PHIL JANES

(Philip H. Janes) 1909-1964.
Barnstormer, Stunt Pilot, Teacher, Airport manager, Navy Captain, Husband, Father, Citizen, American.

Phil was an aviation lover from the first time he saw an airplane at age 5 in Huntingdon PA. A professional musician he saved his money and bought a Curtiss OX5 Jenny and learned to fly. By 1935 he was considered by many to be the best stunt pilot in the world. In 1939 he was hired by the CAA (later to become the FAA) as an Air Safety Inspector stationed in Cleveland OH. At the beginning of WW-II he was one of the first to enlist in the Navy. He was commissioned a full Lieutenant and assigned as a flight instructor in Pensacola, FL. A year later he was transferred to the Naval Air Station Puget Sound WA as a Ferry Pilot. Then shortly after to Terminal Island, CA where he was Operations Officer of a Ferry Squadron and promoted to Lieutenant Commander.
By the end of WW-II he was qualified to fly every type of aircraft the Navy had. – After the war he returned to his CAA job and was assigned to open an air safety office in Toledo, OH. In 1948 he was transferred to Minneapolis, MN to head the Air Safety office there, and he rejoined the Naval Reserve, later promoted to the rank of Captain.
Phil resigned from FAA in 1962 rather than accept a promotion and transfer to Kansas City and accepted an appointment as Director of Operations for the Minneapolis/St. Paul Metropolitan AirPort Commission. He died suddenly of a heart attack on September 29th, 1964, at the age of 55. In 1966 The Anoka County Airport was named “Janes Field” in his honor.
He was married to Eleanor Marhafer Janes and had two sons, Edward R. Janes and Richard A Janes.
He is interned at Ft. Snelling National Cemetery, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Philip H. Janes, Captain, USNR