FAA pilots license 1?

[spad0007]

I was wondering if Robert Cummings was the holder of the first FAA private license/
(Air car?)

[jimslost]

Robert Commings the actor? I heard him claim that his original license had been signed by Orville Wright, but since he earned it long before the FAA came into being (I believe he got it when the Bureau of Air Commerce was still running things but well after they started issuing licenses in the mid 20s), I don't think it's #1. Unless it was issued to someone he knew and was given to him ....

[spad0007]

SEE . You guys know stuff. Yeppers the actor.
I think my confusion is whether the FAA started over with the
numbers
and i just like air history
stuff like GLEN CURTIS HAVING a land speed record
and the speed record in the air at the same time.
(Only one to do so) any way stuff like that.
thank you

[jimslost]

The FAA continued with the same numbering started by the Bureau of Air Commerce. My dad got his license from the BAC in '34 and had the same number through the CAA's cancellation of all licenses after Pearl Harbor (an event I have not been able to confirm) and all his subsequent ratings till he passed away in '05. Sometime after the FAA fell under the Department of Transportation, they began issuing licenses with the pilot's Social Security number, but if your license was issued before that, they couldn't make the change without your permission. Eventually they took enough heat about the issue that they now offer you a choice of using your SSN or a dedicated pilot's license number.

[denniss]

Hi, Spad,
I share your enthusiasms for aviation history.
You mention Glenn Curtiss' double speed record, and I agree, it's amazing. As you probably know, the land record was on his V-8 motorcycle, 136.4 mph, on Ormond Beach in Florida, 1907.
Here's another Curtiss tidbit:

It's from the Reims Air Show, 1908, where he set that air speed record of 46 1/2 mph. (In fact, it wasn't until after WWI that the air record exceeded that on land.)
Note, his French license is #2. Louis Bleriot got #1.
By the way, after Reims the circus went to Brescia (curiously, from a site of the French Grand Prix auto race to the focal point of Italy's Mille Miglia auto race...). There, Curtiss took a famous person for a ride, Italian patriot/poet/rascal Gabrielle d'Annunzio.
(Some of this info comes from a Road & Track piece/SAE presentation I did in 2003/2004, called "The Tangled Tale of the Wright Bros, Attorney Selden and Henry Ford.")
All in good fun.
Dennis

[spad0007]

SEE . You guys know stuff. Yeppers!!
Sorry I misspelled Curtiss should Know better.
? did he get any sea plane records?
i bet he did as he was a early builder

[denniss]

Hi, Spad,
Curtiss is credited as having the first seaplane with fuselage hull, this, in January 1912. Before long, he certainly wasn't alone with the idea.
Here's one of my favorites:

This is the Benoist flying boat, the world's first regularly scheduled heavier than air passenger carrying craft: Tampa/St. Pete for $5, January 1914. My FS version is over at flightsim.com.
All in good fun.
Dennis

[spad0007]

Thank You i will do an search ?Benoist*.* next thing.

[Admin]

Dennis's FS98 Benoist was the very first non-Bill Lyons aircraft featured on the original version of The Old Hangar back in November of 1998. I loved that plane

[denniss]

Hello, Tom,
Thanks sincerely for your kind words. I suspect you know the one pictured here is an updated Gmax/FS9 version.
High regards.
Dennis

[leylandspurr]

Hi SPAD,
This is a nice historic flight to replicate (I've never been to St Petersburg, or even the one in Russia) and I think there are several scenery addons available that will enhance the appearance. I'm currently using the Freeflow 'City of St. Petersburg, Florida v5.2' by Toni Hiltunen. It's only a short flight but it must have been a real pioneering job for early passengers! Another of Dennis's marvellous contributions to the byways of aviation history (thanks Dennis, still playing with the Staaken, and thanks SPAD for the smoke tutorial, it's coming in handy at the moment).
Leyland

[spad0007]

Cheers! and have a fun flight

[Bookman]

Gents,
I don't get over here as much as I'd like any more but I thought I'd pipe in here and provide the following:

"The Aeronautics Branch of the Department of Commerce began pilot certification with this license, issued on April 6, 1927. The recipient was the chief of the Branch, William P. MacCracken, Jr. (Orville Wright, who was no longer an active flier, had declined the honor.) MacCracken's license was the first issued to a pilot by a civilian agency of the Federal government."

Some three months later, the Branch issued the first Federal aircraft mechanic license.



www.oldbeacon.com/beacon/first_us_pilots_license.htm