Robert Nietzel Buck

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Robert Nietzel Buck
Buck in 2003
Born	January 29, 1914 (1914-01-29) Elizabeth, New Jersey
Died	April 14, 2007 (aged 93) Berlin, Vermont
Occupation	Aviator
Parents	Abijah Orange Buck (1869-1932) Emily Nietzel

For other persons named Robert Buck, see Robert Buck (disambiguation).

1930 transcontinental air speed record in his PA-6 Pitcairn Mailwing named "Yankee Clipper"

Last flight for TWA on January 28, 1974

Robert Nietzel Buck (January 29, 1914 – April 14, 2007) in 1930 broke the junior transcontinental air speed record and was the youngest pilot ever licensed in the United States.^[1]

1 Biography
2 Death
3 Legacy
4 Timeline
5 Bibliography
6 Junior transcontinental air speed record
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Biography

He was the son of Abijah Orange Buck (1869-1932) and Emily Nietzel, and was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey on January 29, 1914. Emily was Abija's second wife, and she was the daughter of Elizabeth Bellingrath.^[2]^[3]^[4] In 1930 at age 16 he took lessons in a Fleet Aircraft using a Kinner engine. He received the Department of Commerce license #13478.

On October 4, 1930 Robert beat the junior transcontinental airspeed record of Eddie August Schneider in his PA-6 Pitcairn Mailwing he named "Yankee Clipper". His time was 23 hours, and 47 minutes of elapsed flying time. The junior record only counts time in the air and excludes time spent on the ground.^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8] Robert said on February 6, 2005: "I was the youngest to fly coast to coast and that record still stands. I had my license at 16 and after that, they raised the minimum age to 17. With that change no one could break my record."

In 1937 he began flying for TWA, became chief pilot in 1945 and flew until his retirement at age 60 in 1974. He took delivery of TWA's first Lockheed Constellation aircraft in 1945, and in 1970 flew TWA's first 747 revenue flight: flight 800 from New York City to Paris. In 1965 he flew around the world from pole to pole in a Boeing 707 along with several other pilots in shifts.

United States Air Force used Robert to study severe weather, and he was chosen to pilot the B-17G "Two Kind Words". The ship was hardened for flying through severe weather. He also flew a modified P-61 Black Widow. President Truman awarded him a civilian Air Medal.

[edit] Death

Captain Buck died on April 14, 2007.^[1]

[edit] Legacy

Walter Gunn on Robert Buck:

Captain Robert N. Buck’s accomplishments are legendary ... Certainly, I’ll treasure forever my initial contact with Bob Buck. It came when I received a congratulatory phone call from him soon after I was upgraded to captain. "Never doubted you’d make it," he snapped. "All the best. Welcome aboard!" His personable warmth was often buttressed with a wry sense of humor. That he would take the time, as a Chief Pilot of an airline in the midst of rapid expansion, to pad the ego of a junior pilot revealed much about the man.

He was inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame of New Jersey in 1981.

[edit] Timeline

1914 Birth in Elizabeth, New Jersey
1930 (circa) Move to Westfield, New Jersey
1930 Pilots license
1930 Junior Transcontinental air speed record
1931 Flight to Havana
1932 Flight to Mexico City
1937 Begins at TWA co-piloting DC-2s and DC-3s
1939 Howard Hughes buys TWA
1943 November, flying B-17G "Two Kind Words" for severe weather atmospheric research.
1945 Chief pilot at TWA
1945 Lockheed Constellation introduced at TWA
1965 Pole to pole around the world flight in Flying Tigers B-707-320G
1970 First 747 commercial flight for TWA
1970 Writes Weather Flying
1973 Time magazine reports: "Jumbo Jet Pilot Robert Buck maintains that soaring is no more hazardous than flying in a commercial airliner"
1974 Retires from TWA on January 28
1974 Living in Vermont
1975 Writes Flying Know-How
1981 Induction into the Aviation Hall of Fame of New Jersey
1992 Writes Art of Flying'
2000 (circa) The Active Retired Pilots of TWA (TARPA) Award of Merit
2000 Writes Pilot's Burden: Flight Safety and the Roots of Pilot Error
2002 Appears on NPR Morning Edition on April 15
2007 died in Vermont on April 14 at the age of 93

