Daniel F . Kearns Daniel Francis Kearns ( 3 October 1896 - 9 December 1963 ) was a military aviator and important figure in the founding of the Colorado Air National Guard . Aviation career . Kearns would begin his flying career in 1920 as a 2nd Lieutenant with the 88th Aero Squadron at Langley Field , Virginia . Kearns would participate in General William Mitchell ' s bombing demonstrations against decommissioned U . S . Navy ships ( to illustrate the importance of air power ) . Kearns would bomb both the and the during these demonstrations . Role in the Colorado Air National Guard . Along with Colorado Secretary of State Carl Milliken , Kearns was responsible for the early organization and founding of the 120th Observation Squadron of the Colorado National Guard . After the formation and federal recognition of the squadron Kearns would become the squadrons chief test pilot and serve as a Master Sergeant within the unit . All new aircraft the unit received were tested and shaken - down by Kearns . On June 27 , 1924 Kearns flew the first set of Curtiss JN - 4 ' Jenny ' aircraft delivered to the fledgling squadron . Kearns ' early test flights from Lowry Field proved that such aircraft could operate at the high altitudes of Colorado . Kearns would later be commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant for his role within the squadron . Kearns would continue to perform impressive and notable feats with the squadron , such as a 6 day round trip flight to New York in 1925 . Kearns even survived a substantial crash in a Douglas O - 2C near Aspen in 1926 . Silverton Mercy Mission . Kearns ' most widely documented and notable accomplishment with the Colorado Air Guard was his role in the units first mercy mission . Snowstorms in March 1927 completely cut off Silverton , Colorado from outside contact . Although the town had ample food and water , a pandemic outbreak of typhoid fever had stricken the town , and medicine was desperately needed . The 120th was called upon to deliver vaccines to Silverton . On March 7 , 1927 Kearns and fellow guard pilot Clyde Plank set off from Lowry Field at 8 : 30AM in a Douglas O - 2C to deliver the desperately needed vaccines . Kearns and Plank flew over dangerous mountainous terrain to Silverton and arrived shortly after 12PM . The pair dropped the supplies from the aircraft to the snow covered town below , the supplies landed unharmed in a snow drift . With the mission complete the pair then refueled at Pueblo and returned to Lowry Field at 4 : 55PM to a crowd of local reporters . The mission was widely covered by local press making Kearns a local celebrity . The flight also brought attention to the wide variety of uses for civil aviation in the United States at the time . Later life . During his final years in Colorado Kearns wrote aviation columns for the Denver Post , promoting the development and expansion of general aviation . In 1929 Kearns left the Colorado Air National Guard to fly with Chicago based Universal Airlines . Kearns would later return to Colorado as an aviation adviser for the Civil Works Administration . Kearns died on 9 December 1963 . He is buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver , Colorado . Kearns was posthumously inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame of Colorado in 1970 . References . Whitley , Charles . Colorado Pride : A Commemorative History of the Colorado Air National Guard , 1923 - 1988 . 1st ed . Taylor Publishing Co . , 1988 . Print . Further reading . Whitley , Charles . Colorado Pride : A Commemorative History of the Colorado Air National Guard , 1923 - 1988 . 1st ed . Taylor Publishing Co . , 1988 . Print . ISBN 978 - 0962198007