CHARLES CARLSON 1885-1913

 

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES via email from Basil Stephanoff, 12-18-07 Dear Mr. Cooper,      I recently came across the web page on Early Aviation and am writng to you about Mr. Carlson which you have listed as dieing in Akron, OH. in 1913. I contacted the Summit County library to see if they had any news accounts of the crash. Today I received several articles from them.       Mr. Charles Carlson was a Swede and came to the U.S. Prior to coming to the Akron area he lived in Milwaukee. On 5 May 1913, Mr. Carlson had flown earlier in the morning and later that morning. Shortly after 9:00 a.m., he crashed at Silver Lake from an estimated altitude of 200 feet. Mr Carlson was an experienced aviator and on this day was flying a Curtiss biplane. He is said to have had a premonition of death prior to Decoration Day. The death certificate lists his age at 28 and not married. The sources of the articles are: Akron Beacon Journal 5 May 1913 Akron Beacon Journal 6 May 1913 Akron Press 6 May 1913 Cuyahoga Falls Reporter 9 May 1913 Sincerely, Basil Stephanoff

 

DEAD BENEATH HIS AEROPLANE Charles Carlson, a Young Aviator of Milwaukee, Crushed Under Engine After Falling 200 Feet. The New York Herald May, 1913 AKRON, Ohio, Monday.---Charles Carlson, aged twenty-four years, of Milwaukee, an aviator at a local aviation field near Akron, was almost instantly killed about 10 o'clock this morning, when he was crushed beneath the engine of his aeroplane after falling from a height of about 100 feet.      Carlson has been employed here about two months and has made some long flights at the park within the past few days. W. B. Lodge, manager of the park, who witnessed the accident, immediately summoned a physician, but before the latter arrived, Carlson had expired. It is the first fatality at the aviation field. Courtesy of Roy Nagl, 12-26-05 TRUE TALES OF THE ANCIENT AVIATORS

 

Aviator Killed at Akron, O Daily Journal and Tribune Knoxville, Tennessee, May 6, 1913 Transcribed by Bob Davis, 1-22-08 Akron, O., May 5. - Charles Carlson, aged twenty-four years, of Milwaukee, an aviator, was killed this morning when he was crushed beneath the engine of his aeroplane after falling two hundred feet. Editor's Note: Compare this newsclipping with the one above from the New York Herald.

 

Editor's Note: If you have any more information on this pioneer aviator, please contact me. E-mail to Ralph Cooper   Back