An Unexpected Journey

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 01/18/2018 at 12:35 • Filed to: wingspan

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Writing about aviation history usually involves a lot of time spent looking for pictures of airplanes. It’s actually my favorite part of the process, since I often come across an image that immediately grabs my attention, either for its historical importance or the way it perfectly illustrates my topic. But sometimes, I am just captivated by a beautiful photograph, like this picture of a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in a striking civilian livery. But the historian in me wasn’t satisfied with just a picture of a gorgeous aircraft. I wanted to know about its history, because no photo exists in a vacuum. It has context. It has a story. And every so often, digging into a history leads me down a path I never expected to take. In this case, what started as a desire simply to share a photo of a beautiful aircraft turned into a journey of discovery about not only the airplane, but also about a pilot whose name never made the history books, a pilot who suffered a tragic–and ironic–fate.

W. T. Larkins

First, the photo. While writing for an upcoming Aviation History post about the Havoc, I stumbled across this picture. It shows an airplane originally designed for destroying the enemy in its new life in the civilian world, a retired soldier back home and dressed in mufti. Many warplanes appeared on the racing circuit after WWII, but far fewer made the transition to commercial service like their cargo-carrying counterparts. The photo immediately reminded of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! stunning civilian Martin Marauder I discovered some time ago. The airplane geek in me was excited about sharing the photo of the Havoc, but the historian in me wanted to learn everything I could about it.

According to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , this particular A-20 was built in 1944 (US Army Air Forces registration 43-22217), one of nearly 7,500 produced by Douglas and Boeing, though it never saw combat. It ended up being stored at McClellan Field in Sacramento, California before it was ferried to Chino, California for disposal in 1945. The following year it was bought by the Hughes Tool Company for $3,000 (about $38,000 in today’s money, which strikes me as quite a bargain), and Hughes used it to test radio and radar gear, along with the tailplane for the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (another fascinating aircraft worth your time to read about). In 1949, it was converted into an executive aircraft, and later loaned to pilot Dianna Cyrus Bixby in 1954. In 1955 it was lost in a crash that killed Bixby.

Wait a second. The record made a point of naming the pilot. Now I’m all in. I’ve never heard of Dianna Cyrus Bixby. Who was she? What is her story?

Dianna Bixby (née Converse) grew up in Long Beach, California and was an ardent admirer of Amelia Earhart. Her sense of adventure was no doubt inspired by her grandmother, a merchant sea captain during WWII who also taught navigation to sailors and pilots. In 1943, Dianna married her first husband, John Cyrus, a USAAF bomber pilot, with the stipulation that he teach her to fly. He did. Unfortunately, John was killed in action over France in 1945.

John Cyrus was flying an A-20 when he died.

To continue her training, Dianna sought out !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a former USAAF pilot who flew in the war and was working in the film industry. He had also been an advisor and tutor to Amelia Earhart. Around this time, Dianna set a speed record for woman pilots while flying a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! named Huntress , and also took part in air races in the hopes of raising money. Because what she really wanted was to fly around the world, the one feat that had eluded Earhart. Using money she earned as a freighter pilot, she purchased a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and, with her second husband, Robert Bixby, also a pilot, she began preparations for the voyage.

Mechanical issues torpedoed her first two attempts, so she and Robert worked to save money to buy a newer plane. Bixby flew for Flying Tigers Air Freight, and became the first woman of her era to command a commercial flight. On her third attempt to fly around the world, this time with her husband, Bixby got as far as Calcutta, India before mechanical issues forced her to abandon the trip. But Bixby vowed to try again the following year.

Needing money for another attempt at the round-the-world flight, Bixby and her husband continued flying freight. She also found work as a pilot in the filming of the pulp science fiction film This Island Earth . However, Bixby never had a chance to try her round-the-world flight again .

On the day of her death, she was on her way to Mexico to bring fresh vegetables back to California, flying the A-20 shown in the photo. Robert trailed behind in a slower !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . She flew into a storm where her aircraft was pelted with rain, the ceiling was low, and visibility was poor. Low on fuel, Bixby radioed her husband that she was turning towards land to put the plane down. She never made it. Running out of fuel near the coastline, her plane crashed in the ocean. The wreckage was found the next day in 15 feet of water, with Bixby still strapped in the cockpit.

It was ten years to the day that her first husband had died in the war. And, like him, she was flying an A-20.

Prior to one of her attempts to fly around the world, Bixby left a letter for her family in which she quoted Amelia Earhart. It would serve as a poignant epitaph for a woman who was consumed with a passion for flying, one who understood the inherent risks, but also knew how she might serve as an inspiration to others.

“Please know I am quite aware of the hazards. I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.”

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Source: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! by Claudine Burnett

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If you enjoyed this post, please join in the conversation and let me know. For more posts about airplanes, aviation history, aircraft oddities, and people who fly, set your course for   !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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For Sweden > ttyymmnn 01/18/2018 at 12:44

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Did you apply for this position? https://4re.referrals.selectminds.com/rbi/jobs/aviation-reporter-flightglobal-remote-12920

ttyymmnn > For Sweden 01/18/2018 at 12:52

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I did not. Too much travel, and writing on a deadline is a bitch. I’ve been doing it for three years with my TDIAH series, though.

TheRealBicycleBuck > ttyymmnn 01/18/2018 at 13:25

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Excellent post, as usual!

ttyymmnn > TheRealBicycleBuck 01/18/2018 at 13:59

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Thanks! I really enjoyed writing this one. As you may have noticed, it struck a chord. I particularly like writing about women in aviation. They remain sorely underrepresented.

f86sabre > ttyymmnn 01/18/2018 at 15:11

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Interesting story. Sounds like she was working hard toward her dreams.

KnowsAboutCars > ttyymmnn 01/18/2018 at 16:20

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/Sorry, I had to

KnowsAboutCars > ttyymmnn 01/18/2018 at 16:23

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On more serious note. Interesting post. I too like to fall in wormholes of history research.

ttyymmnn > KnowsAboutCars 01/18/2018 at 16:59

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Thanks. I really enjoyed writing this one.

The Compromiser > ttyymmnn 01/18/2018 at 18:55

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Excellent, as always.

ttyymmnn > The Compromiser 01/18/2018 at 18:55

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Thanks. I enjoyed writing this one.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > ttyymmnn 01/18/2018 at 18:56

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You might want to have a look at the late Connellan Airlines (later known as Connair) and their self modified DeHavilland Heron’s. One of their planes has just gone on display in Alice Springs, Australia.

ttyymmnn > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 01/18/2018 at 18:57

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Thanks for the tip. I’ll check it out!

John Norris (AngryDrifter) > ttyymmnn 01/18/2018 at 21:48

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Thanks. My aviation education continues. I never heard of the A-20 nor her.

ttyymmnn > John Norris (AngryDrifter) 01/18/2018 at 22:35

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My pleasure. The A-20 was one of the true workhorses of the war but never got the press that the B-25 got. It served first in France because the US didn’t think it was good enough. The Brits turned it into a night fighter, the Russians loved it, and actually flew more of them than the US did. Once the US saw everybody else making good use of it, they picked it up. There’s a long article about the A-20 coming on next week Tuesday.

phobos > ttyymmnn 08/14/2019 at 20:57

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If you want to read about the so called Flying Bixby’s you should go to Newpapers.com and type “The Flying Bixby’s” in search box!!