ALEXANDER RANKIN 1887-1948

The bi-plane Rankin built in 1916. He later donated it to the Army for training pilots. Note: The strain to stop the plane --- it was before brakes. From The Early Birds of Aviation CHIRP, March 1987, Number 88

 

ALEXANDER RANKIN      Alexander Rankin, born March 15, 1887, Frostburg, Md., started in 1906-7 to build a glider to sail off the hilltops, but the family objected and without funds, no glider.      In 1915 he and David Gunter of Frostburg acquired a cracked-up biplane with warping wings and a Hall-Scott 60 h.p. engine. This they rebuilt and the spring of 1916 he managed to fly it at Wright's Crossing, Frostburg. It lasted some three times across the field when an accident to the propeller and the landing gear stopped further flying activities until the Fall and then it broke up in a windstorm in Virginia.      In 1922 he bought a Jenny, overhauled it and barnstormed for two years. This, too, was lost in a storm at Cumberland, Md.      Later he was with the Stinson airplane company and helped build every model produced, finally becoming chief instructor. While with the company in 1925 he and two brothers built a 4-place cabin monoplane and they, too, acquired licenses. from CHIRP, APRIL 1949 - CLEVELAND, OHIO - NUMBER 40 courtesy of Steve Remington - CollectAir

 

Alexander Rankin died in 1948 From The Early Birds of Aviation ROSTER, 1996

 

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