Zachary Smith Reynolds Log of Aeroplane NR-898W

Collection

Identifier: EA-2017-002

Staff Only

Content Description

This handwritten log kept by Z. Smith Reynolds documents his 17,000-mile solo journey from England to China from August 26, 1931 to April 5, 1932. After several false starts, Smith finally began his flight in London in December 1931, landing outside of Paris. He then flew south over Italy and the Mediterranean until he reached North Africa. From there, he followed airline routes already established by British fliers, traveling across the Syrian Desert from Gaza to Baghdad and on to India. In the log, Smith Reynolds records not only equipment and flight data but also his impressions and experiences in the places he landed. It is clear from the log that Smith often flew in remote areas and sometimes encountered dangerous situations, and he was alone, with no contact with the ground for most of the journey. After his landing at Fort Bayard, a French military base in present-day Zhanjiang, China, Smith recorded his final log entry on April 5, 1932. Nancy Susan Reynolds, Smith’s sister, believed that Smith continued on to Hong Kong, his prearranged destination, despite those entries being absent from his log.

Dates

1931 - 1932

Access Restrictions

Advance notice is required for research use because materials are on permanent display in the museum. In the majority of cases, researchers will be asked to use a digital or print surrogate.

Biographical Note

Zachary Smith Reynolds (1911-1932) was the youngest child of R.J. Reynolds (1850-1918), owner of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, and his wife Katharine Smith Reynolds (1880-1924). Smith Reynolds, as he was known his entire life, was born just a few years after the Wright brothers proved that manned flight was possible. In the 1920s and '30s, it was common to see a plane land on the front lawn of the Reynolds family estate, Reynolda, located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Smith’s older brother Dick Reynolds was the first in the family to develop a consuming interest in flying. Recognizing the business potential of the airplane, he launched Reynolds Aviation and Camel City Flying Service to carry passengers and freight.

Smith’s interest in the new sport of aviation became his life’s passion after working for Reynolds Aviation on Long Island, where he rubbed elbows with Charles Lindbergh. Smith chose to quit school and focus on working with airplanes full time. Smith earned his private pilot’s license, signed by Orville Wright, at the age of 16 and became the youngest licensed transport pilot in the country. On November 16, 1929, soon after he turned 18, Smith married Anne Cannon, daughter of Joseph Franklin of the Cannon Mills fortune. The couple had one child, Anne Cannon Reynolds, born August 23, 1930.

In 1930, Smith set an unofficial record for the fastest flight from New York to Los Angeles. In the spring of 1931, he purchased an amphibian biplane, the Savoia-Marchetti S-56-C, customized for him to have a single seat and extra fuel capacity as he planned to fly it around the world. Anne Cannon and Smith Reynolds were divorced in Reno on November 23, 1931. Six days after his divorce was final, Smith Reynolds married Libby Holman (1904-1971), a celebrated Broadway singer and actress.

Smith Reynolds’s greatest achievement in the air was a 17,000-mile solo journey from London to Hong Kong, where he joined his new wife. The flight is documented in his log of Aeroplane NR-898W. The following summer, in July 1932, Smith Reynolds and Libby Holman were living at Reynolda before a planned move to New York. In the early morning hours of July 6, Smith died from a single gunshot wound to the head; Smith was only 20 years old. Libby Holman and Albert Walker, Smith’s friend and personal assistant, were indicted for murder, but the case never came to trial. The sensational nature of the news coverage ultimately led the Reynolds family to request that all charges be dropped against Holman and Walker; the request was granted, even though both Walker and Holman had been indicted by a grand jury for first-degree murder. The case, whether murder, suicide, or accidental death, remains unsolved. Six months after the death of her husband, Holman gave birth to their son Christopher Smith “Topper” Reynolds (1933-1950).

After the death of Smith Reynolds, his siblings established from his estate the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, which has donated more than $500 million to improve education, social justice, the environment, and economic development in the state of North Carolina.

Extent

1 Volumes

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Provenance

Z. Smith Reynolds’s handwritten log of his 1931-1932 transcontinental flight in the Aeroplane NR-898W was made available to Reynolda House Museum of American Art by Smith Reynolds's grandson Lloyd P. (“Jock”) Tate Jr. and his wife Kathryn B. Tate.