The Early Birds of Aviation is an organization devoted to the history of early pilots. The organization was started in 1928 and ultimately accepted a membership of 598. Membership was limited to those who piloted a glider, gas balloon

Gas balloon

A gas balloon is any balloon that stays aloft due to being filled with a gas less dense than air or lighter than air . A gas balloon may also be called a Charlière for its inventor, the Frenchman Jacques Charles. Today, familiar gas balloons include large blimps and small rubber party balloons...

, or airplane, prior to December 17, 1916. The cutoff date was set at December 17 to correspond to the first flights of Wilbur and Orville Wright. 1916 was chosen because large numbers of U.S. Americans were trained in 1917 as pilots for World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. Many Early Birds went on to establish careers in public service and the aviation industry.

The original organization dissolved once the last living member had died. This occurred with the death of 99-year-old Early Bird George Debaun Grundy, Jr.

George Debaun Grundy, Jr.

George Debaun Grundy, Jr. was a pioneer aviator and the last living member of the Early Birds of Aviation.-Biography:...

 on May 19, 1998. The current organization is devoted to collecting and publishing biographies on those who met the 1916 deadline. There were pilots who soloed before the 1916 deadline who never applied to the club to be members. Some have been made honorary members.

Members

• Nicholas R. Abberly
• Steadham Acker
• Raynold E. Acre
• Baxter H. Adams
• Walter J. Addems
• William R. Aitken
• Eduardo Aldasoro
• Juan Pablo Aldasoro
• A. Livingston Allan
• Walter E. Allen
• Malcolm G. Allison
• Lawrence Malcolm Allison
  Lawrence Malcolm Allison
  Lawrence Malcolm Allison was a maker of gliders and was a pioneer aviator.-References:...
  
  
• Francis I. Amory
• A. Francis Arcier
• Charles A. Arens
• Robert J. Armor
• Edward Robert Armstrong
  Edward Robert Armstrong
  Edward Robert Armstrong was a Canadian born engineer and inventor who in 1927 proposed a series of "seadrome" floating airport platforms for airplanes to land on and refuel for transatlantic flights...
  
  
• Robert T. Armstrong
• George B. Arnold
• Henry Harley Arnold
• Arthur Aston (aviator)
• Vincent Astor (aviator), possibly William Vincent Astor, but there is no mention of him as an aviator in his biography.
• Bert M. Atkinson
• Harry N. Atwood
• Stuart F. Auer
• Reinhardt N. Ausmus
• William Avery (aviator)
• Verne C. Babcock
• W. Barlett Bacon
• Edgar W. Bagnell
• Frederick Walker Baldwin
• William Ivy Baldwin
• H. Clyde Balsley
• Niel Bangs
• Horatio Barber
  Horatio Barber
  Captain Horatio Claude Barber was an early British aviation pioneer and First World War flight instructor. In 1911 he flew the first cargo flight in Britain, transporting electric light bulbs from Shoreham to Hove...
  
  
• Floyd E. Barlow
• Ralph S. Barnaby
• George E. Barnhart
• Richard B. Barnitz
• Rutledge B. Barry
• Carl Sterling Bates
• Edmond E. Bates
• Mortimer F. Bates
• Carl T. Batts
• Hillery Beachey
• George William Beatty
  George William Beatty
  George William Beatty was a pioneer aviator who set early altitude and distance records, including one record set on the same day that he flew his first solo flight.-Early life and education:...
  
  
• Harvey A. Beilgard
• Frank J. Bell
• Giuseppe M. Bellanca
• Edward A. Bellande
• Patrick Nieson Lynch Bellinger
• Joseph S. Bennett
• Lester Frank Bishop
• Filip A. Bjorklund
• Louis Bleriot
  Louis Blériot
  Louis Charles Joseph Blériot was a French aviator, inventor and engineer. In 1909 he completed the first flight across a large body of water in a heavier-than-air craft, when he crossed the English Channel. For this achievement, he received a prize of £1,000...
  
  
• Joseph A. Blondin
• Pierre de Lagarde Boal
  Pierre de Lagarde Boal
  Pierre de Lagarde Boal was an American diplomat and aviator. Boal served as the United States Ambassador to Nicaragua from 1941 to 1942 and the United States Ambassador to Bolivia from May 1942 to February 5, 1944....
  
