Admin: 1 revision imported

2025-03-22T06:18:32Z

1 revision imported

← Older revision	Revision as of 23:18, 21 March 2025
(No difference)

wikipedia>InternetArchiveBot: Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.9.3

2023-02-23T04:18:54Z

Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.9.3

New page

{{Short description|American air mail pilot (1882–1927)}}
{{About|the early American aviator|the retired American football player|J. D. Hill}}
{{Infobox aviator
|name= James DeWitt Hill
|image=File:James DeWitt Hill in 1924.jpg
|image_size=
|alt=
|caption=Hill in 1924
|full_name=James DeWitt Hill
|birth_date= {{Birth date|1882|03|02|df=yes}}{{sfn|Mogus|2001}}
|birth_place= [[Scottdale, Pennsylvania]]
|death_date= {{Death date and age|1927|09|07|1882|03|02|df=yes}}
|death_place= [[North Atlantic|N Atlantic]] 960km [[East|E]] of [[Cape Race]], [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]]
|death_cause= Aircraft Crash – ''[[Old Glory (aircraft)|Old Glory]]''
|resting_place=
|resting_place_coordinates=
|monuments=
|nationality= [[United States of America|US]]
|spouse= Unmarried
|relatives=
|known_for= Early [[air mail]] pilot
|first_flight_aircraft=
|first_flight_date= 1909?
|famous_flights=
|license_date= 1912
|license_place=
|air_force=
|battles=
|rank=
|awards=
|first_race = 
|racing_best = 
|racing_aircraft = 
|website= 
}}

'''James DeWitt Hill''' (2 March 1882 – 7 September 1927) was an early US [[air mail]] pilot, who died while attempting one of the first transatlantic flights, with [[Lloyd W. Bertaud|Lloyd Wilson Bertaud]] in a [[Fokker F.VII#Variants|Fokker F.VIIA]] [[monoplane]] named ''[[Old Glory (aircraft)|Old Glory]]''.

==Early life and education==
Hill was born and grew up in [[Scottdale, Pennsylvania]], and graduated with honours from Scottdale High School.{{sfn|Mogus|2001}} He studied mechanical engineering at [[Lafayette College]], [[Easton, Pennsylvania]], but he left the course after a year. He subsequently studied civil engineering at [[Cornell University]], [[Ithaca, New York]], but he was unable to complete that course because of ill health.{{sfn|Mogus|2001}}

==Aviator==
Hill appears to have had some experience of flying before he enrolled in autumn 1912 in the [[Glenn Curtiss|Glenn Curtiss Flying School]], in order to study flying thoroughly. He was issued land plane certificate No. 234 by the [[Aero Club of America]]. Between 1915 and 1924, Hill pursued a career as an aircraft instructor, test pilot and aircraft sales representative in several different locations in the central and eastern United States.{{sfn|Mogus|2001}}

==Air mail pilot==
Hill joined the [[Airmails of the United States|US Air Mail Service]] on 1 July 1924.{{sfn|Mogus|2001}} On 1 July 1925, he was one of the pilots who inaugurated the first [[New York City]] to [[Chicago]] night air mail service.<ref name=27Aug1925>{{cite journal
| date = 1925-08-27
| title = New York-Chicago night air mail service
| journal = Flight Magazine
| volume = XVII
| issue = 35
| pages = 555
| publisher = Reed Business Information
| location = London
| url = http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1925/1925%20-%200555.html
| access-date = 2011-07-14
| format = PDF
}}</ref>

==Attempted transatlantic flight==
In spring 1927, Hill's fellow [[air mail]] pilot and friend [[Lloyd W. Bertaud]] was approached to be the co-pilot for an attempt at the first flight from [[New York City|New York]] to [[Paris]], [[France]], flying the [[Wright-Bellanca WB-2|Wright-Bellanca WB-2 ''Columbia'']]. When Bertaud was displaced to make way for [[Charles A. Levine]], the chairman of the board of directors of the [[Columbia Aircraft Corp]], he sought an injunction to prevent Levine and pilot [[Clarence Chamberlain]] from attempting the flight. Although the injunction was lifted, this was only after [[Charles Lindbergh]] had made the first New York to Paris flight on 20–21 May 1927, thereby winning the [[Orteig Prize]]. Chamberlain and Levine subsequently flew ''Columbia'' from [[New York City]] to [[Eisleben]] in [[Germany]] on 4–6 June 1927.

