On 17 September 1908, U. S. Army Lieutenant THOMAS E. SELFRIDGE became the first person to die in an airplane crash. A graduate of West Point in 1903, he was 31st in a class of 96; Douglas MacArthur was first. In 1907 he was assigned to the US Army Signal Corps at Fort Myer, Virginia, where he was one of three pilots trained to fly the Army Dirigible Number One. On 19 May 1908, SELFRIDGE became the first U.S. military officer to pilot an aircraft, flying 100 feet in an experimental airplane known as the White Wing. In September 1908, the US Army Signal Corps scheduled a series of trials to select its first aircraft, and naturally SELFRIDGE was appointed to take part in that mission. When Orville Wright came to Fort Myer to showcase his Wright Flyer, SELFRIDGE arranged to be his passenger. On that fatal day the aircraft, with the two men on board, circled Fort Myer 4 times at an altitude of about 150 feet (45 m). But on the 5th circuit, the right propellor broke and the airplane nose-dived into the ground. SELFRIDGE was killed, and Orville Wright suffered severe injuries, including a broken left thigh, several broken ribs and a damaged hip, and was hospitalized for seven weeks. SELFRIDGE was buried at the cemetery adjacent to Fort Myer - Arlington National Cemetery. Despite the accident, the Signal Corps awarded the contract for the first military aircraft to Wright.
Posted on: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 10:43:17 +0000