September 25, 2024 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, becoming masters of the skies has come at a cost. Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge stepped up for service against enemies, nature, and machine as one of the world's first test pilots. Craig Du Mez of The Grateful Nation Project tells the story.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories. Up next, a
story on a few firsts, one astonishing, one tragic, and
the twenty six year old lieutenant who accomplished both Thomas E. Selfridge.
You're to tell the story of Lieutenant Selfridge is Craig
Dumay of the Grateful Nation Project, an education organization that gablers,
(00:32):
preserves and shares the true stories of those who gave
quote the last full measure of devotion for our freedom unquote.
Take it away, Craig.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Although you may not have heard of him, Thomas Ethelyn
Selfridge's name is directly tied to some of the most
famous names and events in American history. He crossed paths
with Douglas MacArthur, the Wright Brothers, and Alexander Graham Bell,
just to name a few. And although Selfridge's life was
tragically cut short at twenty six, he holds major firsts
(01:06):
in world history thanks to his passion for a new
developing technology. Thomas E. Selfridge was born into military royalty,
if you can call it that. His uncle, Thomas Oliver Selfridge,
also had two interesting firsts. The first officer to receive
(01:29):
a diploma from the recently established United States Naval Academy
in Annapolis, and eventually he and his father, Thomas Oliver
Selfridge Senior, became the first father son rear admiral duo
in America. A passion for advancing technology must have been
embedded in the family genes. During the Civil War, the
(01:52):
uncle Thomas O. Selfridge Junior, briefly served as commander of
the Navy's first ironclad warship, the famed u USS Monitor,
and he commanded the Navy's first powered submarine, the USS Alligator,
which he would later call a failure. It would be
another forty years before the Navy finally commissioned a submarine.
(02:17):
All that said, young Thomas Ethelyn Selfridge was a shoe
in for a life of distinguished service to his country.
He would graduate from the United States Military Academy at
West Point thirty first in the class of nineteen oh three,
the same year of the Wright Brothers first motorized flight,
and he'd graduate next to the future General Douglas MacArthur,
(02:38):
first in that West Point class. The Army had commissioned
Selfridge as a lieutenant and assigned him to the field artillery,
but his passion was for the emerging field of aeronautics,
which the Army and the world for that matter, was
just beginning to explore. Military aviation in America began during
(02:58):
the Civil War. From eighteen steen sixty one to eighteen
sixty three, the United States Army laid claim to a
new fangled branch called the Union Army Balloon Corps, led
by aeronaut Yes, that's what they called pilots during the
Civil War Fattiest Low. As a side note, how Low
got the job is pretty incredible. He had experience with
hot air balloons, wanted to take one across the Atlantic,
(03:21):
and proposed a demonstration to President Lincoln in Washington, d C.
He flew up five hundred feet with a telegraph line
between his balloon and the White House. His telegraph to
Lincoln red blue. This point of observation commands an area
nearly fifty miles in diameter. The city, with its girdle
(03:41):
of encampments, presents a superb scene. I have pleasure in
sending you this first dispatch ever telegraphed from an aerial station,
and in acknowledging indebtedness to your encouragement for the opportunity
of demonstrating the availability of the science of aeronautics in
the service of the country. Seeing the potential of an
(04:04):
aerial vantage point, Lincoln authorized the U. S. Balloon Corps
and named Thaddeus Lowe as chief aeronaut The balloons proved
very useful during the war. Tethered on the banks of
the Potomac observers in balloons could call out Confederate movement
miles away and help the Union Army train artillery without
actually seeing the enemy in front of them. You're probably
(04:27):
beginning to see how Lieutenant Selfridge's story leads to a
good number of equally interesting American stories. By nineteen oh three,
on a stretch of beach in North Carolina, the first
powered flight ushered in what historians call the Pioneer era
of aviation. Despite the Wright brothers remarkable achievement, it took
(04:51):
some time for the press and the world to grasp
what had occurred. Reports of the breakthrough wouldn't catch the
public's attention until two years later, when a description appeared
in an obscure journal about beekeeping. That's right, not the
New York Times, not Life magazine, not even Scientific American.
