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Ernest Craft Hall

"I still run this little airport and flying school. It sure takes a lot of paper work these days. The Government regulations drive me crazy."

When Ernest Hall first began his flying school, on Lake Conneaut, Pennsylvania, in the early summer of 1915, all he had to worry about was students. The Hall Flying School has long since moved to Warren, Ohio, and remains, today, the oldest continuously active private school in the world. And Ernie Hall is the oldest continuously active flying instructor. He began teaching himself to fly in his own homebuilts, and made the first flight in eastern Ohio, the day of his solo, August 30, 1911, in Ernie Hall No. 1. That monoplane is now a part of the U.S. Air Force Museum, at Wright-Patterson, Dayton, Ohio. Ernie Hall No. 4 appeared in 1914.

When Ernie tried to enlist in the Army's aviation section, he was turned down because of poor eyesight--"But it was good enough to train others"--and he became Chief Civilian Instructor at Call Field, Wichita Falls, Texas. After his discharge in 1919, he founded and operated Hall Air Transport, with headquarters in Wichita Falls. One of the pioneer passenger operations in the U.S., the line used an old Lincoln-Standard, now at the Ford Museum, Dearborn, Mich.

From 1937 through 1938, he served as Director of Aeronautics for the state of Ohio.

[[image - small drawing of a propeller]]

Ernest Craft Hall: born Gustavus, Ohio, October 31, 1891.

[[image No. 65 - advertising flyer for Big Conneaut Lake Fair]]
[[text on advertising flyer]]
Meet Me at the Big Conneaut Lake Fair
Aug. 31, Sept. 1-2-3, 1915
See the Atlantic Coast Line and Southern Railroad's Big Agricultural Exhibit
BIGGEST EXHIBIT OF LIVE STOCK EVER SHOWN AT A COUNTY FAIR
Ernest A. Hall, the Bird Man will fly daily in his new Wright Machine
The Department of Fisheries of Pennsylvania will be there with every species of fish known to mankind
BIG FREE ATTRACTIONS on the MIDWAY
Trotting and Pacing Races, Running Races, Road Races, Farmers Race, Harness and Hitch Races
School Children and Teachers admitted free Wednesday, Sept. 1,
Five Passenger Automobile Given Away
Friday, September 3, at 4:00 p.m. 
[[/text on advertising flyer]]

[[image No. 66 - black & white photograph of Ernie Hall (left) and students in front his Wright Flying Boat]]

[[caption]] Ernie Hall, left, with glasses, stands beside his Wright Flying Boat, and 1915 students at his flying school on Lake Conneaut, near Meadville, Pennsylvania. The school was the first of its kind in the state, and to supplement his income, Hall did considerable exhibition work at local water carnivals. [[/caption]]

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