Lincoln Beachey was born and raised in San Francisco, California in 1887. The Wright Brothers' first flight in 1903 fascinated him, and Beachey purchased his first powered aircraft two years later when he was age 18.
Airplanes were such a novelty at the time that most people had never seen one, let alone flown one.
Beachey signed on as an apprentice to Glenn Curtiss, a rival to the Wright Brothers, and helped build his brand of airplanes.
Beachey’s quick mastery of the flying machines was incredibly unique.
Within a few years, Lincoln Beachey became a household name in the US. At exhibitions he was billed as the Man Who Owns the Sky.
Prior to World War I, the earliest planes had no cockpits, just wooden chairs and steering wheels situated in the front with no fuselage at all. The entire engine, including propeller, was in the rear behind the pilot.
Also, the biplanes were constructed out of nothing more than lightweight wood, wire, and canvas. Crashes meant severe injury at best or, more often, death.
Although Beachey was a fan of the Wright Brothers, he instead flew a Curtiss model with ailerons, a feature Wright models lacked.
Beachey flew wearing a suit and tie, a cap but no helmet, goggles, and no parachute.
He quickly became known for his jaw-dropping feats, including making loop-the-loops, figure eights, and more.
He traveled throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe… and was believed to have a mistress in every city he visited. But the scandals fazed him even less than his death-defying feats.
In 1911, Beachey set a new world altitude record of nearly 11,500 feet.
He was the first pilot to fly under the Honeymoon Bridge at Niagara Falls, swooping low through the mist at the base of the falls.
One of his classic flying routines involved having someone drop a handkerchief on an exhibition racetrack, soaring toward it, dipping the plane to the perfect location an inch off the ground, and scooping up the handkerchief with the tip of a wing.
His signature stunt was the spiral of death. He flew straight up into the sky to an altitude of 3,000 feet. Then he cut the engine and let the plane spiral toward earth. With split second timing, he then started the engine and pulled the aircraft parallel to the ground to narrowly avoid crashing. Then he glided to a safe landing.
Many pilots died trying to imitate that feat, and the fatalities weighed so heavily on Beachey that he resigned from flying. But his retirement didn't last long.
In 1915, Beachey made an appearance at an international expo in San Francisco. Thousands of spectators watched him sail over the bay. But he miscalculated a turn. The wings of his plane snapped, and he crashed into the water where he drowned. Rescuers were unable to revive him.
Beachey was so popular that Carl Sandburg wrote a poem about him. Also, children created a jump-rope rhyme about the flyer: Lincoln Beachey thought it was a dream /To go up to Heaven in a flying machine. /The machine broke down and down he fell. /Instead of going to Heaven he went to…
Today, Lincoln Beachey’s daredevil exploits are mostly forgotten. But his groundbreaking aerobatic stunt flying made him an international celebrity, and few fliers could match his feats.
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