Viewing page 8 of 47

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

[[stamp]]
FROM THE FLYING PIONEERS BIOGRAPHIES OF HAROLD E. MOREHOUSE
[[/stamp]]

HARRY N. ATWOOD

Early Wright Pilot - Cross-Country Flyer - Instructor - Engineer 

Harry N. Atwood was born in Lynn, Massachusetts November 15, 1884. In his youth he had a boyhood chum, Lee Hammond, who was a near neighbor. They grew up and attended grade and Boston Poly Tech schools together, then Atwood went to M. I. T. They caught the bicycle and motorcycle fever and also owned a small motor boat. Their increasing mechanical interests then turned to automobiles. In this way Atwood became quite an expert on engines and cars and became a professional driver. Reportedly he did some automobile racing, and he and Hammond conducted a garage in Swampscott, Massachusetts. 
Their interest turned to aeroplanes when W. S. Burgess started his early aviation experiments in late 1909 and then they really got the "flying bug" at the Harvard-Boston Aero Meet held at Squantum, Massachusetts September 3d to 16th, 1910. This early gala flying event was organised by the Harvard Aeronautical Society and the contestants were: U. S. aviators Walter Brookins, Ralph Johnstone, Glenn Curtiss, Charles Willard, Earl Ovington and Clifford Harmon, and from Europe were Claude Graham-White, Tom Sopwith, and A. V. Roe. There Atwood and Hammond became determined to learn to fly, and reportedly following the meet they hurriedly built a plane which was not a success. Evi-
1