JOSEPH STEVENSON -1912 AKA Joe Stevenson

Joseph Stevenson George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress)

 

Stevenson's Biplane Collection of Jerry Blanchard, 3-19-08

 

ONLINE RESOURCES      If you search for "Joseph Stevenson" +aviation, using the Google search engine, (3-21-08), you will find about 151 links, many of which are relevant. Among the most helpful are the following.

 

Birmingham Aviation: From Fairgrounds Air Shows to the Southern Museum of Flight Alabama Review, Jan 2004 by Dodd, Don      This article offers a very interesting and comprehensive resumé of aviation including the following mention of Joe Stevenson: "Thousands of fairgrounds spectators witnessed a 1912 crash. Joseph Stevenson of New York City got off the ground in his "Stevenson Biplane" (assembled for the flight the day before), stayed aloft for about two minutes, rising to a height of thirty to forty feet, then "could not elevate his flight." The airplane turned to the left and then the right before shooting to the ground, motor first. A spectator compared the flight and fall to a spent arrow that goes rapidly upward until it loses its strength and falls to the ground. Stevenson tried unsuccessfully to jump from his self-designed and self-built aircraft. He was pulled unconscious from beneath the plane and, wife by his side, transported by ambulance to the Robinson Infirmary with a fractured skull, a broken rib, and a punctured right lung. He died the next morning."      If time permits, I suggest that you click on the title above and enjoy the entire article.

 

Flier Falls at Garden City      This article, from the archives of the New York Times of July 20, 1910, offers a very comprehensive and detailed report of the crash of Joe Stevenson which wrecked his aeroplane but from which he recovered. It was two years later that he suffered a fatal crash. You can read the entire article by clicking on the title.

 

RECOMMENDED READING

American Air Mail Catalogue, Volume One, Sixth Edition Product Details: Publisher: American Air Mail Society Hardbound: 517 pages List Price: $35.00      Roy Nagl has provided me with this extract about Joseph Stevenson which came from volume one, of the Fifth Edition.        "1912, October 7, Birmingham, Alabama. State Fair Grounds Aviation Meet. Tragedy marred the transfer of mail on this date during the aviation meet held in connection with the State Fair. Pilot Joseph Stevenson was killed shortly after taking off with the mail when he lost control of the machine and it crashed. Route No. 624,001."        The Fifth Edition of the catalog is sold out, according to the American Air Mail Society web site, but it describes volume one of the Sixth Edition, of this catalog, as:      "Volume One consists of 517 pages of listings of: U.S. Pioneer Covers - 1910-1916, U.S. Governmental Flight Covers, U.S. Air Express Covers, Crash Covers, Airport Dedication Covers & Mexico First Flight Covers - 1917-1939 Hardbound - $35.00"      You can order the book from the American Air Mail Society website by clicking on: AAMS      Once on the homepage you can click on "Publications" to find a description of the book and to order it.

 

Joe Stevenson died in a crash in 1912

 

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