Leonard Frank Baldy (February 15, 1927 – May 2, 1960) was a Chicago Police Department officer who became the city's first

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

traffic reporter. His sometimes comical look at

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

's traffic problems made him a household name. His peers gave him the nickname "Flying Officer Leonard Baldy". He died in a fiery crash on May 2, 1960, when his helicopter threw a rotor blade and crashed in a railroad yard near Milwaukee Avenue and Hubbard Street. A native of Chicago, he graduated from Lane Technical College Preparatory High School (also known as Lane Tech) and was a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

veteran who served as a Signalman on USS ''Markab''. Baldy gained early recognition in his police career for being the first patrolman in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

to experiment with and use the, now famous,

radar gun A radar speed gun (also radar gun and speed trap gun) is a device used to measure the speed of moving objects. It is used in law-enforcement to measure the speed of moving vehicles and is often used in professional spectator sport, for things su ...

to detect the speed of vehicles (April 1954). He also wrote the first ticket in the world for speeding using a radar device. As a patrolman in the mid-'50s he appeared in a television commercial directing traffic. He became the most visible department spokesperson when he provided lectures and taught classes to civic groups, organizations, and educational institutions on the topic of traffic safety. He provided the first helicopter traffic report over WGN radio in November 1958. Baldy gained fame during the Our Lady of the Angels School Fire, in December 1958, when he broadcast his observations from his helicopter above the scene. He provided traffic instructions over the radio to fire and ambulance vehicles trying to reach the fire through Chicago's congested streets. Both Baldy and WGN radio received public service awards from the National Transportation Safety Board for their efforts. After his death, he was elected to the American Police Hall of Fame and had his badge number retired.Officer Down Memorial-Patrolman Leonard F. Baldy
/ref> Forty-six years after his death, the citizens of Chicago remembered him with the honor of renaming a street "Leonard Baldy Way". Chicago newspaper columnist, Neil Steinberg, declared "if ever a Chicago police officer was a celebrity, it was Patrolman Leonard Baldy." Chicago Police Superintendent, Phillip Cline, said, "People who couldn't name the police superintendent, knew who Len Baldy was." One of Officer Baldy's sons became noted radio personality, Jack Elliott In 2006, his son, Tim Baldy, published a biography entitled ''Chicago's Finest''.

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Find A Grave-Leonard F. Baldy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baldy, Leonard 1927 births 1960 deaths People from Chicago Chicago Police Department officers Victims of helicopter accidents or incidents in the United States United States Navy personnel of World War II Accidental deaths in Illinois United States Navy sailors