Edwin Musick

Musick was born on August 13, 1894, in St. Louis, Missouri, where his father ran a hardware store The family moved to California when Musick was 9, and he first took flight during boyhood experiments. Musick attended Los Angeles Poly for three years and continued for two years afterwards at night while working as an automobile mechanic. Musick would soon switch careers to become an aircraft mechanic in 1914 for the Glenn L. Martin Company.Fraser, 1980, p. 264

In 1938, he and his wife (the former Cleo Livingston) were living in San Francisco; they had no children.

File:Musick Flown Cover 1928.jpg

After attending an air show at Dominguez Field in January 1910, Musick, along with a couple of friends, built his first airplane in 1912; it reached an altitude of {{convert|9|ft}} and promptly crashed.Musick collection, University of Texas, Dallas In 1913, he learned to fly aircraft at a flight school in Los Angeles and began flying as an exhibition pilot in 1915. In June 1917 he joined the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps (later called the United States Army Air Service) in San Diego as a flight instructor for the duration of World War I, and was later transferred to airfields in Wichita Falls, Texas, and Miami, Florida.{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SBS19380113.1.1 |title=Veteran Clipper Skipper Flew Ships for 25 Years |agency=United Press |date=January 13, 1938 |newspaper=San Bernardino Sun |accessdate=March 23, 2020}} He then accepted a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Marine Flying Corps on August 28, 1918, at Miami, Florida. After the war, he founded his own flying school in Florida and surpassed the 10,000 flying hours mark.

Musick also flew for several airlines starting in 1920–21: Aeromarine Airways, where he studied navigation, and Mitten Air Transport, shuttling between Philadelphia and Washington DC.{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FwMnAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA16-PA15 |title=Ed Musick, No. 1 U. S. Pilot, Held 25-Year Perfect Record |date=February 1, 1938 |magazine=American Aviation |page=15 |publisher=American Aviation Associates, Inc. |accessdate=March 23, 2020 |volume=1 |number=17}} In October 1927, Musick joined Pan American as it was just starting their operations. He made the company's inaugural mail flight to Havana, Cuba from Key West, Florida, on October 28 of that year.{{cite web |url=https://www.panam.org/explorations/730-finding-the-samoan-clipper |title=Finding the Samoan Clipper |author=Matthews, Russ |publisher=The Pan Am Historical Foundation |accessdate=March 23, 2020}} Musick was promoted to chief pilot for Pan American's Caribbean Division in 1930.

In 1934, Musick was chosen to make the trial flights for the new Sikorsky S-42 flying boat. During these stringent test flights, Musick collected 10 world records for seaplanes;{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UMTlo64R1AkC&pg=PA86 |title=The China Clipper Breathes Romance of the Old Traders |author=Karant, Max |date=February 1936 |magazine=Popular Aviation |pages=86–88;145 |accessdate=March 23, 2020}} one of the test flights was a non-stop flight of {{convert|1250|mi}}.

Musick's work on the trials with the Sikorsky S-42 led to him piloting the first two trans-Pacific survey routes for Pan American in 1935, laid out by Pan Am executives Juan Trippe, André Priester, and Charles Lindbergh and initially plotted by the chartered {{ship|SS|North Haven}}, which also carried prefabricated buildings, equipment, and supplies to establish air bases.{{cite news |url=https://www.panam.org/explorations/603-blazing-an-air-trail-2 |title=Blazing an Air Trail 1935: When We Built the Transpacific Air Route |author=Borger, John |date=Spring 1995 |work=Clipper |publisher=Pan American Historical Foundation |accessdate=March 23, 2020}} The first survey flight from Alameda to Honolulu, landing at 10:21 am Pacific Standard Time on April 17, 1935, took 18 hours, 21 minutes, breaking a record held jointly by six Navy aircraft; the aircraft, named Pan American Clipper, carried a consignment of 10,000 letters, the first shipment of airmail to Hawaii.{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=HT19350417.2.15 |title=First Commercial Air Flight to Honolulu Is Success; Sets Record |agency=United Press |date=April 17, 1935 |newspaper=Healdsburg Tribune |accessdate=March 10, 2020}} Flight time was extended by half an hour as the aircraft circled over Honolulu upon arrival, to the delight of onlookers.{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=BLA19350420.2.2 |title=Clipper Makes Record Hop to Hawaii |date=April 20, 1935 |newspaper=Blue Lake Advocate |accessdate=March 23, 2020}} Musick commanded a six-man crew, which included navigator Fred Noonan.{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=MT19350417.2.55 |title=Crew of Clipper Ship |date=April 17, 1935 |newspaper=Madera Tribune |accessdate=March 10, 2020}}

