CECIL PEOLI -1915

Cecil Peoli Photo Courtesy of Dale Archibald

 

CECIL PEOLI TWIN PUSHER Information submitted by David Dodge by email. 2-16-01 "Percy Pierce built a series of twin pushers that began, about 1909, to smack the far wall (200' away) at the 66th Street armory in NYC. This was the signal for the New York Aero Club to move outdoors. The move was to Oakwood Heights airport on Staten Island, where Pierce's friend and flying buddy Cecil Peoli met one Captain Baldwin, of airship fame. Baldwin taught Peoli to fly, took him to Europe as an exhibition pilot, and got him killed the following year in a Red Devil biplane. Pierce himself kept both feet on the ground, became model editor of Aeronautics and then general editor of Fly. and lived to the ripe old year of 1962."   There is more in the AMA (Academy of Model Aeronautics), journal about the events in the 66th St. Armory,   What do I know about Peoli. He designed the 24" Cecil Peoli Twin pusher in 1911. It flew 1700' in 1911, which was claimed as the world record for rubber powered models. The Ideal Model Aeroplane and Supply Co. kitted it until after Lindbergh.

 

"SANTA CLAUS" ARRIVING ON FLETCHER'S FIELD      A Baldwin biplane, piloted by A. Peoli, descended on Fletcher's Field on Saturday afternoon, a huge crowd having gathered to witness the landing. The young aviator, who was dressed as "Santa Claus," is here shown landing. from PHOTO_AVIATION Courtesy of Frank Lavigne, 7-9-05 Editor's Notes: The image of this newsclipping was contributed by Frank Lavigne from his collection of vintage plane photos. As received it was very dark, but could be lightened up adequately. There were two handwritten notes visible on the clipping. One appeared to be "Daily Star," possibly the name of the newspaper. The other was less easily deciphered as "???1913." The year, "1913", was very clear, but the other elements of the date, though they appeared to be "9 Dec", don't fit the circumstances as described in the legend.      It will be noticed that the aviator is identified as "A." Peoli, not "C" Peoli. Considering all of the other factors involved, I am inclined to believe it is a typographical error, not another aviator with the same last name.      Using Google to search the net for links to "Fletcher's Field," I was able to find that there is a "Fletcher's Field Park" in Maryland, near Riverdale. Also, it appears that there is a Daily Star newspaper which does cover that region in Maryland. So, perhaps you can help us to identify this picture and the event more completely.

 

ONLINE RESOURCES      If you search for "Cecil Peoli", using the Google search engine, (7-16-05), you will find about 36 links. Most of them refer to his prize-winning Twin Pusher model airplane in 1911, but several do offer some information as to his life and career.

The Baldwin Red Devil Biplane      This page on Carroll Gray's "The Early Birds" website offers a wealth of material on Tom Baldwin's Red Devil, a very famous aeroplane of the era, (1911), which was flown by Cecil, among several other pioneers. It shows several photos of the plane and makes several references to Cecil's relationship with Baldwin. You can access the site by clicking on the title above.

 

CECIL PEOLI on the AeroFiles website      You will find a brief reference to Cecil on this site. You can access it by clicking on the title above. You may want to use the "FIND" function on Cecil Peoli to locate the entry on the page.

 

 

 

"Twenty-five Years Ago Today"      April 12, 1915. CECIL PEOLI killed at College Park in demonstrating a new machine of his own design. A company had just been formed to market the machine and he expected to fly it back to New York from Washington. from CHIRP - JULY 1940- DEARBORN MICH. - NUMBER 27 courtesy of Steve Remington - CollectAir

 

Editor's Note: If you have any more information on this Early Bird, please contact me. E-mail to Ralph Cooper   Back