December 16, 1941

[flyingcheesehead]

Office of Civilian Defense
Washington DC
Civil Air Patrol

Gentlemen:

The services of the writer and his airplane are available, within limitations imposed by the facts set forth below, for any purpose in connection with the activities of a "Civil Air Patrol" as recently publicized.

Name: Roland Reed Bliss
Age: 50
Private Pilot Certificate No. 22076-40
Ratings - Instrument or Instructor: None
Total hours: 358
Solo hours: 336
Cross country experience: 25 states, 88 airports.
Occupation: Trade Association Executive and Management Engineer, Actively Employed.
Business address: 19 West 44th St., New York, N.Y.
Home address: 16 Midchester Avenue, White Plains, New York
Aircraft owned: 1940 Stinson 105 3 place land monoplane
C.A.A. Identification No. NC 26256
Hangared at: Roosevelt Field, Mineola, L.I., N.Y. Hangar G
Equipment: Standard flight instruments including
Compass
Navigation Lights
Battery and Starter
Radio: Portable Lear receiver.

I shall welcome your advice and instructions.

Very truly yours,

Roland R. Bliss.

-------------------------------------------

My mother gave me the above letter today. Roland R. Bliss is my great-grandfather. It's typed on "Coupon Bond" paper (according to a watermark which also has a large capital A logo with eagle wings on it). There's also a photo of my great-grandfather, Roland Bliss, with my great-grandmother Charlotte, in front of the plane. I'll try to scan it soon.

I feel a lot of different emotions reading this. Wow, cool, another pilot in the family! (I also have two uncles on that side of the family who are pilots.) Holy cow, a mere mortal could write a letter to the "Office of Civilian Defense!" Things have certainly changed, with calls being routed to a zillion people. Respect for the desire to serve his country. Sorrow that I was never able to meet him.

Now, how would I go about finding out if that plane still exists? Were the NC numbers automatically switched to the same N number? N26256 is a Grumman AA5A. Is there any way to find out what the serial number of the plane was, or any other history about it?

 

[gismo]

My Porterfield is registered as NC nnnnn but the online FAA records search lists it without the 'C' so you might indeed have the same airplane. I suspect a call to the FAA on Monday would find them willing to confirm prior ownership to your relative and/or the time period over which that registration applied to the same airplane. Otherwise for something like $3 they will send you electronic copies of all the registration data for that number.

 

[CJones]

That is very cool, Kent! What a great find!

If you come up empty with the FAA, or just don't want to mess with them in the first place, you might get in contact with the EAA museum. They might have some ideas and can help with the 'history' search on the airplane itself. Who knows, you could start a new wing of the museum devoted to "Civilian Defense Planes".

 

[Steve]

Another tack might be to track down the Stinson production records by starting with Univair, the current owners of the Stinson production rights and parts inventory, and proceeding up the paper trail to AVCO, which built Stinsons until their merger with Vultee in 1940.

 

[Capt Binkley]

That's got to rank up there with when my mother gave me my grandfather's and great-grandfather's shotguns.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

There's also a photo of my great-grandfather, Roland Bliss, with my great-grandmother Charlotte, in front of the plane. I'll try to scan it soon.

From the "better late than never" department... Here's the letter and the picture:

The picture says on the back "Roland and Charlotte Bliss, South Bend, IN" and has a Kodak stamp on it that says "MAR 81" but considering they were both dead by then, this must have been re-printed off the negative around then, and the picture itself would be much older. I'm not sure when he sold the plane, so I don't know how old it might be yet.

 

[Ted]

Wow, Kent, that's a great find! Very cool!

Good luck sorting out the mystery!

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

From the "better late than never" department... Here's the letter and the picture:




The picture says on the back "Roland and Charlotte Bliss, South Bend, IN" and has a Kodak stamp on it that says "MAR 81" but considering they were both dead by then, this must have been re-printed off the negative around then, and the picture itself would be much older. I'm not sure when he sold the plane, so I don't know how old it might be yet.

More pictures of NC26256 here:

http://personalpages.tdstelme.net/~westin/ac-1.htm

You never know what you will find...

 

[Geico266]

It is amazing how the "Greatest Generation" pulled together as a nation to defeat a common enemy.

What a great find for your family to treasure.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

More pictures of NC26256 here:

http://personalpages.tdstelme.net/~westin/ac-1.htm

You never know what you will find...

WOW! Sho'nuff! Thanks a heap, Geoff!

I showed the pictures to my mother, she can't tell for sure if that's my great-grandfather flying the plane or not but "it could be." I'm following up on that. Chances are, that's him - He kept the plane at Roosevelt Field on Long Island and as far as I am able to determine, he bought the airplane new in 1940 and kept it until at least 1966, these pics look older than that:

That is so cool! I hope someday Jesse's grandkids contribute his photos of me flying N271G in formation to some web site so my great-grandkids can find them.

 

[TMetzinger]

And HEY! He kept track of his solo hours, even though they're "irrelevant"!

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

And HEY! He kept track of his solo hours, even though they're "irrelevant"!

POST OF THE DAY!!!

 

[AdamZ]

Kent that is Awesome you are so fortunate to have the letter and those photos.

 

[mikea]

The lesson here boys and girls, always put on your coat and tie when flying to show respect for the activity.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Kent that is Awesome you are so fortunate to have the letter and those photos.

I agree, Adam. I really dig learning about what I call "microhistory" - The history that people forget. Things like the history of a particular airplane model or even a particular airplane. Family history, too - Not so much genealogy but what people did and saw in their lifetimes.

I tell ya what, if I do ever end up owning this airplane, I'm gonna fly the Hudson in it... And do a low pass and wag my wings over the Roosevelt Field Mall.

 

[nyjobz]

Cool pictures. I work 7 blocks from where your Great grandfather worked and live about 1/4 mile from his home! I was wondering why he would keep the plane in Long Island as opposed to the Westchester airfield in Armonk (only 5 miles away, established in 1922) but I checked and it was only a hayfield until after WWII when they built an airport.