The second survey flight departed Honolulu for Midway Atoll on June 15, 1935;{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=MT19350615.2.13 |title=Clipper Plane Flying West |date=June 15, 1935 |newspaper=Madera Tribune |accessdate=March 23, 2020}} the flight returned to Alameda on June 22.{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=HT19350622.2.5 |title=Clipper Plane Makes Flight in 18 Hours |date=June 22, 1935 |newspaper=Healdsburg Tribune |accessdate=March 23, 2020}} Later survey flights pushed the route to Wake Island, returning to Alameda on August 28,{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SPNP19350828.2.79 |title=Clipper Makes New Trans-Pacific Mark |date=August 28, 1935 |newspaper=San Pedro News-Pilot |accessdate=March 23, 2020}} and Guam, returning on October 24.{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=HT19351024.2.18 |title=Clipper Returns, Airmail Bid Taken |agency=United Press |date=October 24, 1935 |newspaper=Healdsburg Tribune |accessdate=March 23, 2020}} The Guam round-trip flight was commanded by R. O. D. Sullivan, Musick's first officer for the April flight.{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=HT19351005.2.3 |title=Big Clipper Ship to Take Off for Guam 3 P.M. Today |date=October 5, 1935 |newspaper=Healdsburg Tribune |accessdate=March 23, 2020}}

File:China Clipper, first airmail flight,1936.jpg

Musick also commanded the first commercial trans-Pacific flight, carrying mail to the Philippines; the Martin M-130 China Clipper departed from Alameda on November 21, 1935, and landed in Manila on November 29,{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=MT19351129.2.5 |title=Giant Clipper Lands Manila: Plane Takes First Mail Load Islands |date=November 29, 1935 |newspaper=Madera Tribune |accessdate=March 23, 2020}} 6 days, 7 hours, and 40 minutes later, logging nearly 60 hours of flight time. The aircraft flew the trans-Pacific route surveyed in the four earlier flights, with stops in Honolulu, Midway, Wake, and Guam.{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19851122.2.237 |title=1st trans-Pacific flight was in '35 |author=Clifford, James O. |date=November 22, 1985 |newspaper=Desert Sun |agency=Associated Press |accessdate=March 23, 2020}} Compared to the first survey flight, the initial leg to Honolulu was slowed by strong headwinds and arrived after 21 hours, 13 minutes of flight time.{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=HT19351123.2.11 |title=Clipper Lands at Honolulu on First Leg of Pacific Hop |date=November 23, 1935 |newspaper=Healdsburg Tribune |accessdate=March 23, 2020}} China Clipper returned to Alameda on December 6.{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SPNP19351206.2.14 |title=Clipper Completes First Round Trip |agency=UP |date=December 6, 1935 |newspaper=San Pedro News-Pilot |accessdate=March 23, 2020}}

He was also responsible for surveying a route to New Zealand and Australia in 1937 via Hawaii, Kingman Reef, and American Samoa.{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=MVR19370129.2.120 |title=Men Against the Sea |date=January 29, 1937 |newspaper=Mill Valley Record |accessdate=March 23, 2020}}{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SPNP19370322.2.25 |title=Modern Sky Trail Blazers in Clipper |date=March 22, 1937 |newspaper=San Pedro News-Pilot |accessdate=March 23, 2020}} The S-42B Pan American Clipper II had arrived in Honolulu for that flight on March 18, 1937, with one of the four engines stopped due to an oil leak, requiring several days to repair.{{cite web |url=https://www.panam.org/people-places/638-the-saga-of-kingman-reef |title=Pioneers: Kingman Reef |publisher=The Pan Am Historical Foundation |accessdate=March 23, 2020}} Upon his arrival in Auckland on March 29, the famously terse Musick responded to the crowd of 30,000 who had turned out the greet the flight with the brief statement "We are glad to be here."{{cite web |url=https://www.panam.org/people-places/635-captain-edwin-musick |title=A Pan Am Great: Ed Musick, 1894–1938 |publisher=The Pan Am Historical Foundation |accessdate=March 23, 2020}} On December 29, 1937 Musick, aboard the Samoan Clipper, made the first flight from New Zealand to the United States, an experimental and survey flight to Hawaii and then to San Francisco.Fraser, 1980, p. 283

