Farnum Fish

Farnum Thayer Fish (5 October 1896 – 30 July 1978) was an early American airplane pilot known as the "Boy Aviator". He was, at the age of 15, the "youngest licensed aviator in the world".

Biography

He was born in Los Angeles, California on October 5, 1896 to a wealthy physician. Fish enrolled in the Wright Flying School near Dayton, Ohio in 1911 at the age of 15. He stated in a 1971 newspaper article that he received four hours of lessons from Orville Wright.

On January 12, 1912, the Aero Club of America issued him Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Airplane Pilot's Certificate #85.

Fish immediately bought a Wright Model B biplane and had it shipped to California, where he flew it in an air meet at Dominguez Field in Los Angeles which ran from January 20 to 26, 1912. On January 21, he had a close call when "he plunged earthward from a height of 1000 feet [300 m], his biplane righting itself when less than 200 feet [61 m] from the ground". "The young flier ... stated that his machine dropped through a 'hole' in the air, and that he managed by desperate clinging to keep his seat until he encountered another current that bore him up."