February 27, 2025 • 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 machines as one of the world's first test pilots. Craig Du Mez of the Grateful Nation Project is here to tell the story.
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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 gatherlers, preserves,
(00:33):
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
(01:05):
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 US 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 eighteen. From sixty one to eighteen sixty three,
the United States Army laid claim to a newfangled 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
(03:19):
to take one across the Atlantic, 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
(03:39):
in diameter. The city, with its girdle 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. The service of
(04:00):
the country. Seeing the potential of an aerial vantage point,
Lincoln authorized the US 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
(04:23):
front of them. You're probably 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
(04:44):
what historians call the Pioneer era of aviation. Despite the
Wright Brothers' remarkable achievement, it took 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
(05:07):
Life magazine, not even Scientific American. The federal government was
also slow to catch on, but four years later, in
nineteen oh seven, the US Army was taking an interest
in the experimental heavier than air Howard flying machines. The
eager young Lieutenant Selfridge would volunteer his services to Orville
(05:29):
and Wilbur Wright, only to be turned down. They preferred
to have only permanent assistants and 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
(05:51):
had established the new Aerial Experiment Association, inviting Selfridge to
be one of its original five members. Thomas would take
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
(06:12):
become the first passenger of any plane in Canada. Lieutenant
Selfridge then designed the association's first conventional airplane, 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
(06:37):
never had the opportunity to fly it, 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
(06:58):
a lawsuit with the Wright Brothers, who would claim that
Bell's AEA organization violated the Wright Brothers 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
(07:19):
earn his wings when he was assigned to the US
Army Signal Corps Aeronautical Division at Fort Meyer, 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.
(07:41):
They'd be making it up from scratch, flying by the
seat of their pants, you 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 machine to army officials at Fort Meyer.
(08:02):
The Wright brothers had just signed a contract with the
US government and set out to 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
(08:23):
Orville suspected that Selfridge was acting beyond his army observation
responsibilities and was working secretly to 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
(08:47):
circuit in the air, vibration caused the propeller to strike
a guide wire and tear it from the rudder. Orville
would recount what happened next in a letter to his brother.
Quick as a flash, the machine turned down in front
and started straight for the ground. Lieutenant Selfridge up to
this time had not uttered a word, though he took
(09:07):
a hasty glance behind when the propeller broke, and turned
once or twice to look into my face, evidently to
see what I thought 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
(09:30):
for months. Selfridge, however, died later that evening. Today history
records that Lieutenant Thomas E. 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.
(09:51):
From the beginning of time, man has looked up at
the birds and wondered what would it be like to fly?
For millennia, that possibility only existed 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
(10:12):
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 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,
(10:33):
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 gatherlers, preserves,
(00:33):
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
(01:05):
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 US 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 eighteen. From sixty one to eighteen sixty three,
the United States Army laid claim to a newfangled 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
(03:19):
to take one across the Atlantic, 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
(03:39):
in diameter. The city, with its girdle 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. The service of
(04:00):
the country. Seeing the potential of an aerial vantage point,
Lincoln authorized the US 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
(04:23):
front of them. You're probably 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
(04:44):
what historians call the Pioneer era of aviation. Despite the
Wright Brothers' remarkable achievement, it took 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
(05:07):
Life magazine, not even Scientific American. The federal government was
also slow to catch on, but four years later, in
nineteen oh seven, the US Army was taking an interest
in the experimental heavier than air Howard flying machines. The
eager young Lieutenant Selfridge would volunteer his services to Orville
(05:29):
and Wilbur Wright, only to be turned down. They preferred
to have only permanent assistants and 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
(05:51):
had established the new Aerial Experiment Association, inviting Selfridge to
be one of its original five members. Thomas would take
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
(06:12):
become the first passenger of any plane in Canada. Lieutenant
Selfridge then designed the association's first conventional airplane, 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
(06:37):
never had the opportunity to fly it, 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
(06:58):
a lawsuit with the Wright Brothers, who would claim that
Bell's AEA organization violated the Wright Brothers 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
(07:19):
earn his wings when he was assigned to the US
Army Signal Corps Aeronautical Division at Fort Meyer, 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.
(07:41):
They'd be making it up from scratch, flying by the
seat of their pants, you 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 machine to army officials at Fort Meyer.
(08:02):
The Wright brothers had just signed a contract with the
US government and set out to 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
(08:23):
Orville suspected that Selfridge was acting beyond his army observation
responsibilities and was working secretly to 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
(08:47):
circuit in the air, vibration caused the propeller to strike
a guide wire and tear it from the rudder. Orville
would recount what happened next in a letter to his brother.
Quick as a flash, the machine turned down in front
and started straight for the ground. Lieutenant Selfridge up to
this time had not uttered a word, though he took
(09:07):
a hasty glance behind when the propeller broke, and turned
once or twice to look into my face, evidently to
see what I thought 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
(09:30):
for months. Selfridge, however, died later that evening. Today history
records that Lieutenant Thomas E. 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.
(09:51):
From the beginning of time, man has looked up at
the birds and wondered what would it be like to fly?
For millennia, that possibility only existed 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
(10:12):
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 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,
(10:33):
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
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