motorcycle and auto repair shop before moving to New York City
.
. Chamberlin flew the plane to Glen Falls, New York commenting that Bellanca
"gave very conservative estimates of its performance and did not exaggerate it's capabilities". Bellanca would remain friends with Chamberlin, hiring him later as his chief test pilot at Wright Aeronautical
and later at Columbia Aircraft Corp
.
In April 1927, Chamberlin set an endurance record by circling New York City for 51 hours and 11 minutes with Bert Acosta
in a WB-2 "Columbia". Acosta would later be Richard Byrd
's co-pilot in his transatlantic flight. Chamberlin then made the first ship-to-shore flight, when he flew a mail plane to New York City from the deck of a ship 120 miles at sea.
, Chamberlin registered for the $25,000 ($1M by 2007 standards) Orteig Prize
offered by Raymond Orteig
through the Aero Club of America
for the first people to fly directly from New York to Paris or vice versa in 1927. He competed with several others such as Cdr. Richard Byrd (United States Navy) in the America , who had recently completed the first flight over the North Pole, Capt. Charles Nungesser
of the French Air Service with Francois Coli
in their plane L'Oiseau Blanc (The White Bird
), and Capt. Charles Lindbergh
(United States Army Air Corps) who had arrived in his plane The Spirit of St. Louis. Only Nungesser & Coli would be flying in the opposite direction, from Paris to New York.
Chamberlin would probably have won the contest since Nungesser's plane which was the first in the air had disappeared, and the early attempt by Byrd had crashed, but for a legal technicality. The plane's former navigator filed an injunction against Levine claiming he had been fired in breach of his contract. It wasn't until late May that the injunction was lifted. By then they had received news of Lindbergh's safe landing in Paris.
It was then they decided to try for Berlin and set a distance record. With Levine as his navigator, even though he had almost no navigational experience, he made a record nonstop transatlantic flight
from Roosevelt Field, Long Island (the airfield from which Lindbergh and Byrd took off) to Eisleben
, Germany
, a distance of 3,911 miles, in 42 hours and 31 minutes. The flight was from June 4, 1927 through June 6, 1927. The plane used was a Bellanca monoplane, designed by Giuseppe Mario Bellanca
with a Wright Whirlwind engine, same as used by Lindbergh and Byrd. On June 6, 1927, Chamberlin's monoplane ran out of fuel 43 miles short of his goal of Berlin
, Germany.
Time (magazine)
wrote on June 27, 1927:
. After a divorce, he married Louise Ashby, in 1936. He was the father of one son and two daughters.
, where he died. He is buried at Lawn Cemetery in Huntington, Connecticut.
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
, from New York to the European mainland, while carrying the first transatlantic passenger.
Early life
He was was born on November 11, 1893 in Denison, IowaDenison, Iowa
Denison is a city in Crawford County, Iowa, United States, along the Boyer River. The population was 7,339 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Crawford County.-Geography:Denison is located at ....
to E.C. Chamberlin, who owned a jewelry store. He graduated from Denison High School
Denison High School
Denison High School is a public high school in Denison, Texas, United States. It is within the Denison Independent School District.-Athletics:The Denison Yellow Jackets compete in these sports -...
in 1912 and then attended Denison Normal and Business College for a year before attending Iowa State University
Iowa State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of...
for two years. He then served in the Army Air Service during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. When the war ended, Chamberlin returned to Denison, Iowa
Denison, Iowa
Denison is a city in Crawford County, Iowa, United States, along the Boyer River. The population was 7,339 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Crawford County.-Geography:Denison is located at ....
and ran a motorcycle and auto repair shop before moving to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Aviation
In 1919 Chamberlin purchased a Bellanca CE from the Maryland Pressed Steel CompanyMaryland Pressed Steel Company
Maryland Pressed Steel Company was an American aircraft manufacturer of the Bellanca CD, and CE aircraft.The New York & Hagerstown Metal Stamping Co manufactured arms for the British and was reorganized into the Maryland Pressed Steel Company in 1914. In 1916, the Poole Engineering and Machine Co...
. Chamberlin flew the plane to Glen Falls, New York commenting that Bellanca
Giuseppe Mario Bellanca
Giuseppe Mario Bellanca was an Italian-American airplane designer and builder who created the first enclosed cabin monoplane in the United States in 1922. This aircraft is now on display at the National Air & Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.-Biography:He was born on March 19, 1886 in...
"gave very conservative estimates of its performance and did not exaggerate it's capabilities". Bellanca would remain friends with Chamberlin, hiring him later as his chief test pilot at Wright Aeronautical
Wright Aeronautical
Wright Aeronautical was an aircraft and aircraft engine manufacturer located in New Jersey.-History:This American company evolved from the 1909-1916 Wright Company, which merged with the Glenn L. Martin Company in 1916 to form the Wright-Martin Aircraft Corporation. Glenn Martin resigned from...
and later at Columbia Aircraft Corp
Columbia Aircraft Corp
The Columbia Aircraft Corp was a United States aircraft manufacturer, which was active between 1927 and 1947.-Formation and operations:Columbia Aircraft was founded in December 1927 by Charles A. Levine as chairman and the aircraft designer Giuseppe Mario Bellanca as president. The initial name...
