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The Quiet Birdmen is a secretive club in the United States for male aviators. Founded in 1921 by World War I pilots, the organization meets in various locations, never announced to the public. Members, called QBs, must be invited to join, and they join for life. Today, the club's membership, organized into regional "hangars", is made up primarily of retired airline, military and freight pilots, as well as a few astronauts.〔 It is also known as ye Anciente and Secret Order of Quiet Birdmen.〔 ==History== In France in November 1919, a group of World War I aviators started a drinking club called "The American Flying Club", and re-convened in New York City only to be barred from their clubhouse by the bailiff. In January 1921, a subset of that group, some ten to twenty aviators, began meeting fairly regularly on Monday nights in New York City at Marta, an Italian restaurant located at 75 Washington Place in the Greenwich Village neighborhood. Harold Hersey, the editor of ''Aces High'' magazine, ironically called the group the Quiet Birdmen because they were so boisterous.〔 At one meeting, reporter Steve Hannigan noticed the jocular group, and visited again the next week, bringing a sketch artist. Hannigan wrote up a feature story about the group, accompanied by a sketch—the first public information about the group. The attendees that night were Harry Bruno, S. H. MacKeon, Wallace James, Richard R. "Dick" Blythe, Earle D. Osborn, Charles S. "Casey" Jones, Harold T. "Slim" Lewis, Ernest Loftquis, Paul G. Zimmerman, Donald Mcllhenny, Ladislas d'Orcy, Richard H. DePew Jr, George Hubbard, R. B. C. Noorduyn, John (Jack) Bishop and J. E. Whitbeck.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Harry Augustine Bruno )〕 Because the group grew too large,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Quiet Birdmen )〕 or because of the noise bothering other patrons, the management at Marta stopped them from meeting there.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=QB & OX5 Clubs )〕 Subsequent meetings were held in a different location each time, often a restaurant. Membership in the 1920s cost one dollar and lasted until death. In the 1920s the emblem of the club was created: a blue shield with the letters QB in silver, the shield flanked by silver wings. In 1938, the club's meetings settled into the building owned by the Architectural League of New York.〔〔 Harvey Mummert, vice president and chief engineer of Mercury Aircraft, has been credited as co-founder of the club.〔 Early members Bruno and Blythe started a public relations firm in 1923 and in 1927 they became known for promoting Charles Lindbergh's solo trans-Atlantic flight. Lindbergh was made a member of the Quiet Birdmen.〔 Unusually, a former combat foe was invited to join the club: Ernst Udet, the highest-scoring German flying ace to survive WWI. Known as a fun-loving playboy, Udet performed aerobatics at the National Air Races in Cleveland in 1931 and '32, Los Angeles in '33, and again in Cleveland in '38. While visiting the U.S., Udet befriended Lindbergh, Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Wiley Post, Roscoe Turner and other American QBs. Outside of New York, other Quiet Birdmen regional groups, or hangars, were formed. Before 1938, the club had a strict agreement against having a constitution, by-laws, dues, assessments, or club officers. No business was to be conducted, and no sales. Only male aviators were allowed to join, not female aviators or "Keewees" (non-flyers).〔 At the Cleveland Air Races in 1938, the QBs adopted a slightly more formal arrangement: a Board of Governors would be composed of one member from each hangar, and this board would choose an Executive Committee. Each regional hangar was to select a Key Man to handle club business. A year later, the group settled upon a QB Code of Procedure which described the structure of the club.〔 During World War II in London, England, a temporary hangar was formed in 1943 for club members posted to the UK. The club's national Code of Procedure was modified again in 1953.〔 In addition to the still existing New York Hangar, other early Hangars, originally called "leantos" to the original New York Hangar, had been formed. Currently Hangars are formed independently and exist in Washington DC, Cleveland, Atlantic City, Wayne, San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Palomar in San Diego County, Oxnard/Santa Barbara, Fresno, Santa Ana, Long Beach, Palm Desert, Philadelphia, Rhode Island, Ocala, Seattle, North Cascade in northern Washington state, Milwaukee, Fort Worth, Amarillo, Phoenix, Columbia in South Carolina, Daytona Beach, Honolulu, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Boise, Hartford, Rockford, Akron, Indiana, Syracuse, Las Vegas, Cincinnati, Tampa Bay, Orlando, Melbourne, Venice, Stuart, Jackson, Knoxville, Wilmington, Greensboro, New Orleans, Cape Cod, Kansas City, Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, Buffalo, Binghamton, Fort Smith, Chicago, Jackson Hole, Boston, Somerville, Hilton Head, Anchorage, Hagerstown, Denver, Lehigh Valley, Atlanta, Waterloo, and Tulsa, Shreveport, Colorado Springs, Salt Lake City, Pensacola, and perhaps other cities throughout the US. 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「Quiet Birdmen」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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