Par Avion: 1918

How startling to see such a familiar San Diego face on Shorpy. Although there was already a burgeoning aircraft industry in San Diego when Fleet moved here in 1935 (Lindbergh's "Spirit of St. Louis" was built by Ryan Aeronautical in San Diego), the vast Consolidated Vultee Aircraft factory he built here and its output during World War II and the Cold War permanently transformed San Diego. The Convair aircraft factory stretched almost continuously for more than two miles along Pacific Highway, adjacent to Lindbergh Field, our airport on San Diego Bay and the Marine Corps Recruit Depot. Just one portion of the plant's Building One is visible in the 1943 photo below. Most of the factory is now long gone, but Building Two now houses the U.S. Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWAR). The San Diego Aerospace Museum in Balboa Park houses the Convair/General Dynamics company papers and photo archives.
www.aerospacemuseum.org/library/convair.html

Lindbergh himself crashed his mail plane twice between October 1925 and February 1927 due to bad situations he got into flying into Chicago. He fortunately bailed out each time.

It was said that the early days of flying the mail was almost as bad as flying in combat. So many pilots were lost that the government had to suspend the program for a time.

I guess road-maps have always been tough to refold.

One of our neighbours where I grew up had been a gunner on 2-seater WWI fighter/bomber aircraft, and he told me that it got to be -20 F "up there". They were dressed for bitter cold: even their faces were smeared with axle grease to prevent frostbite. As soon as I saw this picture, I remembered my neighbour's words.

Back in those days they all flew IFR - as in 'I Follow Roads' (or Rails).

Hard to imagine now, with all the airports and navigational ads and what not, but it was a real challenge to fly from one city to another back then. No radio, no radar, almost no onboard instruments other than a compass, a level indicator and a clock... having to rely on visual references, and praying that there wouldn't be fog or rain in your route... wow.

Those early pilots really had to be brave and a bit of daredavils, and the demeanor of this guy clearly shows those traits.

The pilot is Reuben H. Fleet who went on to found the Consolidated Aircraft company. The Science Museum and planetarium in San Diego's Balboa Park is named in his honor.

Maj. Fleet appears to be well dressed for the cold in his leather flying suit. This outfit would make quite a statement today in Haute Couture society.