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Word has been received from Reinhardt Ausmus telling of the replacement of the plaque at Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio, commemorating Glenn Curtiss' flight across Lake Erie from Euclid Beach at Cleveland to Cedar Point August 30, 1910. The plaque had been stolen about five years ago, and Reinhardt took upon himself to get it replaced. With the cooperation of an aviation-minded group of young people in the area, he was able to report success. 

SANDUSKY REGISTER WED., APRIL 17,1968
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Rhiney Reaches Another Goal
[[image - two man standing. The man on the left is wearing glasses, white shirt and dark pants and is supporting a plaque held by the younger man onthe right, dressed in a dark suit]]
AVIATION CLUB'S GENE SCHLETT HANDS AUSMUS THE PLAQUE
*** pioneer aviator was 'mightly happy to see it.' (Photo - Dick McCullough)
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Rhiney Ausmus designed his first airplane in 1910, flew it in 1912 and went on to help give Sanduscky a name on the aviation map. 
THE OTHER day, Rhiney added another aviation thrill to his long, long, list. The Erie County Veterans Administration officer ran his hands over a bronze plaque on which are chiseled the words, "In commemoration of the historic flight by Early Bird Glenn H. Curtiss, Cleveland to Cedar Point and return, August 31, 1910."
If it doesn't sound like much to get excited about, you don't know the whole story. 
Sometime in the last five years, a similar plaque, erected at Cedar Point's beach, vanished. Whether it went into the lake in a cruel prank or onto a hidden wall in a fraternity house, no one ever found out. 
But Rheinhardt Ausmuc, who remembered that flight worried about that missing plaque, and moved heaven and earth to get it replaced. But for some reason, he didn't have much luck. 
HE IS an Early Bird, and that's not a title to take lightly. Indentified on a gold scribed card as an Early Bird, Ausmus join hundreds of other pilots of a generation now almost vanished from this earth. 
To belong you must have flown in a glider, balloon, airplane or airship prior to December 17, 1916. If you stop at the Smithsonian institute, you'll find Ausmus' name emblazoned on a plaque along with other early aviation greats. 
But the  plaque at Cedar Point commemorated a flight he remembers well, and he never felt right about that missing piece of bronze. 
THAT'S why Sandusky Aviation Club members talked Cedar Point and the Sandusky Chamber of Commerce into footing the bill for another plaque. This one will go on the funway, among the flowers. Dedication is set sometime in August, perhaps on the date when Curtiss set his flying boat down in Sandusky Bay to the applause of thousands. 
Perhaps thousands of people won't applaud when the Curtiss plaque goes up on the Cedar Point Funway in August, but if all the Early Birds, wherever they are now, gather in some far twilight to watch, the applause will soar far over Cedar Point. 
Nothing could make Rhiney Ausmus happier than to think they'll be watching too.
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^ [[Paper is [[?]] it was not flying boat It was circle pusher [[?]] plane