Bert Acosta
Bertrand Blanchard Acosta | |
---|---|
Aviator, Test pilot | |
Spouses | Mary Louise Brumley
(m. 1918; div. 1920)Helen Belmont Pearsoll
(m. 1921) |
Children |
|
Parent(s) | Miguel Aphonse Ferdinand Acosta Martha Blanche Reilly-Snook |
Bertrand Blanchard Acosta (January 1, 1895 – September 1, 1954) was a record-setting aviator and
Early life
Acosta was born in
He taught himself to fly in August 1910 and built experimental airplanes up until 1912 when he began work for Glenn Curtiss as an apprentice on a hydroplane project. In 1915 he worked as a flying instructor. He went to Canada and worked as an instructor for the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service in Toronto. In 1917 he was appointed chief instructor, Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps at Hazelhurst Field, Long Island where he test flew early open-cockpit aircraft such as the Continental KB-1 over New York in below freezing conditions.[6]
Acosta married Mary Louise Brumley (1886–1962) in 1918 but they divorced in 1920.
Endurance record
In April 1927, he and
Engineer
Bellanca monoplane's normal cruising speed is 110 m.p.h. She would require only some 35 hours to reach Paris—if she could stay up that long again.[9]
Orteig Prize attempt
Transatlantic flight
On June 29, 1927, thirty-three days after Charles Lindbergh's record setting
Bad boy persona
In 1928
In 1929 he was fined $500 for low flying and stunting. When he failed to pay the fine, the
A new
In 1931 he planned to fly from New York to Honduras with Captain Lisandro Garay of the Honduran Air Force in a Bellanca CH-300. Acosta disappeared before a fully loaded "test flight" with 360 gallons of gasoline. Instead, Garay departed from Floyd Bennett Field without him, making it as far as Cape Hatteras, NC, where due to a storm he was forced to land at sea.[15][16]
Spanish Civil War
In 1936 Acosta was head of the Yankee Squadron in the Spanish Civil War with Eddie August Schneider and Frederic Ives Lord.[17][18]
Time magazine wrote on December 21, 1936:
Hilariously celebrating in the ship's bar of the Normandie with their first advance pay checks from Spain's Radical Government, six able U.S. aviators were en route last week for Madrid to join Bert Acosta, pilot of Admiral Byrd's transatlantic flight, in doing battle against Generalísimo Francisco Franco's White planes. Payment for their services: $1,500 a month plus $1,000 for each White plane brought down.[19]
Time magazine wrote on January 4, 1937, although the attack was later determined to be propaganda:
On Christmas Eve the "Yankee Squadron" of famed U.S. aviators headed by Bert Acosta, pilot of Admiral Byrd's transatlantic flight, at the last minute abandoned plans for a whoopee party with their wives at Biarritz, swank French resort across the Spanish frontier. They decided that they would rather raid Burgos, Generalísimo Franco's headquarters. The hundreds of incendiary bombs that they dropped on White hangars and munition dumps they jokingly described as "Messages of Christmas Cheer for the boys in Burgos."[20]
Death
In December 1951 Acosta collapsed in a New York City bar and was hospitalized with
Legacy
In 2014, Acosta was posthumously inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame, along with pilot and astronaut James McDivitt, the first female airline captain Emily Warner, Cirrus founders and designers Dale and Alan Klapmeier, and homebuilt aircraft racer and engineer Steve Wittman.[23][24]
See also
References
- Valencia, Spain, where they will go through a hurried course in military flying before taking the air against the Rebels, it was revealed here yesterday.
- ^ a b "Died". Time. September 13, 1954. Archived from the original on November 16, 2010. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
Bert Acosta, 59, pilot of the historic multi-engined flight across the Atlantic (1927) with Admiral Richard E. Byrd and Bernt Balchen; of tuberculosis; in Denver. At 14 (in 1910), Acosta built and flew his own plane, went on to establish a world's speed record (176.7 m.p.h.) at 26 and endurance record (51 hr. 11 min. 25 sec.) at 32; in later life, despite hard times and family problems, wound up with a legendary reputation for skillful piloting and artful risk-taking (e.g., he once buzzed Manhattan's Metropolitan Life tower to see what time it was).
