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JOHN B. R. VERPLANCK
Pioneer Curtiss Flying Boat Sportsman Pilot

John B. R. Verplanck was born of wealthy parents at Stony Kill Farms, Fishkill, New York, October 8, 1881. He attended DeGarmo Institute, Cornwall Heights, and Hotchkiss Schools, then graduated from Colombia University with a B.A. degree in 1904. This was followed by agricultural work at Cornwell and Rutgers which he completed in 1908.

He became intensely interested in flying when he saw Glenn Curtiss fly down the Hudson River in May, 1910, and as a result enrolled in the first spring class of students at the Curtiss Flying School at Hammondsport, New York, on April 15, 1913. There he ordered a Curtiss flying boat and learned to fly one from instructor Francis "Doc" Wildman. He was one of a large class students and by late May he was flying very capably.

His new flying boat was completed about that time and taken to the lake for trials. Several other boats were made by the Curtiss Company that spring, but Verplanck's was somewhat different. It was arranged for pilot and three passengers, had dual controls, embodied a special type of hull. and was powered by the latest 80-100 h.p., Curtiss engine. Wildman was in Europe at that time, so veteran Curtiss pilot Beckwith Havens conducted the flight tests of the craft in early June, with Verplanck as passenger and student pilot.

That month he entered his new craft in the 1913 Great Lakes Reliability Cruise for flying boats, to start from Chicago on July 8th. The event was a water-flying-craft race from Chicago to Detroit, via the Straits of Mackinac, following the shore lines of the Great Lakes. Due to his brief flying experience Verplanck engaged Beckwith Havens as his pilot while he was to be copilot and passenger on the Cruise. Four other machines were entered in the competition; Verplanck with his party and boat arrived in Chicago July 2nd. One of the worst storms in many years in the Chicago area almost put an end to the event on the afternoon of the starting day. Verplanck and Havens were second to start and