H.G. Andrews Personal Papers

The collection contains materials collected by and related to H.G. Andrews during his long aviation career, and involvement with the TWA. The collection includes documents, correspondence, news articles and clippings, and photographs. 

Henry (Andy) Gay Andrews was a barnstormer and commercial pilot from the early to mid 20th century. He was born in Red Bluff, CA on May 21, 1895. Getting an early start with homemade gliders, he began his aviation career in 1909, before joining the military with Troop B of the 1st California Calvary, at the Mexican Border in 1916. Following this he transferred to the Signal Corps where he qualified as a military aviator and was commissioned as a lieutenant at Rockwell Field in San Diego, in November of 1917. He was one of the first six pilots to arrive at Rich Field in Waco, Texas, where he taught aviators until the end of the war.

Following the War, Andy left for California and started the Sacramento Aviation Co., where he did exhibition flying and flew for the first change from a plane to an automobile at the beginning of the Mad Movie Era. Throughout his career he was a flight instructor, aircraft designer, and eventual became a commercial airline pilot with Maddux airlines in 1928 who would eventually merge with T.A.T. When the line merged with Western Air to form Transcontinental and Western Air, Andy flew the first ship of the new company out of Newark on Oct 25th, 1930. 

When Andrews retired from flying, he became the chief dispatcher at Los Angeles International Airport, and ended his career with TWA in management for its Taiwan and Burma Division. After a long life in aviation, Andrews died on April 12, 1977, in Canoga Park at 79, but was buried in Sacramento next to his wife and son. 

The collection's finding guide.

San Diego Air & Space Museum

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