MISS TODD'S AEROPLANE

Miss [E.L.] Todd in her aeroplane, Sept 23, 1909 Library of Congress Collection

 

Todd in her plane with Didier Masson Collection of Dean Unger

 

WITH THE MAN BIRDS by A. R. Parkhurst, Jr., Daily Journal and Tribune, Knoxville, Tennessee: July 10, 1910, Transcribed by Bob Davis - 9-25-03       "The aeroplane has taken such a firm hold on the people of this country that many wealthy men and women are going for the sport in earnest. Miss Elizabeth L. Todd has entered the lists as a competitor in several long-distance flights and she has her mechanicians at work in her aerodrome at Hempstead Plains on three machines she designed. She has made several flights and has learned to manipulate her planes and her engines in masterly style." "Anthony C. Drexel, son of the millionaire banker, is another to take up the sport and he has made several successful trips aloft. He, too, will join in some of the many races in the air in the near future."       In tracing various events of the aviators of the world in the past year or so it might well to begin with Bleriot and his English Channel flight. This up to that time - July 25, 1909 - was by all odds the most spectacular. This feat was duplicated by Jacques de Lesseps, a grandson of Count Ferdinand de Lesseps, builder of the Suez Canal. De Lesseps, however, came to grief and several times he fell into the channel and but for the assistance of boatmen he would not be living today to boast of his performance." and "Those who have signified their intention of entering the endurance flights are Captain Rolls and Count Jacques de Lesseps. Both are now in Montreal, having crossed the ocean to compete in flights on this side of the Atlantic. Hamilton, M. J. Seymour and Capt.Thomas S. Baldwin, Clifford B. Harmon, Harry S. Harkness and Glenn Curtiss will also be among the flyers at this meet." Bob Davis

MISS E. L. TODD SEES IN TRIAL FLIGHT BIPLANE SHE BUILT HERSELF New York Woman's Years of Effort Are at Last Crowned with Success.      After years of effort, Miss E. Lillian Todd, of No. 131 West Twenty-third street, realized her ambition yesterday, when she had the pleasure of seeing a biplane, the work of her hands and brain, fly across the Garden City aviation field.      After having the machine built numerous times, Miss Todd, about four months ago, announced that she had a biplane which she thought would fly. She then tried to get an engine, but met with repeated defeat, as the engines which she tried were not suitable. Finally a modified Rinek motor was declared satisfactory.      A good sized crowd was on hand to witness the first attempt to fly the biplane. Mr. Didier Masson was the aviator. He ran the machine across the ground, then went to the air for twenty feet and made a turn at the far end, returning to the starting place, where he was enthusiastically received by Miss Todd and the crowd.      The upper planes of the biplane are shaped somewhat like a bird's wings when in flight, while the lower planes are level. The chassis is about five feet high.   This clipping from the New York Herald, Nov 8, 1910 is from the collection of Dean Unger

 

Front View of Plane Collection of Dean Unger

 

E. L. Todd at the Controls Probably Sept., 1909 Library of Congress Collection

 

TELEPHONE 1000 TOMKINSVILLE

BOROUGH HALL NEW BRIGHTON, NEW YORK CITY. Sept. 20-09

Miss E. L. Todd, 131 West 23rd st., New York Dear Madam:           I took up with Corporation Counsel on August 26th,the matter of your porposed aeroplane test on Southfield Boulevard, and under date of Sept. 17th, we are advised by him that such an application should be denied, as the charter does not in its present form contemplate any such use of the public street. The matter will, therefore, have to be taken up in some way through legislative motion. Yours respectfully

Commissioner

Letter Courtesy of Dean Unger

 

SPARE PARTS from HERE, THERE and EVERYWHERE      Another pioneer has moved to California---Miss E. L. Todd, Corona del Mar, Orange County---the first woman in the world, so far as is known, to build a heavier-than-air machine, (1906),the first woman to apply for a license to fly and the organizer of America's first Junior Aero Club, 1908. She was also the first person to induce the State of New York to accept an airplane as a gift, and this state's Signal Corps was the first state troop to be so equipped. Her airplane, built by the Wittemann Brothers, was exhibited in the aero show of 1906 in Madison Square Garden. In 1909 the Richmond Borough Commissioner of Public Works denied her request to make a flying test on Southfield Boulevard as "the charter does not in its present form contemplate any such use of the public street." from CHIRP - AUGUST, 1936- DEARBORN MICH. - NUMBER 20 courtesy of Steve Remington - CollectAir

 

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