Jack McGee (aviator)
Jack McGee (1885 – June 13, 1918) was a pioneer aviator.[1]
Biography
McGee was born in 1885 in Central Falls, Rhode Island to Robert McGee. His family moved to Pawtucket, Rhode Island when he was 15 in 1900. He was a boxer and worked as an elevator operator and auto mechanic before working as a chauffeur for James C. McCoy. McGee took flying lessons from Harry Atwood and Arch Freeman at Atwood Park in Saugus, Massachusetts.[2] The school closed before McGee could finish his training, but he believed that he had received enough instruction and purchased his own plane.[2] He made his first solo flight in August 1912. In 1917, McGee went to work as a test pilot for the Gallaudet Aircraft Corporation.
On June 13, 1918 he was flying a floatplane low over Greenwich Bay when his pontoon dipped into the water, causing his plane to topple into the water where he drowned.[1][3]
Archive
His papers are archived at the Rhode Island Historical Society.
References
- ^ a b "Local Aviator Drowns". The Evening Independent. June 14, 1918. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
- ^ a b Edwards, John Carver (2009). Orville's Aviators: Outstanding Alumni of the Wright Flying School, 1910-1916. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 63. ISBN 978-0786442270.
- ^ "Jack McGee". Early Aviators. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
- Aviation pioneers
- 1885 births
- 1918 deaths
- Deaths by drowning in the United States
- American aviators
- Aviators from Rhode Island
- Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States
- Accidental deaths in Rhode Island
- Aviation history of the United States
- People from Pawtucket, Rhode Island
- People from Central Falls, Rhode Island