December 7, 2009 © Thomas J. Kollenborn. All Rights Reserved.
The history
of aviation has an interesting role in the legacy of the Superstition
Wilderness Area. Men and their flying machines usually avoided the air
space over the rugged topography of this vast wilderness during the
1920’s. Aviation was in its infancy during this decade. Most airplanes
were underpowered and very dangerous to fly at low altitudes. Flying low
over rugged terrain such as the Superstition Mountains was out of the
question for most early aviators of the Salt River Valley.
The 1920’s marked an unusual interest in
airplanes and flying by the public. Men like Commander Francesco de
Pinedo and Colonel Charles Lindbergh held the world in awe with their
aviation accomplishments. At the same time another man in Arizona was
fascinated by the flying machine. Paul Ruble’s fascination for flying
could not be controlled. In 1928, he designed and built his own airplane
in the desert of Arizona. Not only did he design it and build it, he
test flew it. His first airplane was somewhat underpowered, but was
capable of extremely tight maneuvers. Ruble spent hours flying his
creation over the mountains of Central Arizona.
Paul didn’t like to fly high in the air;
he liked being close to the ground. Paul Ruble flew through canyons and
mountains nobody else dared to. Paul was also a visionary who believed
someday flying machines would be used to spot lost or injured people in
the deserts and mountains of Arizona. His antagonist of the period
claimed planes flew too high and too fast to be used successfully in air
searches. This did not discourage Paul Ruble, he continued flying low
and slow over the deserts and mountains of Arizona developing his skills
as a pilot and attempting to prove his point.
Paul Ruble made several flights over the
now famous Superstition Mountain range. He reported to friends the
violent updrafts and down drafts that plagued the area during the summer
months. Ruble was convinced these hazards could be avoided if flying
was done in the early morning and late evening. Most aviators of the
period felt low-level flying was far too dangerous, therefore airplanes
would never be used for searching the rugged mountains of Arizona.
Some aviators also believed even if
airplanes were safe enough for air rescue work, the cost of operating
them would be prohibitive.
It was three years later in July 1931
the first attempt was made to use an airplane on a search and rescue
mission. This aerial search occurred over the rugged Superstition
Mountains east of Phoenix. Adolph Ruth, a Washington D.C. prospector,
had been reported missing in the Superstitions on June 18, 1931. Men and
dogs had been searching the canyons and towering peaks of the
Superstition range for three weeks and had found no trace of Ruth. On
July 1, 1931, Erwin C. Ruth, the missing man’s son, hired a pilot and
airplane to search the rugged mountain range. Ruth later claimed all
pilots of the period held a great fear of these mountains and would
never descend below 7,000 feet while flying over them. It was suicidal
to fly into the canyons of this mountain range, most pilots believed.
Ruth was finally able to secure the
services of Mr. Charles Goldtrap, a pioneer aviator in Phoenix to fly a
couple of search missions. Goldtrap had recently opened an airport in
Phoenix and needed the money to operate it. Ruth offered Goldtrap $200
if he would search the Superstition range for his father in an airplane.
Goldtrap, accompanied by Edward D.
Newcomer, made the first aerial search of the Superstition Mountains
with an airplane. Newcomer was a photographer for the Phoenix Gazette.
On that hot July day in 1931, Goldtrap and Newcomer changed aviation
history in Arizona and fulfilled Paul Rubles’ vision that someday
airplanes would be used for searches over rugged mountain terrain for
missing people.
This was the beginning of air search and
rescue work in Arizona and it was another important application of the
airplane. It was a primitive start initially, but rapidly grew with the
onset of World War II. Throughout the 1930’s and 1940’s the importance
of aircraft in air search and rescue was proven again and again by the
hundreds of civilian and military searches and rescues performed by the
use of aircraft. There are those who will question the authenticity of
this information because the basic concept of air search and rescue was
started in many places at the same time.
It was 1947, when another prospector
disappeared in the Superstition Mountains. James A. Cravey, a retired
Phoenix photographer vanished from his camp deep in the mountains.
Cravey had hired a helicopter from the Arizona Helicopter Service in
Phoenix to fly him to a secret location in La Barge Canyon. On June 3,
1947, Charles Marthens, a pilot for Arizona Helicopter Service, had
flown Cravey to a predetermined location and planned to return two weeks
later to pick Cravey up. When he returned he could not find Cravey and
then reported him missing to the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff
Lynn Early organized the search. Cravey’s trip was the first time a
helicopter was used for a prospecting venture in the Superstition
Wilderness. Ironically, the same helicopter was used unsuccessfully to
locate James A. Cravey.
Marthens used his helicopter for several
hours trying to locate Cravey, but failed. The search for Cravey
continued for several weeks without success. 1st Lt. Clifford Gibson,
Arizona National Guard, searched several hours for Cravey on July 4,
1947, but failed to find any sign of him. This was the first recorded
use of a helicopter in an air search and rescue in the Superstition
Wilderness.
Since that first helicopter search
hundreds of stranded and lost hikers have been rescued from the cliffs,
mountain peaks and canyons of the Superstition Wilderness by military
helicopters stationed at Williams Air Force Base or Luke Air Force Base
since the early 1950s.
On October 1, 1972, the Arizona
Department of Public Safety acquired their first air rescue helicopter.
This unit has made many rescue and search flights over the Superstition
Wilderness Area. Even with this modern and sophisticated helicopter it
is still a difficult and time consuming task to extract an injured
person from rugged terrain, especially areas like the western face of
Superstition Mountain.
During the summer of 1985, Deputy Gene
Berry of the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, in cooperation with the
Department of Public Safety’s Air Search & Rescue Unit and the
Apache Junction Search & Rescue, introduced a method of mountain
rescue which has increased the chances of survival for injured people
involved in accidents in rugged mountain terrain. The method of rescue
requires the extraction of an injured victim from a site, where a
helicopter cannot land, by rappelling a trained rescue team down to the
injured person. The victim is then stabilized and lifted out by the
helicopter, which never has to land.
From the
efforts of this highly trained and professional mountain rescue team
emerged the Pinal County Mountain Helicopter Rescue Team. Arizona
residents and visitors can rest assured they have one of the best
mountain rescue teams in the world now based near the Superstition
Mountains.