  
• Edward R. Boland
• Joseph J. Boland
• Alfred Bolognesi
• Allen F. Bonnalie
• C. R. Borkland
• William Bouldin III
• Overton M. Bounds
• George N. Boyd
• Philip Boyer
• Jesse C. Brabazon
• John Moore-Brabazon, 1st Baron Brabazon of Tara
  John Moore-Brabazon, 1st Baron Brabazon of Tara
  John Theodore Cuthbert Moore-Brabazon, 1st Baron Brabazon of Tara, GBE, MC, PC was an English aviation pioneer and Conservative politician...
  
  
• Eric T. Bradley
• Caleb Smith Bragg
• Fred H. Brauninger
• Homer L. Bredouw
• Louis Charles Breguet
  Louis Charles Breguet
  Louis Charles Breguet was a French aircraft designer and builder, one of the early aviation pioneers.- Biography :...
  
  
• Lewis Hyde Brereton
• George H. Brett
  George Brett (military)
  George Howard Brett was a United States Army Air Forces General during World War II. An Early Bird of Aviation, Brett served as a staff officer in World War I...
  
  
• Bruno Brevonesi
• Georgia Broadwick
• Walter L. Brock
• William S. Brock
  William S. Brock
  William S. Brock, Sr. was an aviation pioneer. With Edward F. Schlee he made the eighth non-stop crossing of the Atlantic Ocean.-Biography:...
  
  
• Walter Richard Brookins
  Walter Richard Brookins
  Walter Richard Brookins was the first pilot trained by the Wright brothers for their exhibition team.-Biography:...
  
  
• John B. Brooks
• Gerald E. Brower
• Harold Haskell Brown
• Harry Bingham Brown
  Harry Bingham Brown
  Harry Bingham Brown , was a pioneer aviator.-References:...
  
  
• Lawrence W. Brown
• Ralph M. Brown (aviator)
• W. Norman Brown (aviator)
• Harry A. Bruno
• John C. Bryan
• Mahlon P. Bryan
• Alys McKey Bryant
• Frank M. Bryant
• Gilbert G. Budwig
• Walter R. Bullock
• Vernon L. Burge
• Vincent Justus Burnelli
• Arthur C. Burns
• Frank H. Burnside
• Paul V. Burwell
• Jeanette Doty Caldwell
• J. Lansing Callan
• Buel H. Canady
• Leon E. Canady
• Joseph Eugene Carberry
• Norbert J. Carolin
• Walter J. Carr
• Philip A. Carroll
• Ralph B. Carter
• Verne Carter
• Joseph L. Cato
• Clyde Cessna of Cessna
  Cessna
  The Cessna Aircraft Company is an airplane manufacturing corporation headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, USA. Their main products are general aviation aircraft. Although they are the most well known for their small, piston-powered aircraft, they also produce business jets. The company is a subsidiary...
  
  
• Alfred N. Chandler
• Charles deForest Chandler
  Charles deForest Chandler
  Colonel Charles deForest Chandler was an American military aviator, and the first head of the Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps that later became the United States Air Force.-External links:**...
  
  
• Carleton G. Chapman
• Arthur R. Christie
• William W. Christmas
• Harry P. Christofferson
• Everitt Vail Church
• George Russell Clark
• Virginius Evans Clark
• Armand Walter Claverie
• W. R. Clinger
• Frank Trenholm Coffyn
  Frank Trenholm Coffyn
  - Biography :He was born in Charleston, South Carolina on October 24, 1878 to George M. Coffyn, a banker.He married Louise D. Adams around 1900 and had the following children: Nancy Lou Coffyn and Kingsland A. Coffyn ....
  
