Reno Airmail Field / Blanch Field
The site occupied by the Washoe County golf course was once the location of Reno's first airfield. Built in 1920, the Reno Airmail Field was one of 16 primary stops along the Transcontinental Airmail Route, which stretched from San Francisco to New York City and led to the development of the world's first ground-based civilian air navigation system. In 1924, the field was renamed Blanch Field (the field was originally named "Blanchfield Field", but the name shortly evolved to "Blanch Field"), in honor of airmail pilot William F. Blanchfield.
William F. Blanchfield
"Big Bill" was born on December 29, 1895 in Courtmacsherry, County Cork, Ireland. He was flying as early as 1914, and joined the British Royal Air Service during the First World War. Blanchfield came to the United States after the war and on January 3, 1921 was appointed an airmail pilot on the Reno-Elko run. During his 3-1/2 year career with the airmail service, Blanchfield logged 62,328 miles and 709 hours in the cockpit.
On February 21, 1921, during the inaugural day and night transcontinental airmail flight, Blanchfield was slated to fly the westbound mail from Elko to Reno, but instead, carried the eastbound mail from Elko to Salt Lake City after pilot William E. Lewis was killed when his plane stalled and crashed during takeoff (see GC32A72 for more on this story). Blanchfield later experienced his own close call at the Elko airfield on August 6, 1921, when his plane caught fire on landing and was destroyed.
Blanchfield in the cockpit of his DeHavilland DH-4 at the Reno Airmail Field
On August 1, 1924, Blanchfield was to fly a salute at the funeral service of airmail mechanic Samuel Garrans, being performed in the Knights of Pythias Cemetery, a block west of the University of Nevada campus. Protocol for such a solemn tribute would dictate Blanchfield circling the funeral service twice then dropping a wreath from the plane onto the gravesite. His thoughts might have been with Hugh Cobb, the airman slated to fly with him for this ceremony, who now but for a change in plans would have been in the forward cockpit to handle the dropping of the wreath. Instead, Blanchfield would find it necessary to fly with his right hand while fumbling with the wreath with his left. He'd roll the DeHavilland high on one wing, dropping the wreath from the open rear cockpit as he firewalled the throttle and let the plane roll through to level flight.
But, it didn't happen that way. He lost control of the biplane and crashed into an unoccupied home on the northeast corner of Ninth and Ralston Streets. The DeHavilland burst into flames upon hitting telephone wires, and the wreckage set the house on fire, destroying it as well. Blanchfield was 29 years old at the time of his death. He is buried at Mountain View Cemetery in west Reno.
Speculation abounded as to the cause of the accident. Many eyewitnesses thought a freak gust of wind had played a part; aviators attributed the crash to the difficulty of controlling the heavy biplane while getting ready to drop the wreath.
Clipping from "The New York Times" on Blanchfield's fatal crash
Following Blanchfield's death, Claire Vance, a fellow airmail pilot who also flew the Reno-Elko leg of the Transcontinental and flew a similar tribute flight over Blanchfield's funeral, suggested the Reno airfield be renamed "Blanch Field" in honor of the fallen pilot.
Ironically, Vance himself was killed on December 17, 1932, while flying the mail route from Oakland to Reno. He crashed in the fog at the top of Rocky Ridge, near Danville, California, missing the top of the ridge by 10 feet. The impact caused his immediate death as the aircraft burst into flames and burned.
During the nine years the Post Office Department operated the airmail service, there were over 6,500 forced landings, traced to mechanical or weather-related causes. In the process, 34 pilots lost their lives. On the average, airmail pilots had a life span of only about 900 flying hours.