The photos of Viola Dana and then the aviation photos brought to mind an episode of the 1980 brilliant documentary series Hollywood (aka Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film) by historian Kevin Brownlow and narrated by James Mason. It was 13 hour long episodes. In one of them, Viola Dana is interviewed. Her beau was a stunt pilot and she recalls his tragic end while filming at night. While she's being interviewed her demeanor changes as though it was yesterday and it is so affecting. It was likely filmed at one of these De Mille airfields.
(Godzilla's last link above has some info about this.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Charles
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Maybe it's somewhere near “ DE MILLE FIELD NO. 3”...?
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The above where it says "Issued by: Rogers" made me wonder if it had anything to do with the Rogers airport. (Rogers Airport, operated by Rogers Aircraft, Inc., opened in 1918 as Charles Chaplin's Chaplin Airdrome at the northwest corner of Wilshire Boulevard & Crescent Avenue--now Fairfax Avenue.)
If one is trying to find the address of De Mille Field No. 3, that is interesting as Nos. 1 & 2 come up a lot, but No. 3...?
De Mille Field No. 1: Built by Cecil B. DeMille in 1918, located at the southwest corner of Melrose Avenue and Crescent (Fairfax) Avenue, across the street from the current Fairfax High School. In 1920 it was closed and moved to DeMille Field No. 2.
De Mille Field No. 2: Also called Mercury Field, this was at the northwest corner of Lindenhurst Ave and Crescent (Fairfax) Avenue. It was just north of Sydney Chaplin's Airport. Cecil B. DeMille used DeMille Field No. 2 for some of his silent picture films. In August, 1920, two stunt pilots were killed at DeMille Field No. 2: Ormer "Lock" Locklear [see viola Dana reference above] and Milton "Skeets" Elliott, in the making of The Skywayman. Mercury Aviation Company had a unique gas station at Crescent (Fairfax) and Wilshire. One side filled up cars the other side filled up aircraft. DeMille Field No. 2 was the site of the first passenger plane to land from New York City.
De Mille Field No. 3: I found this on Calisphere...
As illustrated in the picture, DeMille operated three fields in the LA area. #2 (not shown) was north of the Wilshire/Fairfax intersection. At the time (early 1920s), DeMille was the largest aviation operator in the LA area and his thoughts began to turn toward the establishment of a scheduled airline to San Francisco and San Diego".
You can make out De Mille Field No. 3 north of Pasadena, apparently next to the Altadena Golf Course. Wikipedia notes this airfield as the "Eaton Altadena Airport, built by Mercury Aviation Company in Altadena, California, located at 1347 East Mendocino Street. The airport also served nearby Pasadena, California. Eaton Altadena had much less service than Field No. 2. The site is now the Altadena Town & Country Club.
These airfields, the name changes and similar locations mean various sources have slightly different (or confusing) information, so I can't say for sure everything i posted above is 100% accurate.