Submitted by D.B. Campbell
Dugald Wiley Campbell (the 21st Dugald, 3 January 1894 – 9 August 1982)
D. W. Campbell was an avid outdoor party and BBQ enthusiast. This may come from living most of his adult life in Southern California where his business required what we now call ‘networking’ and the weather enviably favored ‘outside.’ “Mac” (from his heavy Scottish brogue even though born in Massachusetts) started working for the San Diego Chamber of Commerce in 1926 and was the Chamber Manager from 1934 through WW2.
While never a pilot himself, my grandfather was an avid aviation enthusiast probably seeing the future potential from his service as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Like many young men in leadership that survived, most all returned from WW1 with an excited understanding of what American industry could do.
This aviation passion even led him to taking his 18-year old bride (Lois Helen Thompson Campbell 27 March 1909 – 8 June 2000) on a ‘flying’ honeymoon from San Diego to L.A. to San Francisco on a Ford Tri-Motor (AT-5C) airplane in June of 1929.
It was while beginning his work in San Diego that this cryptic bit of family history occurred. Being the aviation guy it was to Mac that a former balloonist, wing walker, and airmail pilot named Charles A. Lindbergh came to see in 1927.
Lindbergh wanted to find the new location for a company called Ryan Aviation which had just moved to its new plant, an old cannery in San Diego. My grandfather helped Lindbergh out and thus started a good friendship.
Lindbergh signed papers with the Ryan Company and practically moved in. Engineer Donald A. Hall designed just what Lindbergh wanted - a flying gasoline tank twenty-eight feet long and with a forty-six foot wing span.
One day a worker accidentally broke off a small piece of the engine's cooling fin. The story goes Mechanic 0. L. Gray said, "We could smooth that out with a file, paint it, and never know the difference." Lindbergh said, "I'll always know." After a pause he added, “We want another engine in there." Someone asked jokingly, "Why so much perfection in this?" Lindbergh’s stated reason, "I'm a poor swimmer."
The rest, as they say, is history. May 20, 1927 was “Lucky Lindy’s” world changing solo trans-Atlantic flight from New York to Paris covering 3,610 miles in 33 1/2 hours.
Months later, when Lindbergh’s cross-country U.S. celebration tour came to San Diego, with the additional craziness of the salute to the birth place of his plane, The Spirit of St. Louis, it was the largest crowd of any in the 48 state tour.
Lindbergh had left San Diego in May, probably known to maybe only fifty people, and had returned in September a world hero. One of those few Lindbergh actually knew was my grandfather, Dugald Wiley ‘Mac’ Campbell.
D. W. Campbell’s BBQ Sauce
(Recipe takes 30 minutes to prepare and makes 1.5 pints)
While cooking, watch the sauce change from a yucky dirty brown to a beautiful rust red color. Oh, and the delicious aroma throughout the house while your simmering.
6 cloves Garlic
1/3 Cup Olive oil
2 Chopped onions
2 Teaspoons Salt
1 Cup Tomato sauce
1 Cup Red vinegar
½ Cup Brown sugar
1 Tablespoon Rosemary
½ Teaspoon Thyme
3 Tablespoon Chopped green pepper
½ Cup Chopped parsley
½ Teaspoon Dried mustard
½ Teaspoon Chili powder
Several dashes Tabasco
Liquid smoke to taste
1. Cook garlic in olive oil in a medium sauce pan until light brown. Set aside to cool slightly. Fish out garlic and hold.
2. When cool enough add tomato sauce to oil.
3. Add vinegar and all other items (including cooked garlic) into a blender and puree. Makes for smoother sauce.
4. Add contents of blender into tomato sauce pan and bring to a boil. Simmer 20 minutes.
Hint: Remember: This sauce will look different since seventy years ago BBQ sauce was thought of more as a marinade and to keep the meat moist while cooking; not like the dipping sauce we think of today.
