Ralph Johnstone
| Ralph Greenley Johnstone | |
|---|---|
| File:Ralph Johnstone 1a.jpg | |
| Born | Ralph Greenley Johnstone September 18, 1880 [1] Parsons, Kansas |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Denver, Colorado |
| Cause of death | Aircrash |
Ralph Greenley Johnstone (September 18, 1880 – November 17, 1910) was the first American pilot to die in an airplane crash.[2] He and Archibald Hoxsey were known as the "heavenly twins" for their attempts to break altitude records.
Biography
He was born on September 18, 1880 in Parsons, Kansas.[1]
He started as a vaudeville trick bicycle rider that performed a mid-air forward somersault.[3] He became a Wright exhibition team pilot. On October 27, 1910, the International Aviation Tournament was at the Belmont Park race track in Elmont, New York. The meet offered $3,750 for the highest altitude, another $1,000 for a world record and a $5,000 bonus for exceeding 10,000 feet. Johnstone set a new American flight altitude record of 8,471. feet.[1] During the flight, a gust of wind forced him to fly backwards, and he landed near Artist Lake in Middle Island, New York.
He died on November 17, 1910 in Denver, Colorado in an aircrash.[2]
Legacy
He was the first of the Wright team to die. He was in a crash after he failed to recover from a dive in Denver on November 17, 1910. Surviving Ralph were his wife and two young children -a daughter, Ethel Johnstone (born 1905), and a son, Ralph Ernest Johnstone (born 1904), who became a well-known and talented tattoo artist and circus banner painter. [4] [5] [6]
A New York State Historic Plaque commemorating the landing at Artist Lake can be found at the lake along New York State Route 25 in Middle Island. On the ground Ralph was pals with Hoxsey and rival Curtiss team member Eugene Ely.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The birth date of September 18, 1880 comes from his July 21, 1904 and September 19, 1905 applications for a United States passport. His March 6, 1902 passport application uses September 18, 1881. His tombstone uses September 18, 1879. The Centennial of Flight commission erroneously says: "Born 1886, Kansas City, Missouri".
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Further reading
- New York Times; August 18, 1910; Aeroplane Crashes into an Automobile; Ralph Johnstone Comes to Grief in a Twenty-Mile Wind at Asbury Park. Aviation Field, Asbury Park, New Jersey, August 18, 1910. Wilbur Wright's school of fledgling filers came to grief again this afternoon when they drove another of their teacher's biplanes into the ground, nose on and reduced it to a hopeless mass of kindling wood and canvas.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ralph Johnstone. |
- Ralph Johnstone at Findagrave
- Ralph Johnstone at Early Aviators
- Ralph Johnstone
- Ralph Johnstone at Centennial of Flight
- Ralph Johnstone's son Ralph Ernest Johnstone
Images
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Ralph Johnstone in Denver in 1910.jpg
Johnstone attended by a physician after aircrash in Denver in 1910.
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Plaque commemorating Johnstone's historic flight at Artist Lake in Middle Island, New York.
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles with hCards
- Commons category link is defined as the pagename
- Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States
- Wright brothers
- Vaudeville performers
- Accidental deaths in Colorado
- 1880 births
- 1910 deaths
- People from Parsons, Kansas
- Flight altitude record holders
