Russell Maughan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Russell Lowell Maughan was a pioneer aviator and U.S. military pilot. His career spanned a period in which the Air Force, then part of the U.S. Army, was known as the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps; U.S. Air Service; U.S. Army Air Corps; and U.S. Army Air Forces. Maughan was born March 28, 1893 in Logan, Utah, to Peter W. Maughan and Mary Naef Maughan. He graduated from Utah State Agricultural College in June 1917.
The United States had entered World War I and Maughan enlisted in the Army. Commissioned after flight training, he served in France with the 139th Pursuit Squadron, where he was credited with four aerial victories and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross on October 27, 1918, the citation for which is given below.
He remained in the Air Service following the end of the war and was assigned to its Engineering Division at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio, as a test pilot. Besides testing new designs, his responsibilities including public demonstrations of military aircraft and participation in air races. The Engineering Division had drawn the interest of Gen. William Mitchell, Assistant Chief of the Air Service, who saw in it the opportunity for promoting the concept of an Air Force independent of the Army.
In 1922 the National Air Races were held at Selfridge Field, Michigan, where the Air Service entered the Pulitzer Trophy Race with ten aircraft it had solicited from various manufacturers for use as possible pursuit planes, with specification that they be capable of reaching a speed of 190 mph or greater. Flying a Curtiss R-6 racer, a precursor of the PW-8 design, Maughan won the Pulitzer race with an average speed of 205.8 mph, on October 14, 1922. On October 16, flying the 1-kilometer course, he averaged 229 mph for eight circuits, 232.22 mph for four, and reached 248.5 mph on one. This established a new international record, but it was not observed by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) officials and was not officially recognized.
The following year Maughan officially set a new international speed record of 236.5 mph. He also made two attempts in July to fly coast-to-coast in a single day, using a new Curtiss aircraft based on the R-6, but mechanical problems thwarted both flights. On June 23, 1924, his third attempt succeeded, the first "Dawn-to-dusk" transcontinental flight across the United States.
Maughan served in the Philippines from 1930 to 1935, with duty as Secretary of Aviation and Consultant to the Philippine Cabinet from 1930 to 1932. In 1939 he surveyed and selected airfields in Greenland and Iceland for aircraft ferry routes to Britain.
Maughan, promoted to lieutenant colonel, commanded the 60th Transport Group, Pope Field, North Carolina, from July 28, 1941 to April 15, 1942. Promoted again to colonel, he was advanced to command of the 51st Troop Carrier Wing from June 1, 1942 to October 20, 1942, during its deployment to England to drop airborne forces in the invasion of North Africa.
Colonel Maughan retired in 1946, and died April 21, 1958, at San Antonio, Texas during surgery. He is a member of the Utah Aviation Hall of Fame and is honored with a plaque in the Hill Aerospace Museum, Hill Air Force Base, Utah.
[edit] Citation for Distinguished Service Cross
MAUGHAN, RUSSELL L.
- First Lieutenant (Air Service), U.S. Army
- Pilot, 139th Aero Squadron, Air Service, A.E.F.
- Date of Action: October 27, 1918
- Citation:
- The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Russell L. Maughan, First Lieutenant (Air Service), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Sommerance, France, October 27, 1918. Accompanied by two other planes, Lieutenant Maughan was patrolling our lines, when he saw slightly below him an enemy plane (Fokker type). When he started an attack upon it he was attacked from behind by four more of the enemy. By several well-directed shots he sent one of his opponents to the earth, and, although the forces of the enemy were again increased by seven planes, he so skillfully maneuvered that he was able to escape toward his lines. While returning he attacked and brought down an enemy plane which was diving on our trenches.
- General Orders No. 46, W.D., 1919
- Birth: Logan, UT
- Home Town: Logan, UT
[edit] References
- Shiner, John F., "From Air Service to Air Corps: The Billy Mitchell Era," Winged Shield, Winged Sword: A History of the United States Air Force Vol. I (1997) Chapter 3, ISBN 0-16-049009-X
- Maurer, Maurer, Air Force Combat Units of World War II, Office of Air Force history (1961). ISBN 0-405-12194-6
