-1949 AKA DeLloyd Thompson |
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Edward Finan (left) and DeLloyd Thompson, Instructors at Cicero Field, during the Chicago Air Show
of 1912 held on Chicago's lake front, at Cicero airdrome and Hawthorne Race Track. Collection of Todd McVickar, 6-29-07 |
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Their plane, a 1911 Model B Wright Bi-plane with dual controls, had a hickory frame and was
covered with sail cloth over and under the wings. It was approximately 32 feet in length, 39 feet wide had a 30 horsepower motor,
warped wings, no ailerons and two propellers. The motor had no carburetor. Finan, who now resides at Snug Harbor farm, Bristol, Wis., and Jesse C. Brabazon, 729 Central ave., Benoit, and Irving "Shake" Paradise, 6331 N. Glenwood ave., Chicago, who also were pioneer aviators, have formed the "Pioneers of the Skyways," which was organized for the purpose of "collecting, compiling and disseminating authentic information pertaining to the early pioneers of aviation, to the end that each will be fully credited for their deeds and accomplishments." They are now gathering material for a book about aviation and Cicero Field's contributions to it. Finan supplied The LIFE with the information for the series of articles on Cicero Field. |
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OF THE WASHINGTON AIRPORT  IN MEMORY OF DELLOYD (DUTCH) THOMPSON AN AIRPLANE. HOLDER OF WORLD'S ALTITUDE RECORD FOR MANY YEARS. AWARDED SPEED RECORD FOR AIRPLANES IN 1916. BOMBED NATIONAL CAPITAL IN 1916 TO SHOW NEED FOR AERIAL PREPAREDNESS. INVENTOR OF FAMED AIRPLANE MANEUVER THE UNDERTAKER'S DROP SECOND AVIATOR IN WORLD TO SKY-WRITE WITH AIRPLANE OF THE EARLY BIRDS |
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Officials of the DeLloyd Thompson Memorial Fund in Washington, Pa., have reported that Early Bird
contributions to the fund to date total $98.50 President Lahm stated at the dedication of the DeLloyd Thompson Memorial last summer that the Early Birds would pay for the cost of the Early Bird plaque which is a part of the memorial. The total cost of this plaque reproduced above was $140 Any Early Bird who desires to contribute to the DeLloyd Thompson Memorial Fund to make up this difference is urged to send his contribution to the Fund care of The Reporter, Washington, Pa. courtesy of Steve Remington - CollectAir |
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Friday two hours of pupil training were sandwiched in between gusty weather. Thompson and Drew made half a dozen solos in the wind. It was planned to hold a meet on Saturday and Sunday, but as the two Lillie machines did not arrive on time, the meet was called off. Quite a crowd appeared at the field, however. Sunday afternoon and for their benefit, Lillie, Thompson and Drew went through some pretty maneuvres in gusty weather. Miss Katherine Stinson, who had been taught to fly by Max Lillie, and G Milton Vought, who had been scheduled to appear at the meet, were on the ground very impatient, because of the delayed arrival of the machines they were booked to fly. Vought is now a member of the Lillie organization. He superintends the condition of all the machines and holds the position of the firm's engineer. He also will do some flying at the winter camp in San Antonio. |
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You will find a nice portrait of Thompson on Carroll Gray's Lincoln Beachey website. You can access the site by clicking on: Thompson |
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Knoxville Journal and Tribune, Knoxville, Tennessee: August 7, 1914, Transcribed by Bob Davis - 9-8-03 |
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In the early days of auto racing, Thompson was a crack driver. He then turned to Walter Brookins for instruction on a Wright airplane and soloed at St. Louis, August 6, 1910. A month or so later Brookins made the first flight for Washington, Pa. Thompson continued flying as an instructor at Max Lillie's Chicago school and when he got around to it qualified for the ACA certificate #134, June 2, 1912; and expert #8 the same year. His first participation in contests was at the Chicago meet of Sept. 12-21, 1912, where he, Lillie, Gill, Wiggin, and Fish flew Wrights. In January of 1913 he began automobile-airplane track stunts at Indianapolis with driver Joe Briggs and in April, 1915, he and Oldfield joined forces for a 2-year tour of fair grounds. Time out for other flights, for he flew Chicago-Joliet in one hour on May 10, 1913. San Antonio saw its second over-city flight on January 5, 1913, when Dutch took off from Fort Sam Houston. On March 25, 1914, he made his first loop, at Griffith Park, Los Angeles, in a Day tractor with Gyro 80 engine, shortly after Beachey's first demonstration, Nov. 27, 1913. At Overland Park, Kans., on August 6, 1914, he flew to a new American altitude record, official, of 15,256 feet in his Day-Gyro plane. Thompson followed the Bryant brothers in launching sky-writing. "We were froming letters with our smoke trail * * * either the middle or the latter part of 1914 * * * I wrote 'CAL' at * * * Ascot park * * * in 1914," he testified in the suit of Skywriting Corp. vs. Phill', Pet. Co. In 1916 he covered various cities "bombing" with pyrotechnics at night, to show his trail through the sky in behalf of national defense. At Boston he was called the "Human Comet" who "writes in the sky" in searchlit loops for the benefit of the Mass. Volunteer Air Assn. It was not until May 4, 1916, that he had his first accident as passenger with Lieut. Henry W. Bleakley. In 1917 he made his last exhibition, at Arden Downs, near his home town. Until 1922 he operated a coal mine in western Pennsylvania, then a general construction company, until his health was seriously impaired in an automobile accident in 1945. His last flight, in 1937, was to demostrate the DeLloyd airplane, a 2-place high wing monoplane which he had designed and built with the idea of entering manufacturing. This was not, however, marketed. One son, Robert, a veteran of World War II, survives, with two nephews, DeLloyd Samuel Thompson and John Thompson, in the Navy. His only brother, Clyde, died several years ago. The staff of the Washington, Pa., Reporter, citizens, service clubs and veterans organizations in Wasshington, Pa., are establishing a fund for the erection of a memorial to the famous aviator. Friends of Dutch Thompson are urged to contact Robert H. Campbell, General Chairman, Thompson Memorial Fund, c/o Observer Puclishing co., Washington, Pa. courtesy of Steve Remington - CollectAir |
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From The Early Birds of Aviation CHIRP, January, 1971, Number 77 Back 
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