CLAUDE BERLIN 1884-1938

CLAUDE A. BERLIN Newsclipping from the Centralia News-Examiner, June 6, 1953 Courtesy of Karen L. Johnson

 

	Biographical Notes	Curtis School North Island	Barnstorming Centralia	Barnstorming Sioux Falls

 

ONLINE RESOURCES      If you search for "Claude Berlin -Jean -Jeanne -Claude's", using the Google search engine, (3-11-04), you will find one possibly significant link.

 

BOEING - a brief history      This page entitled "the beginnings: 1903-1938, Building a Company," offers a brief reference to a Claude Berlin and his contemporary, Herb Munter. I can't be sure it is the same Claude Berlin, but the relationships are persuasive. The relevant paragraphs are as follows:      "By the end of 1917, World War I was under way, and for the first time, American airplanes were going into battle. Boeing knew the Navy needed training airplanes, and Wong had already designed the Model C seaplane. However, the little seaplanes could not fly all the way from Seattle to the Navy base at Pensacola, Florida, where Navy officials were deciding what to buy.      Two Model Cs were taken apart, packed in crates and shipped by train across the country. Boeing factory superintendent Claude Berlin and test pilot Herb Munter reassembled the aircraft and flew them for Navy officials. The seaplanes flew well and the Navy ordered 50 Model Cs — the company’s first production order. By the end of 1918, 337 people were on the Boeing payroll."      You can read the whole story by clicking on the title above.

 

Claude Berlin died 15 November 1938 He is buried in the Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis. Personal communication from Colleen Berlin-Timmons, 9-21-06

 

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