  
• Stewart W. Cogswell
• Clarence B. Coombs
• John D. Cooper
• Harry D. Copland
• Frank T. Courtney
• Parker D. Cramer
• Harvey Crawford
• Harry B. Crewdson
• W. Redmond Cross
• Kent Crowell
• H. Paul Culver
• Alfred Austell Cunningham
• John F. Curran
• John Francis Curry
• Greely S. Curtis
• Glenn H. Curtiss
• L. Luzerne Custer
• John B. Daniell
• Herbert A. Dargue
  Herbert Dargue
  Herbert Arthur "Bert" Dargue was a career officer in the United States Army, reaching the rank of major general in the Army Air Forces. He was a pioneer military aviator and one of the first ten recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross.Dargue entered the United States Military Academy on June...
  
  
• Earl S. Daugherty
• Howard C. Davidson
• Stuart V. Davis
• Walter C. Davis, Sr.
• Frederick Trubee Davison
• Charles H. Day
• Curtiss LaQ. Day
• Antonio S. DeBustamente
• Luis de Florez
  Luis de Florez
  Luis de Florez was a naval aviator and a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy that was actively involved in experimental aerospace development projects for the United States Government. As both an active duty and a retired U.S...
  
  
• Clarence A. DeGiers
• Dana C. DeHart
• Fred Korstad DeKor
• Serigius DeMitkiewicz
• William A. Denehie
• Richard H. Depew, Jr.
• Lionel H. DeRemer
• Jean F. DeVillard
• Fairman R. Dick
• Charles Dickinson (aviator) (Honorary)
• William C. Diehl
• Ralph C. Diggins
• William E. Doherty
• Charles H. Dolan II
• Charles Dollfus
• John Domenjoz
• Burton M. Doolittle
• Henry Dora
• Raymond E. Dowd
• Carl H. Duede
• David E. Dunlap
• James L. Dunsworth
• Francis V. Dupont
• Warren S. Eaton
• Herman A. Ecker
• Samuel B. Eckert
• John P. Edgerly
• Gustav J. Ekstrom
• Frank H. Ellis
  Frank H. Ellis
  Frank H. Ellis was an early Canadian aviator and member of the Early Birds of Aviation. He was born in Nottingham, England in 1896 and immigrated to Calgary, Alberta with his family in 1912. With Tom Blakely, he constructed and flew a biplane designed after a Curtiss model in 1914. He was the...
  
  
• Theodore G. Ellyson
• Albert Elton
• Raffe Emerson
• Albert J. Engel
  Albert J. Engel
  Albert Joseph Engel was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan.Engel was born in New Washington, Ohio. He attended the public schools in Grand Traverse County, Michigan, and the Central YMCA College in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from the law department of Northwestern University,...
  
  
• LeRoy M. Ennis
• Louis G. Erickson
• Frithiof G. Ericson
• Robert Esnault-Pelterie
  Robert Esnault-Pelterie
  Robert Albert Charles Esnault-Pelterie was a pioneering French aircraft designer and spaceflight theorist. He was born in Paris, the son of a textile industrialist...
  
  
• J. Dickinson Este
• Francis T. Evans
  Francis T. Evans
  Francis Thomas Evans, Sr. was a pioneer aviator.-Biography:He was born in Delaware, Ohio on June 3, 1886. He was a United States Marine Corps aviator awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in the European theater of World War I...
  
  
• W. Hendrick Evers
• Henri Fabre
  Henri Fabre
  Henri Fabre was a French aviator and the inventor of Le Canard, the first seaplane in history.Henri Fabre was born into a prominent family of shipowners in the city of Marseilles. He was educated in the Jesuit College of Marseilles, where he undertook advanced studies in sciences. He then studied...
  
  
• Elisha N. Fales
• Charles L. Fay
• Louis A. Fenouillet
• Harry Ferguson
  Harry Ferguson
  Henry George "Harry" Ferguson was an Irish engineer and inventor who is noted for his role in the development of the modern agricultural tractor, for becoming the first Irishman to build and fly his own aeroplane, and for developing the first four-wheel drive Formula One car, the Ferguson P99...
  
  
• Paul L. Ferron
• Farnum T. Fish
• Sheplar W. FitzGerald

• Max C. Fleischmann
• Anthony H. G. Fokker
• Harry H. Ford
• Joseph R. Forkner
• Benjamin Delahauf Foulois
• Heraclio Alfaro Fournier (grandson of the founder of Naipes Heraclio Fournier
  Naipes Heraclio Fournier
  Naipes Heraclio Fournier S.A. is a playing card manufacturer that was founded in 1868 and is based in Vitoria, Spain. Though it has been owned by The United States Playing Card Company since 1986, not only does it continue to maintain separate manufacturing operations, but it also manufactures...
  
