E. C. Kirkpatrick Collection

Enos Claire Kirkpatrick was born on May 12, 1920. He received his CAA Pilot’s Certificate in 1941. Kirkpatrick flew in 1942 for Pan Am Airways (PAA) and from Nov 1942 until 1948 for China National Aviation Corp. (CNAC). With 605 Hump Flights, he held the record in this organization. In the early 1950s, he started working for Civil Air Transport (CAT), from which he retired in 1966. One of his missions with CAT was the New Zealand Support Mission in spring of 1951. He flew among other fixed-wing aircraft, Douglas DC-3, Curtiss C-46, and Douglas C-47. Kirkpatrick was substantially involved in running the CAT cause at Dien Bien Phu helping the French before the end of the French Indochina War. He played a part in the events shortly before the Vietnam War. Enos Claire Kirkpatrick died on April 15, 1998.