PHILLIPS WARD PAGE 1885-1917

Phillips Ward Page      Aviator Page. He was a test pilot for the Burgess Company of Marblehead MA. He is seated in the Hydro at Marblehead MA harbor circa 1912. Collection of Jerry Blanchard, 11-10-07

 

Phillips Ward Page - 1912      The picture of the Burgess hydroaeroplane on the beach was taken at Seabrezze (later Daytona Beach) FL dated on the revese Mar 20,1912. Page was assigned to Seabreeze during the winter season to give aeroplane rides to the tourists. Collection of Jerry Blanchard, 11-10-07

 

ONLINE RESOURCES      If you search for "Phillips Ward Page", using the Google search engine, (11-11-07), you will find about 19 links.

Phillips Ward Page Scrapbook, 1911-1912      The following very informative excerpt was taken from the Archives, Manuscripts, Photographs Catalog of the Smithsonian Institution Research Information System website. "Phillips Ward Page (1885-1917) was an active early pilot who assisted in the tests and development of some of the early Burgess aircraft, and taught many renowned civilian and military aviators to fly. As the Aviation Editor of the Boston Herald, Page was a passenger on several flight around Boston and the vicinity in the Spring of 1911. Page joined the Wright Flying School at Dayton, Ohio in July of 1911, and obtained his pilot license on 25 October 1911. In November of that year he started carrying passengers and flying exhibitions on week ends, flying around the New York vicinity. He became a full time instructor for the Burgess Company of Marblehead, Massachusetts on Burgess-Wright planes, and for the winter aviation school at Daytona FL. Besides his teaching obligations, Page was a contestant in air meets, made test flights of new military tractors, and took the first motion pictures of Boston from the air. In 1914, Page joined the U.S. Aviation Reserves, and enlisted as a Naval Aviator in April of 1917. He was an instructor at Squantum, Massachusetts Naval Base, before being assigned to duty in France. He drowned in the English Channel in a seaplane accident on 17 December 1917.".       You can access the site by clicking on the title above.

 

FROM MIDSHIPMAN TO REAR-ADMIRAL by REAR-ADMIRAL BRADLEY A. FISKE      If you will click on the link, you will find yourself on page 507 of this online book. If you will scroll a short distance down the page, you will find his account of his encounter with "Mr. W. Starling Burgess and Mr. Phillips Ward Page" when they landed their hydroaerplane near to his ship. When they came aboard, he told them that he would like to take a ride in their hydroaeroplane and then describes his the experience the following day. Written in the first person, it is an extremely fascinating and revealing account of his experience.

 

Phillips Ward Page drowned in the English Channel in a seaplane accident on 17 December 1917.   If you have any information on this pioneer aviator please contact me. E-mail to Ralph Cooper

 

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