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• Harold S. Fowler
• Robert Grant Fowler
• Roy N. Francis
• Joseph Frantz (aviator)
• William T. Fray
• John F. Freund
• Arthur T. Frolich
• Donald Frost
• John Frost (aviator)
• Rutherford Fullerton
• John R. Gammeter
• Harry Gantz
• Paul Edward Garber
• Ben Garrison
• Ivan R. Gates
• George Gay (aviator)
• Louis H. Gertson
• William W. Gibson
• George S. Gillespie
• Edgar Allen Goff, Jr.
• Frank W. Goodale
• Lewis Edward Goodier, Jr.
  Lewis Edward Goodier, Jr.
  Lewis Edward Goodier, Jr. was a pioneer aviator.-Biography:He was born on August 5, 1885 to Lewis Edward Goodier, Sr. and Jane E. Northrop....
  
  
• Donald H. Gordon
• Edgar S. Gorrell
• Harry T. Graham
• Charles H. Grant
• Rudolph R. Grant
• Harry D. Graulich
• George A. Gray
• John F. Gray
• William Greene (aviator)
• David Gregg (aviator)
• Michael Gregor
• George Debaun Grundy, Jr.
  George Debaun Grundy, Jr.
  George Debaun Grundy, Jr. was a pioneer aviator and the last living member of the Early Birds of Aviation.-Biography:...
  
   (Last Surviving Member)
• Emil Gustafson
• Clifton O. Hadley
• Ernest C. Hall
• George Eustace Amyot Hallett
  George Eustace Amyot Hallett
  George Eustace Amyot Hallett was a pioneer aviator. With John Cyril Porte they were to attempt to cross the Atlantic in their Curtiss Model H called America with Hallett as co-pilot.-References:...
  
  
• Garnet R. Halliday
• Thomas Foster Hamilton
• Lee Hammond
• Stedman S. Hanks
• Thomas J. Hanley
• Millard Fillmore Harmon, Jr.
• William Harper, Jr.
  William Harper, Jr.
  William Harper, Jr. was a pioneer aviator and aviation engineer with the Wright brothers.-Biography:In 1912 he built his own airplane to fly out of Roosevelt Field, New York:...
  
  
• Helen Hodge Harris
• Arthur J. Hartman
• Harold E. Hartney
• B. R. J. Hassell
• Charles E. Hathorn
• William E. Haupt
• Beckwith Havens
• Willis Bradley Haviland
  Willis Bradley Haviland
  Commander Willis Bradley Haviland, was a pioneer military pilot in World War I and a Naval Air Station Commanding Officer in World War II...
  
  
• Alan Ramsay Hawley
• Jack W. Heard
• Edward B. Heath
• Andrew H. Heermance
• Leo G. Heffernan
• Howard J. Heindell
• Albert Sigmund Heinrich
• Arthur O. Heinrich
• John C. Henning
• Charles A. Herrman
• Charles E. Hess
• Eugene Heth
• William A. Hetlich, Jr.
• Robert P. Hewitt
• John E. Hickey
• Frederick C. Hild
• Erik Hildes-Heim
• Stanley Hiller
  Stanley Hiller
  -Biography:Stanley Hiller was born November 15, 1924 in San Francisco, California to Stanley Hiller, Sr. and Opal Perkins. The family moved to Berkeley, California in the 1930s....
  
  
• Edward F. Hinkle
• Melvin W. Hodgdon
• Russell Holderman
• Edward H. Holterman
• Max Holtzem
• Frederick A. Hoover
• Orton W. Hoover
• Clarence F. Horton
• Fred Hummel
• Frederick Erastus Humphreys
• Howard Huntington
• Joseph R. Hutchinson
• Leslie L. Irvin
• E. K. Jaquith
• William C. Jenkins
• Shakir S. Jerwan
• Christian Johanssen
• Davenport Johnson
• Edward A. Johnson
• Frank H. Johnson
• James M. Johnson
• Louis Johnson (aviator)
• Robert R. Johnson
• Victor G. Johnson
• Walter E. Johnson
• Archibald B. Johnston
• Byron Quinby Jones
• Ernest L. Jones
• Harry M. Jones
• Assen Jordanoff
  Assen Jordanoff
  Assen "Jerry" Jordanoff was a Bulgarian American inventor, engineer, and aviator...
  
