PILOT STORIES: Benedict,
Cecil R.
| Air Mail
Service Began: |
March 10, 1920 |
| Air Mail Service Ended: |
June 10, 1920 |
| Assignment: |
College Park, Maryland |
| |
April 9, 1920 – Chicago, Illinois |
After three incidents in one month, Benedict left the Air Mail Service. In a memo prepared for Chief of Flying, James Edgerton on June 12, 1920, it was noted that while landing at Checkerboard Field, Chicago, in de Havilland airplane #375, Benedict nosed up on landing on the soft field and broke his propeller. The incident may have only rated a bare mention had Benedict not, the very next day, done the same thing while attempting a take off from Checkerboard Field to Omaha.
Benedict was given a second aircraft and while his second take-off was uneventful, he was unable to locate the field at Iowa City, landing at Ottumwa, Louisiana and blowing a tire upon landing. The next week he blew another tire while landing. Benedict was pulled from flight rotation on June 1, 1920 and left the service nine days later on June 10, 1920. |
