Lincoln Beachey

Lincoln Beachey. March 3, 1887 - March 14, 1915. , Lincoln Beachey was born in San Francisco and called the city “home” all his short life. His aerial adventures started at age 18, flying dirigibles. Beachey made the world’s first air mail delivery during an air show in Portland, Oregon, in 1905. At 23 he apprenticed himself to Glenn Curtiss, first as a mechanic, then a pilot. Beachey flew with the Curtiss team for several years. Everyday that he preformed he earned more than the yearly national average income. Beachey retired from flying in 1913 after being held responsible for the deaths of other aviators when they attempted his maneuvers. His retirement ended when he learned that a Frenchman had looped an airplane. He returned to the air in an fully aerobatic Curtis biplane dubbed “Little Looper.” After a successful 1914 national tour, Beachey returned home to fly in the Panama Pacific Exposition. For this event he and his brother Hillery built a new monoplane, “Le Taube.” Preforming for exposition visitors, Beachey took off from the Marina Green on March 14, 1915. Both wings of “Le Taube” failed, folding to the rear, and Breachey dived into the bay near this spot. The father of aerobatics was gone at age 28.