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

ANDREW DREW 6
Early Wright Pilot - Instructor 15
[[photograph on the right]] [[/photograph]] 

Andrew Drew was born in St. Louis, Missouri, January 21[[strikethrough]] st [[/strikethrough]], 1885, the son of a prominent banker and one of ten children. Drew began his career as an actor, then became a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. On that job he took a ride in a balloon to get a story and was so fascinated by the experience that he took up ballooning as a sport. Then he became a member of the Aero Club of St. Louis and began writing for the new aviation magazine AERO.

As a news reporter, Drew had his first [[strikethrough]] aeroplane ride with [[/strikethrough]] airplane flight in a Wright [[strikethrough]] pilot [[/strikethrough]] airplane with Arch Hoxsey at the 1910 St. Louis Aviation Meet, held [[strikethrough]] there [[/strikethrough]] October 8th to 18th. This was a major early aviation event and Drew became very interested. 

In the Spring of 1911 he decided to organize a company to deal in [[strikethrough]] aeroplanes [[/strikethrough]] airplanes and engage in exhibition flying. Together with Max Lillie of the Lillie Construction Company and three others, Drew formed the Pioneer Aeroplane and Exhibition Company in [[strikethrough]] early [[/strikethrough]] July, 1911. He was also interested in learning to fly [[strikethrough]] at once [[/strikethrough]] so the group sent him to the Wright School at Dayton, Ohio, for instruction. He started his course about July 20th, first with Cliff Turpin as instructor and later finishing with Walter Brookins on August 8th. That same day he flew his license tests in a [[strikethrough]] school [[/strikethrough]] Wright plane belonging to the school and was granted F.A.I. Certificate No. 50, dated August 30, 1911.

Immediately after this Drew flew for the Wright Company on their Exhibition