JFK+50: Volume 5, No. 1740
TEDDY ROOSEVELT BECAME FIRST PRESIDENT TO FLY 105 YEARS AGO
Kinloch, Missouri (JFK+50) A century and five years ago, October 11, 1910, Theodore Roosevelt became the first man to serve in the office as President of the United States to fly in an airplane.
The former president was campaigning for Republican candidates in Missouri when he made an appearance at a Wright Exhibition held at an airfield here in Kinloch, near St. Louis.
Pilot Arch Hoxsey* invited TR to take the seat beside him aboard his biplane and the former president accepted. The pilot made a pass 100 yards above the grandstand as Roosevelt "leaned forward....and waved his hands."
Hexsey proceeded to make three steep dives with a sharp pull-up at the end of each dive. Safely back on the ground, TR said..."It was great! First class! It was the finest experience I have ever had."
*Archibald Hoxsey (1884-1910) was born in Staunton, IL and shortly after taking former President Theodore Roosevelt for a flight in his bi-plane, set the flight altitude record of 11,474 feet. Tragically on December 26, 1920, AH died in an airplane crash in Los Angles while attempting to set a new altitude record.
SOURCES
"Teddy Roosevelt Goes Flying," Air & Space, www.airspace.mag.com/
"TR Takes to the Skies, First President in Flight," by Julie Hill, Archives, October 11, 2011, www.archives.com/
The former president was campaigning for Republican candidates in Missouri when he made an appearance at a Wright Exhibition held at an airfield here in Kinloch, near St. Louis.
Pilot Arch Hoxsey* invited TR to take the seat beside him aboard his biplane and the former president accepted. The pilot made a pass 100 yards above the grandstand as Roosevelt "leaned forward....and waved his hands."
Hexsey proceeded to make three steep dives with a sharp pull-up at the end of each dive. Safely back on the ground, TR said..."It was great! First class! It was the finest experience I have ever had."
*Archibald Hoxsey (1884-1910) was born in Staunton, IL and shortly after taking former President Theodore Roosevelt for a flight in his bi-plane, set the flight altitude record of 11,474 feet. Tragically on December 26, 1920, AH died in an airplane crash in Los Angles while attempting to set a new altitude record.
SOURCES
"Teddy Roosevelt Goes Flying," Air & Space, www.airspace.mag.com/
"TR Takes to the Skies, First President in Flight," by Julie Hill, Archives, October 11, 2011, www.archives.com/
Teddy Roosevelt & Arch Hoxsey
Aviation Field, Kinloch, MO.
October 11, 1910
NPS Photo
www.nps.gov