.
In April 1927, Chamberlin set an endurance record by circling New York City for 51 hours and 11 minutes with Bert Acosta
Bert Acosta
Bertrand Blanchard Acosta was a record setting aviator. With Clarence D. Chamberlin they set an endurance record of 51 hours, 11 minutes, and 25 seconds in the air. He later flew in the Spanish Civil War in the Yankee Squadron. He was known as the Bad Boy of the Air...
in a WB-2 "Columbia". Acosta would later be Richard Byrd
Richard Evelyn Byrd
Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd, Jr., USN was a naval officer who specialized in feats of exploration. He was a pioneering American aviator, polar explorer, and organizer of polar logistics...
's co-pilot in his transatlantic flight. Chamberlin then made the first ship-to-shore flight, when he flew a mail plane to New York City from the deck of a ship 120 miles at sea.
Transatlantic flight
In the monoplane Columbia owned by Charles Albert LevineCharles Albert Levine
Charles Albert Levine was the first passenger aboard a transatlantic flight.-Biography:Levine was born on March 17, 1897, in North Adams, Massachusetts. He joined his father in selling scrap metal, later forming his own company buying and recycling World War I surplus brass shell casings...
, Chamberlin registered for the $25,000 ($1M by 2007 standards) Orteig Prize
Orteig Prize
The Orteig Prize was a $25,000 reward offered on May 19, 1919, by New York hotel owner Raymond Orteig to the first allied aviator to fly non-stop from New York City to Paris or vice-versa. On offer for five years, it attracted no competitors...
offered by Raymond Orteig
Raymond Orteig
Raymond Orteig was the New York City hotel owner who offered the Orteig Prize for the first non-stop transatlantic flight between New York and Paris....
through the Aero Club of America
Aero Club of America
The Aero Club of America was a social club formed in 1905 by Charles Glidden and others to promote aviation in America. It was the parent organization of numerous state chapters, the first being the Aero Club of New England. It thrived until 1923, when it transformed into the National Aeronautic...
for the first people to fly directly from New York to Paris or vice versa in 1927. He competed with several others such as Cdr. Richard Byrd (United States Navy) in the America , who had recently completed the first flight over the North Pole, Capt. Charles Nungesser
Charles Nungesser
Charles Eugène Jules Marie Nungesser, MC was a French ace pilot and adventurer, best remembered as a rival of Charles Lindbergh...
of the French Air Service with Francois Coli
François Coli
François Coli was a French pilot and navigator best known as the flying partner of Charles Nungesser in the doomed attempt to fly the Atlantic Ocean on the aircraft known as The White Bird....
in their plane L'Oiseau Blanc (The White Bird
The White Bird
The White Bird was a French biplane which disappeared in 1927, during an attempt to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight between Paris and New York...
), and Capt. Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...
(United States Army Air Corps) who had arrived in his plane The Spirit of St. Louis. Only Nungesser & Coli would be flying in the opposite direction, from Paris to New York.
Chamberlin would probably have won the contest since Nungesser's plane which was the first in the air had disappeared, and the early attempt by Byrd had crashed, but for a legal technicality. The plane's former navigator filed an injunction against Levine claiming he had been fired in breach of his contract. It wasn't until late May that the injunction was lifted. By then they had received news of Lindbergh's safe landing in Paris.
It was then they decided to try for Berlin and set a distance record. With Levine as his navigator, even though he had almost no navigational experience, he made a record nonstop transatlantic flight
Transatlantic flight
Transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean. A transatlantic flight may proceed east-to-west, originating in Europe or Africa and terminating in North America or South America, or it may go in the reverse direction, west-to-east...
from Roosevelt Field, Long Island (the airfield from which Lindbergh and Byrd took off) to Eisleben
Eisleben
Eisleben is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is famous as the hometown of Martin Luther, hence its official name is Lutherstadt Eisleben. As of 2005, Eisleben had a population of 24,552...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, a distance of 3,911 miles, in 42 hours and 31 minutes. The flight was from June 4, 1927 through June 6, 1927. The plane used was a Bellanca monoplane, designed by Giuseppe Mario Bellanca
Giuseppe Mario Bellanca
Giuseppe Mario Bellanca was an Italian-American airplane designer and builder who created the first enclosed cabin monoplane in the United States in 1922. This aircraft is now on display at the National Air & Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.-Biography:He was born on March 19, 1886 in...
with a Wright Whirlwind engine, same as used by Lindbergh and Byrd. On June 6, 1927, Chamberlin's monoplane ran out of fuel 43 miles short of his goal of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Germany.
