CHARLES W. MAYSE                                                                                           

Enshrined 1992

Charles Mayse was born near Pawhuska, Oklahoma. He left school at the age of twelve and worked atodd jobs until serving as a truck driver for the PershingExpedition in 1916. Later, he learned to fly and purchased a JH-4 inwhich he barnstormed throughout the midwest. He flew inChihuahua, Mexico for the rurales in 1920 before returningto barnstorming in the U.S. Charley flew mail for atime in Honduras, but illness forced a return once againto barnstorming. In 1927 he leased the old TucsonMunicipal Airport and opened the Mayse Flying School. TheMayse Air Service provided flying instruction, airplanesales and charter flights.During the Depression, Charley flew charter flights from Sky Harbor in Phoenix. He took over theDouglas, Arizona International Airport in 1935 but left totrain military pilots during World War II. Returning to Douglas,Charley resumed the job he had left during the war.Charley Mayse blazed a trail in theArizona skies for others to follow. No other person did more to put Arizona in theforefront of aircraft safety and pilot training.