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Charles F. Willard
Charles F. Willard
	Willard in 1910
Born	Charles Foster Willard; October 13, 1883; Melrose, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	February 1, 1977 (aged 93); Glendale, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Aviator, engineer, explorer
Known for	First barnstormer (1909); Fourth American pilot of an airplane (1909); First person to fly three passengers in the United States (1910); First person to be shot down in an airplane (1910);
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Charles Foster Willard (October 13, 1883 – February 1, 1977) was an American aviator and engineer, who became known as the first barnstormer with his trick flights. Willard was the first person taught to fly by Glenn Curtiss in 1909 and was the 10th person to receive an official pilot's licence. Willard made a number of aviation 'firsts'.

In 1910, Willard made the first ever flight over downtown Los Angeles. He was the first person to fly three passengers in the United States. Willard has the unfortunate record of being the first person to have his airplane shot out of the sky by a bullet — that of an annoyed farmer who hit his propeller with a squirrel gun.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

At the Harvard-Boston Aero Meet of 1910 Charles Willard took Miss Eleanor Ladd of Boston on a flight. She worked for a Boston newspaper, and was reportedly the first newspaper woman in America to fly in an airplane.^{[citation needed]}

During the Airshow Willard also took along Army Lieutenant Jacob E. Finkel, a rifle sharpshooter up in his Curtiss biplane. As Willard circled the airfield, Finkel fired shots from the airplane at targets on the ground, hitting them more often than not. The “experiment” was considered “highly satisfactory”.^[6]

With aviation pioneer Stanley Yale Beach, they've built the Beach-Willard Monoplane, from which they received patents, having invented the connection of planes or wings to a triangular body, enforceable in France, England and the United States.^[7]^[8]

On July 1, 1912, Willard's father, William A. Willard, was pilot Harriet Quimby's passenger when both died in a crash.

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References

^ Buckner, Harold E. (1969). "The Flying Pioneers: Charles F. Willard". American Aviation Historical Society Journal: 125. OCLC 1479442. Willard was born at Melrose, Massachusetts, October 13, 1883, attended grade school at Hull, Massachusetts...
^ "3 Passengers in Aeroplane; Charles F. Willard Establishes Record For America". The Sun. Baltimore, Md. August 15, 1910. p. 1. New York. Aug. 14 —Charles F. Willard in a Curtiss aeroplane, flew with three passengers and himself for 500 yards at Mineola, L. I. this evening. This is the first three passenger flight recorded in America. With his brother, W. H. Willard, R. F. Patterson and Archibald Albin aboard he ascended prettily and skimmed the distance at a height of 20 feet.
^ "Charles F. Willard, Who is Trying to Perfect the Monoplane; Bullet Hit Airship of Boston Aviator; Charles F. Willard of Hull Has Become Prominent in Aeronautics". Boston Journal. Boston, Mass. June 2, 1910. p. 3. It was a Boston man who figured in the first case recorded of an aeroplane brought to earth by a bullet...Charles F. Willard, whose machine was wrecked in Joplin, Mo., during a cross-country flight
^ AP News (February 2, 1977). "Charles F. Willard Is Dead". The New York Times. New York. p. 17.
^ Willard, Charles F. (February 1956). Frank H. Ellis (ed.). Frail were my Wings. pp. 31, 70. {{cite book}}: |magazine= ignored (help)
^ Norwich Bulletin, (Conn.) “Continue For Two Days”, September 14, 1910.
^ Aeronautics, The American Magazine of Aerial Locomotion, Vol. 5, No. 1, July 2009, p. 14-15
^ American Magazine of Aeronautics, Volumes 5 à 7, p. 98