Wright Model B Floatplane in Glen Head hangar (1912)
In 1912, the Wright Brothers set out to establish a school of water-flying at the Glenwood Country Club in Glen Head, New York. The Ohio-based inventors chose a New York engineer and aviator – Charles Wald – to test their “floatplane” design over a large body of water. Wald made several successful flights over Hempstead Harbor to New Rochelle and back. On October 10, 1912, with a newspaper correspondent on board, one of these flights ended with the plane flipping over upon landing. Though no one was hurt, this mishap effectively marked the end of the Wright Company’s Long Island experiment.
Charles Wald, Hempstead Plains (1916)
Photographs reprinted courtesy of Wright State University Library.