Stanford B. Roper

In the early 1990's, I attempted correspondence with various people from the early days at Parks Air College.  One who responded was Mr. Stan Roper.  Stan is pictured below in the 1928 lineup of Parks instructors.  Stan is in the middle with 4 men on either side.  Stan instructed for a few years at Parks before moving on.

Earlier in his aviation career, Stan flew as a civilian pilot a few times delivering airplanes from here to there.  He sent me the following prints he had saved from a 1927 adventure he participated in to deliver 4 Consolidated PT-1 airplanes from San Antonio Texas to California (destination undisclosed).  These are obviously Army Air Service airplanes.  The photos here are labeled with the location "PHX South Central Airport".  Although the original prints were somewhat faded, I was able to scan them at a high resolution and enhance the photos to bring out some detail.

Stan spent a number of years as a civilian instructor at Thunderbird Field in Glendale Arizona.  This facility trained over 5000 cadets at the onset of American involvement in WWII.  Here is Stan buckled in to a Stearman PT-13.

 After WWII, Stan spent time with the airlines.  More on this in a future posting.