The federal government was also slow to catch on, but
(05:13):
four years later, in nineteen oh seven, the US Army
was taking an interest in the experimental heavier than air
powered flying machines. The eager young Lieutenant Selfridge would volunteer
his services to Orville and Wilbur Wright, only to be
turned down. They preferred to have only permanent assistants and
(05:35):
were wary of sharing technical details with an employee of
the federal government. Selfridge's passion for the fledgling industry would
not be deterred. Later that spring, he met doctor Alexander
Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone. Bell was also experimenting
with powered flight and had established the new Aerial Experiment Association,
(05:55):
inviting Selfridge to be one of its original five members.
Thomas would to the sky for the first time in
Canada aboard Bell's very oddlooking tetrahedral kite made of an
astonishing three thousand, three hundred and ninety three winged cells,
and he would become the first passenger of any plane
in Canada. Lieutenant Selfridge then designed the association's first conventional airplane,
(06:20):
Aerodrome Number one, later nicknamed Red Wing because of the
red silk used on its wings, The color chosen because
red achieved good results in black and white photos. It
would become the first publicly demonstrated aircraft in America, though
its intrepid designer never had the opportunity to fly it,
(06:42):
he did fly Aerodrome Number two, nicknamed White Wing. In
doing so, Selfridge became the first US military officer to
fly solo in a powered flag machine. As for the
fate of the White Wing, it would be destroyed in
a crash landing in nineteen oh eight and also become
the subject of a lawsuit with the Wright Brothers, who
would claim that Bell's Aea organization violated the Wright Brothers
(07:04):
patent on movable wing surfaces. We know these movable surfaces
as ailerons today, and you still see them on every
plane in the sky. The following year, nineteen oh eight,
Lieutenant Selfridge would finally earn his wings when he was
assigned to the US Army Signal Corps Aeronautical Division at
(07:24):
Fort Myer, Virginia. There he was tasked with designing and
flying dirigibles. Keep in mind, Selfridge and the rest of
these guys weren't trained pilots by any stretch of the imagination.
Everything was new and experimental. They'd be making it up
from scratch, flying by the seat of their pants, you
(07:45):
could say, learning from their mistakes, which could easily prove deadly.
The technology race was on. In September nineteen oh eight,
Orville Wright was preparing to demonstrate his flying to army
officials at Fort Meyer. The Wright brothers had just signed
a contract with the US government and set out to
(08:07):
prove that their new plane could hold two people, flying
at forty miles per hour and remain in the air
for one hundred and twenty five miles. A fellow officer
convinced the relatively experienced Selfridge to be Orvile Wright's passenger
in the demonstration, although Orville suspected that Selfridge was acting
beyond his army observation responsibilities and was working secretly to
(08:30):
gather information as a competitor. Nevertheless, the demonstration flight took
place on September seventeen, nineteen oh eight, with Orville and
Selfridge on board. Halfway through the fifth circuit in the air,
vibration caused the propeller to strike a guide wire and
(08:51):
tear it from the rudder. Orville would recount what happened
next in a letter to his brother. Quick as a flash,
the machine turf down in front and started straight for
the ground. Lieutenant Selfridge up to this time had not
uttered a word, though he took a hasty glance behind
when the propeller broke, and turned once or twice to
look into my face, evidently to see what I thought
(09:14):
of the situation. But when the machine turned headfirst for
the ground, he exclaimed, oh oh in an almost inaudible voice.
Orville Wright broke several ribs and suffered a broken leg,
but recovered after being hospitalized for months. Selfridge, however, died
later that evening. Today history records that Lieutenant Thomas E.
(09:37):
Selfridge was the first person to ever die in an
airplane crash, just fifty yards away from the west gate
of Arlington National Cemetery, where Selfridge was buried with full
military honors a week later. From the beginning of time,
Manis looked up at the birds and wondered, what would
it be like to fly for millennia? That possibility only
(09:59):
exists in the imagination. December seventeenth, nineteen oh three, the
first heavier than air powered aircraft changed the world with
a flight of twelve seconds one hundred and twenty feet
and a top speed of six point eight miles per hour. Then,
in a span of just sixty five years, what began
with two bicycle mechanics tinkering in the sands of North
(10:20):
Carolina culminated in two astronauts leaving their footprints on the
dusty surface of the Moon and planting the American flag
two hundred and thirty eight thousand, eight hundred and fifty
five miles from home. Thanks to those magnificent men in
their flying machines.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
The story of Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge here on our
American Stories
And we continue with our American stories. Up next, a
story on a few firsts, one astonishing, one tragic, and
the twenty six year old lieutenant who accomplished both Thomas E. Selfridge.
