Earle Lewis Ovington (December 20, 1879 – July 21, 1936) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

aeronautical engineer, aviator and inventor, and served as a lab assistant to

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...

. Ovington piloted the first official

airmail Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be th ...

flight in the United States in a

Blériot XI The Blériot XI is a French aircraft from the Aviation in the pioneer era, pioneer era of aviation. The first example was used by Louis Blériot to make the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft, on 25 July 1909. ...

on September 23, 1911. He carried a sack of mail from Nassau Boulevard aerodrome,

Garden City, New York Garden City is a village located in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 23,272 at the time of the 2020 census. The Incorporated Village of Garden City is primarily located within the Town of Hempstead ...

, to

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. He circled at 500 feet and tossed the bag over the side of the cockpit and the sack burst on impact, scattering letters and postcards. He delivered 640 letters and 1,280 postcards, including a letter to himself from the

United States Post Office Department The United States Post Office Department (USPOD; also known as the Post Office or U.S. Mail) was the predecessor of the United States Postal Service, established in 1792. From 1872 to 1971, it was officially in the form of a Cabinet of the Un ...

designating him as "Official Air Mail Pilot #1."

Biography

He was born on December 20, 1879, in Chicago, Illinois. He married Adelaide in 1911 and they had two children: Earle Kester Ovington (1912–2006) and Audrey Ovington (1914-2005) He built a house in the Samarkand area of

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

, which included an airstrip. While this airstrip wasn't the ultimate site of the Santa Barbara Municipal Airfield, it did serve in that capacity until Ovington's death. He died on July 21, 1936. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea.

References

External links

Ovington, Mrs. Adelaide Alexander, ''An Aviator's Wife'', Dodd, Mead and company, 1920.
Full text at archive.org. *Campbell, Robert D., ''Reminiscences of a Birdman'', Living History Press, 2009.
Earle Lewis Ovington
at

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picture of Earle Lewis Ovington by photographer James Walter Collinge: last picture in gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ovington, Earle 1879 births 1936 deaths 20th-century American inventors American aerospace engineers Aviators from Illinois United States airmail pilots

Biography

See also

References

External links