Dates

• Existence: 1905 September 23 - 1973 October 4

Biographical Note: Robert L. Simons

Robert Lewis Simons was a military and commercial pilot in the mid-twentieth century.

Simons was born on September 23, 1905 in Hebron, Maine. He was a barnstormer on the East Coast for most of the 1920s, then worked as a transport pilot for airlines including Robertson Aircraft Co., Stearman Aircraft Co., Boeing Airplane Co., Transcontinental and Western Air, Inc. (later Trans World Airlines), and Wilmington-Catalina Airlines, Ltd.

In 1931, he began working for the U.S. Department of Commerce in the Bureau of Air Commerce (BAC). He worked for the BAC in various roles until 1942 when he was called to active duty with the U.S. Army Air Corps. Simons served in various places, including Canada, Greenland, Iceland, England, and locations within the U.S. He was honorably discharged in 1945 as a Major. After the war he returned to the Civil Aeronautics Authority, precursor to the Federal Aviation Administration.

He moved to Seattle in 1952. Simons died on October 4, 1973.

Biographical note derived from collection and donor materials.

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