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

J. CHAUNCEY REDDING 
Early Aviation Mechanic - Burgess-Wright Pilot

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J. Chauncey Redding was born in Malden, Massachusetts June 9, 1893, the son of an electrician. During his youth the family moved to Arlington, Massachusetts, then [[strikethrough]] Melrose [/[strikethrough]] to nearby Melrose.  As a a boy he was greatly interested in balloons and airplanes, and always managed to be [[strikethrough]] there [[/strikethrough]] present whenever [[strikethrough]] any [[strikethrough]] aerial exhibitions took place.  As a result he left high school in his second year to get into aviation.
  
He started to work as a mechanic with the Burgess Co. and when aviator George Gray purchased a Burgess plane and started to fly exhibitions Redding became his mechanic.  Their first engagement was at Sommerville, Massachusetts on July 4, 1912.  He remained with Gray that season, filling dates at many points in Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, New York and Montreal.  Late that fall they went south making flights in Virginia on the way and spent the winter months in Florida giving exhibitions and carrying passengers.
 
In the spring of 1913 they moved north and were at Richmond, Virginia for a time, then to Ocean City, New Jersey, where they made daily exhibition flights and carried passengers at the beach resort.  Following this Gray and Redding exhibited at several cities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania before heading south again that fall.  Through October and November they flew at a number of cities in the Carolinas with aviators Howard Rinehart and H. Roy Waite.  During this interval Redding was also mechanic for Roy Waite, and when their contracts were fulfilled Redding left Gray and returned to Boston with Waite.