Burt Eugene Skeel was a United States Army Air Service and civilian pilot.

Biography

He was born on May 5, 1894, in East Cleveland, Ohio, to Frank E. and Artemisia Edgerton Skeel. Skeel commanded the

27th Pursuit Squadron The 27th Fighter Squadron is a unit of the United States Air Force 1st Operations Group located at Joint Base Langley–Eustis, Virginia. The 27th is equipped with the F-22 Raptor. The 27th Fighter Squadron is the oldest active fighter squ ...

of the First Pursuit Group at Selfridge Field in Mount Clemens, Michigan. On October 6, 1923, Skeel won the second running of the

Mitchell Trophy Race Mitchell may refer to: People *Mitchell (surname) *Mitchell (given name) Places Australia * Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, a light-industrial estate * Mitchell, New South Wales, a suburb of Bathurst * Mitchell, Northern Territory ...

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

, with his

MB-3A The Thomas-Morse MB-3 was an open-cockpit biplane fighter primarily manufactured by the Boeing Company for the U.S. Army Air Service in 1922. The MB-3A was the mainstay fighter for the Air Service between 1922 and 1925. Development In March 19 ...

reaching a speed of 161 mph (258 km/h). Skeel had boasted that he intended to win the

Pulitzer Trophy Race The National Air Races (also known as Pulitzer Trophy Races) are a series of pylon and cross-country races that have taken place in the United States since 1920. The science of aviation, and the speed and reliability of aircraft and engines grew ...

at Wilbur Wright Field in 1924. Instead, he was killed on October 4 when the wings of his

Curtiss Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company (1909 – 1929) was an American aircraft manufacturer originally founded by Glenn Hammond Curtiss and Augustus Moore Herring in Hammondsport, New York. After significant commercial success in its first decade ...

broke away from the fuselage when he was still at 2,000 feet (615 m), and he went into a dive at about 275 mph (440 km/h). Camp Skeel in Oscoda, Michigan was named in his memory.

References

1894 births 1924 deaths United States Army officers People from East Cleveland, Ohio Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Sports deaths in Ohio {{aviation-bio-stub