Reginald Denny

Part I: from The Internet Movie Database Ltd and his surviving children

Part II: My own additions from an aeromodeller and aero engineer perspective

Real name

Reginald Leigh Dugmore

Date of birth (location)

20 November, Richmond, Surrey, England, UK

Date of death (details)

16 June, 1967, Great Britain. (heart failure)

Spouse

'Isobel Steiffel'	(1928 - 1996), children: Reginald, Joan
Irene Haisman	(1913 - 1927) (divorced), child: Barbara

Trivia

Founder of Radioplane, maker of military target drones.

Owned hobby shop on Hollywood Blvd. specializing in RC model planes.

Notable TV guest appearances

"Your Show Time" (1949) in "Invisible Wound, The" (episode # 1.6) 2/25/1949

My Bio Additions

The data above is from the IMD Ltd and family members. In addition, the following observations are my own and help extend the bio in the direction of his aeronautical interests.

Denny was an RFC Flier in World War I. This background seems to have given him a lifelong interest in aviation and a keen sense of what was interesting and practical. His initial efforts in the model airplane business are on a related page in this section. For the biography we take him from his hobby shop businesses in Hollywood, his distance records flying model aircraft - the Dennyplane equipped with the Dennymite, of course, to an early interest in radio control.

His success at radio control for the most part escaped the model press and, subsequently, was conveniently forgotten by the AMA in their East-Coast centered crony club, the "Hall of Fame".

He made successful radio models and, by the outset of World War II had realized from his wartime aviation experiences the great potential a large R/C aircraft would have as a target drone. He formed a company called "Radioplane" to build and perfect these drones. A photo of the drone and some additional information are at the Wright-Patterson Air Museum Site.

The company was a great success. Detailed information regarding this aspect are on the other links in this section. Demonstrations of the drones to representatives of the War Department led to orders, and then larger orders. In some sense, then, he was responsible for the majority of ALL R/C airplanes built in the US up to the late 1940's. He gave up his kit and engine business, but then realized that the large demand for drones and other equipment was a full time job for a large staff and needed significant investment money.

The company prospered, even after WWII was over. While Curtis, Brewster, and others were going bankrupt and closing doors Radioplane kept on. It had been acquired by the Northrop Corporation and ultimately became Northorp Ventura Division, employing many hundreds of engineers and workmen. They made the recovery systems for several air force space projects and for the Apollo project.

Aside from being an RAF aviator veteran of the first World War I, founder of a large aerospace corporation, owner of a model shop, model aircraft engine and kit manufacturer, he managed to appear in television programs, write motion picture scripts that were produced and -- oh yes, appeared in well over 110 films over a 40 year span.