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Thanks to Guest Editor Bob Woodling for help researching this page.

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LAWRENCE J. "Chip" CHIAPPINO

L.J. Chiappino was born May 26, 1904 in San Jose, CA. His parents were immigrants from Italy. In the 1910 U.S. Census he is five years old and his father is a partner in a truck farm with his brother-in-law who is head of the household. He lives with his parents and brother and sister as well as six cousins, two uncles and a hired hand. A total of fifteen people live in the house at 372 Berryessa Road in San Jose. No trace of a truck farm appears there today. The address is only a short distance from the San Jose International Airport.

The 1920 Census places Chiappino in San Jose with his parents and brother Frank (16) and sister Louise (18). His father continued in the vegetable farming business.

T.W.A. Skyliner, April, 1944 (Source: Woodling)
T.W.A. Skyliner, April, 1944 (Source: Woodling)

 

How did Chiappino get into aviation? The brief article, right, from the April, 1944 Skyline, the internal T.W.A. magazine, summarizes. He learned to fly in the Army, then moved back to California in 1928. A Palo Alto city directory for 1929 describes Chiappino's occupation as an instructor with the Palo Alto School of Aviation.

L.J. Chiappino, Date Unk. (Source: Proctor via Woodling)
L.J. Chiappino, Date Unk. (Source: Proctor via Woodling)

 

After Palo Alto, he went to work for Western Air Express. That brings us to the portrait at left, courtesy of Jon Proctor via Guest Editor Bob Woodling. Chiappino's hat badge is that of Western Air Express (WAE), a predecessor of T.W.A. whose name was subsumed by merger. You can view a close-up of the handsome WAE cap insignia at the Lee Willey biography page over on the Davis-Monthan Airfield Web site.

Chiappino was a long-time air transport pilot for T.W.A. During his career, Chiappino lived at the midwest and western hubs of T.W.A. The 1930 U.S. Census cites him living in Kansas City, MO with his wife and infant daughter. His occupation is given as "Pilot" in the "Airways" industry. Kate was not employed. They rented their home for $105/month.

His five landings at the Grand Central Air Terminal (GCAT) occurred between March 30, 1931 and May 5, 1931. He flew a Fokker (4 times; registration unidentified) and a Ford (one time; registration unidentified). His destination was always Kansas City, MO. He carried 5-7 passengers each time.

T.W.A. Skyliner, September, 1937 (Source: Woodling)
T.W.A. Skyliner, September, 1937 (Source: Woodling)

 

Ogden (UT) Standard Examiner, December 24, 1936 (Source: Woodling)

 

Sometime during the early 1930s he moved to Glendale. The article at right describes the dilemma of a pilot on a scheduled airline, and how Chiappino chose to deal with the problem.

The article at left sketches his educational background and off-duty interests.

The 1940 Census places him at 1646 Highland Avenue in Glendale, CA. He is 35 years old and living with wife, Kate F. (32) and two children, Barbara (10) and Lawrence J. (4). His occupation is cited as "Aviator" in the "Air Transportation" industry at a salary of $5,000+ per year. They rented their home for $75/month. They also employed a live-in private servant, Alice M. Smith (63). As of January 1, 1041, Chiappino was number 18 on the T.W.A. seniority list.

Chiappino touched history on April 17, 1944. He was among the small group of passengers who traveled with Jack Frye and Howard Hughes in the Lockheed Constellation that set a transcontinental speed record for transport planes. Their flight was from Burbank, CA to Washington, DC. This event was covered in the T.W.A. Skyliner for April, 1944. The relevant pages of the Skyliner are at the link (PDF 5.2Mb). It also made the front page of The New York Times of April 18th.

Besides his historic passenger ride, Chiappino was also the T.W.A. pilot assigned to test the Constellation as it moved along Lockheed's final development process. He headed a test team who are pictured and cited below.

T.W.A. Lockheed Constellation Test Crew, 1943-44 (Source: Woodling)
T.W.A. Lockheed Constellation Test Crew, 1943-44 (Source: Woodling)

 

You will learn from the Skyliner linked above that the Constellation they flew was T.W.A. property that the company turned over to the government in Washington for the duration of the war effort. You will also learn that a record attempt was not intended. The 6 hour and 58 minute duration of the record flight was achieved by operating the airplane as it would be operated on a normal passenger run. A video of the flight is on YouTube at the link. Although the arrival at Washington might be accurate, the takeoff is probably not, because the takeoff was at night (3:00AM) and the video takeoff is obviously during daylight.

An interesting finding in the story of Constellation development is the presence of so many Register pilots in different roles at T.W.A. and at Lockheed. Besides Frye, Richter, Hughes and Chiappino, D.W. Tomlinson was part of the engineering team and Kenneth Rearwin was on the financial end. General Hap Arnold was involved in the military acceptance of the airplane in Washington and Joe Towle in design.

San Jose Evening News, September 25, 1944 (Source: Web)
San Jose Evening News, September 25, 1944 (Source: Web)

 

 

Alas, the transcontinental Constellation flight was probably Chiappino's last major activity. He died about six weeks later on May  26, 1944. I have been unable to find a detailed obituary. But, the one at left from the San Jose Evening News, reported the cause of death as heart disease. I do not know why news of his passing was reported on September 25 when he died four months earlier. Note that his parents were still living in their home on Berryessa Road in San Jose.

He started his professional flying career with a predecessor of T.W.A. in 1929. He had accomplished a lot during his 15 years with the company (note the article says 17 years). He had accumulated about 14,400 flying hours. In distance that's over 2-million miles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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