AKA Harry Calvin CRANALL
Harry Calvin Bray was born May 1898 in Missouri His parents were Calvin Bray and Nora Almina Crandall. Calvin Bray died before 1900. Harry was adopted by his maternal grand parents Steven and Rachel (Ewer) Crandall and changed his name to Harry Calvin Crandall.
Harry married Edna Fay Wood, 22 Aug 1918, in Los Angeles, California and they had two daughters.
Former movie stunt pilot who lived in San Diego with his wife and two daughters.
Killed (along with 2 passengers) in the crash of a combined mail-passenger bi-plane at Burbank airport while working for Pacific Air Transport as a Air Mail pilot. He had been working for Pacific Air Transport for 3 years and had over 6000 hours of solo flight credit.
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Last Rites for Air-Crash Victim to Be Tomorrow
Masonic Funeral services will be conducted a 10 a.m. tomorrow at the chapel of the mausoleum in Grand View Memorial Park, Glendale, for Harry Crandall, air-mail pilot whose plane crashed near the United Airport in Burbank Monday night, killing him and his two passengers, Harold Christensen, radio operator, and John C. Johnson another pilot. The rites for Crandall will be in charge of the Burbank Masonic Lodge, but interment will be private.
Services for Christensen will be conducted at 3 p.m. tomorrow at the Bresee Brothers & Lince Chapel, 1815 Firestone Boulevard, Graham. After the services, his remains will be cremated. Arrangements for both funerals were in charge of the Powell mortuary in Burbank, and yesterday the company sent Johnston’s body to San Jose, his former home, where military and Masonic services will be conducted for him this afternoon.
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CRASH HURTS FILM FLYERS
Two Near Death After Nose Dive of 125 Feet Near Glendale While Performing for Cinemas
Harry Crandall, Hollywood stunt aviator and Leo Shamroy, his passenger, were at the pint of death last night in Glendale hospitals as the result of a crash near the Glendale airport yesterday afternoon. The plane smashed nose down from a height of about 125 feet, throwing Shamroy out. Crandall’s safety belt broke and his head struck the instrument board of the plane. He was still unconscious last night.
Crandall and Shamroy were flying low for a Hollywood motion picture company and were throwing out powdered lime to give and impression their plane was on fire. According to W. W. Fitzpatrick, Glendale aviator, who saw the accident, Crandall attempted to make a right turn and banked to steeply, sending his machine into a spin. It turned over and dropped, cameras grinding away at it in its fall.
The plane was wrecked and both flyers were knocked unconscious. Crandall was removed to the Glendale Research Hospital and Shamroy to the Glendale Sanatorium. Shamroy recovered consciousness late in the afternoon and X-ray pictures were taken to determine the extent of his injuries, which are believed to be serious.
The plane was of the JN-4 type formerly used in the Army and was owned jointly by Crandall and Al Gilhausen, Glendale pilot. Aviator Fitzpatrick, who examined the wreckage, expressed the opinion that the control stick was not properly pinned and that it slipped out under the unusual strain of the steep bank. Crandall was unable to replace it, he said he believed, in time to save a crash due to the low altitude.
Shamroy was not belted into the plane and was seated in the front compartment, it was said. This explained his being thrown out.
Crandall, who is 28 years of age, is said to be known for his daring, and has undertaken plane changing, rope climbing and many other dangerous feats without accident. The kind of flying that brought him down is not usually regarded as particularly dangerous, it was said.
AIR-MAIL CRASH HELD ACCIDENT
Plane Drops When 100 Feet above Burbank Port
Inquest Into Three Deaths Declared Unnecessary
Machine Catches Fire When It Hit Ground
After being guided safely downward through a fog layer by radio and circling his landing point in clear view of ground observers, Harry Crandall, air mail pilot, crashed while making a tight turn 100 feet above the ground, bringing death to himself and his two passengers, John C. Johnston, also a pilot and Harold Christensen. Radio dispatcher, it developed yesterday in the investigation of Monday night’s Burbank crash.
Officials of Pacific Air Transport, operators of the single-engined combination mail-passenger biplane, offered no define cause for the ship crashing, declaring the plane’s motor was functioning perfectly and that Crandall evidently was in full control until the instant the ship slipped earthward, a block east of the United Airport border.
PLANE CATCHES FIRE
Joe Able, operations manager for the line at United Airport, told investigators he had directed Crandall down through the ceiling of fog above the sky harbor and that the ship emerged with at least 200 feet of clear weather between the fog and ground. Crandall circled the field and was turning back to come in for a landing when his plane slipped off in banking, crashed and caught fire.
Johnston and Christensen, in the forward cabin, were killed instantly and Crandall died less than three hours after the crash at the Burbank Emergency Hospital.
No inquest was conducted, airline officials and Capt. Claude Margon of the Sheriff’s aviation detail agreeing the crash was accidental.
JOHNSTON FROM SAN JOSE
Johnston’s body will be shipped to San Jose, his former home, for burial. Military and Masonic rites will be conducted. He was 35 years of age, a former captain in the United States Army Air Corps, and had been flying coastwise mail planes for four years. He was “dead-heading” in the ship from San Diego to Bakersfield at the time of his death. His mother, Mrs. H. C. Johnston, resides here at 1600 East Eighty-seventh street.
Crandall who resided in San Diego with his wife and two daughters, 7 and 1 year of age, was a former motion-picture stunt pilot. He was 37 years of age and had nearly 6000 hours of solo flight to his credit. He had been in the airline’s service three years.
Christensen was aboard the ship en-route to Los Angeles on business. He was 26 years of age and had been employed as a radio dispatcher for the company two years. He also was married and resided in San Diego.
FUNERAL PLANS MADE
Funeral services for the San Diego men will be conducted in Los Angeles. Widows of the victims are expected to make final arrangements today at the Powell Mortuary, Burbank.
More than half the 104 pounds of mail the ship carried was recovered from the burned plane, airline officials stated.
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1900 Census
name: Harry C Bray
titles & terms:
residence: Neck City & Alba towns, Jasper, Missouri
birth date: May 1898
birthplace: Missouri
relationship to head of household: Grandson
father's birthplace: Missouri
mother's birthplace: Missouri
race or color (expanded): White
head-of-household name: Stephan S Crandall
gender: Male
marital status: Single
enumeration district: 0063
page: 14
sheet letter: A
family number: 276
reference number: 40
film number: 1240866
image number: 00911
Household
Stephan S Crandall
Rachel O Crandall Noara A Bray Mable Bray Bertha A Bray Harry C Bray
Gender M F F F F M