Bertaud's elimination from the crew of ''Columbia'' spurred him to make his own attempt at a transatlantic flight, this time from New York to [[Rome, Italy]], and Hill agreed to join him. [[William Randolph Hearst]] agreed to sponsor the attempt to publicize his newspaper, the ''[[New York Daily Mirror]]''. The newspaper's editor, [[Philip A. Payne]], accompanied the two pilots on the flight.

The three took off, with Hill at the controls, in ''[[Old Glory (aircraft)|Old Glory]]'', a [[Fokker F.VII#Variants|Fokker F.VIIA]] monoplane, from [[Old Orchard Beach, Maine]], at 12.23 pm [[Eastern Time Zone|EST]] on 6 September 1927. The ''Old Glory'' had last been sighted by the steamship ''California'' at 11.57 pm, 563 km east of Cape Race. At 3.57 am and 4.03 am distress signals from the aircraft were received by radio; its estimated position was then 960 km east of [[Cape Race, Newfoundland]]. On 12 September, the ''[[SS Kyle]]'' [[List of previously missing aircraft|found substantial amounts of wreckage from the aircraft]], but no trace was ever found of Bertaud, Hill or Payne.{{sfn|Mogus|2001}}

In 1928, the Ontario Surveyor General named a number of lakes in the northwest of the province to honour aviators who had perished during 1927, mainly in attempting transoceanic flights.<ref name=Lakes>{{cite web |last=Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources |url=http://www.ontla.on.ca/library/repository/mon/16000/263650.pdf |title=St. Raphael Signature Site Strategy |year=2007 |location=Toronto, ON |access-date=2011-07-19 |archive-date=2012-09-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927044129/http://www.ontla.on.ca/library/repository/mon/16000/263650.pdf |url-status=dead }} p 14.</ref><ref name=Lakes2>{{cite news | title = Lost Aviators: New Lakes Named | url = http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article32084097 | newspaper = The West Australian | location = Perth, [[Western Australia|WA]] | date = 16 January 1928 | page = 13 | access-date = 2011-07-19 }}</ref> These include Bertaud Lake ({{Coord|50.90|N|90.71|W}}), Hill Lake ({{Coord|50.56|N|90.77|W}}) and Payne Lake ({{Coord|50.85|N|90.54|W}}).

== See also ==
*[[List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{cite web |url=http://earlyaviators.com/ehilljd.htm |title=James DeWitt Hill −1927 |author=Ralph Cooper |year=2008 |access-date=2011-07-14}}

{{cite web |url=http://www.airmailpioneers.org/Pilots/JamesHill.htm |title=James DeWitt Hill: Scottdale's Aviation Pioneer |first=M. A. |last=Mogus |year=2001 |publisher=Westmoreland History (Winter 2001) |access-date=2011-07-14 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927112411/http://www.airmailpioneers.org/Pilots/JamesHill.htm |archive-date=2011-09-27 }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, James DeWitt}}
[[Category:1882 births]]
[[Category:1920s missing person cases]]
[[Category:1927 deaths]]
[[Category:Aviators from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in Canada]]
[[Category:Missing aviators]]
[[Category:Missing person cases in Canada]]
[[Category:People lost at sea]]
[[Category:United States airmail pilots]]
[[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1927]]

James DeWitt Hill - Revision history

Admin: 1 revision imported

wikipedia>InternetArchiveBot: Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.9.3