CORD MEYER 1895-1964

CORD MEYER Collection of Rick Bjorklund

 

Early Bird Cord Meyer left, J. Walter Struthers right Governors Island, NY 1916. Collection of Rick Bjorklund

 

TRAINS AT GOVERNORS ISLAND TRAINING CAMP, 1916      In 1916 Filip Bjorklund was an instructor at Governors Island for the "Governors Island Training Camp," organized by Philip A. Carroll. Other Early Bird graduates here were; the Late Charles Reed, Stedman S. Hanks, Cord Meyer and Edwin M. Post. from CHIRP - APRIL, 1947 - PESCO, CLEVELAND, OHIO - NUMBER 35 courtesy of Steve Remington - CollectAir

PHILIP A. CARROLL, HOBEY BAKER & CORD MEYER Collection of Rick Bjorklund

 

CORD MEYER      Cord Meyer, 69 years of age, president of the Cord Meyer Company, 68 William Street, New York, was one of the major real estate developers of the Borough of Queens in the City of New York.      Cord Meyer died unexpectedly at his summer home in North Hampton, N. H., on June 19th, 1964. He lived at 116 East 66th Street, New York City. At the time of his death he was planning the 1964 Early Birds Reunion and Convention at the Wings Club in the Biltmore Hotel, New York.      Cord Meyer learned to fly on a Wright model B plane at George Beatty's (EB) Aviation School in Mineola, Long Island, making his first solo flight on October 2, 1912. F.A.I. Airplane Pilot's Certificate #176 was issued to him. He was born in New York City, the son of Cord and Cornelia Covert Meyer. The family had been established in New York by another Cord Meyer, Cord's father, who fled Germany after the revolution of 1838, opened a grocery store in Brooklyn and eventually became a wealthy wholesale grocer and sugar refiner.      Cord Meyer attended the New York City schools, St. Paul's School in New Hampshire and Yale University, where he was captain of the crew.      Before entering college in the class of '17 though, he had become interested in flying and had soloed from an airfield near Mineola Fair Grounds. At Yale, Mr. Meyer joined a flying club that became the Army's first reserve flying squadron then the United States entered the First World War. Commissioned a Lieutenant in the Aviation Section of the U. S. Army Signal Corps in 1917, Cord Meyer was sent to Issudun, France for pursuit training. He was a member of William Thaw's (EB) 103rd Squadron, formerly the Lafayette Escadrille, at the front until he was disabled in a DeHaviland crackup. He was decorated by both the French and American armies.       After the war he was Commander of American Legion "Air Service Post 501" in New York City and was Director of New York CAP unit during World War II. He also headed a Draft Board in New York.      Cord Meyer was the father of two sets of twins, all boys. All four of his sons became Marine officers.      One of Cord Meyer's sons was named Quentin, after his father's companion in World War I, Quentin Roosevelt. Like his namesake, Quentin Meyer was killed in combat.      In 1918, Cord Meyer was in his only crash, when a plane in which he was a passenger, hit a telegraph wire. Mr. Meyer was severely injured and the Pilot, Blair Thaw, was killed.      Surviving Cord Meyer are his wife and three sons, Cord Meyer, Jr., Thomas Drake Meyer and William Blair Meyer, and nine grandchildren. from The Early Birds of Aviation CHIRP, December, 1964, Number 71

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