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The First Aero Company
The common element that pulls the past into focus with the world of today has been the people that have participated in its early care and feeding. The four gentlemen, whose photos are shown above, Frank P. Lahm, Thomas D. Milling, Benjamin D. Foulis and Augustus Post all participated in a number of activities that keep the focus on the unit. Elsewhere on this website I have written about Henry Woodhouse, who played such a singular role in early American aviation and the formation of the First Aero Company.
But these men deserve the recognition from the decendents of the First Aero Company for their vision and bravery. I have excluded from this website several people in the early aviation community, since my research does not show that they played more than a passing relationship with the unit; The Wright Brothers, Glenn Hammond Curtiss, Thomas Scott Baldwin, Samuel Pierpont Langley and Lincoln Beachey, all were and are famous in the early aviation community. Obviously, they knew about the First Aero Company, simply because it was located in New York City, was written about in the local media in New York the capital of innovation and aviation at the time.
Thomas E. Selfridge, who assisted Lieut. Lahm and Mr. Post that fateful April night in 1908, was a great aviator. Lt. Selfridge was called to active duty just a month before coming to Manhattan to teach ballooning to the NY Guard. Two months earlier he was in Hammondsport, NY where he joined Alexander Bell and Glenn Curtis in forming the Aerial Experiment Association. Selfridge held pilot numberSadly, he became the first military casualty of aviation when Orville Wright crashed on the parade ground at Fort Meyer, Arlington, Virginia later in 1908.
It was these men who had the vision, bravery, and skills to become the leaders of this growing industry. Each has become famous in his own right. To each of them and their descendents we say " thank you for your service to our nation." |