  
• J. William Kabitzke
• John G. Kaminski
• Harold Dewolf Kantner
• Frank Kastory
• Victorin Katchinsky
• Horace P. Keane
• George M. Keightley
• Edward A. Kelly (aviator)
• Ralph B. Kennard
• Frank M. Kennedy
• Walter G. Kilner
• Leo B. Kimball
• Wilbur R. Kimball
  Wilbur Kimball
  Wilbur R. Kimball was an early aviator and pioneer of helicopter design. He was a member of the Aeronautic Society in New York. He was also a member of the Early Birds of Aviation, an organization of aviators who flew before 1916 up to the 1930s.-Biography:He was born on January 28, 1863 in...
  
  
• R. M. Kinderman
• Bertell W. King
• Jerome Kingsbury
• James L. Kinney
• Roy Carrington Kirtland
• Daniel Kiser
• Augustus Roy Knabenshue
  Augustus Roy Knabenshue
  Augustus Roy Knabenshue was an American aeronautical engineer and aviator.-Biography:He was born on July 15, 1875 in Lancaster, Ohio....
  
  
• Roland S. Knowlson
• Alfred Koenig
• Auguste K. Koerbling
• Esten B. Koger
• Edward A. Korn
• James S. Krull
• Carl T. Kuhl
• John K. LaGrone
• Frank Purdy Lahm
• Emil Matthew Laird
  Emil Matthew Laird
  Emil Matthew Laird was an American aircraft builder and pilot. He is credited with putting the first commercial aircraft into production.- Early life :...
  
  
• Dean Lamb
• Albert Bond Lambert
  Albert Bond Lambert
  Albert Bond Lambert was an American golfer who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics and in the 1904 Summer Olympics.He was also a prominent St. Louis aviator and benefactor of aviation.-Early life:...
  
  
• William A. Lamkey
• Jean M. Landrey
• Boyd Latham
• Ruth Law
  Ruth Law
  Ruth Bancroft Law was a pioneer American aviatrix during the 1910s.Law received her pilot's license in November 1912. In 1915 she gave a demonstration of aerobatics at Daytona Beach, Florida, before a large crowd...
  
  
• Frank W. LaVista
• Oliver Colin LeBoutillier
  Oliver Colin LeBoutillier
  Captain Oliver Colin LeBoutillier was a World War I aviator who witnessed the death of Manfred von Richthofen...
  
  
• E. Hamilton Lee
• Robert E. Lee (aviator)
• Walter Edwin Lees
  Walter Edwin Lees
  Walter Edwin Lees was an early American aviator who set a flight endurance record in 1931.-Biography:He was born in 1887 in Janesville, Wisconsin, and attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He made his first solo flight on November 14, 1912, near St. Louis, Missouri...
  
  
• Bruce G. Leighton
• Willy Lenert
• Lawrence Leon
• Lawrence J. Lesh
• Samuel C. Lewis
• Goethe Link
  Goethe Link
  Goethe Link was a noted Indianapolis surgeon who specialized in the treatment of goitre and thyroid problems, developing many innovative surgical techniques for these conditions....
  
  
• Walter J. Lissauer
• Allan H. Lockheed
• Grover C. Loening
• Albin K. Longren
• Flavius E. Loudy
• Israel Ludlow
• Theodore C. Macauley
• Leslie C. MacDill
• Charles S. MacDonald
• Robert F. MacFie
• Kenneth Marr
• James Cairn Mars
• Richard C. Marshall
• Glenn L. Martin
• Harold S. Martin
• James V. Martin
• Didier Masson
  Didier Masson
  Didier Masson was a pioneering French aviator. He was born in Asnières, France. He died and was buried in Mérida, Yucatan, Mexico. Among his adventures was his life as a pioneering barnstormer, being the second flier in history to bomb a surface warship, as well as combat service in the Lafayette...
  
