We all know about Wilbur Wright, but what of
Lieutenant Humphreys?...Born Frederick Erastus Humphreys, October 1883
in Summit , New Jersey Pennsylvania Military
College and then West
Point from which he graduated in1906.
Humphreys volunteered for assignment to the Aeronautical
Division, U.S. Signal Corps and was chosen by the Wright brothers to participate. On October 26, 1909, after three hours of instruction by Wilbur
Wright, he became the first Army aviator to solo in a heavier-than-air craft,
and thus the first pilot of what was to eventually become the United States Air
Force.
Lieutenant Humphreys was inducted into the First Flight Society's shrine in 2009.
https://www.firstflight.org/frederick-e-humphreys/
https://www.firstflight.org/frederick-e-humphreys/
