Augustus Roy Knabenshue (July 15, 1876 – March 6, 1960) was an American aeronautical engineer and aviator.

Biography

Roy Knabenshue was born July 15, 1876, in

Lancaster, Ohio Lancaster ( ) is a city in Fairfield County, Ohio, in the south-central part of the state. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 40,552. The city is near the Hocking River, about southeast of Columbus and southwest of Zanesville. It is ...

, the son of Salome Matlack and Samuel S. Knabenshue. Samuel Knabenshue, an educator and political writer for the ''

Toledo Blade ''The Blade'', also known as the ''Toledo Blade'', is a newspaper in Toledo, Ohio published daily online and printed Thursday and Sunday by Block Communications. The newspaper was first published on December 19, 1835. Overview The first issue ...

'' for many years, served as U.S. consul in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

, Ireland, from 1905 to 1909 and as consul general in

Tianjin, China Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popula ...

, from 1909 to 1914. In 1904, at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, Roy Knabenshue piloted

Thomas Scott Baldwin Thomas Scott Baldwin (June 30, 1854 – May 17, 1923) was a pioneer balloonist and U.S. Army major during World War I. He was the first American to descend from a balloon by parachute. Early career Thomas Scott Baldwin was born on June 30, 18 ...

's ''California Arrow'' dirigible to a height of 2,000 feet (610 m) and was able to return to the takeoff point. Knabensue continued working for Baldwin for the next year, operating the ''Californian Arrow'' at events around the country. He was the first to make a dirigible flight over

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in 1905. In September 1905, Knabenshue stopped in Columbus, Ohio, for a flight at the Ohio State fair. While he was there, he had a falling out with Baldwin over his pay. Knabenshue copied Baldwin's design and built his own airship, which he named ''Toledo I.'' He stayed on at the fair and made two ascensions a day. While there, he also met and mentored Cromwell Dixon, who at the age of fifteen was already an aspiring aviator. The ''

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 ...

'', the Wright Brothers first flight airplane, was nearly disposed of by the Wrights themselves until, in early 1912, Knabenshue (working as the Wrights Exhibition team manager) had a conversation with Wilbur Wright. He asked Wilbur what they planned to do with the ''Flyer'', and Wright said they would most likely burn it, as they had the 1904 machine. According to writer Charles Taylor, author of the 1948 article reporting the story, Knabenshue talked Wilbur out of disposing of the machine for historical purposes.Taylor, Charles Edward
''My Story''
, as told to Robert S. Ball, ''Collier's'', 25 December 1948. In 1913 Knabenshue built the first passenger dirigible in America: ''White City''. He performed

barnstorming Barnstorming was a form of entertainment in which stunt pilots performed tricks individually or in groups that were called flying circuses. Devised to "impress people with the skill of pilots and the sturdiness of planes," it became popular in ...

and worked as the

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the Wright Exhibition Team. From 1933 to 1944 he worked for the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

and then worked for a

Los Angeles, California 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' ...

, firm reconditioning used

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engine ...

. In 1958 he had a stroke. He had a second stroke at his home at a

trailer park A trailer park,caravan park, mobile home park, mobile home community or manufactured home community is a temporary or permanent area for mobile homes and travel trailers. Advantages include low cost compared to other housing, and quick and ea ...

in Arcadia, California, on February 21, 1960. He died on March 6, 1960, at the Evergreen Sanitarium in

Temple City, California Temple City, officially the City of Temple City, is a city in Los Angeles County, California located northeast of downtown Los Angeles and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. Temple City is part of a cluster of cities, along with Pasadena ...

. Interment and services were held March 9, 1960, at the

Portal of the Folded Wings The Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation is in Los Angeles, California. The shrine is a structure of marble, mosaic, and sculpted figures and is the burial site for fifteen pioneers of aviation. Designed by Kenneth A. MacDonald Jr. an ...

Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery is located at 10621 Victory Boulevard in North Hollywood and Burbank, California. The cemetery has an entrance called the Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation that is the final resting place for aviation ...

North Hollywood, California North Hollywood is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, the El Portal Theatre, several art galleries, and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. The North ...

References

External links

Roy Knabenshue bibliographyNAHF: Knabenshue
* Knabenshue World War I draft registration {{DEFAULTSORT:Knabenshue, A. Roy Wright brothers American balloonists Aviators from Ohio Members of the Early Birds of Aviation Burials at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery 1876 births 1960 deaths