THEODORE C. MACAULEY 1887-1965

EB Meeting, 1958 Pittsburgh, PA EB Chirp

 

NEW MEMBER, 1948      COL. THEODORE C. MACAULAY, AAF, Severna Park, Md., who retired from the Air Transport Command in 1944 after two years of duty in the Africa-Middle East and Pacific theatres, was spurred by Bleriot's cross-channel flight and believing that flight would solve some of Alaska's transport problems, he joined the Curtiss organization in 1912 and became chief instructor and manager of the San Diego and Toronto schools. In 1915 he participated in Curtiss' experimental work on seaplanes and flying boats and was assistant to Curtiss' European representative in London. In May of 1916 he hung up a number of new American and world seaplane records in the Newport News-Baltimore area with Curtiss flying boats. Between Jan. 21-30, 1919, he made the fourth continental flight and the Army's second, and the first round trip across the country from Kicks, Tex., to San Diego, to Miami and back. from CHIRP, JANUARY, 1948 - CLEVELAND, OHIO - NUMBER 37 courtesy of Steve Remington - CollectAir

 

CURTISS CAMP, NORTH BEACH, 1912 Personal Recollections of Waldo Waterman "When Christmas vacation finally arrived, I again hightailed-it for home and North Island, naturally expecting to spend most of my three weeks aaat the Curtiss camp. As usual there were lots of new faces and a new man, Theodore C. Macaulay, was in charge of the camp. I was glad to see that Jake Bailey was back for another session and he told me that he'd see what he could do with Macaulay to line up some work for me.      Aerial acrobatics (aerobatics) were all the rage then, and Lincoln Beachey was the best there ever was in fancy flying. Orville Wright had called him "The greatest aviator of all" in testimony of his superb and hard-won skill. In September 1913, Beachey had just learned that the great French pilot, Adolphe Peqoud, had supposedly been the first to loop an aeroplane. That information almost drove Beachey crazy as he muttered "Why hadn't I thought of that?" Beachey was not to be outdone. He immediately had his biplane modified and strengthened, and performed his first loop over North Island on November 18, 1913, only about a month before my arrival. From that moment on the loop was standard fare in his act and would be ballyhooed far and wide by Bill Pickens, his superagent.      Naturally, every other exhibition flyer wanted to have a looping airplane, and since Beachey had done it first at North Island, Macaulay was determined to have a looper. The ill-fated Kearney had traded in his Curtiss-copy for a Curtiss hydroaeroplane, and Ted Macaulay had acquired the trade-in for his personal use. Jake lined me up working on its conversion. Already several pilots had been killed trying to duplicate Pegoud and Beachey, primarily because their planes weren't structured for looping stresses. It was a failing that Macaulay impressed upon us should never happen with his aeroplane." From WALDO: Pioneer Aviator

 

"New Altitude Record," Knoxville Journal and Tribune, Knoxville, Tennessee: February 26, 1914, Transcribed by Bob Davis - 2-20-07 "San Diego, Cal., Feb. 25. - America's altitude record made by Lieutenant H. B. Post in his recent fatal flight at North Island, was broken today when Theodore MacCauly, aviation instructor, ascended to the height of 12,139 feet. Post's record was 12,1200 feet."

 

ONLINE RESOURCES      If you search for "Theodore. C. Macauley", using the Google search engine, (5-25-08), you will find about 20 links. Perhaps among the most helpful are the following.

 

Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS):      On this page you find a link to the materials on Macauley which are available in the archives. There is a helpful description of the contents as well as directions as to how to obtain them. You can access the page by clicking on the title.      You may want to use the "FIND" function on "Macauley" to locate the entry on the page.

 

Theodore. C. Macauley      This page on the Find A Grave website was suggested by Pete Jones. You will find a photograph of the cemetery in San Diego, CA, and also a brief biography which includes his dates of birth and death. You can access the page by clicking on the title.

 

Theodore. C. Macauley died in 1965 From The Early Birds of Aviation Roster, 1996

 

Highly Recommended Further Reading:   WALDO: Pioneer Aviator A Personal History of American Aviation, 1910-1944 by Waldo Dean Waterman with Jack Carpenter Arsdalen, Bosch & Co.

 

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