Time (magazine)
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
wrote on June 27, 1927:
Pilot Clarence Duncan Chamberlin and passenger Charles A. Levine were last week enjoying the hospitality of Germans, resting in the watering place known as Baden-BadenBaden-BadenBaden-Baden is a spa town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the western foothills of the Black Forest, on the banks of the Oos River, in the region of Karlsruhe...
, inspecting huge multi-motored airships at the DornierDornier FlugzeugwerkeDornier Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturer founded in Friedrichshafen in 1914 by Claudius Dornier. Over the course of its long lifespan, the company produced many notable designs for both the civil and military markets.-History:...
and ZeppelinZeppelinA Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on 14 March 1899...
plants. Some of their doings: Frau Thea RascheThea RascheThea Rasche was Germany's first woman pilot.-References:...
, Germany's only licensed woman pilot, was taken for a ride over Berlin by Pilot Chamberlin. Skillful, she also took passenger Levine for a ride. Correspondents heralded the trips as strengthening to U.S. - German relations. Flyers Chamberlin and Levine hustled to BremenBremenThe City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
to meet their respective wives, who arrived from the U.S. Said Mrs. Chamberlin on seeing her husband: "Why, your knickers are awful. Didn't you even have them cleaned?" Then the two couples flew to Berlin in three hops. The two wives were reported to be feeling ill after the first hop. "The Columbia is not on the market," said Mr. Levine when Grover Cleveland BergdollGrover Cleveland BergdollGrover Cleveland Bergdoll was an early aviator, and World War I draft dodger, who went to Germany to avoid service....
, a rich American then living in Germany, offered to buy the monoplane. Mr. Bergdoll let it be known that he desires to fly to the U.S. to show that he is no coward, that conscientious objection was his only reason for refusing to fight in the World War.
Family life
Chamberlin was first married to Wilda Bogert of Independence, IowaIndependence, Iowa
Independence is a city in and the county seat of Buchanan County, Iowa, United States. The population was 5,966 in the 2010 census, a decline from 6,014 in the 2000 census...
. After a divorce, he married Louise Ashby, in 1936. He was the father of one son and two daughters.
Later years and Death
After Chaberlin's Transatlantic flight, he opened a flight school in Jersey City, NJ. In 1930, the school designed and built an 100hp Kinner powered folding-wing side-by-side aircraft for the school that did not go into production. Later in life Chamberlin sold real estate. He remained involved in aviation, becoming an outspoken supporter of private aviation and the growing interest in homebuilt aircraft. He lived his last years in Shelton, ConnecticutShelton, Connecticut
Shelton is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 39,559 at the 2010 census.-Origins:Shelton was settled by the English as part of the town of Stratford, Connecticut, in 1639...
, where he died. He is buried at Lawn Cemetery in Huntington, Connecticut.
Aviation records
- 1927 Endurance record by circling New York City for 51 hours and 11 minutes with Bert Acosta
- 1927 First ship-to-shore flight, when he flew a mail plane to New York City from the deck of a ship 120 miles at sea.
- 1927 Second nonstop transatlantic flightTransatlantic flightTransatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean. A transatlantic flight may proceed east-to-west, originating in Europe or Africa and terminating in North America or South America, or it may go in the reverse direction, west-to-east...
, from Roosevelt Field, Long Island to Eisleben, Germany, a distance of 3,911 miles, in 42 hours and 31 minutes. - 1927 First transatlantic passenger
Other media
- Farewell Message of Mr. Levine and Captain Hinchcliffe, Just Before Their Departure on Their Return Flight to America is a short film made in the PhonofilmPhonofilmIn 1919, Lee De Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patent on a sound-on-film process, DeForest Phonofilm, which recorded sound directly onto film as parallel lines. These parallel lines photographically recorded electrical waveforms from a microphone, which were translated back...
sound-on-film process at Clapham Studios in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
of Hinchcliffe (replacing Chamberlin) and Levine just before they flew back to the U.S. - Independent filmmaker, Billy Tooma, completed work on a documentary filmDocumentary filmDocumentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
detailing Chamberlin's life and historic transatlantic flight, Fly First & Fight Afterward: The Life of Col. Clarence D. Chamberlin. The film saw its World Premiere on April 21, 2011 at the Myrtle Beach International Film Festival and was nominated for the National Aviation Hall of Fame's 2011 Combs-Gates Award.
External links
- Clarence Chamberlin bibliography
- Air Racing History: Clarence Chamberlin
- Early Aviators: Clarence Chamberlin
- Des Moines Register: Clarence Chamberlin
Honor
- National Aviation Hall of FameNational Aviation Hall of FameThe American National Aviation Hall of Fame is located at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, east Dayton, Ohio...