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344

CLYDE M. WOOD
Early Moisant Monoplane Pilot

Clyde M. Wood was bron at Bible Grove, Illinois, January 9, 1885. He attended local school and McKendree College, Lebanon, Illinois.
After becoming interested in flying he joined the Moisant Flying School at Garden City, Long Island, New York, in September 1912, where he learned to fly a 34 h.p., Anzani-engined Moisant-Bleriot type monoplane from instructor S. S. Jerwan. Using a single-seat machine, with verbal ground instruction only, Wood began grass-cutting practice, gradually progressing to short straight-away hops, and made his first solo circle of the field on November 20th. 
Late in 1912 the school moved to Augusta, Georgia, for the winter months and Wood went along to continue his practice. Jerwan and George Arnold were also flying there and Wood was soon flying skillfully. He passed his license tests and obtained F.A.I Certificate No. 209 on February 21, 1913, flying a 50 H.P. Gnome-engined monoplane. Soon afterward he was made assistant instructor.
Wood returned to Long Island with the school in the spring of 1913 and remained with the Moisant organization that summer doing a considerable amount of active flying on school and test work. On June 10th Wood and Fred Hild made the mistake of flying over the Polo Matches and Meadow Brook, Long Island, and has their licenses suspended for a month by the Aero Club of America. In July Wood was creating quite a stir at the flying field when he carried a stray dog on many of his flights and the animal seemed to love it.
That summer the Moisant Company was developing an all-new 50 h.p., Gnome-powered monoplane, designed and built by Early Bird Harold Kantner. Called the Kantner-Moisant "Bluebird" it was superbly built and especially desgined for easy tear-down and assembly for exhibition and military use. Wood did considerable flying with this new plane.