Roy F. Jones

{{Infobox military person

| name = Roy Franklin Jones

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1893|10|16}}

| birth_place = Ketchikan, Alaska, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1974|02|17|1893|10|16}}

| death_place = Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

| allegiance = United States

| branch = Army Signal Corps (World War I)

| serviceyears = First World War
Second World War

| serviceyears_label =

| rank = Major

| known_for = First to establish commercial air service in Alaska, Founder of Northbird Aviation Company

| laterwork = Pioneer Airways (co-founder)

}}

Roy Franklin Jones (October 16, 1893 – February 17, 1974) was an aviator from the Ketchikan, Alaska area. Jones learned to fly in the aviation section of the Army Signal Corps during World War I.{{cite book|last1=Satterfield|first1=Archie|title=Alaska Bush Pilots in the Float Country|publisher=Superior Publishing Company|page=13|edition=1}}

Jones was the first pilot to establish commercial air service in Alaska. On July 17, 1922, pilot Roy Jones and mechanic Gerald Smith landed at Ketchikan in the Tongass Narrows. {{cite web | url=https://ketchikan.pastperfectonline.com/photo/971A16FE-0861-4523-85D4-218987685238 | title=Crowd greeting the arrival of Roy Jones & the Northbird, July 17, 1922 - 81.12.9.1 | Ketchikan Museums }} There had been several mechanical breakdowns and some bad weather en route. Jones flew a Curtiss MF-6-K Seagull, named Northbird, an open cockpit biplane equipped with a Hispano-Suiza 180 HP engine.

On the day he arrived, Jones sent a telegraph ahead to say he would arrive in 90 minutes. When he arrived there was a crowd which carried Jones to Pioneer Hall where Joe Ulmer gave a welcome speech. He stayed in the area, using Northbird to operate under the name Northbird Aviation Company. The airline did not prosper, as Jones crashed the flying boat in Heckman Lake in 1923.{{cite web|url=http://www.akhistorycourse.org/articles/article.php?artID=79|title=Southeast Alaska - 1922-1942 Between Two Wars|author=The Alaska Humanities Forum|website=Alaska's History & Cultural Studies}}{{cite web|url=http://www.sitnews.org/JuneAllen/052102_pigeons.html|title=Ketchikan's mysterious pigeons: Who knew!|first=June|last=Allen|date=May 21, 2002|publisher=SitNews}} Jones continued living in Ketchikan until 1928.{{cite web|url=http://library.alaska.gov/hist/hist_docs/finding_aids/MS004-38-001.doc|title=Roy F. Jones manuscript collection, 1922-1973|last=Jones|first=Roy Franklin|authorlink=Roy_F._Jones|work=Alaska State Library - Historical Collections|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714172125/http://library.alaska.gov/hist/hist_docs/finding_aids/MS004-38-001.doc|archivedate=2014-07-14}}

Jones later became involved with another Alaskan airline, joining Vern C. Gorst and C.R. Wright to form Pioneer Airways in 1930.{{cite web|url=http://www.reocities.com/alaskanheritage/pioneerAirways.html|title=Pioneer Airways|website=The Airlines of Alaska - Then and Now|date=2004|first=Eddy|last=Haynes}}

A veteran of World War I as a pilot, during World War II Jones joined the United States Army Air Forces, being stationed at Ladd Field, Fairbanks, from where he retired as a Major in the reserves post-war.{{cite web|url=http://www.alaskabushpilot.org/MyMoreAKPilots03.html|title=Roy Dickson 1930s Alaska Bush Pilot|editor-first1=Roy|editor-last1=Dickson Jr.|editor-first2=Dorothy|editor-last2=Dickson McLaren}}

Jones died in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1974.{{citation needed|date=June 2014}}