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Tex and I (in cockpit) at Alameda Bay Airdrome	Tex, like many aviators of his day, participated in long distance air racing. Here he prepares for the New York-Spokane Transcontinental Air Derby in 1927		Each day Tex would perform his stunts over the Fair at Treasure Island. He would even loop the Bay Bridge

In the thirties and forties while some kids claimed Tom Mix or Buster Crabb as their hero, I most admired Tex Rankin, the world famous stunt pilot. In 1939 Tex housed his plane at the Alameda Airdrome from which he took off for his daily aerobatics over the new Bay Bridge and Worlds' Fair>

Tex's career spanned several decades during which time he performed many fetes. He barnstormed around the country, served as a Hollywood stunt pilot in such classic flicks as "Wings" and ran an aviation school where he trained thousands of Air Force Cadets including Major Richard Bong, Congressional Medal of Honor Winner and the man who shot down 40 Japanese aircraft in the South Pacific

Roscoe Turner, another aviator of that time, and a Hollywood hero carried a lion cub in his cockpit. Stunt pilots were a flamboyant bunch. As shown below, Tex had his black cat, #13, at his side while in the air.

Some of the many trophies he had won	Tex and his famous black cat		He used the numeral 13 as his logo

Click here to learn more about the restoration of Tex's plane	Tex performed at many air shows and air races. He even established the world's record for outside loops at 131.		Tex performs one of his outside loops over St. Louis.

I had just broken my ankle after attempting an outside loop on my Elgin Bike

Pictures from the Bill Larkin Collection

Humphreys MG-2 which was one of Tex's Hollywood Aces' planes






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This is part of an envelope I found at a garage sale. It was post marked 1931 in Charlotte ,North Carolina, All Southern Aircraft Pageant with Tex's autograph.


This is picture of Tex painted by John Trtek of Concord. He used my pictures as sources in his painting



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Quote from A Tokyo Raider

The late Jimmy Doolittle described Tex thusly,
"I had the good fortune to have Tex Rankin as a personal friend. He was a superb pilot, a fine gentleman, and a loyal American. Tex was certainly one of the most skillful aerobatic pilots who ever lived. He could enthrall spectators with the grace and precision of his maneuvers. the real purpose of his flying was to improve equipment, to develop techniques, to increase safety, and to teach others. It takes great skill and courage to take an airplane, safely, near to its point of failure, but this Tex did repeatedly."

I recently received the following email from a guy that new Tex:
"I don't know if your web site is up to date. I'm probably the only survivor that was a pall-bearer at Tex's funeral in Tulare, Ca. I was working for Rankin Aviation Industries at the time. I took the phone call telling us of the fatal crash. I immediately turned the phone over to one of the managers and he got the details. Thought this would be of interest to you."
David Stone



Send E-mail to [email protected] *From the title of a book by the same name written by the late Walt Bohrer.I am also indebted to Mr Bohrer for many of the pictures shown on this page.

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