Because of his exploits with Pan American, Musick was one of the best known pilots of the 1930s, making the cover of Time magazine on December 2, 1935.{{cite magazine |title=Pan American's Musick |date=December 2, 1935 |volume=26 |number=23 |magazine=Time |url=https://time.com/vault/issue/1935-12-02/page/1/}} He received the Harmon Trophy in 1936 to recognize the first commercial flight of China Clipper.Air Corps News. 1938, v. 21, n. 2 At one point during the 1930s, Musick held more flying records than any other pilot. At the time of his death, Captain Musick had reportedly flown about two million transocean miles in airline service.

File:Sikorsky S-42B NC-16734 Samoan Clipper (4926859496).jpg at Alameda (1937)]]

Musick and his crew of six died in the crash of the Sikorsky S-42 Samoan Clipper (ex-Pan American Clipper II) near Pago Pago, American Samoa, on a cargo and survey flight returning from Auckland, New Zealand.{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SBS19410518.1.35 |title=Pioneers on Barren Isles Pave the Way for Pacific Clippers: Colonists Set Up Seaplane Bases On Once Worthless Bits of Land |author=Brown, Wilfred |date=May 18, 1941 |newspaper=San Bernardino Sun |accessdate=March 23, 2020}} Approximately 38 minutes after take-off on January 11, 1938, the aircraft reported an engine oil leak{{cite book |title=From Crate to Clipper |first=William Stephen |last=Grooch |publisher=Longmans, Green and Co. |date=1939 |location=New York |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006588534}} and Musick turned back toward Pago Pago after securing that engine. Their anticipated time of return was 8:30 am local time (GMT-11).

The final radio transmission from the crew was that they were dumping fuel to lighten the aircraft in preparation for a precautionary landing at 8:27 am; shortly afterwards, an explosion tore the aircraft apart in flight. Unnamed Pan Am officials speculated at the time that the dump valves, located underneath the wing, may have vented vaporized fuel near the engines' exhaust ports, resulting in an explosion and loss of the flying boat.{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SBS19380113.1.1 |title=Clipper Burns, Wreckage Found: None of Crew Spared from Fatal Crash |agency=Associated Press |date=January 13, 1938 |newspaper=San Bernardino Sun |accessdate=March 23, 2020}}

Once the aircraft had missed its planned return time, a search was launched for the aircraft; floating debris surrounded by an oil slick was found approximately 12 hours later, approximately {{convert|14|mi}} northwest of Pago Pago by the U.S. naval seaplane tender {{USS|Avocet|AVP-4|6}}.{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SPNP19380112.2.28 |title=Seven Aboard Clipper Perish in Fire: Flames Flare as Fuel Dumped |agency=AP |date=January 12, 1938 |newspaper=San Pedro News-Pilot |accessdate=March 10, 2020}} Debris was limited to charred pieces of the aircraft and its equipment; a Pan American Airways officer's jacket, later identified as belonging to the radio officer, was also recovered. However, the bodies of the seven crewmen, Capt. Edwin C. Musick, First Officer Cecil Sellers, flight officer Paul S. Brunk, navigation officer Frederick J. MacLean, radio officer Thomas D. Finley, flight engineer John W. Stickrod, and mechanic John A. Brooks were never recovered. All that remained at the scene of the crash were scorched fragments of wood and metal and some papers from the log book floating about the surface.Fraser, 1980, pp. 284-285

File:Musick, CAPT Edwin C - 5020748797.jpg on Kanton Island]]

After the crash, Pan Am abandoned plans for a base at Pago Pago and instead built a refueling station at Kanton Island, one of the Phoenix Islands in Kiribati, completing construction in July 1939.{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SPNP19390703.2.78 |title=Canton Isle Base Near Completion |date=July 3, 1939 |newspaper=San Pedro News-Pilot |accessdate=March 23, 2020}} The alternate route was enabled by the arrival of the Boeing 314 Clippers, which had a longer range than the prior S-42 and M-130 Clippers.{{cite web |url=https://www.panam.org/pan-am-stories/616-new-route-down-under |title=A New Route Down Under |publisher=The Pan Am Historical Foundation |accessdate=March 23, 2020}}

