Viewing page 47 of 58

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

[[strikethrough]]275[[/strikethrough]]257
FROM THE FLYING PIONEERS BIOGRAPHIES OF HAROLD E. MOREHOUSE
HUGH A. ROBINSON
Early Curtiss Exhibition & Test Pilot - Manufacturing Executive
[[1 image]]
Hugh A. Robinson was born at Neosho, Missouri, May 13, 1881. He attended local schools and [[strikethrough]]then graduated[[/strikethrough]] in mechanical engineering at Webb City College, Missouri.
Through his keen interest in sports and everything mechanical he became a trick bicycle and motorcycle rider, then drove race cars and speed boats, soon becoming an engine expert. During these activities he developed the vaudeville and circus act of looping-the-loop on a motorcycle inside a steel lattice-work globe. Reportedly he also built an early automobile which gained him a position as a foreman in the Dorris Automobile factory. He also took up ballooning and made some parachute jumps, and in 1906 became a dirigible airship builder and pilot.
In 1907-1908 his interests turned to flying and he built a glider, towed by an automobile. In 1909 he built a monoplane at St. Louis, Missouri, fitted with a small 18-20 [[strikethrough]]H.P.[[/strikethrough]]hp., air-cooled engine, but it failed to fly due to lack of power. Apparently he exhibited this plane at the St. Louis Centennial Exposition in October, 1909, and there met Glenn Curtiss, starting a valued association which lasted for many years. 
Robinson continued experimenting with his monoplane and in 1910 installed a 30-40 [[strikethrough]]H.P.[[/strikethrough]] hp. Elbridge engine, and on May 15, 1910, reportedly made his first
1