RAY BENEDICT & WALTER LEES

	BLERIOT TYPE XI St. Augustine, FL, - 1912
	Walter E. Lees Collection.

Walter wrote: "This is a Bleriot monoplane and our hangar. The mechanic hasn't been down here yet as we haven't an engine for it. I just climbed in to make a picture. I like this better than the Farman, as it is faster."   THE AERO EXHIBITION CO. SCHOOL PROVES TO BE A FRAUD      Meanwhile, Brodie has a Bleriot monoplane sent down from Chicago, but as this was minus the engine, it was used to give ground instruction. We would take turns sitting in the plane, working the controls, and imagining the rest.      The first month, I roomed and boarded in a hotel in St. Augustine. together with a chap by the name of Ray Benedict. But one night, we were talking to the night clerk who made the remark that the manager of the hotel was becoming uneasy, because Mr. Eastman had not been around to pay the hotel bill, as he had promised.      We immediately smelled a rat, and in a day or so, packed up our clothes and moved over to the beach, where we set up light housekeeping in one of Mr. Capo's many bath houses on the beach. We were ribbed plenty by the other fellows, but we had the laugh a week later when Mr. Eastman suddenly turned up missing, after forgetting to pay the hotel bills, and the boys had to dig down in their own pockets for room and board.      Of course, the school was broken up, Brodie had protected himslf in the case of just such a problem like this, packed up the planes and went back to Chicago.The rest of the fellows left town and scattered to the far corners, most of them too fed up on fake flying schools to want to try again.      Benedict's dad wrote that he would advance money for Ray to buy a plane from Benoist in St. Louis. Ray made a verbal deal with me. He would pay my fare to St. Louis and pay my room and board while his plane was being built and he learned to fly. I agreed to help build the plane and then go as mechanic for him on fall exhibition dates. I was to be paid $100 a month and expenses and after the dates were over, he would teach me to fly.   WALTER WORKS FOR TOM BENOIST IN ST. LOUIS      I worked all summer of 1912 in the shop. Tom Benoist paid me about $25 a month for spending money. In the fall, I went on the road with Benedict, but he was a very timid flyer who only flew when conditions were absolutely perfect. As a result, he didn't take in enough money to pay expenses, so I got no salary.      We returned to St. Louis, he went home to Binghamton, NY, and refused to teach me to fly.      I hired out as a mechanic to Benoist for eating money and the chance to learn to fly. I slept in a small tent near the plane on Creve Couer Lake. Several other fellows paid him a tuition and we took turns on the plane. Because there was no instructor, they had tied the throttle down so we couldn't get the plane into the air. However. we could get the plane up on the pontoon and skim the water. Selections from Walter Lee's Journal Editors Note: I had a response from Mr. C.F. Gray of Encino, CA just today, (July 14, 1997). He kindly identified this plane as a Bleriot XI. He added, "If the photo was taken in the US, the Bleriot would most probably be one built by the Queen Manufacturing Co., and would thus be known as a "Queen Bleriot." There were quite a few flying in the US and many owner built versions were in the air, as well. The photo probably dates from between 1910 and 1912." Many thanks for his contribution.

 

SECOND PARTNERSHIP WITH RAY BENEDICT See Above for First Partnership Story      Later in 1912, Benedict came back and induced me to go with him back to St. Augustine where he had a contract with Mr. Capo to fly exhibitions to attract crowds. Ray promised that he would give me flying lessons, so I agreed to go with him as a mechanic. Ray's plane was a Benoist biplane with a Roberts, six cylinder, water cooled, two cycle engine. Unfortunately, for the second time, Ray refused to teach me to fly. Early in 1913, Ray had a letter from his dad saying that he and the chief of police were coming to St. Augustine. I threatened to tell his dad that he wouldn't keep his word with me. As a result, Ray said I could take the plane out alone, taxi on the water, but no flying.      Once away from shore, I opened the throttle, took off, made five or six straight-a-way flights, and came in. Ray was furious. The next day his dad arrived. Ray gave him a cock and bull story about me and induced his dad to fire me.      Ray packed up the plane and left. I stayed at Capo's for two months. Because I had no money, I paid for room and board by driving Nellie, who pulled the horsecar.      While at Capo's, a doctor and his wife took pity on me. They were spending the winter at Capo's beach. They loaned me money to go back to Benoist in St. Louis. There I worked with Tony Jannus and Bill Bleakley

 

Ray Benedict & Walter Lees      Walter Lees was my father-in-law and it was his life story which prompted me to begin the Early Birds of Aviation website back in 1997. It happened that he crossed paths with Ray on several occasions, as detailed in the selections from his journal which you read above. If you want to read his whole story, you can click on: PIONEER PILOT

 

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