You're to tell the story of Lieutenant Selfridge is Craig
Dumay of the Grateful Nation Project, an education organization that gablers,
(00:32):
preserves and shares the true stories of those who gave
quote the last full measure of devotion for our freedom unquote.
Take it away, Craig.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Although you may not have heard of him, Thomas Ethelyn
Selfridge's name is directly tied to some of the most
famous names and events in American history. He crossed paths
with Douglas MacArthur, the Wright Brothers, and Alexander Graham Bell,
just to name a few. And although Selfridge's life was
tragically cut short at twenty six, he holds major firsts
(01:06):
in world history thanks to his passion for a new
developing technology. Thomas E. Selfridge was born into military royalty,
if you can call it that. His uncle, Thomas Oliver Selfridge,
also had two interesting firsts. The first officer to receive
(01:29):
a diploma from the recently established United States Naval Academy
in Annapolis, and eventually he and his father, Thomas Oliver
Selfridge Senior, became the first father son rear admiral duo
in America. A passion for advancing technology must have been
embedded in the family genes. During the Civil War, the
(01:52):
uncle Thomas O. Selfridge Junior, briefly served as commander of
the Navy's first ironclad warship, the famed u USS Monitor,
and he commanded the Navy's first powered submarine, the USS Alligator,
which he would later call a failure. It would be
another forty years before the Navy finally commissioned a submarine.
(02:17):
All that said, young Thomas Ethelyn Selfridge was a shoe
in for a life of distinguished service to his country.
He would graduate from the United States Military Academy at
West Point thirty first in the class of nineteen oh three,
the same year of the Wright Brothers first motorized flight,
and he'd graduate next to the future General Douglas MacArthur,
(02:38):
first in that West Point class. The Army had commissioned
Selfridge as a lieutenant and assigned him to the field artillery,
but his passion was for the emerging field of aeronautics,
which the Army and the world for that matter, was
just beginning to explore. Military aviation in America began during
(02:58):
the Civil War. From eighteen steen sixty one to eighteen
sixty three, the United States Army laid claim to a
new fangled branch called the Union Army Balloon Corps, led
by aeronaut Yes, that's what they called pilots during the
Civil War Fattiest Low. As a side note, how Low
got the job is pretty incredible. He had experience with
hot air balloons, wanted to take one across the Atlantic,
(03:21):
and proposed a demonstration to President Lincoln in Washington, d C.
He flew up five hundred feet with a telegraph line
between his balloon and the White House. His telegraph to
Lincoln red blue. This point of observation commands an area
nearly fifty miles in diameter. The city, with its girdle
(03:41):
of encampments, presents a superb scene. I have pleasure in
sending you this first dispatch ever telegraphed from an aerial station,
and in acknowledging indebtedness to your encouragement for the opportunity
of demonstrating the availability of the science of aeronautics in
the service of the country. Seeing the potential of an
(04:04):
aerial vantage point, Lincoln authorized the U. S. Balloon Corps
and named Thaddeus Lowe as chief aeronaut The balloons proved
very useful during the war. Tethered on the banks of
the Potomac observers in balloons could call out Confederate movement
miles away and help the Union Army train artillery without
actually seeing the enemy in front of them. You're probably
(04:27):
beginning to see how Lieutenant Selfridge's story leads to a
good number of equally interesting American stories. By nineteen oh three,
on a stretch of beach in North Carolina, the first
powered flight ushered in what historians call the Pioneer era
of aviation. Despite the Wright brothers remarkable achievement, it took
(04:51):
some time for the press and the world to grasp
what had occurred. Reports of the breakthrough wouldn't catch the
public's attention until two years later, when a description appeared
in an obscure journal about beekeeping. That's right, not the
New York Times, not Life magazine, not even Scientific American.
