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Thomas Etholen Selfridge (February 8, 1882 – September 17, 1908) was a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He became the first person to die in a crash of a powered airplane when a passenger on a demonstration flight piloted by Orville Wright.〔 ==Biography== Selfridge was born on February 8, 1882 in San Francisco, California. He was the grandson of Rear Admiral Thomas Oliver Selfridge Sr. He graduated from United States Military Academy in 1903 and received his commission in the Artillery Corps. He was 31st in a class of 96; Douglas MacArthur was first. In 1907, when the Artillery Corps was separated into the Field Artillery and Coast Artillery Corps, Selfridge was assigned to the 5th Field Artillery Regiment and the following year to the 1st Field Artillery Regiment. In 1906 Selfridge, a native San Franciscan, was stationed at the Presidio during the great earthquake in April. His unit participated in search and rescue as well as clean up.〔(Check-Six database,''The First Fatal Plane Crash'' )〕 In 1907 he was assigned to the Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps at Fort Myer, Virginia. There, he was one of three pilots trained to fly the Army Dirigible Number One, purchased in July, 1908 from Thomas Scott Baldwin. He was also the United States government representative to the Aerial Experiment Association, which was chaired by Alexander Graham Bell, and became its first secretary. Selfridge took his first flight on December 6, 1907, on Bell's tetrahedral kite, the ''Cygnet'', made of 3,393 winged cells. It took him 168 feet in the air above Bras d'Or Lake in Nova Scotia, Canada, and flew for seven minutes. This was the first recorded flight carrying a passenger of any heavier-than-air craft in Canada. He also flew a craft built by a Canadian engineer, Frederick W. Baldwin, that flew three feet off the ground for about 100 feet. Selfridge designed ''Red Wing'', the Aerial Experiment Association's first powered aircraft. On March 12, 1908, the ''Red Wing'', piloted by Frederick W. Baldwin, raced over the frozen surface of Keuka Lake near Hammondsport, New York, on runners and actually flew 318 feet, 11 inches, before crashing. ''Red Wing'' was destroyed in a crash on its second flight on March 17, 1908, and only the engine could be salvaged. On May 19, Selfridge became the first US military officer to pilot a modern aircraft when he took to the air alone in AEA's newest craft, ''White Wing'', traveling 100 feet on his first attempt and 200 feet on his second.〔(Thomas Etholen Selfridge ), Inside AF.mil, retrieved 12-13-2014〕 Between May 19 and August 3, 1908, he made a number of flights at Hammondsport, culminating in a flight of one minute and thirty seconds at 75 feet. The next day his final solo flight of fifty seconds went 800 yards. Although not fully trained as a pilot, nevertheless Selfridge was the first U.S. military officer to fly any airplane solo.〔(''Air Corps News Letter'' ) (January 1, 1938), Vol. XXI No. 1, Washington D.C.: Office of the Chief of the Air Corps〕 In August 1908, Selfridge, along with Lieutenants Frank P. Lahm and Benjamin Foulois, was instructed in flying a dirigible purchased by the US Army in July. The dirigible was scheduled to fly from Fort Omaha, Nebraska, to exhibitions at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, Missouri, with Foulois and Selfridge as the pilots. However, the Army had also tentatively agreed to purchase an airplane from the Wright Brothers and had scheduled the acceptance trials in September. Selfridge, with an interest in both heavier-than-air and lighter-than-air ships, obtained an appointment and traveled to Fort Myer, Virginia. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Thomas Selfridge」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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