Lincoln Beachey
Lincoln Beachey (1887-1915) was a pioneer American aviator. He was known as The Man Who Owns the Sky
Aviator
He started his career as a dirigible pilot, learned to pilot planes from Glenn Curtiss. Beachey crashed during each of his first three flights, but, he joined the Curtiss exhibition team on tour in 1910. By the end of 1911, Beachey was aviation's single greatest moneymaker. At the height of his career, Beachey would earn more money in a single day of touring with his airplane than the national average annual income of 1911. It was at this time that he picked up the moniker "The Man Who Owns the Sky."
Stunt flying
On June 27, 1911, he flew over Niagara Falls and under the "Honeymoon Bridge." In Chicago, he raced a train and let his wheels touch the top of the moving train as it passed underneath. His stunt specialty was the "Dip-of-Death," where he would dive straight for the ground at full speed and then pull up at the last second, barely averting a crash. Orville Wright said: "An aeroplane in the hands of Lincoln Beachey is poetry. His mastery is a thing of beauty to watch. He is the most wonderful flyer of all."
Solo career
Beachey left the Curtiss team and toured at exhibition races with the popular automobile racer, Barney Oldfield. Beachey and Oldfield traded wins every other day to keep fans interested. In their first year of exhibiting together, Beachey and Oldfield earned more than $250,000.
Death
Beachey died in an air crash in March of 1915. He was demonstrating a new monoplane at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition when the planes wings sheared off and the plane crashed into San Francisco Bay.
Achievments
- First to fly upside-down
- First American to "loop-the-loop"