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289

FLOYD J. SMITH
Pioneer West Coast Aviator - Parachute Expert

Floyd J. Smith was born at Genesco, Illinois October 17, 1884. In his youth his parents moved to Union, Oregon, where he attended public school, then to San Diego, California where he graduated from high school.

In 1906 Smith turned to the theater as a gymnast. In 1907 he married Hilder F. Youngberg and then they traveled as a husband and wife team of aerial trapeze acrobats. This led to their becoming featured stars with the Ringling, Barnum, and Bailey Circus.

During the early public appearances of the airplane they became interested in the possibility of having a plane and starting on the road with a flying and parachute jumping act by themselves. Late in 1912 they decided to build an airplane for this purpose.

At that time Glenn Martin was giving up his small factory at Santa Ana, California to move his business to a larger building in Los Angeles. Smith arranged to take over Martin's former shop. There, with the design assistance of Charles Day and the spare time help of Martin mechanic Frank Shaw, Smith and his wife built a 2-seat, Hall-Scott-powered tractor biplane during the winter months of 1911-1912. This machine was completed later that winter and Smith taught himself to fly in the spring at the former Martin flying grounds at Santa Ana. There he made his first good solo flight on June 1, 1912. He continued practice and June 19th flew from Santa Ana to the Griffith Park Aviation Field carrying Mrs. Smith as a passenger. This was a one hour flight, passing over the business section of Los Angeles.

Smith continued his practice at Griffith Park until mid-Summer, then he and Mrs. Smith left on an exhibition tour of the midwestern states. During August they were at Overland Park, Kansas City, Missouri, flying as a Park