1. Frank Monroe Hawks was a pilot in the United States Army Air Service during World War I and was known during the 1920s and 1930s as a record breaking aviator, using a series of Texaco-sponsored aircraft, setting 214 point-to-point records in the United States and Europe.
Frank Hawks took on juvenile parts during his parents' engagements but when the family settled in California, Frank Hawks resumed his formal schooling and graduated in 1916 from a high school in Long Beach.
An early exposure to the thrill of flying came when Frank Hawks convinced local Long Beach air field owners, the Christofferson brothers, to give him a free flight in exchange for a newspaper article.
Frank Hawks had convinced the owners that a high school student's impressions would result in increased interest in flying and more business for the air field.
Frank Hawks joined the US Army with the aspiration to become a pilot in the Aviation Section, US Signal Corps.
Besides his barnstorming feats, Frank Hawks became known for his appearances at aerial exhibitions and on December 28,1920, he took a 23-year-old Amelia Earhart on her first flight at a state fair in Los Angeles, California.
Frank Hawks began to be in public eye when he joined the Gates Flying Circus and was involved in a demonstration of the first in-flight refueling in 1921.
On May 7,1922, Frank Hawks landed his small Standard biplane within the grounds at the Stadium Jalapeno at Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, as part of the inaugural ceremonies.
In 1924 Frank Hawks was hired by Compania Mexicana de Aviacion as a pilot flying special charter service routes, piloting his Standard J-1 two-place modified for five-place passenger service.
The notoriety that Frank Hawks gained by his self-promotion led to a contract with Maxwell House Coffee and with their sponsorship, he entered the 1927 National Air Races in Spokane, Washington, where the now renamed "Miss Maxwell House" came in first for speed in the Detroit News Air Transport Speed and Efficiency Trophy Race.
The "Texaco One", a custom-built Ford Trimotor was delivered in January 1928 and Frank Hawks was dispatched to advertise the company across the United States and abroad, beginning with flying a Texas delegation from Houston to Mexico City and back.
Later in the same year, Frank Hawks embarked on a nationwide goodwill tour, visiting more than 150 cities and covering approximately 51,000 miles.
In early 1929, Frank Hawks was approached by Lockheed to ferry their new Air Express to New York in time for an air show.
On February 4,1929, flying with Oscar Grubb, superintendent of final assembly at the Lockheed factory, who had volunteered to serve as flight engineer to pump fuel from auxiliary fuselage tanks, Frank Hawks set a transcontinental speed record.
Frank Hawks flew from the Lockheed factory in Burbank, California, to New York in 18 hours and 21 minutes.
Four months later, Frank Hawks shattered the record again by 43 minutes in "Texaco Five".
The aircraft accumulated some 90,000 miles before being lost in a 17 January 1930 accident when Frank Hawks attempted a takeoff from a soggy field in West Palm Beach, Florida, destroying the "Texaco Five" in a spectacular crash that catapulted it into a row of three parked aircraft.
In 1930, Frank Hawks convinced Texaco to back a proving flight that would demonstrate the effectiveness of gliders.
Frank Hawks spent 10 hours in soaring exhibitions at scores of towns and cities along the route.
Frank Hawks arrived in New York on April 6,1930, effectively proving the feasibility of long-distance glider-towing.
In 1930, Frank Hawks proposed that Texaco replace the lost "Texaco Five" with a revolutionary new racing aircraft, the Travel Air Type R Mystery Ship that had been debuted at the 1929 National Air Races where its turn-of-speed saw it best the latest United States Army and Navy fighters.
Frank Hawks tried to coax "Texaco 13" back but hit telephone lines at the edge of the factory field; the aircraft crashed nose-first and flipped onto its back.
Repairs were carried out by the summer of 1930, when Frank Hawks embarked on a series of exhibition flights and record-breaking flights across the United States including a new transcontinental west-to-east record on August 13,1930, of 12 hours, 25 minutes, three seconds, the fastest crossing up to that time.
The Travel Air Type R Frank Hawks flew, was the fourth of a series of five racers and was configured for long-distance racing with longer wings and a full set of instrumentation, features that differentiated the aircraft from the rest of the series.
Frank Hawks pulled out of the race on the third lap when the engine began to falter at full throttle.
Frank Hawks used the media attention that was garnered by his record flights to promote aviation, especially demonstrating that fast courier air service was feasible.
On October 7,1930, with the completion of the final World Series game at Philadelphia, Frank Hawks flew to North Beach, Queens, delivering the game photographs exactly 20 minutes later, faster than wire service at the time.
Frank Hawks cut the motor in time, and saved himself from cremation.
In June 1932, Frank Hawks left the United States Army Air Corps Reserve, exchanging his commission for that of a United States Naval Reserve lieutenant commander.
The new aircraft was the first of the Gamma series and was specially designed for Frank Hawks, fitted with then-new Sperry automatic pilot.
The name was later changed to "Sky Chief" when Frank Hawks had been honored by the Sioux Indian nation as a chief.
Frank Hawks demonstrated the aircraft to the Argentine Navy and effectively demonstrating the long-distance capabilities of the new type by flying 8,090 miles from Buenos Aires to Los Angeles in three days.
In 1936, Hawks approached Howell W "Pete" Miller, chief engineer for the Granville Brothers and their famous Gee Bee racers, to create a racing aircraft to his own design.
Frank Hawks obtained sponsorship from the Gruen Watch Company and named the aircraft "Time Flies".
Frank Hawks then flew to Newark Airport, New Jersey, in 4 hours and 21 minutes but bounced on landing at Newark, and on the third bounce, a wooden spar had broken in the right wing, and others were damaged.
Besides numerous advertisements that spotlighted the Hawks image, he was a prominent spokesman for Post Cereals, featured in newspaper comic strips and children's adventure books.
Frank Hawks was active in many causes; he flew noted humorist Will Rogers in a fund-raising campaign for the Red Cross to assist Oklahoma drought victims in 1931.
Frank Hawks gradually became more active in entertainment ventures with his long-running radio serial, a starring role in Klondike, and becoming the leading actor in a film serial, The Mysterious Pilot.
Frank Hawks announced his retirement from air racing in 1937 and joined the Gwinn Aircar Company as vice president in charge of sales.
Frank Hawks toured the United States, giving flying demonstrations in the new "safety" aircraft, the Gwinn Aircar.
Frank Hawks, who had told friends years before, "I expect to die in an airplane," died in 1938 flying a Gwinn Aircar which crashed in East Aurora, New York.
An article and plans for modeling the Gwinn Aircar in which Frank Hawks died was published in the November 1938 issue of Flying Aces magazine as a tribute to Frank Hawks.