{{Short description|American aviator (1889–1912)}} {{for|the similarly named pioneer aviator|Paul W. Beck}} {{Infobox person | name = Paul Peck | image = Paul Peck LCCN2016820666 (cropped).jpg | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = August 10, 1889 | birth_place = Ansted, West Virginia, US | death_date = September 11 or 12, 1912 (age 23) | death_place = Chicago, Illinois, US | resting_place = Rockville Cemetery, Rockville, Maryland | other_names = | occupation = aviator | years_active = 1911–1912 | spouse = Ruth Owens Peck (1893–1912) | children = Paul Peck, Jr. (1912–1919) }} '''Paul Peck''' (August 10, 1889 – September 11 or 12, 1912) was an early U.S. aviator. The first aviator from the U.S. state of West Virginia, he set a number of aviation firsts and records before dying in a plane crash.
==Early life==
Peck was born in Ansted, West Virginia, on August 10, 1889, the son of Leonidas McFarland "Lon" Peck (1857–1934) and Alice Peck ''née'' Masters (1869–1956), of Lewisburg, West Virginia.<ref name=wells20030615>Wells, Sandy, "Birdman of West Virginia: West Virginia's Trailblazing First Pilot Remains Largely Unrecognized — Until Now," ''Sunday Gazette-Mail'', June 15, 2003 at [https://earlyaviators.com/epeck.htm EarlyAviators.com: Paul Peck Accessed March 11, 2023]</ref><ref name=yeagerairport.com>[https://yeagerairport.com/paul-peck-the-earliest-pilots-you-have-never-heard-of-aviation/ yeagerairport.com "One of the Earliest Pilots in Aviation Is from West Virginia," June 18, 2021 Accessed March 11, 2023]</ref> His father was a railroad agent.<ref name=wells20030615/> Peck spent most of his childhood in Hinton, West Virginia.<ref name=wells20030615/> As a child, he became interested in machinery and automobiles, and enjoyed tinkering with automotive engines.<ref name=wells20030615/><ref name=yeagerairport.com/>
In addition to Hinton, Peck lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Charleston, West Virginia.<ref name=wells20030615/> As a young man, he worked in Washington, D.C. as a chauffeur for Isaac T. Mann, a millionaire from West Virginia,<ref name=wells20030615/> and drove in automobile races.
==Aviation career==
Peck's interest in aviation arose from his interest in automobiles, as well as his association with his fiancee's cousin Rex Smith, an aviation pioneer and owner of the Rex Smith Aeroplane Company.<ref name=yeagerairport.com/> He began flying lessons in 1911 and learned to fly in seven days.<ref name=wells20030615/><ref name=yeagerairport.com/> Sources provide differing accounts of the beginning of his flying career: According to one, he did not begin flying lessons until August 12, 1911.<ref name=wells20030615/><!-- Source says "two days after his 22nd birthday, indicating August 12, 1911--> but another states that he qualified for his pilot's license on July 29–30, 1911, becoming the first aircraft pilot from West Virginia.<ref name=wells20030615/><ref name=yeagerairport.com/> It was the 57th pilot's license issued by, according to different sources, either the ''Fédération Aéronautique Internationale''<ref name=wells20030615/><ref name=yeagerairport.com/> or the Aero Club of America, He apparently landed a plane in Raleigh County, West Virginia, in 1911, probably becoming the first person to fly an airplane over West Virginia.<ref name=wells20030615/>
The United States Army selected Peck as one of only three officers to learn to fly under aviation pioneer Glenn H. Curtiss.<ref name=yeagerairport.com/> In 1911, Peck became one of the first flight instructors at the United States Army Signal Corps flight school at College Park Airport in College Park, Maryland,<ref name=wells20030615/> which went on to become the oldest continuously operating airport in the world.<ref name=earlyaviators>[https://earlyaviators.com/epeck.htm EarlyAviators.com: Paul Peck Accessed March 11, 2023]</ref> The governor of West Virginia, William E. Glasscock,<!--Source says only "a governor," but presumably it was the governor of Peck's home state.--> bestowed the honorific title of "colonel" on Peck, but this did not reflect an actual military rank.<ref name=wells20030615/> The United States Army gave him the rank of first lieutenant as an instructor in its aviation training program.