[edit] Bibliography

(1975) Flying Know-How. New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press/E. Friede. ISBN 0-440-04934-2.
(1984) The Art of Flying. New York: Macmillan. ISBN 0-02-518220-X.
(1994) The Pilot's Burden: Flight Safety and the Roots of Pilot Error. Ames: Iowa State University. ISBN 0-8138-2357-9.
(1998) Weather Flying. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-008761-X.
(2002) North Star Over my Shoulder: A Flying Life. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-1964-3.

[edit] Junior transcontinental air speed record

1930 Frank Goldsborough
1930 Eddie August Schneider^[9]
1930 Robert Nietzel Buck

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b Fox, Margalit. "Robert N. Buck Dies at 93. Was Record-Setting Aviator.", New York Times, May 20, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-08-21. "Robert N. Buck, a distinguished pilot who in the 1930s crossed the continent at record speed, flew a light plane higher than anyone had done before and photographed ancient ruins of the Yucatán from the air for the first time — all by the age of 20 — died on April 14 in Berlin, Vermont. He was 93 and had continued to fly gliders into his late 80s."
^ Robert Buck (2002). North Star Over my Shoulder: A Flying Life. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-1964-3.
^ "Dr. Abijah O. Buck, Surgeon, Is Dead.", New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-11-25. "Was Long Chief Practitioner of Singer Manufacturing Company in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Served As Major In War. Army Training Camp Where He Was Medical Officer Had Lowest Grip Death Rate. Aviation Enthusiast."
^ "Robert N. Buck", Times Argus, April 20, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-08-21. "North Fayston resident Bob Buck, an aviator who set flying records in the 1930s, made an airline career with TWA to include the position of chief pilot, conducted severe weather research, flew with Hollywood stars, worked for Howard Hughes, was an advocate for aviation safety and industry consultant as well as a noted author, passed away April 14, 2007, at age 93. He died of complications from a broken hip. Bob was born in Elizabeth Port, N.J., January 29, 1914. He found his life passion for aviation in 1929 at age 15, teaching himself to fly a homemade glider and a year later soloed fabric-covered biplanes."
^ "Boy flyer set to try at transcontinental record.", Decatur Daily Review, September 27, 1930. Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
^ Decatur Daily Review, Decatur, Illinois; September 29, 1930; Boy aviator in quest of record.
^ Decatur Daily Review, Decatur, Illinois; October 1, 1930; Boy flier hops off second time
^ Decatur Daily Review, Decatur, Illinois; October 5, 1930; Boy flier plans return air trip
^ "2 Die as Planes Crash at Field. Eddie Schneider, Who Flew At 15, Is Killed When His Craft And Navy Trainer Collide. Passenger Also Victim. US Ship Is Landed Safely At Floyd Bennett Airport Despite Damaged Wings.", New York Times, December 24, 1940. Retrieved on 2007-08-21. "Eddie Schneider, who started flying when he was 15 years old and set a junior transcontinental record in 1930 at the age of 18, was killed with a student passenger yesterday when their light training plane was in collision with a Naval Reserve plane, also on a training flight, just west of Floyd Bennett Field. The Naval Reserve plane landed safely at the field but Schneider's plane went into a spin, tore off a wing, and crashed into Deep Creek, a few hundred feet across Flatbush Avenue from the city airport in Brooklyn. Both Schneider and his passenger, George W. Herzog, 37, a contractor living at 535 North Second Street, New Hyde Park, Long Island, were dead when their bodies were pulled from the submerged wreckage."