  
• William A. Mattery
• Hiram Percy Maxim
  Hiram Percy Maxim
  Hiram Percy Maxim was an American radio pioneer and inventor, and co-founder of the American Radio Relay League . He originally had the amateur call signs SNY, 1WH, 1ZM, 1AW, and later W1AW, which is now the ARRL Headquarters club station call sign...
  
  
• James C. McBride
• James B. McCalley, Jr.
• John W. McClaskey
• John Alexander Douglas McCurdy
  John Alexander Douglas McCurdy
  John Alexander Douglas McCurdy was a Canadian aviation pioneer and the 19th Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia from 1947 to 1952. -Early years:...
  
  
• Edward O. McDonnell
• William M. McIlvain
• George F. McLaughlin
• Emil Meinecke
• George Meissner
• Russell L. Meredith
• Glenn Messer
• Cord Meyer (aviator), possibly the father of Cord Meyer
  Cord Meyer
  Cord Meyer, Jr. was an American Central Intelligence Agency official.-Early life:Meyer's father, Cord Meyer Sr., was a diplomat and former real estate developer. His grandfather, also called Cord Meyer, was a property developer and a chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee. He was...
  
  
• Charles W. Meyers
• Bernetta Miller
• Lestere Miller
• Lloyd E. Miller
• William C. Miller
• T. DeWitt Milling
• Frank Mills (aviator)
• Robert J. Minshall
• Arthur H. Mix
• Matilde Moisant
  Matilde Moisant
  Matilde E. Moisant was an American pioneer aviator. She was the second woman in the country to get a pilot's license.- Early life :...
  
  
• Robert S. Moore
• Stuart A. Morgan
• Raymond V. Morris
• P. G. B. Morriss
• Herbert A. Munter

• George Dominic Murray
• Edwin Charles Musick
• George F. Myers
• Earl L. Naiden
• C. Edward Nelson
• Nels J. Nelson
• Douglas B. Netherwood
• George Netzow
• John M. H. Nichols
• Russell B. North
• Willy Otto Ober
• Edward Olivier
• Earle Lewis Ovington
• George A. Page, Jr.
• Stanley H. Page
• Joseph Marie Pallissard
• Harry Park
• Evan J. Parker
• Fred F. Parker
• Will D. Parker
• Augustin Parla
• Edwin Charles Parsons
• Charles H. Paterson
• John W. Pattison
• Felix W. Pawlowski
• John F. Petre
• Luba G. Phillips
• Elmo N. Pickerill
• Sydney Pickles
• Percy Pierce
• Samuel S. Pierce
• Augustus Post
• Edwin M. Post, Jr.
• George B. Post (aviator)
• Claude W. Pound
• Clarence O. Prest
• Maurice L. Prevost
• Frederick H. Prime
• Frederick H. Prince, Jr.
• John Daniel Probst, Jr.
• Ira J. Profitt
• George Henry Prudden, Jr.
• Sam A. Purcell
• Ira A. Rader
• DeWitt Clinton Ramsey
  DeWitt Clinton Ramsey
  Admiral DeWitt Clinton Ramsey was a U.S. Navy officer and pioneer Naval aviator who served as an aircraft-carrier commander during World War II, notably at the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway. Post-war assignments including command of the U.S...
  
  
• Alexander Rankin
• Arthur Ray
• Albert C. Read
• Charles Reed (avaitor)
• Andrew Reid
• Marshall E. Reid
• Clearton H. Reynolds
• Harry V. Reynolds
• Harrison C. Richards
• Holden C. Richardson
  Holden C. Richardson
  -Biography:He was born in 1878.Richardson learned to fly from Glenn Curtiss in 1913 and he was designated Naval Aviator No. 13. He was the Navy’s first engineering test pilot and helped develop the first Navy-built seaplane, pontoons and hulls that overcame water suction, and a catapult to launch...
  
