1911 Chicago International Aviation Meet
Appearance
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e7/1911_International_Aviation_Meet_Postcard_%28Front%29.png/250px-1911_International_Aviation_Meet_Postcard_%28Front%29.png)
The 1911 Chicago International Aviation Meet (August 12 to August 20, 1911) was major aviation show held at Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois, United States in August 1911.[1][2]
Organized by Cyrus McCormick Jr., thirty-two aviators attended, including Lincoln Beachey, Eugene Burton Ely, Thomas Sopwith, Glenn Curtiss, Thomas Scott Baldwin, René Simon, Earle Ovington, Harry Atwood, Claude Grahame-White, and Cal Rodgers.[3]
Lincoln Beachey set a world altitude record of 11,642 feet at the meet.[4]
William R. Badger and St. Croix Johnstone[5] both died in aviation accidents at the meet.[6] The wings on Badger's biplane collapsed when he tried to pull out of dive too late, and Johnstone crashed into Lake Michigan after his engine failed.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Souter, Gerry (28 June 2010) Guts and Glory: The Last Great Aerial Tournament, Chicago History Journal, Retrieved December 2, 2015
- ^ The Chicago daily news almanac and year book for 1912, 362–63 (1911)
- ^ Marrero, Frank (2017). Lincoln Beachey: The Man Who Owned the Sky. Marin County, California: Tripod Press. pp. 74–87. ISBN 9780967326535.
- ^ Lynch, Christopher. Chicago's Midway Airport: the first seventy-five years (2002) (ISBN 978-1-893121-18-8)
- ^ St. Croix Johnstone; EarlyAviators.com Retrieved October 9, 2017
- ^ "W.R. Badger Crushed by His Engine and St. Croix Johnstone Drowned at Chicago". The New York Times. August 16, 1911. Retrieved 2010-11-07.
Two airmen were killed here on this, the fourth day of the big aviation meet at Grant Park, after three days without a serious accident. The victims were William R. Badger, son of a wealthy Pittsburgh family, and St. Croix Johnstone of Chicago, both young men, and the double tragedy took place in the presence of 500,000 spectators.