We’ve all heard of famous aviation pioneers comparable to Amelia Earhart or The Wright Brothers, but one pioneer you might not have heard of is William Luckey, a pilot within the early twentieth century who won the Recent York Times Aerial Derby.
Not much information is understood about William Luckey’s formative years. He was born in 1863 but apart from that, not much is understood about his education or his family life. Nonetheless, we do know he was not at all times interested by aviation as he had a job as a manufacturer of suitcases and trunks. He decided to turn out to be a pilot in his early 50s after he was diagnosed with rheumatism and decided to learn learn how to fly for his health.
After being diagnosed with rheumatism, he became a student on the Curtiss Flying school, Hammondsport, in Recent York in 1913. In May of that 12 months, William Luckey demonstrated his skills as a pilot as he did some exhibition flying as a member of the Curtiss Flying school. He also did some exhibition flying of his own for the Pennsylvania National Guard, through which he flew two guard officers.
In October 1913, Luckey was an experienced pilot and took part in The Recent York Times race around Manhattan Island often known as the ‘Recent York Times Aerial Derby’. This may prove to be a tough race for Luckey because the 57-mile round trip from Staten Island wasn’t without its incidents.
The course ran from Aeronautical Society’s field at Oakwood Heights from Staten Island to the east of the Harlem River in Recent York, all of the option to the Hudson River after which ending at the place to begin in Staten Island. The Hudson River caused a number of trouble for Luckey because the conditions on the day weren’t good. There have been northerly winds of as much as 28mph which proved tricky for the Curtiss planes. Luckey noticed that whilst on the Hudson River, the plane’s intake pipes were freezing up, but he managed to hold on and win the race. He was able to keep up a top speed of 75mph across the Hudson River and finished in a record time of two hours and 52 minutes.
Because the winner of the race, Luckey was awarded $1,000 dollars.
When the Head of the Curtiss Flying school, Glenn Curtiss, discovered about William Luckey’s win, he was shocked. Luckey was older than other pilots and had not grown up within the aviation industry. He had spent most of his life as a manufacturer of suitcases, not as a pilot. Glenn Curtiss commented that Luckey was one in every of the surprises that aviation is continually springing.
After winning the Recent York Times Aerial Derby, Luckey was becoming an ‘aviation pioneer’ and continued to point out his expertise as a pilot.
Through the summer of 1914, Luckey and his team of pilots on the Curtiss flying school toured North America, including Rochester, Recent York and Ontario in Canada.
In 1915, tragedy struck for Luckey. He suffered a fatal accident on the Sturgeon Falls Fair in Canada on sixth September. Whilst attempting to land the plane, the tail of the aircraft hit a railroad embankment throwing Luckey up within the air and hitting the bottom.
He suffered critical injuries and was rushed to a hospital in Montreal, where he later died of his injuries on the sixth of December 1915.
Luckey’s story is one to behold as if starting at an older age, he became an experienced pilot touring North America, and his passion and skills were to be admired.
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