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Phillips Ward Page

Early Burgess-[[insert]]O[[/insert]]Wright Pilot - Instructor

Phillips Ward Page was born in Boston, Massachuse[[strikethrough]]-[[/strikethrough]][[insert]]t[[/insert]]ts, November 28, 1885. He was a graduate of Harvard in 1909 and a newspaper reporter before becoming interested in aviation. During the spring of 1911, as aviation editor of the Boston Herald, he was a passenger on several flights around Boston and vicinity with Harry N. Atwood. June 11, 1911, he was one of four men who formed the Aero Club of Boston, serving as secretary.

As a result of his new aviation interests Page joined the Wright Flying School at Dayton, Ohio, in July, with Leonard W. Bonney as his instructor. He completed the course there but did not solo at that time. Returning to Boston he tried to get a plane at the Burgess School to solo and continue his practice, but was told one would not be available until the Boston and Nassau Boulevard Flying Meets. About October 1st, following the Nassau Meet, the Burgess Company assigned a Burgess-Wright Model ''F'' plane to Page and Clifford Webster for their use, and on October 3rd both men made their first solo flights. Continuing his practice at Nassau, Page obtained pilot license No. 68 on October 25, 1911. During November he started carrying passengers and flying exhibitions on weekends, flying around New York and vicinity. Later in November he returned to Boston and became a full-time instructor for the Burgess Company of Marblehead, Massachusetts on Burgess-Wright planes. Among his students during December was Greely S. Curtis, and executive of the company. The latter part of December he took a number of motion pictures of Boston Harbor and vicinity from the air, flying a Burgess hydro. The camera was mounted beside him pointing downward at an angle, driven from the engine and arranged so he could turn iron and off as desired. These were the first motion pictures of the Boston area from the air. At this time he was flying both land and water planes.