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HAROLD H. BROWN 
Early Wright Sportsman Pilot 

Harold H. Brown was born at Boston, Massachusetts, November 4, 1872, son of the President of the Fairbanks Company. He attended local primary schools, and later the Public Latin, Nobles and Hales preparatory schools. He then entered Harvard University in 1893 studying engineering and spent his senior year at the Lawrence Scientific School. 

Brown did not graduate because during the spring of that year he became intensely interested in the theater and left to study magic. His idols were the renowned magicians Thurston and Houdini, and during his studies Brown gained the friendship of both men. 

After leaving college in 1897, Brown entered the Coast Signal Service, serving in the Spanish-American War with the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, Coast Artillery. During this period he held the rank of Quartermaster 2nd class, later he served as Paymaster and Quartermaster at Wolcott Camp, U.S.W.V. Department of Massachusetts for three years.

From 1905-1907 Brown was a member of the Executive Committee of the American Power Boat Association, and in 1906 became an early member of the Society of Automotive Engineers. He practiced mechanical engineering for many years and invented a number of devices for automobiles and related automotive use. In this work he conducted some of the first experiments with down-draft carburetion, in common use on cars today.

Brown developed an early interest in aviation and was a technical correspondent for the early aviation magazine Aeronautics. He reported on the Wright brothers' trial flights at Fort Myer, Virginia, in 1908-1909. On November 18, 1908, he became a member of the Aero Club of America.

His interest in aviation continued and he enrolled for flying lessons at the Wright School when it opened in Augusta, Georgia, on January 16, 1911.