  
• Arthur L. Richmond
• Howard Max Rinehart
• Hugh Armstrong Robinson
  Hugh Armstrong Robinson
  Hugh Armstrong Robinson, born May 13, 1881–1963, Neosho, Missouri. Robinson was pioneer in the earliest days of aviation, combining his skills of inventor, pilot, and daredevil. Among other things, he is said to have been the third person to successfully fly an aircraft after the Wright Brothers...
  
  
• Jean Alfred Roche
• Robert L. Rockwell
• Wallace L. Rockwell
• Bernard F. Roehrig
• Roland Rohlfs
  Roland Rohlfs
  Test pilot Roland Rohlfs was a distinguished American aviator.-Background:He was the son of Anna Katharine Green , the famous American crime novelist, and her husband, actor and renowned furniture craftsman, Charles Rohlfs....
  
  
• Domingo Rosillo
• Oliver A. Rosto
• Ralph Royce
  Ralph Royce
  Ralph Royce was a United States Army Air Forces general during World War II. A West Point graduate who learned to fly in 1915–16, he served with the 1st Aero Squadron in the Pancho Villa Expedition and later led it on the Western Front...
  
  
• George F. Russell (aviator)
• Lucille Belmont Rutshaw
• Gustavo Salinas-Camina
• Alberto Salinas-Carranza
• Bert Saunders
• Martin F. Scanlon
• William G. Schauffer
• Frank Schoeber
• Rudolf W. Schroeder
• Edward G. Schultz
• Blanche Stuart Scott
  Blanche Stuart Scott
  Blanche Stuart Scott , also known as Betty Scott, was possibly the first American woman aviator.-Early life:...
  
  
• Lyle H. Scott
• George H. Scragg
• William Edmund Scripps
  William Edmund Scripps
  William Edmund Scripps was a noted newspaper publisher with The Detroit News, pioneer aviator; and one of the original founders of WWJ radio station.-Family:...
  
  
• Howard M. Shafer
• Castle W. Shaffer
• Cleve T. Shaffer
• Walter J. Shaffer
• Robert F. Shank
• Samuel H. Sharp
• B. Russell Shaw
• William H. Sheahan
• A. P. Shirley
• Charles W. Shoemaker
• Joseph Shoemaker
• Igor I. Sikorsky
• Milton H. Simmons
• Oliver G. Simmons
• Robert Simon
  Robert Simon
  Robert Simon may refer to:* Robert E. Simon Realestate and business developer who designed a planned community in Reston, Virginia* Robert F. Simon , American actor...
  
  
• Dorothy Rice Sims
• Cecil R. Sinclair
• Albert D. Smith
• Hilder Florentina Smith
  Hilder Florentina Smith
  Hilder Florentina Youngber Smith was a pioneer aviator. She was one of California's first female pilots and the first woman to fly an airplane from LAX.-Biography:...
  
  
• James Floyd Smith
  James Floyd Smith
  James Floyd Smith or J. Floyd Smith was a test pilot and instructor for Glenn Martin and was a manufacturer of parachutes. He built and flew his own plane in 1912 and invented the manually operated parachute for the Army in 1918...
  
  
• Jay D. Smith
• Lawton V. Smith
• Orval H. Snyder
• Oscar A. Solbrig
• Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith
• Carl Spaatz
  Carl Spaatz
  Carl Andrew "Tooey" Spaatz GBE was an American World War II general and the first Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. He was of German descent.-Early life:...
  
  
• Earl W. Spencer, Jr.
• Percival Hopkins Spencer
• Thomas Eric Springer
• Anthony Stadlman
• William M. Stark
• Arney P. Stenrud
• Thomas E. Steptoe
• John B. Stetson (aviator), possibly a descendent of John B. Stetson
• Robert J. Stewart
• Edward A. Stinson, Jr.
• Katherine Stinson
  Katherine Stinson
  Katherine Stinson was an early female flier. She was the fourth woman in the United States to obtain a pilot's certificate, which she earned on July 24, 1912, at the age of 21 while residing in Pine Bluff, AR...
  
