Eyer L. "Slonnie" Sloniger was the first chief pilot and holder of pilot seniority #1 at

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

. He later became chief pilot and director of flight operations at Matson Airlines.

Early years

Eyir Sloniger was born to Commodore and Margaret Sloniger on July 28, 1896, on a farm outside of

Moorefield, Nebraska Moorefield is a village in Frontier County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 32 at the 2010 census. History First settled in the 1870s, Moorefield became a railroad town in 1886 when the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad extended a ...

. (Commodore was a birth name, not a rank) Eyir was the middle child of nine siblings, six boys and three girls. Eyir was not given a middle name at birth, but liked the sound of "E.L." and decided to use the initial "L" as his middle name. The Sloniger's moved to

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...

where Sloniger became an

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle S ...

, finished high school, and enrolled at the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

broke out while Sloniger was attending college, impelling him to drop out of school and join the war effort. The Army misspelled his name as "Eyer", which led to the final iteration of his name "Eyer L. Sloniger".

World War I

Sloniger joined the

United States Army Air Service The United States Army Air Service (USAAS)Craven and Cate Vol. 1, p. 9 (also known as the ''"Air Service"'', ''"U.S. Air Service"'' and before its legislative establishment in 1920, the ''"Air Service, United States Army"'') was the aerial war ...

on November 7, 1917 and was sent to the

University of California, 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 u ...

for officers training. He was then assigned to the 110th Aero Squadron at Kelly Field in

San Antonio, Texas ("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_t ...

for his flight training. After earning his wings, he was shipped out to the

Issoudun Aerodrome Issoudun Aerodrome was a complex of military airfields in the vicinity of Issoudun, Centre, France. They were used during World War I as part of the Third Air Instructional Center, American Expeditionary Forces for training United States airmen ...

in France where he flew

Nieuport Nieuport, later Nieuport-Delage, was a French aeroplane company that primarily built racing aircraft before World War I and fighter aircraft during World War I and between the wars. History Beginnings Originally formed as Nieuport-Duplex in ...

and SPAD pursuit planes. Sloniger was learning to fly his assigned patrol route with instructors when the war ended. He was four days shy of being sent to the front. Sloniger was released from active duty on February 9, 1919.

Barnstorming and early airmail

After the war, Sloniger returned to Lincoln and purchased a surplus

Jenny Jenny may refer to: * Jenny (given name), a popular feminine name and list of real and fictional people * Jenny (surname), a family name Animals * Jenny (donkey), a female donkey * Jenny (gorilla), the oldest gorilla in captivity at the time of ...

airplane. Sloniger would give airplane rides, put on aerobatic shows, and give flight instruction in order to help finish college. Lincoln businessman Ray Page, owner of the Lincoln-Page Aircraft Company, operated a

flying circus Barnstorming was a form of entertainment in which stunt pilots performed tricks individually or in groups that were called flying circuses. Devised to "impress people with the skill of pilots and the sturdiness of planes," it became popular in ...

named "Page's Ariel Pageant". Sloniger was one of the headline acts with his aerobatic routine. He then spent time flying the

Tampico Tampico is a city and port in the southeastern part of the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. It is located on the north bank of the Pánuco River, about inland from the Gulf of Mexico, and directly north of the state of Veracruz. Tampico is the fifth ...

Oil Company payroll, in the form of cash and gold bars, from the US to Mexico. In 1925, Sloniger flew for the short lived "Kansas City to Wichita Airlines". In 1927, Sloniger was hired at

Robertson Aircraft Corporation Robertson Aircraft Corporation was a post-World War I American aviation service company based at the Lambert-St. Louis Flying Field near St. Louis, Missouri, that flew passengers and U.S. Air Mail, gave flying lessons, and performed exhibition ...

flying the CAM 2 mail route from

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

- Peoria - Springfield and back.

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

was a pilot for Robertson prior to his famous New York to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

non-stop flight and considered Sloniger as one of his favorite fellow airmail pilots. Lindbergh was also a member of Sloniger's old squadron, the renamed 110th Observation Squadron now based in St Louis, Missouri.

Airline career

American Airlines

When

was created in 1930, it was done so by consolidating many smaller airlines. One of those airlines was Robertson where Sloniger was the senior pilot. When American created their combined pilot seniority list, Sloniger came out as pilot #1. This earned him the nickname of " Old number one". The

Air Mail scandal The Air Mail scandal, also known as the Air Mail fiasco, is the name that the American press gave to the political scandal resulting from a 1934 congressional investigation of the awarding of contracts to certain airlines to carry airmail and ...

of 1934 mandated that the airlines reorganize into new, more efficient organizations, which led to Sloniger being named American's first chief pilot. During

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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, many pilots and aircraft from American Airlines were absorbed into the

Air Transport Command Air Transport Command (ATC) was a United States Air Force unit that was created during World War II as the strategic airlift component of the United States Army Air Forces. It had two main missions, the first being the delivery of supplies and ...

of the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

to assist with the war effort. Before the war, American had been a domestic airline only, and Sloniger volunteered for the chance to fly international flights to Europe. He made 88 Atlantic crossings during the war. After the war ended, American returned to its pre-war route structure of domestic flights only.

Matson Airlines

Matson Navigation Company Matson may refer to: * Matson (surname) *Matson, Gloucester, England, a suburb of Gloucester *Matson, Missouri, an unincorporated community * 2586 Matson, an asteroid * Matson, Inc., a shipping company, formerly Matson Navigation Company * Matson F ...

decided to start up a luxury airline serving

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

in an attempt to break up

Pan Am Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

's international route monopoly. Matson offered Sloniger the job of chief pilot and director of operation for the new airline. Intrigued by the opportunity to fly international routes again, Sloniger resigned from American and took the job at Matson. Fellow American pilot and author, Ernest Gann joined him at Matson. Gann wrote about their maiden flight to Honolulu in his memoir

Fate is the Hunter Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often ...

with, "My respect for Sloniger was enormous and so I had no objection whatsoever to flying as his co-pilot." Matson eventually ceased operations and Sloniger spent time working for

Transocean Airlines Transocean Air Lines was established in 1946 as ONAT (Orvis Nelson Air Transport Company) based in Oakland, California. The airline was renamed to Transocean Air Lines the same year. The Transocean name was also used in 1989 by another US-ba ...

and Cal Eastern Airlines before retiring from the airline industry in 1955.

Later life and death

Sloniger spent the last 25 years of his life living in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

, first in

Walnut Creek A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, ''Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true bo ...

and then San Mateo. He was a member of the American Airlines retired pilots group the Grey Eagles and the

Quiet Birdmen The Quiet Birdmen is a secretive club in the United States for male aviators. Founded in 1921 by World War I pilots, the organization meets in various locations, never announced to the public. Members, called QBs, must be invited to join, and they ...

. He enjoyed gardening and growing

orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

during his retirement. Sloniger died at home on August 15, 1969, at the age of 73. Sloniger was inducted into the Nebraska Aviation Hall of Fame in 2017.

References

External links

Nebraska Aviation Hall of Fame - Eyer L. "Slonnie" Sloniger
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slinger, Eyer 1896 births 1969 deaths Aviators from Nebraska Commercial aviators Aviation pioneers American Airlines people United States Army Air Service pilots of World War I