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[[stamp]] FROM THE FLYING PIONEERS BIOGRAPHIES OF HAROLD E. MOREHOUSE [[/stamp]] GROVER LOENING Pioneer Aero Engineer - Aviator - Plane Manufacturer [[image]] Grover Loening was born September 12, 1888, at the United States Consulate, in Bremen, Germany, where his father was Consul General. Originally residents of New York City, Loening spent his boyhood there when the family later returned to the United States, attending Cutler School in New York and Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Following this he entered Columbia University. As a boy Loening was interested in things aeronautical, making kites and model planes. During 1908-1909 he frequented the Aeronautical Society's aviation activities at the Morris Park race track where he really made up his mind to follow aviation as his life work. He read and studied everything he could find on the subject, and while in College founded the Columbia University Aero Club, the first such student activity in America, to promote interest in aeronautics. For a project the Club members made a 24-foot span biplane flying boat glider to be towed by a motor boat. Built in Jay Gould's boathouse on the Hudson River, it was completed in April, 1909, but was not a success as it was unable to leave the water. From September 29th to October 4th, 1909 Loening saw Wilbur Wright fly from Governors Island, New York during the Hudson-Fulton Celebration when his 1