- ^ Bertrand Blanchard Acosta's mother had a half-brother with the surname of Snook.
- . Retrieved August 22, 2022.
- ^ "Bertrand Blanchard Acosta". Early Aviators. Archived from the original on 2016-10-13. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
Taught self to fly, August 1910; built experimental planes and continued personal research until 1912; joined Glenn H. Curtiss as apprentice assisting in developing land and hydroplanes; instructed in flying; 1915. became instructor of R.F.C. and R.N.A.S. at Toronto, Canada ...
- ^ "Continental Pusher Biplane". Aviation: 35. 1 February 1918.
- ^ Mary Louise Brumley (1886–1962) born on July 27, 1886 in Norfolk Virginia, and she was a descendant of Henry Clay. She died in 1962. Ida Clay Baker was her mother. She married John Earl Pringell after the divorce from Bert.
- ^ "La Callada Voz de los Precursores Hispanoamericanos". Archived from the original on 2006-05-03. Retrieved 2006-12-14.
- Giuseppe M. Bellanca of the Columbia Aircraft Corporationhad conditioned an elderly yellow-winged monoplane with one Wright motor, and scouted around for pilots. Lieut. Leigh Wade, round-the-world flyer, declined the invitation, saying Mr. Bellanca's plans were too stunt-like, not scientific.
- ^ "Bellanca Aircraft". Archived from the original on 21 November 2010. Retrieved 17 November 2010.
- ^ "The Trans-Atlantic Flight of the 'America'". Check-Six. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
- ^ a b "Pilot's Pilot". Time. June 10, 1935. Archived from the original on December 22, 2011. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
Long before anyone ever heard of Lindbergh, Chamberlin, Post or Earhart, one of aviation's big names was Bert Acosta. Famed as a 'natural' among pilots, he probably had a greater talent for flying than any man before or since. But like many another early barnstormer and stunter, he took to the fleshpots on earth as an offset to his work in the air. His life, consequently, became a rowdy romance in which brawls, jails and domestic entanglements were due to play a large part.
- ^ "Bert Acosta Freed In Connecticut Case. Two-Year-Old Charge For Stunt Flying At Naugatuck Dropped By Waterbury Prosecutor. Pilot Promises To Behave His Air Record Wins Leniency, But He Faces Federal Inquiry On Flight Without License". The New York Times. September 19, 1930. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
Waterbury, Connecticut; September 18, 1930; (Associated Press). Bert Acosta, transatlantic flier, who was arrested in Wilton last night after he had landed his plane in a meadow, received a nolle today in ...
- ^ Experimenter. May 1957.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - ^ "Biggests". Time. August 17, 1931. Archived from the original on December 15, 2008. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
Captain Lisandro Garay of the Honduran Air Force last week at Floyd Bennett Field loaded a Bellanca monoplane with 360 gallons [of] gasoline and Bert Acosta 'to make a test flight' from New York to Honduras. Acosta sneaked away; Captain Garay took off, headed for Tegucigalpa, reprimand, glory, or death.
- ^ Wesley (2018-03-03). "Remembering the first Honduran aviator Captain Lisandro Garay". Bellanca Autographed Photo. Archived from the original on 2019-10-13. Retrieved 2019-10-13.
- ^ Bertrand Blanchard Acosta had been living at 46 West 17th Street in New York City before leaving for Spain.
- ^ "3 U.S. Airmen Here to Explain Aid to Loyalists; Acosta, Berry, Schneider Fly to Capital With Their Attorney". The Washington Post. January 20, 1937.
- ^ "Pilots, Death, Plebiscite". Time. December 21, 1936. Archived from the original on December 15, 2008. Retrieved 2007-08-21.
