THANK YOU!
YOUR PURCHASE OF THESE BOOKS SUPPORTS THE WEB SITES THAT BRING TO YOU THE HISTORY BEHIND OLD AIRFIELD REGISTERS
Your copy of the Davis-Monthan Airfield Register 1925-1936 with all the pilots' signatures and helpful cross-references to pilots and their aircraft is available at the link. 375 pages with black & white photographs and extensive tables
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The Congress of Ghosts (available as eBook) is an anniversary celebration for 2010. It is an historical biography, that celebrates the 5th year online of www.dmairfield.org and the 10th year of effort on the project dedicated to analyze and exhibit the history embodied in the Register of the Davis-Monthan Airfield, Tucson, AZ. This book includes over thirty people, aircraft and events that swirled through Tucson between 1925 and 1936. It includes across 277 pages previously unpublished photographs and texts, and facsimiles of personal letters, diaries and military orders. Order your copy at the link.
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Military Aircraft of the Davis Monthan Register 1925-1936 is available at the link. This book describes and illustrates with black & white photographs the majority of military aircraft that landed at the Davis-Monthan Airfield between 1925 and 1936. The book includes biographies of some of the pilots who flew the aircraft to Tucson as well as extensive listings of all the pilots and airplanes. Use this FORM to order a copy signed by the author, while supplies last.
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Art Goebel's Own Story by Art Goebel (edited by G.W. Hyatt) is written in language that expands for us his life as a Golden Age aviation entrepreneur, who used his aviation exploits to build a business around his passion. Available as a free download at the link.
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Winners' Viewpoints: The Great 1927 Trans-Pacific Dole Race (available as eBook) is available at the link. This book describes and illustrates with black & white photographs the majority of military aircraft that landed at the Davis-Monthan Airfield between 1925 and 1936. The book includes biographies of some of the pilots who flew the aircraft to Tucson as well as extensive listings of all the pilots and airplanes. Use this FORM to order a copy signed by the author, while supplies last.
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Clover Field: The first Century of Aviation in the Golden State (available in paperback) With the 100th anniversary in 2017 of the use of Clover Field as a place to land aircraft in Santa Monica, this book celebrates that use by exploring some of the people and aircraft that made the airport great. 281 pages, black & white photographs.
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YOU CAN HELP
I'm looking for information and photographs of this airplane to include on this page. If you have some you'd like to share, please click this FORM to contact me.
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Thanks to Guest Editor Bob Woodling for help researching this page, and to John Rothrock for sharing anecdotes.
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JOHN HOOPER ROTHROCK, Sr.
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John Rothrock, left, was born August 2, 1918 in Brooklyn, NY. The 1920 U.S. Census placed him and his family living at 2121 67th Street, Brooklyn, today a residential neighborhood of similar two-storey buildings. He lived with his father, Willoughby (29; 1890-1984), his mother, Helen (nee: Hooper, 28; 1891-1973) and an older brother, Willoughby, Jr. (6). With them was their housekeeper.
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His father was a buyer for Federal Food Stores, Inc. His business card is at right. Unrelated, Federal Food Stores filed for bankruptcy in 1924 due to bank fraud and larceny committed by executives of the company.
The 1930 Census placed the Rothrocks at 5142 Easton Avenue, Philadelphia, PA. His father now was a "commission merchant" in the grocery business. John was eleven years old.
In 1940 Rothrock was 21 and single, living with his parents and brother in Abington, PA, and employed as a manager of a canned goods company. I know little about his early life. The Census form coded him as "H-4," meaning he had completed four years of high school. On October 11, 1940 he was registered for the draft, below.
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At right is the reverse of his draft registration form. We learn that he was a large man at 6"2" and 205 pounds.
A couple of years later, we find him in Willow Grove. He signed the Pitcairn Field Register twice. The first time was Saturday, January 3, 1942 at 2:15PM. Based at Jenkintown, PA, he carried one unidentified passenger in the J-3 Piper Cub he identified as NC38780. They had arrived from Easton, PA and recorded their destination as Mercer Airport in Trenton, NJ. Indeed, "Cross country" was written in the destination column.
Rothrock's second landing at Willow Grove was two days later on January 5, 1942. This time he was solo in the Piper Cub he identified as NC38312. His itinerary was the same. I researched the registrations of both his Cubs and found no information.
Rothrock's son corresponded with Guest Editor Bob Woodling (right sidebar) in 2013 and shared the following upon viewing his father's signatures in the Register.
“This is definitely my father's signature. My dad took flying lessons at Eddie Braden's airport Easton PA using his college expense money while keeping his parents in the dark. Eventually he was asked if he was expecting a letter from the Civil Aeronautics Administration to which he responded, "That would be my pilot's license." Dad tried to enlist in the Army Air Corps and was turned down for flat feet, so he joined the Civil Air Patrol to fly anti-submarine patrols off the coast of Florida as an officer in CAP. Then he received notice to report for a second physical and this time his feet were not that flat and he was inducted in the army as a private and later to report for pilot training and ultimately was assigned as a B-25 flight instructor. |
Regarding the dates of his military service, I found his application for veteran's compensation dated March 17, 1950, below. He was active a total of 27 months, serving exclusively Stateside.
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The second page of his application reveals his wife's name, and those of his two children. His wife, Frances, was also a pilot (see her obituary, below).
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Rothrock appeared in newspapers several times through the 1950's, 60s and 70s for activities unrelated to aviation. One article cited his assignment to jury duty in a murder case. Others were for horse shows he sponsored annually on his farm, left, from a community note in The Daily Intelligencer (Doylestown, PA), August 1, 1963.
Rothrock's wife, Frances, was a WASP during WWII, based at Sweetwater, TX. When she flew West at 78 years old on December 31, 1991, her obituary in The Philadelphia Enquirer, January 9, 1992 provided a biographical sketch, as well as some details about their children and subsequent divorce from Rothrock in 1961. Mr Rigg was her son from her first marriage.
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John Rothrock flew West January 28, 1994. His obituary from The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 30, 1994 follows.
JOHN HOOPER ROTHROCK, 75, an avid skier and pilot, died Friday at his home in Chalfont. Known for his expertise in fitting ski boots for customers, Mr. Rothrock worked for 28 years at Wilburger's Ski Shop in Jenkintown until his retirement. He skied in Europe, in the western United States and in the Poconos. At age 72 he was a member of the ski patrol in the Poconos. Mr. Rothrock enjoyed flying and owned a variety of airplanes. He started flying with the Civil Air Patrol in Florida, the precursor to the Army Air Corps. He was an instructor in B-25s during World War II. After the war, he moved to Chalfont, where he lived at Red Coat Farm, a 62-acre horse farm, and invited the Warrington Lions Club to hold a horse show there every year. Mr. Rothrock had been a member of the Warrington Planning Commission for many years. Born in Brooklyn, he was a member of the Bucks County Ski Club, the Huntingdon Valley Ski Club, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and the Trenton Hangar of the Quiet Birdmen. Survivors: his wife, Gladys M.; two daughters, Jane Marant of Houston, and Judith Hyde of Freeport, Maine; three sons, John H. Jr. of Rochester, N.Y., Willoughby J. 3d of New Tripoli, and John Rigg of Chalfont; 18 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren....S |
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