Robert Nietzel Buck

Infobox Person
name = Robert Nietzel Buck


image_size = 250px
caption = Buck in 2003
birth_date = Birth date|1914|1|29
birth_place = Elizabeth, New Jersey
death_date = Death date and age|2007|4|14|1914|1|29
death_place = Berlin, Vermont
occupation = Aviator
spouse =
parents = Abijah Orange Buck (1869-1932)
Emily Nietzel
children =

Robert Nietzel Buck (January 29, 1914 – April 14, 2007) in 1930 broke the junior transcontinental air speed record and for a time was the youngest licensed pilot in the United States.cite news | last = Fox | first = Margalit | title=Robert N. Buck Dies at 93. Was Record-Setting Aviator. |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/us/20buck.html |quote=Robert N. Buck, a distinguished pilot who in the 1930s crossed the continent at record speed, flew a light plane higher than anyone had done before and photographed ancient ruins of the Yucatán from the air for the first time — all by the age of 20 — died on April 14 in Berlin, Vermont. He was 93 and had continued to fly gliders into his late 80s. |publisher=New York Times |date=May 20, 2007 |accessdate=2007-08-21 ]

Biography

He was the son of Abijah Orange Buck (1869-1932) and Emily Nietzel, and was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey on January 29, 1914. Emily was Abija's second wife, and she was the daughter of Elizabeth Bellingrath. [cite book | author = Robert Buck | title = North Star Over my Shoulder: A Flying Life | publisher = Simon & Schuster | location = New York | year = 2002 | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=a_OLIzWReB0C&pg | isbn = 0-7432-1964-3] [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Dr. Abijah O. Buck, Surgeon, Is Dead. |url= |quote= Was Long Chief Practitioner of Singer Manufacturing Company in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Served As Major In War. Army Training Camp Where He Was Medical Officer Had Lowest Grip Death Rate. Aviation Enthusiast.|publisher=New York Times |date= |accessdate=2007-11-25 ] cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Robert N. Buck |url=http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070420/OBITUARIES/704200322/1005/OBITUARIES |quote=North Fayston resident Bob Buck, an aviator who set flying records in the 1930s, made an airline career with TWA to include the position of chief pilot, conducted severe weather research, flew with Hollywood stars, worked for Howard Hughes, was an advocate for aviation safety and industry consultant as well as a noted author, passed away April 14, 2007, at age 93. He died of complications from a broken hip. Bob was born in Elizabeth Port, N.J., January 29, 1914. He found his life passion for aviation in 1929 at age 15, teaching himself to fly a homemade glider and a year later soloed fabric-covered biplanes. |publisher=Times Argus |date=April 20, 2007 |accessdate=2007-08-21 ] In 1930 at age 16 he took lessons in a Fleet Aircraft using a Kinner engine. He received the Department of Commerce license #13478.

On October 4, 1930 Robert beat the junior transcontinental airspeed record of Eddie August Schneider in his PA-6 Pitcairn Mailwing he named "Yankee Clipper". His time was 23 hours, and 47 minutes of elapsed flying time. The junior record only counts time in the air and excludes time spent on the ground. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Boy flyer set to try at transcontinental record. |url= |quote= |publisher=Decatur Daily Review |date=September 27, 1930 |accessdate=2007-08-21 ] [Decatur Daily Review, Decatur, Illinois; September 29, 1930; Boy aviator in quest of record. ] [Decatur Daily Review, Decatur, Illinois; October 1, 1930; : "I was the youngest to fly coast to coast and that record still stands. I had my license at 16 and after that, they raised the minimum age to 17. With that change no one could break my record."

In 1937 he began flying for TWA, became chief pilot in 1945 and flew until his retirement at age 60 in 1974. He took delivery of TWA's first Lockheed Constellation aircraft in 1945, and in 1970 flew TWA's first 747 revenue flight: flight 800 from New York City to Paris. In 1965 he flew around the world from pole to pole in a Boeing 707 along with several other pilots in shifts.

United States Air Force used Robert to study severe weather, and he was chosen to pilot the B-17G "Two Kind Words". The ship was hardened for flying through severe weather. He also flew a modified P-61 Black Widow in that research effort. President Truman awarded him a civilian Air Medal for his work.

Buck had a son, Rob, who also made a career as an airline pilot (he is now retired). [ [FLYING Magazine, Vol. 134, Number 8, August 2007, p. 36] ]

Death

Captain Buck died on April 14, 2007.

Legacy

Walter Gunn on Robert Buck:

Captain Robert N. Buck’s accomplishments are legendary ... Certainly, I’ll treasure forever my initial contact with Bob Buck. It came when I received a congratulatory phone call from him soon after I was upgraded to captain. "Never doubted you’d make it," he snapped. "All the best. Welcome aboard!" His personable warmth was often buttressed with a wry sense of humor. That he would take the time, as a Chief Pilot of an airline in the midst of rapid expansion, to pad the ego of a junior pilot revealed much about the man.

He was inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame of New Jersey in 1981.

Timeline

*1914 Birth in Elizabeth, New Jersey
*1930 (circa) Move to Westfield, New Jersey
*1930 Pilots license
*1930 Junior Transcontinental air speed record
*1931 Flight to Havana
*1932 Flight to Mexico City
*1937 Begins at TWA co-piloting DC-2s and DC-3s
*1939 Howard Hughes buys TWA
*1943 November, flying B-17G "Two Kind Words" for severe weather atmospheric research.
*1945 Chief pilot at TWA
*1945 Lockheed Constellation introduced at TWA
*1965 Pole to pole around the world flight in Flying Tigers B-707-320G
*1970 First 747 commercial flight for TWA
*1970 Writes "Weather Flying"
*1973 Time magazine reports: "Jumbo Jet Pilot Robert Buck maintains that soaring is no more hazardous than flying in a commercial airliner"
*1974 Retires from TWA on January 28
*1974 Living in Vermont
*1975 Writes "Flying Know-How"
*1981 Induction into the Aviation Hall of Fame of New Jersey
*1992 Writes "Art of Flying'
*2000 (circa) The Active Retired Pilots of TWA (TARPA) Award of Merit
*2000 Writes "Pilot's Burden: Flight Safety and the Roots of Pilot Error"
*2002 Appears on NPR Morning Edition on April 15
*2007 died in Vermont on April 14 at the age of 93

Bibliography

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Junior transcontinental air speed record

*1930 Frank Goldsborough
*1930 |accessdate=2007-08-21 ]
*1930 Robert Nietzel Buck

References

External links

* [http://www.valleyreporter.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=444 Robert Nietzel Buck] at Valley Reporter
* [http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070420/OBITUARIES/704200322/1005/OBITUARIES Robert Nietzel Buck] at Times Argus
* [http://www.dmairfield.com/people/buck_bo/index.html Robert Nietzel Buck] at Davis-Monthan Airfield Register
* [http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2007/070418buck.html Robert Nietzel Buck] at Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
* [http://www.avweb.com/news/profiles/182604-1.html Robert Nietzel Buck] at AVWeb
*National Public Radio|1141732