Frank Edward Boland (July 31, 1873 – January 3, 1913), James Paul Boland (August 20, 1882 – December 19, 1967) and Joseph John Boland (May 27, 1879 – September 12, 1964) were early aircraft designers from

Rahway, New Jersey Rahway () is a city (New Jersey), city in southern Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A bedroom community of New York City, it is centrally located in the Rahway River, Rahway Valley region, in the New ...

who started the Boland Airplane and Motor Company.

Biographies

They were the children of James Francis Boland (1834–1913) and Catherine Julia Kavanaugh (1843–1925). They had set records for bicycle racing in 1898. In 1904, Frank and Joseph started a business servicing bicycles, motorcycles, and automobiles in Rahway. The Boland brothers worked with tailless aircraft that were early predecessors of

flying wing A flying wing is a tailless fixed-wing aircraft that has no definite fuselage, with its crew, payload, fuel, and equipment housed inside the main wing structure. A flying wing may have various small protuberances such as pods, nacelles, blis ...

s. They constructed the Boland 1911 Tailless Biplane and its

successor Successor may refer to: * An entity that comes after another (see Succession (disambiguation)) Film and TV * ''The Successor'' (1996 film), a film including Laura Girling * The Successor (2023 film), a French drama film * ''The Successor'' ( ...

a year later. A scale model of their plane is in the Smithsonian. In 1912, Frank Boland became the first person to fly an aircraft in Venezuela. He was killed in on January 23, 1913, during an exhibition flight in

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

. In 1914, the

Aeromarine Plane and Motor Company The Aeromarine Plane and Motor Company was an early American aircraft manufacturer founded by Inglis M. Upperçu which operated from 1914 to 1930. From 1928 to 1930 it was known as the Aeromarine-Klemm Corporation. History The beginnings of the ...

of Avondale, New Jersey, took over the manufacturing rights of all Boland airplanes and engines.

Legacy

E.T. Wooldridge writes: "The Boland brothers were a relatively small, but extraordinary, part of early aviation history in the United States. Frank supplied the enthusiasm, ingenuity, and self-taught flying ability; Joseph provided the mechanical genius to transform ideas into some tangible, workable form; and James had the business sense so often lacking in ventures of that sort." During the 1997-1998 and 1998-1999 contest years, the Boland Brothers team, composed of a great-grand-nephew and great-great-grandnephew of the Boland brothers, competed in the

National Association of Rocketry The National Association of Rocketry (NAR) is a non-profit tax-exempt scientific organization dedicated to consumer safety, youth education, and the advancement of technology in the hobby of sport rocketry in the United States. Founded in 1957, t ...

at the regional and national levels, setting no fewer than two US

model rocket A model rocket is a small rocket designed to reach low altitudes (e.g., for a model) and #Model rocket recovery methods, be recovered by a variety of means. According to the United States National Association of Rocketry, National Associati ...

performance records, and finishing in third place overall for the 1998-1999 season.

In popular culture

Frank Boland's ill-fated flight in Port-of-Spain is referenced in Bruce Geddes' historical novel, Chasing the Black Eagle.

Aircraft

* Boland 1911 Tailless Biplane * Boland 1911 Conventional Biplane * Boland 1912 Tailless Biplane *

Boland 1913 Tailless Flying Boat The Boland 1912 Tailless Biplane was a refinement of the Boland 1911 Tailless Biplane. The major change in the 1912 biplane is the addition of a central nacelle that contained the pilot, passenger and the engine. Design and development The Bolan ...

Boland 1914 Monoplane Flying Boat The Boland 1914 Monoplane Flying Boat was a tailless, pusher flying boat built by the Boland Aeroplane and Motor Company Design and development This aircraft was the only monoplane development from the Boland brothers that used their unusual ' ...

Boland 1914 Biplane Flying Boat Boland may refer to: Places *Bolands or Bolans, a coastal village on Antigua *Boland Lake, Nipissing District, Ontario, Canada *Boland, Iran, in Fars Province, Iran * Boland, County Tyrone, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland *Boland, We ...

Boland 1914 Military Scout Boland may refer to: Places *Bolands or Bolans, a coastal village on Antigua *Boland Lake, Nipissing District, Ontario, Canada *Boland, Iran, in Fars Province, Iran * Boland, County Tyrone, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland *Boland, We ...

Engines

Boland V-8 The Boland V-8 was an aircraft engine that was developed by the Boland Brothers Frank Edward Boland (July 31, 1873 – January 3, 1913), James Paul Boland (August 20, 1882 – December 19, 1967) and Joseph John Boland (May 27, 1879 – Se ...

References