Front Row, Left to Right: Mac, Earl Southee, Edward Kenneson
From John Morgan's Album
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E-MAIL FROM MIKE O'NEAL Ralph: Attached are four photos of the instructors from the PFC, ca. June 1917. I will send along "complete" bios for these guys in a couple of days. Here's a basic for each though. More complete bios coming in a few days. Hope these don't take up too much room on your page, but please do not feel obligated to use any or all of them in any case. Mike O'Neal - April 24, 1989 |
| LT. PAUL CULVER & OTHERS | ||
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Back Row, Left to Right: Frank Stanton, Paul Culver, Meury Front Row, Left to Right: Mac, Earl Southee, Edward Kenneson From John Morgan's Album |
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Lt. Paul Culver- you already know him. Others in the group photo are
Earl Southee and two mechanics known only as "Mac" and "Meury". They are likely to have been Curtiss employees, but I have
found nothing on either of them as yet. (Photo from John Morgan Album) |
| LT. EDWARD KENNESON | ||
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| Lt. Edward Ralph Kenneson & John Bohmfalk Photo from Seely G. Mudd Archives, Princeton University |
| Lt. Edward Ralph Kenneson Born in New England (Mass I think) and learned to fly at Newport News in 1916. Detailed to Princeton as chief flight instructor in April 1917. Flew with corps until the summer - probably as late as August. Sent overseas and ended as CO of the 9th aero Squadron, a DH-4 outfit. Died in the influenza outbreak in February, 1919. The student on the wing of the Jenny is John Bohmfalk, later a USNAS pilot. |
| FRANK STANTON | ||
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| Frank Stanton Photo from John Morgan Album |
| Frank Stanton- Civilian instructor. Australian native. Wounded at Gallipoli and invalided out of service. Came to US and learned to fly. Was at Princeton at least until June 1919, but may not have been continuosly there. Had a bad accident with Denny Holden (later an ace with 95th Aero Sq.) when they ran into the telegraph lines at the border of the field at Princeton. The plane was completely destroyed - they were unhurt ! Helped establish a flying field right on Daytona Beach, Fla. in 1919 and ran a flying school there for a while. |
| GUSTAV "SLIM" EKSTROM | ||
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| GUSTAV "SLIM" EKSTROM |
| Gustav "Slim" Ekstrom Civilian instructor. Not much else of note on him except that he hooked up with Stanton at Daytona Beach and instructed there for a while. |
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Lt. John Colgan was an Air Service flier detailed to Princeton for a very short time in March or April of 1917. Little is known about his career except that he trained at Newport News and was a friend of Lt. Edward R. Kenneson who was the chief instructor at Princeton. These photos and brief biographical sketches have been generously supplied by Mike O'Neal. Mike has been compiling a complete history of the Princeton group since around 1980. Over the last few years, he has interviewed many of the families and writes that he is glad he waited just a bit longer to start writing the "final" product. If you have more information or photos of any of these pioneer aviators, we would love to hear from you. 
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