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Col. John B. Hinchey and Navigator Charles A. La Jotte, Spartan Plane
Col. John B. Hinchey
Pilot
Charles A. La Jotte
Navigator
John Hinchey, (affectionately dubbed the “Little Colonel” by his friends, and he has few, if any, enemies) is flying a Spartan Executive, all metal, five-place airplane in the Bendix Trophy Race. He is the western representative of the Spartan Company and says that the Spartan is the fastest stock air plane if its type that is built, and laying particular emphasis on the fact that it is strictly a stock job with no extra or special parts, he says that he expects to fly at a speed of 225 miles per hour at an altitude of 10,000 to 12,000 feet. He will stop one time to re-fuel.
Hinchey, who is from St. Louis, learned to pilot a plane during the World War. He later flew the mail with Charles A. Lindbergh between St. Louis and Chicago.
Going along as relief pilot and navigator is Chas. A. Lajotte of Santa Monica who is taking a five-day vacation from his job as pilot for the Gilmore Oil Company, to make the trip. He admits that it is a bus man’s holiday.
LaJotte was also a wartime pilot, and has done considerable flying in Africa. He taught Howard Hughes to fly in 1927, using an O X-5 Waco at the old Angeles Mesa Airport.

Lee Gehlbach
Lee Gehlbach, test pilot for the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation at Beth Page, Long Island, New York, is flying the Wedell-Williams racer that Capt. James H. Haizlip used to win the 1932 Bendix Trophy race. It is powered by a Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior.
Gehlbach is one of the finest test pilots in the world and considers his job to be just as safe as any other. When asked about the danger of testing high-powered ships in power dives, his answer was: “Dangerous? Danger’s only relative, don’t forget. My family has always worried about me. I had a grandmother who used to worry about me all the time... what did she do but fall down the steps at home and kill herself... A bath tub is one of the most dangerous places in the world. But you still take baths don’t you?”
He was born on a farm near Lincoln, Illinois, but objected to getting up at four every morning. In 1924 he received an engineering degree from the University of Illinois and went from there to Kelly field where he was graduated a Lieutenant in the Army.
He startled the citizens of Montreal by circling their buildings closely, and flying under bridges.
In 1930 Gehlbach entered the All-American Flying Derby and distinguished himself by flying from Detroit to New York, across to the Pacific coast then back to Detroit, a distance of well over 5000 miles, in 43 hours.
In an article in the “Mechanix Illustrated,” September 1938 issue, he points out, the tremendous strides taken by commercial and military aviation as a direct result of the developments of planes used in air races.
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Lee Gehlbach
The twenty-fourth airplane that Gehlback tested dropped a wing in a power dive, and he had to bail out. He suffered two black eyes when his head hit the instrument board.