James Herbert Brockett was born in Lincoln Center, Kansas back in 1893. He was a member of the First Christian Church in Omaha, Nebraska where he sang in the choir. He served in World War I as a pilot instructor at Ellington Field in Houston, Texas, being discharged as a first lieutenant in 1919.
After the war, he became an airmail pilot. He worked with the Postal Service and local civic leader to set up a system of navigational beacons and emergency landing strips. In 1925, he worked at National Air Transport Inc which later became United Airlines. He flew the DC-3 flying passenger flights, later becoming a vice president of the company. He died in 1945 from malaria.
What you may not know about James is that he was adopted and took on the last name of his adoptive parents Knight. He also was the American pilot who made the first overnight transcontinental air mail delivery in 1921.
NW Arkansas, come for a visit, stay for a lifetime
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