Harris Whittemore Jr., aviation pioneer – Conclusion

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Harris Whittemore Jr. (Photo courtesy Bethany Historical Society)

By DR. ROBERT L. RAFFORD

On July 1, 1926, Colonial Air Transport Inc. inaugurated airmail service from New York to Boston, stopping in Hartford’s Brainard Field, New England’s most advanced airfield. At that point, W. Irving Bullard was president, Harris Whittemore Jr. was vice president, Middlebury’s Donald S. Tuttle was a director, and Juan Terry Trippe became a vice president and general manager of Colonial.

The airline was busy scouting out new destinations for its flights and making contracts with railway agencies to cooperatively get the mail through. Colonial bought two more Fokker monoplanes as it prepared to initiate passenger flights along its route.

Major General John F. O’Ryan, who was chosen chairman of the board in September 1926, succeeded W. Irving Bullard. O’Ryan (1874-1961) was the youngest division commander in Europe. He led New York’s 27th (Bulldog) Division during World War I and was highly decorated. He was a successful lawyer and later became New York City’s police commissioner for nine strenuous months in 1934 under an overbearing Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia. O’Ryan led Colonial Air Transport for eight years.

In November 1926, Colonial increased its resources to $1 million in preparation for entering the New York to Chicago airmail route. Four more trimotor planes with enclosed cabins were ordered, two from Fokker and two from the Ford Motor Company.

That month, the first airplane-to-land radio messages were received. Cardwell and Sperry perfected the first radio-controlled and gyroscopically operated pilotless airplane and set about collaborating with Colonial. The next month, stockholders increased shares from 6,600 to 30,000, valued at $2 million, and Major O’Ryan anticipated passenger flights from New York to Chicago and Montreal.

In January 1927, Colonial was awarded contracts with American Railway Express Company air transport service, Ford Company and General Electric. Ten more planes were anticipated to be added, bringing it up to a fleet of fourteen. The airplane was poised to equal the train for safe and easy transportation. However, on April 3, 1927, the New York to Chicago airmail route was not awarded to Colonial, but instead to the National Air Transport Inc., a severe blow.

Immediately after receiving the unwelcome news, the Colonial board was “renovated,” reducing it from 30 to 15. The new board consisted of Harris Whittemore Jr., Donald S. Tuttle, Major General John F. O’Ryan, William A. Rockefeller, Connecticut Governor John H. Trumbull, Juan T. Trippe, Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, John A. Hambleton, Talbot O. Freeman and six others, some of the wealthiest and most astute businessmen in the country. Major General John F. O’Ryan was renamed as president.

The Colonial System established three divisions, Colonial Western, which offered flights in upstate New York linking them to Canada; Colonial Canadian (later Canadian Colonial Airways), which offered flights between New York and Montreal, Canada; and Colonial Air Transport Inc.

This plaque was awarded to Harris Whittemore Jr. in 1953. It honored him for his contribution in establishing American Airlines 30 years earlier. (Photograph courtesy of the Whittemore family)

In June 1927, the Aviation Corporation of the Americas Inc. was incorporated, a huge holding company that began merging airlines by the dozens. It would later become known as the “Avco” company, today a subsidiary of Textron. The Colonial system became part of the merger but retained its names.

Harris Whittemore Jr. left Colonial Air Transport in 1931 and developed the Lewis Engineering Company in Naugatuck, which manufactured aeronautical instruments. Ultimately, Colonial became what we know today as American Airlines. In 1953, Harris Whittemore Jr. was presented with a plaque and feted for his contribution in establishing American Airlines, at a ceremony in Hartford, commemorating the 30th anniversary of its founding. Whittemore’s contributions loom large in the history of America’s aviation. This concludes the articles on Harris Whittemore Jr.

You are urged to join the Middlebury Historical Society by going online at MiddleburyHistoricalSociety.org or visiting them on Facebook. Questions about membership can be sent to Bob at robraff@comcast.net.

This article was first published in the December 2021 print issue of the Middlebury Bee-Intelligencer.