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Company
Woodland Aviation
by Lance Phillips
Chronicles
It seems that as we learn more about the companies supporting general aviation in the United States, we can’t help but associate corpo-
rate growth with evolution at the federal level.
The Federal Aviation Act of 1958 cre- ated the Federal Aviation Agency, and by 1967 the agency had adopted its cur- rent name, Federal Aviation Admin- istration. The overarching purpose of reassigning the agency from its home at the Commerce Department to the Department of Transportation was safety, but one of its highlighted roles at inception was the encouragement and development of civil aeronautics. The FAA was designed to help fos- ter growth. California harnessed the opportunities provided by the new- found federal support to advance the industry on the west coast. The state developed an education program for high schools and colleges to feed the industry with high-quality, techni- cally skilled workers. Woodland, in the northern part of California, was home to one of the early adopters and
18 • TWIN & TURBINE / March 2022
Cirrus Authorized Service Center of the Year (2021).
supporters of aviation, taking it to its leading role – not only in the U.S. but, as we’ll soon see, in the world.
Dorothy Gray was born in Iowa in 1920, three years before her parents relocated the family to Fort Stockton, Texas, where she grew up and finished high school. After being named school valedictorian, she checked in to the University of Texas as a 16-year-old freshman, eventually earning a Bach- elor of Arts degree in English. Dorothy then went back home to west Texas as a teacher. It was there she met a civil- ian Army Air Corps f light instructor from Woodland, California, teaching new f light students at Fort Stockton’s military training base. Milton Watts didn’t know it at that time, but Dorothy was to become instrumental in not only helping him grow a successful aviation business but also to establish California as an aviation leader in our country. The two were married in 1942 right there in west Texas.
Milton was 18 when he soloed in a Velie Monocoupe, later earning an instructor’s rating in 1940 and
purchasing that very same model with his brother and fellow aviator, Vern. In 1943, he was commissioned by the U.S. Navy and began flying as an executive transport pilot for the commander of naval air bases. During World War II, while in Florida, he flew and delivered a brand-new Beechcraft Staggerwing to the Navy (after the war, he bought one for himself ). He ended up f lying many airplanes and lighter-than-air equipment for the U.S. Navy.
Northern California called the young couple back soon enough, and
Dorothy (Gray) Watts