H96.1.1917

Clipping on the back from the Tribune, Nov. 11, 1946--"Livingston Irving was a Dole entrant whose plane crashed at the end of the runway in the take-off. He is shown with the radio set to have been used on the flight." Another clipping, March 1, 1959--"Ten years later, Irving still found fame in the skies. Here he is before the start of the Dole Flight in 1927, with the radio set he planned to use on the trans-Pacific hop. His plane crashed on the take-off in Oakland." Photo shows Irving wearing coveralls over his clothes standing behind a make-shift wood table displaying the inner workings of his radio. After his crash, he gave the radio to Bill Erwin pilot of the "Dallas Spirit" to use on his search for the missing Dole flyers. The radio went down with Erwin's plane. The Dole Race or Dole Derby which was an air race from Oakland to Hawaii from August 16-18, 1927. There were fifteen original entries but due to various accidents and mechanical problems only eight planes actually took off and only two ever reached Hawaii. The race was sponsered by James Dole of Dole Hawaiian Pineapple. First place was $25,000, second $10,000. Livingston Irving was the pilot of the "Pabco Pacific Flyer" in the Dole Race. Irving was a resident of Berkeley at the time of the race. He was often called "Jimmie" and was a veteran of the Lafayette Escadrille and the 103rd Aero Squadron during World War I. At the time of the Dole Race, he flew in the Air Corps Reserve out of Crissy Field. The plane he entered in the Dole Race was a Breese, one of three such planes built by the San Francisco based company, designed by John K. Northrop. The plane was a conventional high wing monoplane with a deep-bellied fuselage to make it faster than other planes. The plane was painted a vivid orange so that it could be seen easily. Irving's was sponsered by "The Parafine Companies" which was where Irving worked as an engineer. The "Pabco Pacific" was the third plane to take off in the race. The plane accelerated slowly and could not get off the ground before running out of runway. The plane coasted off the runway and was towed in by a tractor back to the starting line. A little after 1:00 the plane was refueled and made another attempt. It made it into the air, then stalled and crashed to the ground making it slightly un-flyable thereafter. Irving said the crash was his fault due to overeagerness, nervousness, and lack of experience with a plane as loaded as his was. He later rebuilt the plane as a seven passenger plane and called it the "Redwing". He retired from the Army Air Force as a colonel. (Information provided by "The Dole Race," in "American Aviation Historical Society." Lesley Forden, Fall and Winter 1975.)

Used: Oakland Tribune