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W. STARLING BURGESS

Early Wright Pilot - Engineer - Manufacturer

   William Starling Burgess was born December 25th, 1878 at Boston, Massachusetts, son of the famous yacht designer and builder, Edward Burgess. 
Naturally, young Burgess grew up with a love of the wind and sea. He graduated in Engineering and Naval Architecture at Harvard in 1901, then followed in the steps of his father as a naval architect. 
   Burgess was immediately successful and soon moved his office from Boston to Salem, Massachusetts, where he opened  his first boat yard. In a short time his facilities there became inadequate so he moved to Marblehead, Massachusetts and started the W. Starling Burgess Co. Ltd. There he soon gained fame for his speedy boats which led the field in marine sporting events.
   As the Wright Brothers experiments in Ohio became known Burgess took an immediate interest in aeronautics. On October 4, 1909, while convalescing in a New York hospital, Burgess heard the whir of a peculiar sounding motor and when he asked the nurse what it was he was told that Wilbur Wright was making a flight up the Hudson River. This excited him and when he had recovered he investigated, which resulted in his determination to get into aviation.