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[top margin]]FROM THE HAROLD & MARVEL MOREHOUSE AVIATION PIONEERS COLLECTION NATIONAL AIR & SPACE MUSEUM[[/TOP MARGIN]]

ARTHUR P. WARNER
Pioneer Curtiss Pilot

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Arthur P. Warner was born in Jacksonville, Florida, April 18, 1870.  During his youth the family moved to Wisconsin, where he later took some electrical education subjects at Beloit College, followed by an International Correspondence course in Electrical Engineering between 1895 and 1897.

During the early period of the motor car industry he formed the Warner Instrument Company at Beloit, where in due course he developed and marketed the first magnetic speedometers for automobiles.  This grew into a substantial business and he invented and marketed other instrument accessories for cars.

In the early era of aviation development he became interested in the aeroplane and the possibility of making an air speed measuring instrument for flying.  As a result he placed an order for an aeroplane with Glen Curtiss in July, 1909, the first individual in the United States to purchase an aeroplane for private use.  His was the third plane built by Curtiss and was sold in sections.  Warner went to Hammondsport and assembled the plane himself, started grass cutting practice and made several straightaway extended hops there in November, 1919.  He had a minor smashup or two, then as the fall weather became unsuitable for further practice, he shipped the plane to his home in Wisconsin.

The plane was a standard Curtiss pusher biplane of that period, with front

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