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first solo in a powered airplane took place on May, 7, 1913, at Mineola, Long Island, New York, in a modified Curtiss pusher built by his teacher. His pilot license, issued some time later, was number 227.

During World War I Holderman taught flying to Army recruits at Hazelhurst (later Roosevelt) Field on Long Island. From 1918 to 1920 he served with the U.S. Post Office Air Mail Service, mainly as a mechanic, but doing some flying. He eventually became Manager of the Eastern Division. In 1921 he married Dorothy Currier Harris, the two of them taking what newspapers at the time referred to as "the first honeymoon by airplane."

Holderman opened a flying service on Long Island soon after his marriage where he and Dot worked long hours, he teaching flying and putting on air shows and she operating a candy stand. By the end of the a year they had bought a new Packard and had $10,000 in the bank. In the mid-1920s the couple moved to Florida where Russell was a pilot for Rogers Air Service in Miami and where the couple sold real estate in the Sarasota Keys by airplane.

In 1927 Holderman was asked by Donald Woodward (of the "Jello" organization) to design and build a private airport near Rochester, New York. The result was the D.W. Airport at LeRoy, New York, and Holderman eventually became President and Manager of the D.W. Flying Service at the airport. During this time he taught his wife to fly; in 1935 she set an endurance record for gliding (5 hours, 17 minutes). Holderman also was Elinor Smith Sullivan's teacher and in 1930 she was voted top female pilot for breaking most of the women's endurance and altitude records.

From 1936 until 1972 Russell Holderman was the chief pilot for the Gannett newspaper chain. In this capacity he helped reporters and photographers cover major stories dealing with floods, fires, crashes and wrecks. He flew to New England to bring out photographs of the disastrous 1937 hurricane. He also piloted Gannett airplanes on missions of mercy giving aid to seriously ill persons.

During World War II Holderman flew light unarmed planes along the Atlantic Coast on submarine hunts with the Civil Air Patrol. He held a commission as a Lieutenant Commander

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