February 24, 1921 – Reno
December 16, 1921 – Salt lake City
January 1, 1924 – Reno
Rexford Levisee was born in Clintonville, Florida on May 10, 1888. From April to September 1917, he served in the Army Signal Corps. He worked over the next few years as a flight instructor at various fields across the U.S. Levisee had about 400 hours of flying experience before joining the service.
On June 25, 1927, Levisee was forced to land his de Havilland #399 on the summit of Elko Mountain shortly before 7 p.m. 12 miles east of the Elko, Nevada, field when his motor quit. He landed on the summit of Elko Mountain. While flying that afternoon over Carson Valley, the bad weather hit, and his oil pressure was heading to zero. He turned back to glide into Sacramento Valley. "As soon as I throttled down for the glide, the excessive cold caused radiator to burst and could feel motor starting to go. So 40 miles up in the mountains, headed for a clearing 20 miles east of Placerville. Set for a dead stick landing at 8,000'. Fence across landing area, before I knew it, airplane and I were flat on our backs in the Sierras."
A forced landing report filed by Rexford B. Levisee on February 21, 1927.
- Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration
