Talton Higbee Embry (May 17, 1897 – 1946) was an American
aviation
Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot ...
enthusiast who co-founded the company leading to
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Early life and family
Embry was born in
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...
,
Ohio
Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
where he started his education.
He attended
Asheville School
Asheville School is a private, coeducational, university-preparatory boarding school in Asheville, North Carolina founded in 1900. The campus sits on amid the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains and currently enrolls 295 students in grades nine throu ...
in
Asheville
Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous city ...
,
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...
.
While Embry was trying to start a bus company in Cincinnati he met early aviator
John Paul Riddle
John Paul Riddle (May 19, 1901 – April 6, 1989) was an American pilot and aviation pioneer, best known for training Allied air crews in WW2 and co-founding what later became Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU).
Personal life
Born on ...
, who had landed at the local polo field. Riddle offered him a plane ride, and from then on Embry was hooked on aviation. After parting ways with Riddle in 1939, he moved to California in 1941. Five years later, in 1946, Embry died of a heart attack.
[
]
He married Mary Elizabeth Bennett in June 1919.
Career
Two years after meeting, T. Higbee Embry and friend,
John Paul Riddle
John Paul Riddle (May 19, 1901 – April 6, 1989) was an American pilot and aviation pioneer, best known for training Allied air crews in WW2 and co-founding what later became Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU).
Personal life
Born on ...
, formed the Embry-Riddle Company on December 17, 1925 at
Lunken Airport
Cincinnati Municipal Airport – Lunken Field (Cincinnati Municipal Lunken Airport) is a public airport in Cincinnati, Ohio, three miles (5 km) east of Downtown Cincinnati. It is owned by the city of Cincinnati and serves private aircr ...
in
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...
,
Ohio
Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
. The company was financed by Embry and he served as company president, and the two began to sell
Waco Aircraft
Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the ...
. In the spring of 1926, the Embry-Riddle Company opened the Embry-Riddle Flying School.
The Embry-Riddle Company was merged with the
Aviation Corporation
Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot a ...
(AVCO) of
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacen ...
in 1929. AVCO phased out the Embry-Riddle Flying School in the fall of 1930. Shortly after, AVCO became American Airways (the predecessor of
American Airlines
American Airlines is a major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the largest airline in the world when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and revenue passenge ...
), and the Embry-Riddle Company was gone.
References
External links
The T. Higbee Embry Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Embry, T. Higbee
American aviation businesspeople
1897 births
1946 deaths
Businesspeople from Cincinnati
Aviators from Ohio
Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University
20th-century American businesspeople