Harry Atwood Explained

Harry N. Atwood
Birth Date:15 November 1883
Birth Place:Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Death Place:Murphy, North Carolina, U.S.
Resting Place:Hanging Dog Baptist Church Cemetery, Murphy, North Carolina
Education:Wright Flying School
Spouse:
    Children:7

    Harry Nelson Atwood (November 15, 1883 – July 14, 1967) was an American engineer and inventor known for pioneering work in the early days of aviation, including setting long-distance flying records and delivering the first delivery of air mail in New England.

    Early life

    Atwood was born on November 15, 1883, in Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts.

    He trained at the Wright Flying School at Huffman Prairie, near Dayton, Ohio, with fellow students Thomas D. Milling, Calbraith Perry Rodgers and Henry H. Arnold. Within three months of his first lesson he flew a record-breaking 576miles from Boston to Washington, D.C., and on July 14, 1911, landed on the White House lawn.[1] [2] A prize of $10,000 was offered to Atwood to fly between Chicago and Milwaukee on August 10.[3] Between August 14, 1911, and August 25, 1911, he flew 1256miles from St. Louis to New York City, making 11 stops and spending 28 hours 31 minutes in the air.[4] [5] Atwood funded his flying activities with the sale of two different electric meter designs to General Electric.

    Aviation career

    Straight out of flight school in May 1911, Atwood became the chief flight instructor for William Starling Burgess whose Burgess Company built a variety of airplanes, including licensed Wright aircraft between 1911 and 1913. In 1912, Atwood signed with the General Aviation Corporation for three years. The company purchased Franklin Park race track in Saugus, Massachusetts, and converted it into an airfield, which they named after Atwood.[6] Atwood served as the chief instructor of the company's flight instruction school there from the time it opened until he quit on June 10, 1912, because he could make more money in exhibition flights and because he was disenchanted with fellow instructor Arch Freeman.[7] On May 31, 1912, Atwood made the first airmail delivery in New England. He flew about five miles (8 km) from Atwood Park to the Lynn Common in Lynn, Massachusetts where he dropped a sack of mail from the plane. The sack was then retrieved by a Lynn postal employee and driven to the post office.[8]

    Plastic planes

    Harry Atwood was also a pioneer the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other authorities called "The Father of Plastic Planes." He introduced a somewhat revolutionary method of constructing a plane by molding wood veneers treated with cellulose acetate. He began working on his in 1912 when searching for aircraft materials that were cheap and abundant, possessed essential strength-to-weight requirements, and lend themselves to mass production of the larger aircraft assemblies such as complete wings and hole fuselages, as an integral one-piece structure. The monocoque, or single shell, fuselage was one of his great hopes.The general idea of his thinking was a practice used by the ancient Egyptians. Skilled cabinet makers employed plywood and glue which produced a light, strong, and durable wood by taking two thin flat panels of wood, laying the grain of each sheet at right angles to each other, and then sticking them together with a bonding agent. Atwood experimented with wood processed in a similar manner forming the wood into complex shapes using molds and mandrels.The plane he successfully completed and flew in 1912 used this technique, but it failed in one important respect. The strongest albumen glue of the time was used as the bonding agent but did not hold up well in weather and came apart in the rain.Eight years later, Atwood unveiled his second plastic plane. Great improvements had been made in albumen glues such as the waterproof albumen glue made by Henry L. Haskell, but there were still bonding problems. He and his followers of this technique for aircraft manufacturing felt that a plastic or synthetic resin would solve the bonding problems.Others continued Atwood's vision which led to improvements in glue's and molding. The success of the Virginius E Clark's Duramold process and Gene Vidal's Weldwood process, and Timm Aircraft's Aeromold process.[9]

    Personal life

    Atwood was married five times. His first marriage was to Sarah Jenkins of Lynn, Massachusetts. The union resulted in two children: Edgar, who died at the age of 3 days, and Bethany. The couple later divorced. On March 2, 1914, Atwood married Ruth Satterthwaite in a courthouse ceremony in her hometown of Reading, Pennsylvania. The couple had three children, Katrina, Gene, and Ruth. Atwood and his wife remained wed until she died in October 1920 at the age of 27. His third wife, Helen Satterthwaite, was the widow of Ruth's brother. They were married for 90 days before divorcing. His fourth wife, Mary Dalton died shortly after giving birth to their son, Harry, Jr., in 1930. Harry, Jr. was raised by a minister and his wife. His fifth wife was his housekeeper Nellie Pickens. They had one daughter, Nelda Stiles. Atwood died on July 14, 1967, in Murphy, North Carolina, at age 83.[10] [11]

    External links

    Notes and References

    1. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/07/15/104829703.pdf "Taft Greets Atwood after Rainy Flight"
    2. [John Carver Edwards]
    3. Aero & Hydro. August 5, 1911.
    4. News: Atwood Ends Record Air Trip. Lands Here 1,265 Miles from St. Louis, Beating Best Previous Flight by 101 Miles . Harry N. Atwood, the young Boston aviator, landed at Governors Island at 2:38 yesterday afternoon, at the end of the greatest cross-country flight in the history of .... . August 26, 1911 . 2012-10-11 .
    5. Daniel, Clifton, ed., Chronicle of the 20th Century, Mount Kisco, New York: Chronicle Publications, 1987,, p. 153.
    6. Book: Howard Mansfield. Skylark: The Life, Lies, and Inventions of Harry Atwood. 1999. University Press of New England. Lebanon, New Hampshire. 978-0874518917. Howard Mansfield.
    7. Book: Edwards, John Carver. Orville's Aviators: Outstanding Alumni of the Wright Flying School, 1910–1916. 2009. McFarland & Company. Jefferson, North Carolina. 978-0786442270. 63.
    8. News: Atwood as Aerial Mail Man . Boston Evening Transcript . May 31, 1912 . 2011-03-06 .
    9. World Progress: The Standard Quarterly Review, Vol. X, First Quarter, April 1942, No. 1, The Standard Education Society, Chicago, pp. 64–65.
    10. News: Pioneer Pilot Is Dead At 83. July 16, 1967. Ocala Star-Banner. 19 August 2012. Associated Press. The man thought to be the last of the pioneer pilots of the Wright brothers flying machines has died at the age of 83. Harry Nelson Atwood, who held several flight records set in the first part of this century, died Friday in a hospital near Murphy. ....
    11. News: Harry N. Atwood, Early Aviator, 83. First Man to Fly Over New York City, in 1911, Dies. July 15, 1967. The New York Times. 2012-09-20. Associated Press. Harry Nelson Atwood, who set several flying records in the early nineteen-hundreds, died today. He was 83 years old..