Musick Light, a lighthouse on Kanton Island, was the first structure to be dedicated for Musick, in July 1938.{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SPNP19380729.2.206 |title=Light Dedicated to Capt. Musick |agency=AP |date=July 29, 1938 |newspaper=San Pedro News-Pilot |accessdate=March 10, 2020}} Musick Point in Auckland Harbour was also named after him in 1942.{{cite web |url=https://www.panam.org/people-places/576-what-we-owe-to-ed-musick |title=What We Owe Ed Musick: January 11 marks another anniversary, the tragic loss of the Samoan Clipper |publisher=The Pan Am Historical Foundation |accessdate=March 23, 2020}} During World War II, a Liberty ship was christened {{ship|SS|Edwin C. Musick}} on February 11, 1944.{{cite web |url=https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/5419914 |title=The christening of the Liberty ship S.S. Edwin C. Musick, Richmond, California, Feb. 11, 1944: album |publisher=Stanford University Libraries |accessdate=March 23, 2020}} Musick Road at the Honolulu Airport was named in his honor.{{cite web |title=Airport Map |url=https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/M-7.pdf |website=Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources |access-date=November 23, 2021}}

In 2019, the Air/Sea Heritage Foundation launched a search for the wreck of Samoan Clipper in collaboration with Search, Inc. and Ocean Exploration Trust. The search, conducted from {{ship|E/V|Nautilus}}, concluded on July 20 with nothing found.{{cite web |url=https://www.panam.org/explorations/732-updates-hunt-for-samoan-clipper |title=Updates on the Hunt for the Samoan Clipper |date=July 2019 |author=Matthews, Russ |publisher=The Pan Am Historical Foundation |accessdate=March 23, 2020}}

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{{Portal|Biography}}

• Glenn Curtiss, (1878 –1930)  Pioneer aviator, developer of the first sea planes used by the U.S. Navy

{{reflist}}

• {{cite news |title=Clipper Wrecked, All 7 Fliers Dead in Sea After Fire |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 13, 1938 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1938/01/13/archives/clipper-wrecked-all-7-fliers-dead-in-sea-after-fire-fragments-of.html |url-access=subscription}}

• {{cite book |last=Fraser |first=Chelsea Curtis |title=Famous American flyers |volume= |authorlink= |publisher=Arno Press |location=New York |year=1980 |isbn=978-0-40512-1654 |url=https://archive.org/details/famousamericanfl0000fras/page/264/mode/2up |ref=fraser1980}}

• {{cite book |last=Grooch |first=William Stephen |title=From Crate to Clipper|publisher=Longmans, Green and Co. |date=1939 |location=New York |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006588534 |ref=grooch1939}}

• {{cite book |title=Wings to the Orient: Pan American Clipper Planes 1935 to 1945 |first=Stan |last=Cohen |date=1985 |publisher=Pictorial Histories |isbn=978-0-93312-6619 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xLoVAQAAMAAJ |ref=cohen1985}}

• {{cite journal |last=Powers |first=David G. |title=Master of the Oceans |journal=Air Enthusiast |number=47 |date=September 1992}}

• {{cite web |url=https://www.utdallas.edu/library/specialcollections/hac/general/Musick.pdf |title=Edwin C. Musick Collection: History of Aviation Collection |publisher=University of Texas at Dallas, Library |accessdate=March 23, 2020 |ref=history |archive-date=September 6, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906043608/http://www.utdallas.edu/library/specialcollections/hac/general/Musick.pdf |url-status=dead }}

• {{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fLwtAAAAIAAJ&q=musick

|title=The Untimely Death of the Conqueror of the Pacific |date=January 15, 1938 |work=Air Corps News Letter |volume=21 |number=2 |accessdate=March 23, 2020 |ref=conqueror}}

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• [https://content.time.com/time/magazine/archive/covers/0,16641,1101351202,00.html Time magazine cover]
• [http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1935-film-stars-john-barrymore-wally-176982486 Edwin Musick] sitting in between actors John Barrymore and Wallace Beery
• {{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nFMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA16 |title=The best thing about flying 'The world's most experienced airline' is that it actually is the world's most experienced airline. |date=January 8, 1971 |magazine=Life |pages=16–17}}
• {{cite web |url=https://www.clipperflyingboats.com/edwin-musick |title=Edwin Musick |website=Pan Am Clipper Flying Boats}}

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Category:1894 births

Category:1938 deaths

Category:American aviation record holders

Category:Aviators from Missouri

Category:Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States

Category:Harmon Trophy winners

Category:Members of the Early Birds of Aviation

Category:Pan Am people

Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1938