Mars aboard dirigible looked on by his wife James Cairn Mars (March 8, 1875 - July 25, 1944), also known Bud Mars and the Curtiss Daredevil, was an

aviation pioneer Aviation pioneers are people directly and indirectly responsible for the creation and advancement of human flight capability, including people who worked to achieve manned flight before the invention of aircraft, as well as others who achieved si ...

. He was the eleventh pilot licensed in the United States. As a balloonist, he was a student of

Thomas Scott Baldwin Thomas Scott Baldwin (June 30, 1854 – May 17, 1923) was a pioneer balloon (aircraft), balloonist and United States Army, U.S. Army major (rank), major during World War I. He was the first American to descend from a balloon by parachute. Early ...

, and as an airplane pilot, of

Glenn Curtiss Glenn Hammond Curtiss (May 21, 1878 – July 23, 1930) was an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early a ...

Biography

Mars was born on March 8, 1875, in

Grand Haven, Michigan Grand Haven is a city within the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Ottawa County, Michigan, Ottawa County. Grand Haven is located on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Grand River (Michigan), Grand River, for which ...

. On December 18, 1910, Mars made the longest plane glide on record when his

carburetor A carburetor (also spelled carburettor or carburetter) is a device used by a gasoline internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the Ventu ...

froze at during an aviation meet in

Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

. His usual stunt glides were from . "For the first time ... the band did not play on the descent of a birdman." He glided in a half-mile spiral to land safely.

also performed. On December 31, 1910, Mars made the first airplane flight in Hawaii on a Curtiss B18 biplane. He was credited in 1911 with being the first pilot to bring aviation to the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

, although flights had been made in both Japan and Vietnam in late 1910. Mars was the first to fly in both the Philippines and Korea. While in Japan, he took

Hirohito , Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...

, future

Emperor of Japan The emperor of Japan is the hereditary monarch and head of state of Japan. The emperor is defined by the Constitution of Japan as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, his position deriving from "the will of ...

, on his first airplane fligh

Mars died on July 25, 1944, in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

References

External links

findagrave.compainting of Mars first aeroplane flight in Hawaii
American aviation pioneers 1875 births 1944 deaths People from Grand Haven, Michigan Members of the Early Birds of Aviation {{aviation-bio-stub