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15 

CARL S. BATES

Early Chicago Aviation Pioneer

Carl S. Bates was born at Clear Lake, Iowa January 27th, 1884. Mechanically inclined, he seemed to have been born for the air. While attending school in 1898, at age [[strikethrough]] 14 [[/strikethrough]] fourteen, he made a kite large enough to lift him off the ground. The following year he built and flew a Chanute-type biplane glider. Other gliders followed which he flew by towing them into the air. 

In 1903 Bates graduated from Clear Lake High School, and to further his education he went to Chicago and enrolled in engineering at the Armour Institute of Technology. There he also wanted to continue his glider experiments under the guidance of Octave Chanute. 

He established a small back-alley workshop, and by attending some of his classes at night, he was able to spend some time in his shop during the day. A signboard over the door read: "Aeroplanes Built to Order - Carl S. Bates." This soon brought results and he took on the job of making an ornithopter for an inventor. When it was finished, a suitable engine could not be found so Bates set about making one. Thus he entered the engine business. Almost at once Bates became one of Chicago's growing early aviation fraternity, and soon he formed the Bates Aero Motor Company.

In 1908 he built his first powered plane. It was a modified Curtiss-type, but somewhat smaller, with a tricycle landing gear, and a front wheel that could be swiveled to make the plane easier to handle on the ground. Bates obtained permission to fly this plane from the Golf Course in Washington Park, Chicago, and succeeded in making a few short hops, but a troublesome battery-ignition system prevented extensive tests. After a