  
• Marjorie Stinson
• Paul R. Stockton
• Arthur Burr Stone
  Arthur Burr Stone
  Arthur Burr Stone also known as A. B. Stone and "Wizard" Stone, was an American aviation pioneer.Stone fell into Lake Michigan from a height of 1,000 feet on 17 August 1911.Stone was test pilot for the Queen Aircraft Company....
  
  
• E. F. Stone
• George E. Stratemayer
• John G. Stratton
• Paul Studenski
• Max F. Stuparhttp://earlyaviators.com/estupar.htm
• Hugo Sunstedt
• Harry B. Suppe
• William Fred Suppe
• Andrew M. Surini
• Adolph G. Sutro
• John Redondo B. Sutton
• Maurice Tabuteau
• Gurdon L. Tarbox
• Lansing K. Tevis
• William Thaw
  William Thaw (aviator)
  Lieutenant Colonel William Thaw II was a World War I flying ace credited with five confirmed aerial victories and two unconfirmed ones. He is believed to be the first American to engage in aerial combat in the war. He was the first to fly up the East River under all four bridges.-Early life:He...
  
  
• Joseph H. Thomas
• William T. Thomas
• DeLloyd Thompson
• Carl H. Thomsen
• Charles Burrell Tibbs
• Sam A. Tickell
• Carter Tiffany
• Otto W. Timm
• Henry E. Toncray
• Joseph R. Torrey
• John H. Towers
  John H. Towers
  John Henry Towers was a United States Navy admiral and pioneer Naval aviator. He made important contributions to the technical and organizational development of Naval Aviation from its very beginnings, eventually serving as Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics...
  
  
• James Clifford Turpin
  James Clifford Turpin
  James Clifford Turpin was a pioneer aviator with the Wright Exhibition Team.-Biography:He was born on May 6, 1886. He attended Purdue University, the first graduate to receive a pilot's license. Turpin joined the Wright Exhibition team in 1910, flying demonstrations across the country. The group...
  
  
• Horace B. Tuttle
• John H. Tweed
• Ralph Hazlett Upson
• G. E. Van Arsdale
• Clifford C. Vandivort
• Stanley I. Vaughn
• Victor Vernon
• J. B. R. Verplanck
• Jack Vilas
• Sydney A. Vincent
• H. Roy Waite
  H. Roy Waite
  "One of the Boston area's earliest aviation pioneers was Roy Waite. He was one of the first aircraft inspectors for the Navy Department". He also taught many early aviators how to fly. A surviving poster tells people to, "TAKE A FLIGHT IN AN AEROPLANE at CLIFTONDALE AVIATION FIELD, Cliftondale...
  
  
• Henry W. Walden
• L.L. Walker, Sr.
• Arthur P. Warner
• Robert A. Warren
• Waldo D. Waterman
• Hugh Watson
• Clifford L. Webster
• Harry J. Webster
• Elling O. Weeks
• Howard F. Wehrle
• Charles F. West
  Charles F. West
  Charles Franklin West was a member of the United States House of Representatives.-Biography:...
  
  
• Ivan P. Wheaton
• Ray Wheeler
• Bernard L. Whelan
• John Taylor Hammond Whitaker
• George Clarke Whiting
• Kenneth Whiting
• Kirby L. Whitsett
• Charles D. Wiggin
• C. Livingston Wiggin
• Paul E. Wilbur
• Horace B. Wild
• Francis A. Wildman
• Charles F. Willard
• William P. Willets
• George W. Williams, Jr.
• Harold B. Willis
• Hugh L. Willoughby
• Fred J. Wiseman
• Charles C. Witmer
• Charles R. Wittemann
  Wittemann brothers
  Adolph Wittemann and Charles Rudolph Wittemann were early aviation pioneers.-Biography:They were the children of Emily Wittemann of Missouri. Their father, who died prior to 1910, was from Germany. Charles and Adolph had a company: C. & A. Wittemann of Staten Island, New York. At Teterboro they...
  
  
• C. Murvin Wood
• Frank W. Wright
• Orville Wright (Honorary)
• Roderick M. Wright
• Wilbur Wright (Honorary)
• James M. Wulpi
• Charles D. Wyman
• Forrest E. Wysong
• George E. Yeager
• David H. Young
• Edward H. Young
• Errol H. Zistel