Otto William Timm (October 28, 1893 – June 29, 1978) was a
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
-based
barnstormer and aircraft manufacturer of
German descent
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3,322,405
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.
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...
's first flight was flown by Timm. Timm partnered at times with his brother
Wally Timm
Wally Timm (August 8, 1896 – April 29, 1978) was an American aircraft designer, pilot and manufacturer.
Early life
Wally Timm was born in Lakefield, Minnesota, and with his family moved to Windom, Minnesota. He worked closely alongside his brot ...
who did a lot of flying for the nascent Hollywood movie industry.
[Brower, Peter Timm]
"Aero History: Otto W. Timm, 1893-1978."
''Early Aviators,'' July 13, 2011. Retrieved: March 26, 2012.
Early life
Timm was born on October 28, 1893 in Lakefield and spent a few years in Windom, Minnesota before moving to pursue aviation. By the age of 19, he had established himself as a pioneer aviator.
Aviation career
Timm originally started in the aviation field in 1910 when he attempted to build a copy of the Santos-Dumont "Demoiselle" monoplane while living in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...
, although it appears this was never completed. The next year he moved to
Cicero Field
Chicago Midway International Airport , typically referred to as Midway Airport, Chicago Midway, or simply Midway, is a major commercial airport on the Southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, located approximately 12 miles (19 km) from the Lo ...
in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, where a group of aviation enthusiasts had gathered. In Chicago, he built a copy of the
Curtiss Pusher
The 1911 Curtiss Model D (or frequently "Curtiss Pusher") was an early United States pusher aircraft with the engine and propeller behind the pilot's seat. It was among the first aircraft in the world to be built in any quantity, during an era ...
, which flew in 1911. Timm started a business flying the aircraft in
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
with a partner.
In 1913, Timm sold the business to his partner and returned to Cicero Field to begin construction of a "conventional" biplane design under contract. The next year he built a second for his own use, and started a cross-country tour that ended on May 25, 1915 when it crashed in a field in
Magnolia, Minnesota. His aircraft happened to come down in the field of
Bert Kinner
Winfield Bertrum "Bert" Kinner (December 16, 1882 – July 4, 1957) was an American aircraft engine designer and designer of the first folding wing aircraft. Kinner founded Kinner Airplane & Motor Corporation in Glendale, California which p ...
, who repaired the engine. Kinner was fascinated by the aircraft, and would go on to become an aircraft and aero engine designer as well. Timm then built another design under contract for the
Grinnell Aeroplane Company in 1915, later flying it at town fairs around the mideastern region during the summer of 1916.
![Timm Pacific Hawk](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Timm_Pacific_Hawk.jpg)
In October 1916, Timm became a senior flight instructor at
Rockwell Field
Rockwell Field is a former United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) military airfield, located northwest of the city of Coronado, California, on the northern part of the Coronado Peninsula across the bay from San Diego, California.
This airfield ...
,
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
. He remained there during the war, while also building a new trainer biplane known as the Timm Model T-18. With the ending of the war, Timm moved to
Venice, CA
Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside (Los Angeles County), Westside region of Los Angeles County, California.
Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city unti ...
and opened the Pacific Aeroplane and Supply Co., where he started construction of a six-passenger biplane known as the Pacific Hawk. Over a six-week period in 1920, Timm designed and built the C-1 racing monoplane, which would win the International Air Tournament in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
in 1921.
In July 1921, Timm traveled to
Lincoln, Nebraska
Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...
to test fly the new
Lincoln Standard L.S.5 where he met
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...
. In February 1922, Lindbergh had enrolled as a student at the Nebraska Aircraft Corporation's flying school and flew for the first time on April 9, 1922, when he took to the air as a passenger in a two-seat
Lincoln Standard "Tourabout" biplane piloted by Timm. Later, on April 16 and 17, Lindbergh, as a student pilot, had two more flights with Timm. The two remained friends, and when Timm built another Curtiss Pusher for film use in 1925, Lindbergh later bought it and stunt-flew it during the 1928 International Air Tournament. He built another one-off design in 1926, the two-place monoplane Collegiate.
In 1922, Timm founded the
O.W. Timm Aircraft Company
The O.W. Timm Aircraft Company was an American aircraft manufacturer founded by Otto William Timm, based in Los Angeles, California.
History
Between 1911 and 1922 O.W. Timm built several aircraft with varying success before he founded, in 1 ...
in
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...
. In 1928 the name was changed to the Timm Airplane Co. The company's first design was the
Timm Collegiate The Timm Collegiate was a series of American-built two-seat light aircraft of the late 1920s.
Design and development
Otto Timm founded the O.W. Timm Aircraft Corp in 1922 with its base at Glendale, California. The firm changed its name to the T ...
series of five parasol-winged, twin-seat light aircraft. In California he also produced a large (for the era) passenger biplane, the
Timm Coach with an enclosed cabin seating seven and an open cockpit for two pilots. Timm changed the name to Timm Aircraft Company in May 1934, and introduced the Timm T-S140, a high-wing monoplane twin-engine design.
In World War II, Timm built planes for both the Army and the Navy, including hundreds of trainers and CG-4 assault gliders. The assault gliders were used to land troops on D-Day.
In 1965, Timm was contacted by the TallMantz company to design a "one-off" movie model called the
Tallmantz Phoenix P-1
The Tallmantz Phoenix P-1 was an Federal Aviation Administration, FAA-certified one-off aircraft built for the 1965 film production ''The Flight of the Phoenix (1965 film), The Flight of the Phoenix'' and used in the picture's initial aerial seq ...
which had a short and tragic lifespan, being involved in the death of its pilot,
Paul Mantz
Albert Paul Mantz (August 2, 1903 – July 8, 1965) was a noted air racing pilot, movie stunt pilot and consultant from the late 1930s until his death in the mid-1960s. He gained fame on two stages: Hollywood and in air races.
Early years
Man ...
.
[Joiner 2007, p. 71.]
Timm died on June 29, 1978, two months to the day after his younger brother Wally.
References
Notes
Bibliography
* Cooper, Ralph
"Otto W. Timm, 1893–1978."''Early Aviators,'' July 13, 2011.
* Joiner, Stephen. "Hollywood's Favorite Pilot." ''Air & Space magazine'', Volume 22, no.5, October/November 2007.
* Lindbergh, Charles A. "WE". New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons (The Knickerbocker Press), July 1927.
External links
"Two Motor Transport Has Safe Landing Gear", ''Popular Mechanics'', May 1938, rare photo of Timm T-S140 twin engine transportfindagrave.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Timm, Otto
American stunt performers
Aviators from California
Aviators from Minnesota
Members of the Early Birds of Aviation
1893 births
1978 deaths
People from Jackson County, Minnesota