FIRST CARGO FLIGHT NOVEMBER 7, 1910

FIRST CARGO FLIGHT Phil Parmelee posing after his historic first cargo flight on November 7, 1910. The 100# cargo of silk (valued at $800) is bundled next to him. Because of the cold weather a photo of him just before the flight shows him with a mask over his face for protection. He made the historic flight of 62 miles in 62 minutes from Dayton to Columbus, exceeding the expectations and as a result only about 1000 people saw him land. However, shortly thereafter the crowd grew to around 4000. Photo and text from Collection of Gary McDowell

 

FIRST CARGO FLIGHT CELEBRATION via email from Valerie McKeachie, 9-21-10 Hi Ralph, I had contacted you years ago. I just wanted to let you know that there will be a Bi-plane reenacting the first cargo flight of silk from Dayton to Columbus on October 2. There will be a press release in Ohio today, then it should feed to other papers. I’m not sure where you’re located, if you’ll see this or not. My husband is a son of Phil Parmelee, who was the son of Florence Parmelee, Phil’s youngest sister, who was born after his death. Florence died when Phil (my father in law) was 16, and his aunt Hazel (Phil’s other sister by Jennie and CW) adopted him and changed his last name to McKeachie. Phil and Helen were both children of C.W and Sadie. Hazel, Bob, and Florence were children of C.W and Jennie. I don’t know anything about Helen. Hazel married Cecil McKeachie, and they had no children, but adopted Florence’s son, Phil. Bob had a son named Mike, who is still living, in Florida. I’ll ask my husband if there are any more children from Bob. Florence married Chester Helms. She already had her son Phil Parmelee, and her and Chester had a daughter named Diane. Valerie McKeachie, PHR

 

PRESS RELEASE via email from Lecia Lamphere, 9-22-10 Hi Everyone, This was the press release day for the anniversary flight of the First Cargo in Flight, which was flown by our Great Uncle Phil Parmelee. They will recreate the flight on October 2, 2010. Wright 'B' Flyer to recreate flight Lecia

 

ONLINE RESOURCES      If you search for "Phil Parmelee" +"First Cargo Flight", using the Google search engine, (9-22-10), you will find about 8 links. Perhaps the most helpful is the following.

 

Aviation groups to re-enact first cargo flight      This page on the AviationDayton.com website tells the story of the first cargo flight and the plans to commemorate it in October. It has two photos, one of the Wright B plane in flight and the other showing Philip McKeachie and Lecia Lamphere. You can access the site by clicking on the link above.

 

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