The federal government was also slow to catch on, but
(05:13):
four years later, in nineteen oh seven, the US Army
was taking an interest in the experimental heavier than air
powered flying machines. The eager young Lieutenant Selfridge would volunteer
his services to Orville and Wilbur Wright, only to be
turned down. They preferred to have only permanent assistants and
(05:35):
were wary of sharing technical details with an employee of
the federal government. Selfridge's passion for the fledgling industry would
not be deterred. Later that spring, he met doctor Alexander
Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone. Bell was also experimenting
with powered flight and had established the new Aerial Experiment Association,
(05:55):
inviting Selfridge to be one of its original five members.
Thomas would to the sky for the first time in
Canada aboard Bell's very oddlooking tetrahedral kite made of an
astonishing three thousand, three hundred and ninety three winged cells,
and he would become the first passenger of any plane
in Canada. Lieutenant Selfridge then designed the association's first conventional airplane,
(06:20):
Aerodrome Number one, later nicknamed Red Wing because of the
red silk used on its wings, The color chosen because
red achieved good results in black and white photos. It
would become the first publicly demonstrated aircraft in America, though
its intrepid designer never had the opportunity to fly it,
(06:42):
he did fly Aerodrome Number two, nicknamed White Wing. In
doing so, Selfridge became the first US military officer to
fly solo in a powered flag machine. As for the
fate of the White Wing, it would be destroyed in
a crash landing in nineteen oh eight and also become
the subject of a lawsuit with the Wright Brothers, who
would claim that Bell's Aea organization violated the Wright Brothers
(07:04):
patent on movable wing surfaces. We know these movable surfaces
as ailerons today, and you still see them on every
plane in the sky. The following year, nineteen oh eight,
Lieutenant Selfridge would finally earn his wings when he was
assigned to the US Army Signal Corps Aeronautical Division at
(07:24):
Fort Myer, Virginia. There he was tasked with designing and
flying dirigibles. Keep in mind, Selfridge and the rest of
these guys weren't trained pilots by any stretch of the imagination.
Everything was new and experimental. They'd be making it up
from scratch, flying by the seat of their pants, you
(07:45):
could say, learning from their mistakes, which could easily prove deadly.
The technology race was on. In September nineteen oh eight,
Orville Wright was preparing to demonstrate his flying to army
officials at Fort Meyer. The Wright brothers had just signed
a contract with the US government and set out to
(08:07):
prove that their new plane could hold two people, flying
at forty miles per hour and remain in the air
for one hundred and twenty five miles. A fellow officer
convinced the relatively experienced Selfridge to be Orvile Wright's passenger
in the demonstration, although Orville suspected that Selfridge was acting
beyond his army observation responsibilities and was working secretly to
(08:30):
gather information as a competitor. Nevertheless, the demonstration flight took
place on September seventeen, nineteen oh eight, with Orville and
Selfridge on board. Halfway through the fifth circuit in the air,
vibration caused the propeller to strike a guide wire and
(08:51):
tear it from the rudder. Orville would recount what happened
next in a letter to his brother. Quick as a flash,
the machine turf down in front and started straight for
the ground. Lieutenant Selfridge up to this time had not
uttered a word, though he took a hasty glance behind
when the propeller broke, and turned once or twice to
look into my face, evidently to see what I thought
(09:14):
of the situation. But when the machine turned headfirst for
the ground, he exclaimed, oh oh in an almost inaudible voice.
Orville Wright broke several ribs and suffered a broken leg,
but recovered after being hospitalized for months. Selfridge, however, died
later that evening. Today history records that Lieutenant Thomas E.
(09:37):
Selfridge was the first person to ever die in an
airplane crash, just fifty yards away from the west gate
of Arlington National Cemetery, where Selfridge was buried with full
military honors a week later. From the beginning of time,
Manis looked up at the birds and wondered, what would
it be like to fly for millennia? That possibility only
(09:59):
exists in the imagination. December seventeenth, nineteen oh three, the
first heavier than air powered aircraft changed the world with
a flight of twelve seconds one hundred and twenty feet
and a top speed of six point eight miles per hour. Then,
in a span of just sixty five years, what began
with two bicycle mechanics tinkering in the sands of North
(10:20):
Carolina culminated in two astronauts leaving their footprints on the
dusty surface of the Moon and planting the American flag
two hundred and thirty eight thousand, eight hundred and fifty
five miles from home. Thanks to those magnificent men in
their flying machines.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
The story of Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge here on our
American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com