| Industry | Aircraft manufacturer |
|---|---|
| Fate | Dissolved in 1911 |
| Founded | 1910 |
| Defunct | 1911 |
| Headquarters | Baltimore, Maryland |
Key people | Edward R Brown, Don Swann, Clyde Loose |
Brown Aeronautical Company was an American aircraft manufacturer in the pioneering era of flight between 1900 and 1914. [1]
The history of aviation extends for more than two thousand years, from the earliest forms of aviation such as kites and attempts at tower jumping to supersonic and hypersonic flight by powered, heavier-than-air jets.
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Three young men from Baltimore founded Brown Aeronautical shortly after the Halethorpe Air Meet of 1910. [2] The first aircraft built, the Brown Lord Baltimore, was destroyed in a fire in October 1910. [3] The second, the Brown Lord Baltimore II, had its first flight promoted throughout the city. On 17 May 1911, the hydroplane was demonstrated near the Light Street Bridge in the Curtiss Bay of Baltimore. The 22-year-old Washington, D.C.-based pioneering aviator Tony Jannus was hired for the successful test flight in front of a large group of spectators. [4] [5] Two-seat aircraft and flight training were rare at the time. Company owner Edward Brown took the controls of the Lord Baltimore II alone for his first flight in an aircraft on 19 May. [6] He climbed 50 feet and spun into the bay, not able to turn the aircraft around. The injured Brown did not attempt to fly again. Clyde Loose attempted to fly the Lord Baltimore II on 2 July, but wrecked in some bushes. The aircraft was reassembled soon after. [7]
Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the 30th most populous city in the United States, with a population of 602,495 in 2018 and also the largest such independent city in the country. Baltimore was established by the Constitution of Maryland as an independent city in 1729. As of 2017, the population of the Baltimore metropolitan area was estimated to be just under 2.802 million, making it the 21st largest metropolitan area in the country. Baltimore is located about 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Washington, D.C., making it a principal city in the Washington-Baltimore combined statistical area (CSA), the fourth-largest CSA in the nation, with a calculated 2018 population of 9,797,063.
Maryland Route 2 is the longest state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The 79.24-mile (127.52 km) route runs from Solomons Island in Calvert County north to an intersection with U.S. Route 1 and US 40 Truck in Baltimore. The route runs concurrent with MD 4 through much of Calvert County along a four-lane divided highway known as Solomons Island Road, passing through rural areas as well as the communities of Lusby, Port Republic, Prince Frederick, and Huntingtown. In Sunderland, MD 2 splits from MD 4 and continues north as two-lane undivided Solomons Island Road into Anne Arundel County, still passing through rural areas. Upon reaching Annapolis, the route runs concurrent with US 50 and US 301 around the city. Between Annapolis and Baltimore, MD 2 runs along the Governor Ritchie Highway, a multilane divided highway that heads through suburban areas, passing through Arnold, Severna Park, Pasadena, Glen Burnie, and Brooklyn Park. In Baltimore, the route heads north on city streets and passes through the downtown area of the city.
Antony Habersack Jannus, more familiarly known as Tony Jannus, was an early American pilot whose aerial exploits were widely publicized in aviation's pre-World War I period. He flew the first airplane from which a parachute jump was made, in 1912. Jannus was also the first airline pilot, having pioneered the inaugural flight of the St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line on January 1, 1914, the first scheduled commercial airline flight in the world using heavier-than-air aircraft. The Tony Jannus Award, created to perpetuate his legacy, recognizes outstanding individual achievement in the scheduled commercial aviation industry and is conferred annually by the Tony Jannus Distinguished Aviation Society founded in Tampa, Florida, in 1963.
An announcement that the Brown aircraft would be flown to Washington D.C. via Annapolis was released. [8] On 9 July 1911, Jannus attempted to fly the aircraft again configured as a hydroplane with Clyde Loose as a passenger. After three attempts, the aircraft was grounded with a failed radiator. Brown publicized the aircraft would fly to Frederick the next day. [9] [10]
The aircraft was tested through the summer. One flight by Loose on 27 July included Frank Brown Jr, son of Maryland's Governor Frank Brown. [11] Partner Don Swan flew the aircraft once to fifty feet and landed after he found he could not turn the aircraft. Swan's wife grounded him permanently afterward. [12] [13] The company was dissolved later in 1911.
Frank Brown, a member of the United States Democratic Party, was the 42nd Governor of Maryland in the United States from 1892 to 1896. Born in 1846 in Sykesville, Maryland, he also served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1876 to 1878. He died in 1920 in Baltimore, Maryland.
