George William Beatty (August 28, 1887 – February 20, 1955) was an American pioneer aviator who set early altitude and distance records, including one record set on the same day that he flew his

first solo flight The first solo flight is when a new airplane pilot completes a takeoff, and usually a short flight and safe landing, by themselves. Flying such a flight is a milestone known as soloing. Being solo pilot of an aircraft is different from most othe ...

Early life

Beatty was born on August 28, 1887, in Stephensburg, New Jersey. He graduated from high school in 1904 and worked in the printing industry as a

linotype machine The Linotype machine ( ) is a "line casting" machine used in printing; manufactured and sold by the former Mergenthaler Linotype Company and related It was a hot metal typesetting system that cast lines of metal type for individual uses. Lin ...

operator in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Early aviation career

Beatty became involved in a gliding club in New York City, and in 1909–10 helped build a homemade

Santos-Dumont Demoiselle The Santos-Dumont ''Demoiselle'' was a series of aircraft built in France by world aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont. They were light-weight monoplanes with a wire-braced wing mounted above an open-framework fuselage built from bamboo. The ...

using a

three cylinder engine The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categorize ...

from

Anzani Anzani was an engine manufacturer founded by the Italian Alessandro Anzani (1877–1956), which produced proprietary engines for aircraft, cars, boats, and motorcycles in factories in Britain, France and Italy. Overview From his native Italy, An ...

In 1911, he attended the

Wright Flying School The Wright Flying School, also known as the Wright School of Aviation, was operated by the Wright Company from 1910 to 1916 and trained 119 individuals to fly Wright airplanes. History Orville Wright began training students on March 19, 1910 in M ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, where he was taught by Arthur L. Welsh. He had his first lesson on June 24, 1911 and soloed on July 23, 1911. That same day, he flew as a passenger with Welsh to establish a new American two-man

flight altitude record This listing of flight altitude records are the records set for the highest aeronautical flights conducted in the atmosphere, set since the age of ballooning. Some, but not all of the records were certified by the non-profit international avia ...

of . On August 5, 1911, Beatty broke his own record, flying to with Percy Reynolds as his passenger. On the same flight, he won a cup given by the Farman Company for

flight duration In aviation, the flight length refers to the distance of a flight. Commercial flights are often categorized into long-, medium- or short-haul by airline, commercial airlines based on flight length, although there is no international standard defin ...

. On August 6, 1911, he flew for his license and was awarded

Fédération Aéronautique Internationale The (; FAI; en, World Air Sports Federation) is the world governing body for air sports, and also stewards definitions regarding human spaceflight. It was founded on 14 October 1905, and is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. It maintai ...

(FAI) pilot certificate number 41. At the

1911 Chicago International Aviation Meet The 1911 Chicago International Aviation Meet (August 12 to August 20, 1911) was major aviation show held at Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois, United States in August 1911.Souter, Gerry (28 June 2010Guts and Glory: The Last Great Aerial Tournament ' ...

at Grant Park, he set the new three-man endurance world record of 1 hour and 18 minutes on the August 13, 1911. He also set the American two-man endurance record of 2 hours and four minutes on the August 12, 1911, which he surpassed with a time of 3 hours and 19 minutes on August 19, 1911. His total flight time at the meet of 24 hours and 21 minutes. Gwendolin Pates in 1912 photo from An Aeroplane Love affair

Gwendolin Pates in 1912 photo from An Aeroplane Love affair

Beatty created a flying school on

in early 1912. From this site, he became the first person to land in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

when he flew into

and landed in

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

on February 13, 1912. He returned to his

Nassau County, New York Nassau County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New York. At the 2020 U.S. census, Nassau County's population is 1,395,774. The county seat is Mineola and the largest town is Hempstead. Nassau County is situated on western Long Island ...

base the next day. After the June 11, 1912, death of

Al Welsh Arthur L. "Al" Welsh (August 14, 1881 – June 11, 1912) was a Russian-born American pioneer aviator who became the first flight instructor for the Wright Brothers. He was killed in an aircrash in 1912. Early life He was born as Laibel Welch ...

, he moved to

College Park, Maryland College Park is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and is approximately four miles (6.4 km) from the northeast border of Washington, D.C. The population was 34,740 at the 2020 United States Census. It is best known a ...

, where he served as the chief test pilot and instructor at the

United States Army Aviation School The U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence, formerly known as the Army Aviation Center and School, is the United States Army Aviation Branch's headquarters and training and development center, located at Fort Rucker, Alabama. It coordinates a ...

.Igoe, Kate
George W. Beatty Collection
,

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the Nat ...

, 1997. Accessed September 6, 2009. Although not an actor, in 1912 he appeared alongside

Gwendolyn Pates Gwendolyn Pates (April 4, 1891 – November 1970), also billed as Gwendoline Pates, was an American actress in silent films and on stage. Early life Gwendoline Ivore Pates was born in Dallas, Texas, the daughter of Frederick B. Pates and Allie ...

in a film, ''An Aeroplane Love Affair''.

Move to Europe

In 1913, Beatty moved to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, where he established a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

with

Handley Page Handley Page Limited was a British aerospace manufacturer. Founded by Frederick Handley Page (later Sir Frederick) in 1909, it was the United Kingdom's first publicly traded aircraft manufacturing company. It went into voluntary liquidation a ...

to create a flying school at

Hendon Aerodrome Hendon Aerodrome was an aerodrome in London, England, that was an important centre for aviation from 1908 to 1968. It was situated in Colindale, north west of Charing Cross. It nearly became a central hub of civil aviation ("the Charing Cros ...

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nort ...

. There he trained over 1,000 pilots for the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

and

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

. He also brought three

Wright Flyer The ''Wright Flyer'' (also known as the ''Kitty Hawk'', ''Flyer'' I or the 1903 ''Flyer'') made the first sustained flight by a manned heavier-than-air powered and controlled aircraft—an airplane—on December 17, 1903. Invented and flown b ...

s to add to the Handley Page fleet. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, in the early 1920s, Beatty started a business manufacturing engines for

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

s. By 1923, he constructed a racing motorcycle that won the Tour de France.

Return to the United States

The

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

ended the motorcycle business and Beatty returned to the United States. He had great difficulty finding work and did not attain a full-time job until he was hired by the Hughes Printing Company of

East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania East Stroudsburg is a borough in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the Poconos region of the state. Originally known as "Dansbury", East Stroudsburg was renamed for geographic reasons when the Delaware, Lackawanna, and ...

in 1934, working his way up to superintendent. He remained at the job until his death on February 20, 1955 at age 67. He was buried in

Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania Stroudsburg is a borough in Monroe County, Pennsylvania. It lies within the Poconos region, approximately five miles (8 km) from the Delaware Water Gap at the confluence of the Brodhead, McMichaels and Pocono Creeks in Northeastern Pennsyl ...

at the Laurelwood Cemetery.

References

External links

George William Beatty
at the

George William Beatty
at

Flickr Flickr ( ; ) is an American image hosting and video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was a popular way for amateur and professional ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beatty, George W. 1887 births 1955 deaths American aerospace engineers Aviators from New Jersey Members of the Early Birds of Aviation Typesetters Wright brothers Aviation pioneers Flight altitude record holders Flight distance record holders Aviation history of the United States Aviation history of the United Kingdom Wright Flying School alumni Flight endurance record holders American aviation record holders American flight instructors