Funeral services for Reed E. Davis, 91, aviation pioneer, movie stunt pilot and retired real estate executive, will be Tuesday in Omaha. Davis died Friday at Lutheran Hospital He was taken to the hospital Friday afternoon after choking on a piece of meat at an Omaha restaurant, said his son, Reed Davis Jr., of Leavenworth, Kan. Reared on a farm, the Humboldt native attended Grand Island College for two years before World War I. When the war began, he enlisted in the Army as an air cadet He had just completed training when the war ended.
After the war, he was a pilot for a Gothenburg rancher before he went to Florida, bought an army surplus plane for $2,500 and became a movie stunt pilot He appeared in such movies as "The Whirlwind," "Daredevil Hutch" and "Go Get 'Em, Hutch." He eventually returned to Nebraska and became a barnstormer, performing stunts with a pair of daredevil brothers at county fairs.
Reed married Myrtle Kenworth in 1924. She died in 1982. In 1926, the elder Davis and Italian aeronautical engineer Giuseppe Bellanca agreed to build an airplane designed by Bellanca. Constructed in Omaha, the prototype was the first cabin airplane built in the United States. Unable to raise the $10,000 to go into production, they split up. Davis joined a real estate agency in Omaha. Later, he formed a real estate , partnership that eventually became his own firm. In 1940, he was recalled to active duty and recruited air cadets in Omaha during World War II, his son said. Among those Davis recruited were David Jones, who later became Air , Force chief of staff, and George McGovern, the former South Dakota senator who ran for president in 1972. Davis is survived by his son, a brother and two sisters.
