Carl Anson Cover (26 April 1893 – 27 November 1944) was the chief test pilot and first to fly the

Douglas Aircraft Company The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer based in Southern California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas; it then operated a ...

DC-1, DC-2, DC-3, DC-4, and the DC-5 airliners. Cover became Senior Vice President and general manager for Douglas Aircraft and later Vice President of

Bell Aircraft The Bell Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer, a builder of several types of fighter aircraft for World War II but most famous for the Bell X-1, the first supersonic aircraft, and for the development and production of man ...

Early life

Cover was born on 26 April 1893, to Hugh and Helen Cover in

Roxbury, Pennsylvania Roxbury is an unincorporated community located off the Blue Mountain exit of the Pennsylvania Turnpike ( Interstate 76) in Lurgan Township, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, United States. Route 641 and Route 997 meet there. Roxbury was laid out ...

. He attended high school in

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in ...

and worked as a millwright machinist at

Bethlehem Steel The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For most of the 20th century, it was one of the world's largest steel producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its succ ...

, where his father was a foreman. Cover had three younger sisters, Margaret, Mary, and Anna.

Aviation career

US Army Air Service

Cover enlisted in the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

on 1 August 1917, and was sent to

Kelly Field Kelly Field (formerly Kelly Air Force Base) is a Joint-Use facility located in San Antonio, Texas. It was originally named after George E. M. Kelly, the first member of the U.S. military killed in the crash of an airplane he was piloting. In ...

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...

for pilot training. He was initially assigned to the

50th Aero Squadron 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typical humans have five digits on eac ...

, but was transferred to the 110th Aero Squadron later that same month. Cover was sent to the Military School of Aeronautics at

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...

in November 1917. He was commissioned as an Lieutenant in June 1918, and was assigned to Brooks Field as an instructor. In 1923, Cover was stationed at

Langley Field Langley may refer to: People * Langley (surname), a common English surname, including a list of notable people with the name * Dawn Langley Simmons (1922–2000), English author and biographer * Elizabeth Langley (born 1933), Canadian perfo ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

Inter-Island Airways

In 1929, Cover was flying for the

Army Reserves A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve f ...

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the isla ...

, Hawaii. He was approached by Stanley Kennedy Sr. to be the Operations Manager and first employee for his start-up airline Inter-Island Airways (re-named

Hawaiian Airlines Hawaiian Airlines ( haw, Hui Mokulele o Hawaiʻi ) is the largest operator of commercial flights to and from the U.S. state of Hawaii. It is the tenth-largest commercial airline in the United States, and is based at Honolulu, Hawaii. The airl ...

in 1941). Kennedy was impressed by his background as an Army test pilot and his history of aero-engineering work. One of Cover's initial tasks was to fly Inter-Island Airways' first airplane, a Bellanca Pacemaker, from Delaware to San Francisco where it was shipped to Hawaii. Cover and Kennedy hired Navy pilot Charles Elliott as Chief Pilot. Cover, Kennedy, and Elliott, all being WWI veterans, decided on

Armistice Day Armistice Day, later known as Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the United States, is commemorated every year on 11 November to mark the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, Fran ...

to be the inaugural scheduled airline flight between the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost ...

. On 11 November 1929, Elliott and Cover flew Inter-Island Airways' Sikorsky S-38 amphibious seaplanes in formation from

Maui The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, whic ...

, then on to

Hilo Hilo () is a census-designated place (CDP) and the largest settlement in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States, which encompasses the Island of Hawaii. The population was 44,186 according to the 2020 census. It is the fourth-largest settlement ...

, introducing air travel to the residents and visitors of Hawaii.

Douglas Aircraft Company

Major Cover left the Army and Inter-Island Airways in 1930 to become a test pilot for the

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

. He soon became the Chief Test Pilot and Vice President of Sales, and eventually Senior Vice President and general manager of Douglas Aircraft. In 1931, a TWA

Fokker F-10 The Fokker F-10 was an enlarged development of the Fokker F.VII airliner, built in the late 1920s by the Fokker Aircraft Corporation of America. It carried 12 passengers, four more than the F.VII, and had a larger wing and more powerful engines ...

tri-motor airplane had a fatal crash killing

Notre Dame University The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

football coach

Knute Rockne Knut ( Norwegian and Swedish), Knud ( Danish), or Knútur (Icelandic) is a Scandinavian, German, and Dutch first name, of which the anglicised form is Canute. In Germany both "Knut" and "Knud" are used. In Spanish and Portuguese Canuto is used ...

