Tailspin Tommy

Tailspin Tommy was an air adventure comic strip about a youthful pilot, "Tailspin" Tommy Tompkins. Originally illustrated by Hal Forrest and initially distributed by John Wheeler's Bell Syndicate and then by United Feature Syndicate, the strip had a 14-year run from 1928 to 1942.

In the wake of Charles Lindbergh's 1927 flight across the Atlantic, the public's fascination with aviation escalated. Tailspin Tommy was the first aviation-based comic strip to appear as a result of this heightened interest, and it also became the longest lasting. The strip's 1928 launch was followed by others, notably Skyroads, Scorchy Smith and Flyin' Jenny.

Scripted by Glenn Chaffin, a newspaper journalist and press agent, Tailspin Tommy began its run in four newspapers on April 30, 1928. By 1931, it was published in more than 250 newspapers across the country. After buying out Chaffin's interest, Forrest took over the scripting in 1933; he wrote and drew the strip solo for the next three years. In 1936, when Forrest took on an assistant, Reynold Brown, the strip was penciled by Brown and inked by Forrest. Tailspin Tommy improved with Brown's contribution, yet he was uncredited and remained the strip's ghost artist.