My last column exposed the true identity of Floyd Andrew DeHay – the Alaskan daredevil pilot, occasional criminal, and angel of mercy, better known by the name he appropriated, Frank Dorbrandt. He also was a daredevil who once flew into the crater of a volcano with the Glacier Priest, Father Bernard Hubbard.
For years, Dorbrandt lived two different lives. In the first, he was an aviation pioneer, entrepreneur, and concerned citizen. In the second, he purchased furs from Alaska’s Indigenous people, often trading them with needed household items in exchange. However, in addition, he was charged with concealing fur purchases from U.S. Customs.
In 1921, DeHay was sued by a likely relative named E. J. DeHay from Imperial County, California, and made headlines about that time performing stunts in the air for adoring crowds in Arizona and Utah. He used the name Frank Dorbrandt at that time and ever more.
Part two today concerns the messy conclusion to Dorbrandt’s spectacularly adventurous life. He died on May 4, 1935.
In short, it’s hard to imagine how Dorbrandt would have navigated all his personal and business crises had he lived.
In the first place, he faced charges of fur smuggling and avoiding U.S. Customs fees, as well as making false declarations to that agency.
Second, he had been married all of two months to Mrs. Gale Pierce Long of Anchorage. That marriage occurred soon after he and the former Vida Deigh of Fairbanks divorced.
The previous year, he failed to appear at a filiation hearing of then 19-year-old Marjorie H. Seller, who claimed Dorbrandt fathered her daughter Frances Patricia (Pat) Seller.
Seller was the daughter of the celebrated basket weaver and village educator Kathryn Dyakanoff (the former Ekaterina Dyakanoff) Seller and Harry G. Seller, who built and ran a government school in Atka in the Aleutian Islands.
At some point, either just before or after Dorbrandt’s death, Seller claimed the aviator had married her and was thereon known as Marjorie H. Dorbrandt.
However, when Marjorie Seller, then 20, was slightly injured when an automobile struck her while crossing the street in Seattle, she had not yet won the paternity suit and never would. Dorbrandt forfeited his $500 bail by ducking a court appointment in Seattle.
Marjorie’s daughter was raised as Frances Patricia (Pat) Dorbrandt. After her marriage, she became Mrs. Thomas J. Daley.
Marjorie’s brother John Seller, a World War II veteran, died at age 98 on Jan. 28, 2021.
In addition to a messy love life, Dorbrandt’s final flights before his death were made without a pilot credential.
On Aug. 20, 1934, the allegedly intoxicated Dorbrandt landed his tri-motored plane in Anchorage. He had departed from Point Barrow with a grossly overloaded plane, carrying 11 passengers and a dog in a plane equipped for five passengers.
He made a risky turn just before touchdown, spilling passengers who had been seated on four 50-gallon gas tanks. Whereupon, inspector Murray Hall seized his license. Newspaper accounts reported that Dorbrandt went into the city of Anchorage, overindulged, and threatened to shoot Hall if the inspector tried to stop him from taking off in his grounded plane.
At the airport, he mysteriously said, “You’ll never see me again.” His meaning was unclear, but some reporters thought he planned to kill himself.
However, he did return and continued flying.
He was arrested for his alleged smuggling of furs and released on $2,500 bail.
In either late April or early May of 1935, the red-headed pilot severely injured his hand while turning over his plane’s motor.
Weakened, and getting medical help too late, Dorbrandt died of pneumonia at age 42.
I’m not sure I’d call him an Alaska legend despite his many heroic deeds and aviation pioneering, but undoubtedly, he was one of the many one-of-a-kinder characters that populated Alaska before statehood.
Hank Nuwer is a Fairbanks writer and community theater actor. This weekend the University of Alaska Fairbanks puts on the musical “Strike!” Hank plays a heading role as a union buster.
