Early Birds of Aviation, Inc.

THE EARLY BIRDS
OF AVIATION, Inc.
An organization of pioneers who flew solo before December 17, 1916

"the past is not forgotten -- in fact, the past is not even past."
William Faulkner

"Justin Gruelle's mural contains not only portraits of many aviation pioneers but also their aircraft,
and all are depicted with an eye toward detail and historical accuracy that would be difficult to exceed."
Reproduced from TRACES of Indiana and Midwestern History
Courtesy of Indiana Historical Society
For the complete story, click on Mural

598 ORIGINAL EARLY BIRDS

ABB-BOL	BOL-CLA	CLA-ELL	ELL-HAD	HAL-JOH
JOH-MaC	MaC-PAR	PAT-SHA	SHA-TIM	TON-ZIS

History Of
Early Birds

Chronology Of
Early Birds

1910, Banner Year In History

1912, Highlights
In History

Early Bird
Events

L'Illustrazione
Italiana

Mystery Photos
We Need
Your Help

THE WRIGHT
FLYER
Original
Advertisement

Elbridge Engines
Notes on
80 Pioneers

Army Air Service
Recruitment Posters
WW I

Aeronautic
Society
New York
1908-1909

First Airplanes
Arrive in
Lewis County

National Aviation
Hall Of Fame

The Very Earliest
Early Birds

Early Birds of Aviation
CHIRP
Official Publication

Aviation Events Review
1910 Season

Aviation Deaths
Summary
1910 - 1914

Aviation Deaths
Portraits
To 1912

RECENT ADDITIONS & UPDATES As a convenience for my regular visitors, I have added a page on which they can find all the new pioneer aviators which I have added to the website, as well as all updates which have been made recently. You can access the page by clicking on the title above.

465 U. S. EARLY FLYERS These are pioneer flyers who were not members of the Early Bird organization. Even those who soloed before the cutoff date, December 17, 1916 and were otherwise eligible, were either overlooked as candidates or didn't bother to apply.

526 FOREIGN EARLY FLYERS
Argentinian (20), Australian (5), Austrian (1), Belgian (27), Brazilian (23), British (71), Bulgarian (3), Canadian (13), Cherokee (1), Chilean (2), China (3), Colombia (1), Costa Rica (1), Cuba (3), Czech (1), Danish (2), Dutch (12), Estonia (4), French (121), German (40), Greek (7), Guatemalan (1), Haitian (1), Hungarian (5), Indian (3), Irish (2), Italian (40), Japan (6), Mexican 11), New Zealand (2), Paraguayan (1), Peruvian (3, Polish (2),Portuguese (2), Rhodesian (1), Romanian (29), Russian, (20), Scottish, (7), Serbian, (1), Slovenian, (4), Spanish (8), Swedish (3), Swiss (11), Thai, (3), Trinidad, (1), Turkish, (6), Venezuelan (1), Vietnamese (1)

119 PIONEER FLYERS WHO WERE TRAINED
AT WRIGHT BROTHERS FIELD

PIONEER PILOT      I invite you visit my companion site which features the career of my father-in-law, Walter E. Lees, 1887-1957. You may access it by clicking on the title above.

THE EARLY BIRDS OF AVIATION      I heartily recommend that you visit this other site which features the Early Birds. It was built by Carroll Gray and offers many unique and fascinating stories and photos of the Early Birds and their exploits. It even has two QuickTime film clips of EB Alys McKey Bryant and EB Harry P. Christofferson. You may access it by clicking on the title above.

Editor's Note: Today, 7-14-07, I found that the original link was dead. The one above was recovered from the waybackmachine. org website.

     You should also plan to visit Carroll's comprehensive companion site which is devoted to Pioneer Aviator Lincoln Beachey. You may access it by clicking on:
Lincoln Beachey      Carroll has done a remarkable job on these two sites and I am sure you will enjoy your visit.

This really outstanding website has entries for some 97 pioneer aviators, both the famous and the lesser known of them. Most of them are complete with biographies and photographs. In addition, the site provides recommendations for Further Reading : "Project Gutenburg eTexts"and "Website Bibliographies." I am very impressed with the number of entries and the quality of the illustrated biographies. I can recommend it to your attention without any reservations. To access the site, just click on: Hargrave.

Aviation Pioneers Links

In Loving Memory of My Wife
Jo Cooper
March 7, 1929 - August 26, 2007
For a detailed Biography, click on her name.