The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 63, July 1959 - April, 1960 Page: 17
684 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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"The Dallas Spirit"
26, 1919, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross." For
some years after the war, Erwin was what is known as a barn-
storming pilot, traveling over Texas to fly paying passengers in
his World War I training jenny.6
Major William F. Long, of Dallas, knew Erwin intimately in
those days when he also was a barnstorming pilot. Long reported:
All of us war-time pilots in those days were allergic to work and the
only way we could make a living was to barnstorm. I did the same
thing along with Captain Erwin. He was a great pilot.
The "Dallas Spirit," Erwin's plane on the Dole Flight, was
built by the Swallow Aircraft Company at Wichita, Kansas. Ira
Beach was the designer and W. M. Stearman was the engineer
in charge of construction. Quite similar to Lindbergh's ship, the
"Dallas Spirit" had a wing span of 48 feet and 71/ foot chord.
Over-all length of the plane was 301/2 feet and the fuselage was
4 feet wide and 41/2 feet high. The craft had a wing loading of
17 and power loading of 22 plus, and it was equipped with a super
Wright Whirlwind J-5-CA air-cooled motor. High speed was 126
miles an hour, cruising speed was 105 miles an hour, and landing
speed was 45 miles an hour. The plane carried four gasoline tanks,
two of which, each with a capacity of 18o gallons, were to the rear
of the pilot's cab. The remaining two tanks, each with a capacity of
7o gallons, were concealed in the wings. Thus, the total fuel
capacity of the four tanks was 500 gallons.7
IGeneral Orders No. 70o, May 26, 1919 (MS., War Department, Washington,
D. C.). The citation reads:
To William P. Erwin, First Lieutenant, pilot, First Aero Squadron, Air Service.
For extraordinary heroism in action in the Chateau-Thierry and St. Mihiel salients,
France. Lieut. Erwin, with Second Lieut. Byrne E. Baucom, observer, over a long
period of faithful and heroic operations, set an inspiring example of courage and
devotion to duty to his entire squadron. Throughout the Chateau-Thierry actions,
in June and July, 1918, he flew under the worst weather conditions and carried out
successfully his mission in the face of heavy odds. In the St. Mihiel sector, Sept. 12,
to 15, 1918, he repeated his previous courageous work. He flew as low as fifty feet
from the ground behind the enemy's lines, harassing German troops with machine
gun fire and subjecting himself to attack from ground batteries, machine guns and
rifles. He twice drove off enemy planes which were attempting to destroy an Amer-
ican observation balloon. On Sept. 12 and 13, 1918, he flew at extremely low alti-
tudes and carried out infantry contact patrols successfully. Again, on Sept. 12, he
attacked a German battery, forced the crew to abandon it, shot off his horse a
German officer who was trying to escape, drove the cannoneers to their dugouts and
kept them there until the infantry could come up and capture them.
6Florence Hester Wood, Early Commercial Aviation in Texas, 1904-1934 (Master's
Thesis, University of Texas, 1957), 49-65.
7Dallas News, August 6, 1927.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 63, July 1959 - April, 1960, periodical, 1960; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101186/m1/37/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.