. The cause of the crash was failure of the wooden wing spar. TWA's Jack Frye lead the campaign for aircraft manufacturers to develop rugged airliners using metal construction. Douglas Aircraft responded to this request with the DC-1. On 1 July 1933, Cover flew the first test flight of the DC-1. Shortly after take-off both engines quit; Cover pushed the nose over and the engines re-started. Cover safely managed to get the airplane back on the ground after a short 12-minute flight, to find the carburetors had been installed backwards. After TWA gained experience with the DC-1, they created a list of improvements for the airliner resulting in the creation of the DC-2. On 11 May 1934, Cover flew the first test flight of the DC-2. The DC-2 was a commercial success, selling 198 aircraft.

American Airlines American Airlines is a major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the largest airline in the world when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and revenue passeng ...

approached Douglas Aircraft with more improvements for the DC-2. American wanted an aircraft that was bigger, could fly farther, and wide enough to accommodate sleeping berths. These design changes lead to the DC-3. On 17 December 1935, Cover flew the first test flight of the DC-3. The DC-3 is credited as one of the most significant airliners ever produced, helping create the modern airline industry and aid the Allies victory in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. There were over 16,000 DC-3's and military version C-47's built. On 7 June 1938, Cover flew the first test flight of the four-engine DC-4. Two days later, Cover flew the plane on a demonstration flight for

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

with Orville Wright onboard. The prototype DC-4 had three tail-fins and was overly complex for airlines to make a profit. The plane was re-engineered with one tail-fin, simplified systems and entered service in 1942. Douglas built 1,241 civilian and military versions of the DC-4. The prototype was renamed the

DC-4E The Douglas DC-4E was an American experimental airliner that was developed before World War II. The DC-4E never entered production due to being superseded by an entirely new design, the Douglas DC-4/C-54, which proved very successful. Many of ...

for experimental. On 20 February 1939 Cover flew the first test flight of the DC-5. There were only 12 DC-5's built, and it has been called "The Forgotten Douglas."

World War II and Bell Aircraft

During World War II, General Hap Arnold requested that Cover return to active duty and help with the production and testing of the

B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 ...

. Cover was made Colonel and put in charge of

United States Air Force Plant 6 Air Force Plant 6, known during World War II as the Bell Bomber Plant, is a government-owned, contractor-operated aerospace facility at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Georgia, currently owned by the United States Air Force and operated by ...

at Dobbins Air Force Base in

Marietta, Georgia Marietta is a city in and the county seat of Cobb County, Georgia, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 60,972. The 2019 estimate was 60,867, making it one of Atlanta's largest suburbs. Marietta is the fourth largest ...

. Plant 6 was subcontracted to

for the production of the B-29 under license of

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and ...

. He was released from active duty in August 1944. In September 1944, Cover accepted an offer from Bell Aircraft as Vice President and the civilian general manager of Plant 6.

Death and honors

On 27 November 1944, Cover died in a plane crash while trying to land during a snow storm in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, Ohio, Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County, Ohio, Greene County. The 2020 United S ...

. He is buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from 191,719 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth-larges ...

. Cover Street in the Douglas Industrial Park at the Long Beach Airport is named in his honor. Lawrence Bell, founder of Bell Aircraft, said about Cover, "In my opinion no single individual in the aircraft industry has contributed more to commercial and military aviation than Carl Cover. His abilities encompass all phases from engineering and flight test to sales direction and over-all organization."

References

External links

Davis-Monthan Airfield Register, Carl CoverThis Day in Aviation, Carl Cover
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cover, Carl 1893 births 1944 deaths Bethlehem Steel people American test pilots Aviators from Pennsylvania Commercial aviators Hawaiian Airlines people Aviation pioneers American aviation businesspeople United States Army Air Service pilots of World War I United States Army Air Forces bomber pilots of World War II United States Army Air Forces colonels