Prolific in the media and continually in the "public eye", in the 1937 The Mysterious Pilot movie serial, Hawks was billed as the "fastest airman in the world.

Born in Marshalltown, Iowa, on March 28, 1897, Hawks attended grammar school before his parents who were actors, joined a stock company and toured Minnesota.

An early exposure to the thrill of flying came when Hawks convinced local Long Beach air field owners, the Christofferson brothers, to give him a free flight in exchange for a newspaper article.

He had convinced the owners that a high school student's impressions would result in increased interest in flying and more business for the air field.

After he received his Junior Military Aviator rating and a second lieutenant's commission in the Signal Officer's Reserve Corps, Hawks became a flying instructor at Dallas Love Field, Texas, receiving a promotion to first lieutenant and a short time later was made the assistant officer in charge of flying at U.S. Army Air Service's Brooks Field at San Antonio, Texas.

[4] One incident that nearly proved fatal occurred when Hawks and Lieutenant Wendell Brookley collided in midair over the San Antonio football stadium.

Besides his barnstorming feats, Hawks became known for his appearances at aerial exhibitions and on December 28, 1920, he took a 23-year-old Amelia Earhart on her first flight at a state fair in Los Angeles, California.

Hawks flew his Standard J-1 World War I trainer carrying wing-walker Wesley May aloft to join up with Daugherty, circling over Long Beach, California.

[7] On May 7, 1922, Hawks landed his small Standard biplane within the grounds at the Stadium Jalapeño at Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, as part of the inaugural ceremonies.

[8] By 1927, Hawks continued to eke out a living as a pilot but with money from his wife, he purchased a Mahoney Ryan B-1 Brougham (NC3009) he named the "Spirit of San Diego.

The "Texaco One", a custom-built Ford Trimotor (NC3443) was delivered in January 1928 and Hawks was dispatched to advertise the company across the United States and abroad, beginning with flying a Texas delegation from Houston to Mexico City and back.

It was the first goodwill trade extension air tour from the United States to Mexico and received wide coverage in American and Mexican newspapers.

On February 4, 1929, flying with Oscar Grubb, superintendent of final assembly at the Lockheed factory, who had volunteered to serve as flight engineer to pump fuel from auxiliary fuselage tanks, Hawks set a transcontinental speed record.

Surmounting all the predicted obstacles, even the Rocky Mountains which German glider pilots had feared would jeopardize the flight, only occasional turbulence was encountered.

Hawks used the media attention that was garnered by his record flights to promote aviation, especially demonstrating that fast courier air service was feasible.

Frank Monroe Hawks, famed publicity flyer, holder of nearly all informal city-to-city speed records in the U.S. and Europe, was not grinning one day last week when attendants at the Worcester, Massachusetts, airport pulled him from beneath his crashed Travel Air "Mystery Plane" Texaco 13.

After attempting to take off from a short dirt road which cut diagonally across the airport, he headed his low-wing monoplane down the field, less than 700 ft. in length.

This sleek, all-metal, high-speed mail and cargo aircraft was powered by a 785 hp (585 kW), 14-cylinder Wright Whirlwind twin-row, air-cooled radial engine and was first called "Texaco 11".

[24][25] After setting a bevy of new intercity marks, Hawks resigned from Texaco in 1935, but remained active as an aviation consultant and a test and demonstration pilot.

Taking off on May 3, 1935, with Gage H. Irving, Northrop's chief test pilot in the gunner's seat, Hawks broke 10 intercity speed records on the way to Los Angeles, with the resultant publicity ultimately responsible for orders of 51 Gamma 2E attack aircraft.

In 1936, Hawks approached Howell W. "Pete" Miller, chief engineer for the Granville Brothers and their famous Gee Bee racers, to create a racing aircraft to his own design.

After its first flight on October 18, 1936, Hawks flew "Time Flies" on April 13, 1937, from Hartford, Connecticut to Miami, Florida, 4 hours and 55 minutes later.

More than any other contemporary aviation figure, with the possible exception of Alexander P. de Seversky, Hawks exploited his image as an "ace" pilot with countless promotional ventures.

Hawks was also active in many causes; he flew noted humorist Will Rogers in a fund-raising campaign for the Red Cross to assist Oklahoma drought victims in 1931.

Hawks announced his retirement from air racing in 1937 and joined the Gwinn Aircar Company as vice president in charge of sales.

[30] Time magazine reported on September 5, 1938: Last week, Frank Hawks shuttled to East Aurora, N. Y. to show off his polliwog to a prospect, Sportsman J.

The Frank M. Hawks Memorial Award bestowed from the American Legion Air Service Post 501 of New York City recognized significant achievement in aviation.