Peck set altitude records and flew planes designed by Rex Smith Aeroplane Company, serving as a test pilot for the company.<ref name=wells20030615/> He also designed and built his own airplane, the Peck Columbian, a pusher biplane with a Gyro Motor Company {{convert|50|hp|0|adj=on}} engine driving a single propeller at 1,200 to 1,500 revolutions per minute.<ref name=wells20030615/> Controlled by a steering wheel,<ref name=wells20030615/> the Columbian — which he named ''Miss Columbia'' — was "headless," i.e., it did not have its elevators mounted in front of the cockpit.<ref name=knoxville19120912>Anonymous, "Aviator's Neck Broken: Machine Falls with Paul Peck, at Chicago, the Heavy Engine Crushing Through Wreckage upon Hapless Airman," ''Knoxville Daily Journal and Tribune'' (Knoxville, Tennessee), September 12, 1912, at [https://earlyaviators.com/epeck.htm EarlyAviators.com: Paul Peck Accessed March 11, 2023]</ref> The Columbian could achieve a speed of {{convert|70|mph|0}}.<ref name=wells20030615/>
In August 1911, Peck became the first person to fly an airplane over the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.<ref name=wells20030615/><ref name=yeagerairport.com/> He then flew down Pennsylvania Avenue and circled the Washington Monument, setting an aviation speed record in the process by covering {{convert|24|mi}} in 25 minutes.<ref name=wells20030615/><ref name=yeagerairport.com/> One source specifies that this flight took place on 5 August 1911, while others imply a different date, claiming he made the flight "two weeks" after he earned his pilot's license.<ref name=wells20030615/><ref name=yeagerairport.com/>
In September 1911, Peck became the first pilot to carry air mail in official United States Post Office flights.<ref name=wells20030615/><ref name=yeagerairport.com/><ref name=earlyaviators/> His second fight, at Garden City, New York, was the first for which a U.S. Post Office was established specifically to handle air mail.<ref name=earlyaviators/>
Peck's best-known achievement during his lifetime was the flight endurance record he set on May 24, 1912, when he remained aloft for four hours 33 minutes 15 seconds despite heavy winds, blinding rain, and hail.<ref name=wells20030615/><ref name=yeagerairport.com/> Sources disagree over whether the flight took place over Long Island, New York,<ref name=wells20030615/> or Boston, Massachusetts.<ref name=wells20030615/> One source claims that he also set a record for "landing accuracy," without describing it.<ref name=wells20030615/>
While participating in a three-day aviation meet at South Charleston, West Virginia, on June 26, 1912, Peck impressed a crowd of 5,000 onlookers when he took off in the Peck Columbian from a ball field despite an approaching thunderstorm for a {{convert|6|mi|adj=on}} round-trip flight, determined to circle the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston. Fighting heavy winds, he reached an altitude of {{convert|2,000|ft|0}}, executed a perfect circle around the dome of the capitol, then covered the {{convert|3|mi}} back to the ball field in 90 seconds at a speed of {{convert|75|mph}}. His flight took 11 minutes 30 seconds.<ref name=wells20030615/> At other times during the meet, he demonstrated his "ocean roll," a spectacular maneuver for its time that required a series of short dives and climbs and required him to shut off the engine before each dive and restart it for each climb.<ref name=wells20030615/>
==Death==
In September 1912, Peck travelled to Chicago, Illinois, to participate in the Second Chicago International Air Meet and represent the United States in the 1912 Gordon Bennett Trophy race,<ref name=wells20030615/><ref name=yeagerairport.com/> scheduled to take place as part of the air meet. On September 11, the day before the race, he took off from Cicero Field in ''Miss Columbia'' to prepare for the race, despite warnings of dangerous flying conditions due to high winds and stormy conditions;<ref name=wells20030615/><ref name=yeagerairport.com/> he believed his biplane′s speed would allow him to overcome the weather conditions.<ref name=knoxville19120912/> At an altitude of between {{convert|800|and|1,000|ft|0}}, according to different sources,<ref name=wells20030615/><ref name=knoxville19120912/> he put the airplane into a steep and rapid spiraling dive.<ref name=yeagerairport.com/><ref name=knoxville19120912/> As he reached an altitude of {{convert|200|ft|0}}, observers on the ground could see that he had lost control of the plane, its engine apparently having come loose in flight,<ref name=wells20030615/><ref name=yeagerairport.com/><ref name=knoxville19120912/> probably during his ascent.<ref name=yeagerairport.com/> The plane began to disintegrate in the air and crashed at a speed of {{convert|100|mph|0}}, the engine and its whirling propeller, gasoline tank, and iron fittings passing through the cockpit on impact, breaking his neck and injuring his legs.<ref name=wells20030615/><ref name=yeagerairport.com/><ref name=knoxville19120912/> He died in St. Anthony de Padua Hospital, sources disagreeing on whether he died on September 11, an hour after the crash, or several hours later, on September 12.<ref name=knoxville19120912/>
Peck's funeral in Washington, D.C., included a motor hearse, a motor wagon loaded with floral pieces, and about 30 other automobiles. It made history as the city's first funeral procession consisting entirely of motor vehicles, with no horse-drawn vehicles participating.<ref name=wells20030615/>
==Personal life== In 1911,<ref name=wells20030615/> Peck married Ruth Owens, a young woman from Washington, D.C., where the couple made their home. Ruth gave birth to a son and their only child, Paul Peck, Jr., on April 4, 1912, and died at the age of 19 during the night of April 5–6, 1912, due to complications from childbirth, a blood transfusion from her husband failing to save her life.<ref name=wells20030615/> When Peck was killed just over five months later, the orphaned Paul Jr. was left in the care of grandparents.<ref name=wells20030615/> Paul Jr. died of complications of influenza at the age of six on March 27, 1919, during the Spanish influenza pandemic.
Paul Peck, Ruth Peck, and Paul Peck, Jr., all are buried at Rockville Cemetery in Rockville, Maryland.
==Commemoration==
In 1979, Paul Peck's last living descendants presented a commemorative plaque in his memory to Greenbrier Valley Airport outside Lewisburg, West Virginia.<ref name=wells20030615/> As of 2003, it was on display in the airport's terminal.<ref name=wells20030615/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.lincolnbeachey.com/cicart.html Cicero Flying Field] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060201033220/http://www.lincolnbeachey.com/cicart.html |date=2006-02-01 }} by Carroll Gray *[https://web.archive.org/web/20210113020214/http://www.lincolnbeachey.com/av3page591x852.jpg portrait of Paul Peck] and his fellow aviators (Carroll Gray collection) (''Wayback Machine'') *[https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/paul-peck-aviator-rex-smith-aeroplane-1836730249 Paul Peck] at controls of one of Rex Smith's planes, circa College Park, Md (archived)
{{Authority control}} {{Aviators killed in early aviation accidents}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peck, Paul}} Category:1889 births Category:1912 deaths Category:20th-century American people Category:American aviation pioneers Category:Aviators from West Virginia Category:Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Category:Military personnel from Charleston, West Virginia Category:Military personnel from Fayette County, West Virginia Category:Military personnel from Summers County, West Virginia Category:People from Ansted, West Virginia Category:People from Hinton, West Virginia Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1912