Hilariously celebrating in the ship's bar of the Normandie with their first advance pay checks from Spain's Radical Government, six able U.S. aviators were en route last week for Madrid to join Bert Acosta, pilot of Admiral Byrd's transatlantic flight, in doing battle against Generalísimo Francisco Franco's White planes. Payment for their services: $1,500 a month plus $1,000 for each White plane brought down.
- Generalissimo Franco's headquarters. The hundreds of incendiary bombs that they dropped on White hangars and munition dumps they jokingly described as "Messages of Christmas Cheer for the boys in Burgos.
- ^ "Bert Acosta 59, A Veteran Flier; Piloted Plane With Byrd and Balchen Across Atlantic in 1927, Dead in Denver". The New York Times. September 2, 1954. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
- ^ "Bert Acosta, Atlantic Flier, Dies". The Washington Post. September 2, 1954.
Bert B. Acosta, spectacular barnstorming pilot who, with Admiral Richard E. Byrd, made the first trans-Atlantic flight in a multi-engined plane, died yesterday from advanced tuberculosis in a Denver sanatorium, the Associated Press reported.
- ^ "Aviation Hall Of Fame Honors Six". 18 December 2013. Retrieved 23 December 2013. His name was submitted for induction by Norberto Franco Cisneros.
- ^ "Enshrinee "Bert" Acosta". nationalaviation.org.
Further reading
- The New York Times, New York City, November 4, 1921; "Bert Acosta Wins Air Race Trophy; New York Aviator Defeats Five Contestants For The Pulitzer Silver Prize. H.E. Hartney Badly Hurt Parachute Jumper Drowned By Falling Into River After A 1,000-foot Leap At Omaha. Omaha, Nebraska, November 3, 1921. Bert Acosta of New York won the annual Pulitzer silver trophy race for heavier-than-air craft here today, defeating a field of five other contestants one of whom, H. E. Hartney of New York, was injured when his plane crashed near Loveland, Iowa."
- The New York Times, New York City, October 2, 1922; "Brings Plane To Earth Without Landing Gear. Bert Acosta Comes Down Safely at Selfridge Field. Astonishes the Onlookers. Mount Clemens, Michigan, October 1, 1922. Landing the Navy Bee Line racer, which he was testing preparatory to its entry in the airplane races at Selfridge Field, October 12, 13 and 14, Bert Acosta brought the plane to Earth this afternoon without the use of its landing gear."
- The New York Times, New York City, October 7, 1923; "Aviator Sent to Jail; Judge Gives Bert Acosta Five Days for Driving Auto While Drunk."
- The New York Times, New York City, January 25, 1928; "Jersey Sheriff Wants Bert Acosta's Plane, Which Flew Away After His Attachment. Bert Acosta's Fokker monoplane The Splitdorf is wanted in Bergen County, New Jersey. Under Sheriff Jack Donaldson wants it. For a little while on Monday afternoon through his deputy, Louis Turro, the ..."
- Daily News, Frederick, Maryland, December 3, 1936; "Acosta faces rebels"
- The New York Times, New York City, February 20, 1937; "Aviator Held in Nassau in Failure to Post Bail on Wife's Charge. Bert Acosta, who recently faced a Federal inquiry for enlisting in the Spanish Loyalist air force, was remanded to the Nassau County jail here this afternoon pending the posting of a $500 bond to insure his appearance in Children's Court next Friday morning."
- The New York Times, New York City, December 17, 1945; "Bert Acosta in Hospital"
- The New York Times, New York City, August 12, 1952; "Bert Acosta in Hospital"
- New Bridgeport Telegram, Bridgeport, Connecticut, September 2, 1954, Obituary
- Time, July 11, 1927, "Four men in a fog"
- Time, February 6, 1928, "Goal"
- Time, September 28, 1936, "Transatlantic Tradition", Pilot crews that hate each other
- Time, March 25, 1957, "End of the Adventure", Byrd Obituary