Yesterday, I wrote about Charles Colgan.  An interesting fellow who made my stay in Charlottesville a little easier.   (His air flights and his agreement to service the Charlottesville-Albemarle airport made that difference).

But, long before I met Mr. Colgan, I met Kay Daugherty.  Who regaled me and my children with tales of an America of long ago. Before I get there, I need to tell you how and why I met her.

When my medical device company was starting up, I knew I was going to need a west coast facility.  Because we had performed clinical trials at UCLA and were committed to supplying that hospital..  Moreover, I was actively involved with the California Dialysis Council and had two great friends who were dialysis royalty- Dr. John DiPalma and his significant other, Joanne Pittard.

And, I’m frugal.  (OK.  My kids would change that to “cheap”.  They never did like one of my favorite hotels in Ventura, the Wagon Wheel Inn.  Because all I need is clean sheets, a bed, a working TV, and four hours of relative quiet.)

And, I found a convenient hotel near the Long Beach Airport and a short bike ride away from my new Long Beach Office.  (It also was really near the 7 [now the 710] Freeway.)  It has a swimming pool, just long enough for me to swim laps, and a very friendly staff. Oh, and rack rates that made me smile.

You know when you visit a small hotel 14 to 18 times a month, you get to know everyone.  I certainly do, even if I visited one half as often.  By now, you’ve probably guessed that Catherine Daugherty owned the hotel.  And, she lived there, to boot.

She told me about her husband.  She told me about Amelia Earhardt.  She told me about Wrong Way Corrigan.  And, her love of aviation was always present.  She even headed the Long Beach Civil Air Patrol during World War II.  (She also liked the same foods I did, so we ate together often.  And, we both enjoyed our wine!)

First, we’ll talk about the love of Kay’s life, her husband, Earl Daugherty.  He was a barnstormer par excellence.  The first person in Long Beach to possess a pilot’s license in 1911- and the 87^th in the US.  He was a wing walker, stunt flyer, providing passenger rides. He even started the very first flight school.  Oh, and he chose the location for the Long Beach Airport that survives to this day.  (It also is where the Douglas Aviation company (later McDonnell Douglas and now Boeing, got its start.)   Long Beach had already been the landing site for the first transcontinental flight- landing on the beaches of the city- not quite one flight, but a journey that took about 3 months to complete.

Earl managed to log 350,000 air miles over 5000 hours of flying.  More creatively, he flew 20,000 passengers over his short career- most of them one at a time!

Earl’s good friend was Douglas Corrigan.  He routinely flew from the Long Beach airport.  Douglas became “Wrong-Way” when he flew from Brooklyn (NY) to Ireland- without authority to land there, by claiming he was really on his way home to Long Beach.  (His plane was considered too shoddy, his instrumentation too shaky to make the official flight over the Atlantic.  So, he made the 27.5 hour flight from Long Beach (28 July 1938) to Bennett Field (Brooklyn, New York).  But, instead of returning home as promised, he flew to Ireland- by mistake 🙂 !

Kay also really loved talking about Amelia Earhart.  Ms. Earhart was intrigued by Earl’s air rodeo and took the trolley from Los Angeles to Daugherty Field (the original name for LGB, where it was at the intersection of Long Beach Boulevard [then American Avenue] and Bixby Road) to see the planes Earl designed and flew.    Earl and his two partners, Frank Hawks and John Montijo, taught Amelia how to fly.   (By the way, Montijo became the second airport commissioner (after Daugherty died] of Long Beach.)

Amelia became one of the rodeo masters, along with Hawks and Daugherty. She also formed the 99’s- the first organization of women pilots with Gladys O’Donnell and Kay as the other two  founders. Amelia made the first transatlantic flight by a woman and also flew solo over the Pacific after leaving from Daugherty Field.

Kay didn’t talk much about Charles Lindbergh, another Long Beach frequent flier. (Lindberg left from Roosevelt Field on Long Island on 21 May 1927, reaching Paris on his solo flight.)  Or Cal Rogers who made that first transcontinental flight landing in Long Beach.

Kay Hall married Earl on 7 September 1923 (she always reminded me how close that was to my birthday)- on an airplane!  Keep in mind the couple needed an officiant (the Reverend Henry Kendall Booth) and two witnesses- Kay and Earl’s mom served that function.  That was a VERY crowded biplane!

On 8 December 1928 (exactly 27 years before my brother was born), Earl’s new plane design failed him.   Two right wing sections severed from the plane and he- with his two passengers- tumbled to the ground.  Another interesting fact- the poem recited at Earl’s funeral was ‘Ad Astra’ (written by Jean Batchelor)- the motto of my undergraduate school.

(A slight aside.  Another reason why I’m telling this tale today.  Earl always had a billiken (a charm doll) on his plane.  He often had a miniature one in his pocket.  And, his planes always had one painted on the side.  But not the Laird on that fateful day.  Kay searched over and over for the trinket.  So, today being Friday the 13th is a great time to retell the saga.)

 

Kay never remarried.  But, she ran Earl’s businesses (Swift Airplane dealership, a fixed base operator (with flight school and maintenance) Until she gave them up in 1962.  And, used that money to build her beloved International Inn at the other end of the airport (named for the flights of their youth, at American Avenue’s [Long Beach Boulevard] intersection with Willow Street).   She continued running the hotel until her terrible stroke in 1992 (she was 92 at the time).  She moved away and I never saw her again.  Kay died on the 25^th of February 2000- when she was 101.

I often think of this great pioneer.