Hornet Hill Monument

The disappearance of a Western Air Services Boeing 95 mail plane during an intense snow storm thrust Cedar City, Utah, into world attention because its pilot, Captain Maurice (Maury) Francis Graham, was internationally renowned for courage and flying ability. A hero of WWI, he was credited with saving the lives of hundreds of American servicemen of the Lost Battalion when their unit was overrun by German ground forces in dense fog, and he received both the Distinguished Flying Cross and the French Legion of Honor. Considered by many the world’s foremost weather-capable pilot, he pioneered a viable airmail route from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City for Western Air Services, which he also co-founded. Graham departed Los Angeles on January 10, 1930, with a scheduled refueling stop at Las Vegas, Nevada, but finding he was pacing a fast-moving snow storm, he chose to continue ahead of it to deliver the mail on time. Smoke pots and flares were lighted and waiting at Cedar City, but heavy snow prevented his intended landing, and he was last reported over the Cedar City airport flying to the northwest. He was never heard from again. The search for Graham eventually involved the U.S. Postal Service, air lines, Iron County residents, and the entire Army Air Corps in the largest and longest aerial search in history, but without success. Late in the spring, Parowan residents Elburn Orton and Ward Mortensen discovered the mail plane 2 miles east of Hornet Hill on Kanarra Mountain. In an extraordinary feat of airmanship, Graham had landed safely in the dark of night during a howling snow storm on top of a 9,500 foot mountain in winter with no beacon or visual reference. He had only a turn and bank indicator, airspeed indicator, altimeter, and compass in the airplane, with no radio, no attitude gyro, and no means of communication. The mail bin was sealed, fuel remained in the wing tanks, and the engine and airframe were intact and returned to service. Messages left for rescuers indicated that Graham was proceeding eastward. About 500 Iron County residents searched for weeks for the missing mail pilot, and in late July his remains were found by his friends and wingmen in Spanish Hollow, Crystal Creek Canyon, with the securities mail bag in his arms. He had given his life to see the mail go through. Graham’s last log entry read, “January 11, 1930. Arrived 2:35 AM. No destination.”

Utah · United States