Sándor (Alexander) Pfitzner 1880-1910 |
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From the Curtiss Photo Collection In the book: Curtiss, The Hammondsport Era, 1907-1915 by Louis S. Casey |
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Excerpt From THE HUNGARY PAGE Website Engineer: Designed the first American Monoplane for Glenn Curtiss "Became a constructor at the Herring Curtiss Aeroplane Factory. He took off with his originally-designed plane in Hammondsport, on December 20, 1909 and this was the first successful flight of a monoplane in the United States, where only bi-planes had been in use thus far. He tragically committed suicide at the age of 30." please send information to: hipcat@hungary.org. |
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You will find a reference to Alexander by clicking on: Sándor (Alexander) Pfitzner You will want to use the "Find" function on "Pfitzner" |
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by M. E. Sterns, 1976 You will find a brief reference to Alexander on the Town of Tonawanda - Kenmore History website. You will also find many other early fliers mentioned in the article. You can visit the page by clicking on: Sándor (Alexander) Pfitzner and using the "Find" function on "Pfitzner" |
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Pfitzner was a fascinating, mysterious, tragic figure. Most of what I have learned about him is from the articles in the Daily News of Newburyport from 1910 chronicling the Burgess flights. (There is also some information about Greeley Curtis and Augustus Herring, and of course, Burgess.) Bill Deane probably knows more. What I am telling you here is from memory, but when I have time I will try to look up the actual facts and provide them to you. Pfitzner was some sort of aristocrat from Eastern Europe who had worked for an automobile company, I believe Buick, and then got interested in aviation. I believe he bought (or at least flew) the #3 Burgess plane, and was fairly successful at flying it, unlike some of the other aviators, who, except for Herring, were complete amateurs. However, he eventually crashed it, and a few weeks later committed suicide on a boat off of Marblehead, Mass. |
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The Hammondsport Era, 1907-1915 The definitive survey of the flying machines produced by Glenn H. Curtiss, one of America's pioneering aircraft designers and inventor of the flying boat. Louis S. Casey Former Curator of Aircraft National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution |
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"This book accurately documents Curtiss's formative years from the first Aerial Experiment
Associationo glider to the refined flying boats used during World War I. Featuring 160 photographs and 42 three-view scale drawings. It
is an essential part of the record of American aircraft development and will be of value to all aviation buffs, historians, and model
builders." Editor's Note: You will find three pages devoted to Alexander Pfitzner, illustrated with two photographs and plan and profile views of the Pfitzner monoplane, 1910. |
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If you have any more information on this pioneer aviator, please contact me. E-mail to Ralph Cooper Back 
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