Clifford B. Harmon | New England Aviation History

Quincy, MA – September 3, 1910

August 9, 2016

Quincy, Massachusetts – September 3, 1910

On September 3, 1910, aviator Clifford B. Harmon was participating in the Boston-Harvard Aero Meet being held at Atlantic, Massachusetts, a village within the town of Quincy. While taking off in in his biplane, one of the wheels sank in the soft wet dirt some of which accumulated on the landing gear and made the aircraft unsteady. Just after takeoff, while at an altitude of about forty feet, he crashed in a marshy area. The aircraft was wrecked, but Harmon escaped injury.

Source: Arizona Republican, “An Inter-continental Aviation Meet”, September 4, 1910

Filed Under: Massachusetts - Civil Tagged With: Clifford B. Harmon, Early massachusetts Plane Crash, Harvard Field Quincy, Quincy Massachusetts History

Inter-continental Aviation Meet – 1910

August 9, 2016

Inter-continental Aviation Meet – September 3, 1910

The following newspaper article, dated September 3, 1910, appeared in the Arizona Republican (Phoenix, Arizona). Atlantic, Massachusetts, is a village in the town of Quincy, Massachusetts, near Boston. Apparently there was at least once crash at the meet.

An Inter-Continental Aviation Meet

————

The Initial Performance at Atlantic, Massachusetts

Atlantic, Mass. Sept. 3 – Daring aviators of two continents met at the new Harvard aviation field at Atlantic today on the opening of the Harvard-Boston aero meet which will be continued through the next ten days.

In a three-mile breeze, Wright’s new model biplane, with the front control removed and placed at the rear, was taken out by Ralph Johnstone. Walter Brookins, in the standard Wright machine, followed, and then came Charles F. Willard in a Curtiss biplane. Claude Graham White, in his Farnam biplane, and Clifford B. Harmon also flew. One of the wheels of Harmon’s biplane sank into the soft dirt on the getaway, making the machine unsteady , and from a height of forty feet it fell into a marsh and was wrecked. Harmon escaped injury.

A drizzling rain fell during all of the afternoon, and the crowds were leaving when Graham White came out a second time in his Bleriot for what proved to be a sensational flight. In a three-lap flight, Mr. White did a five and a quarter miles in six minutes, five seconds, the best speed of the day.

Curtiss came out at 6:30 p.m. for some practice flights in his own racing machine closing the day’s events.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Aero Meet Quincy Massachusetts, Charles F. Willard, Claude Graham White, Clifford B. Harmon, Harvard Aviation Field, Harvard Aviation Field History, Harvard-Boston Aero Meet 1910, Inter-continental Aviation Meet 1910, New England Air Show 1910, New England Aviation Meet, New England Aviation Meet 1910, New harvard Aviation Field, Quincy Massachusetts Aviation Meet 1910, Quincy Massachusetts History, Ralph Johnstone, Walter Brookins

First Airplane Trip Across Long Island Sound – 1910

January 26, 2016

First Airplane Trip Across long Island Sound – 1910

August 20, 1910

Clifford B. Harmon of Greenwich, Connecticut, is reportedly the first man to fly across Long Island Sound from Garden City, Long Island, to Greenwich, Connecticut, on August 20, 1910.

In an age when man travels in space aided by computer technology, it might seem trivial to mention something as mundane as an airplane flight across Long Island Sound. Yet such a trip was newsworthy in 1910, for nobody had ever done it before, and the press was eager to report any and all aviation “firsts”. After all, men had only been using airplanes for seven years.

Mr. Harmon was described as a “business man and amateur aviator”, who’d made several previous attempts to fly across the Sound without success.

Prior to beginning the day’s flight, Harmon met Charles K. Hamilton at the Garden City, L.I. aviation field and took him as a passenger on a test flight of his Farnum biplane. After circling the field and finding the plane in good order, he landed and discharged Hamilton before starting his flight across the Sound.

Once aloft, Harmon caught a good tail wind and headed out across Hempstead Bay and Long Island Sound. There he flew over the water, at one point reaching an altitude of 1,000 feet. As he neared the Connecticut shore he dropped to 400 feet and circled the Larchmont Yacht Club where he knew some friends of his were dinning. From there he headed towards the estate of his father-in-law, Commodore E. C. Benedict, where a section of lawn had been mowed and leveled for the occasion, but in the fading dusk he had trouble locating his intended landing spot, and came down instead on a patch of ground about a quarter of a mile away. As he touched down, his plane ran into a section of tall grass which caught the wheels and broke the chassis and some wires connected to the wings. Harmon, however, was unhurt. He’d made the 28 mile trip in just 30 minutes.

Shortly after his landing, Harmon’s wife arrived by automobile, having watched his trip across the sound through a large telescope at her father’s estate.

For successfully completing the trip, Mr. Harmon was awarded the Doubleday, Page Company Cup, said to be worth $2,000.

Source:

Norwich Bulletin, “Aeroplane Trip Over The Sound”, August 22, 1910.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Clifford B. Harmon, First Flight Across Long Island Sound, First Flight Over Long Island Sound, Hitoric Flight in Connecticut