Please copy/paste this very interesting obit to Terah's memorial, preferably above extraneous information so it will be noticed. Thank you. Cara
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The Witcita Eagle (KS), 13 Jan 1929
Blame Old Injury for Maroney Death. Think Bad Knee Gave Way Causing Flier To Pitch Into Propellor
That Terah T. Maroney, 48, a man who took to the air in 1911 in a crate-like pusher plane, who spun over the ocean in flying boats and seaplanes and finally took the modern ships of Wichita from the ground, met his death through an old injury in East St. Louis Saturday morning when a propeller struck his head was the opinion of several friends last night.
Maroney was twirling the propeller while Ray W. Brown, sales manager of the Travel Air Manufacturing company sat in the cockpit. He got the motor started and then seemed to slump forward into the arc. A blade hit him on the head and he died two hours later.
Friends here say that some years ago Maroney injured his knee in an accident. The knee would suddenly "let down" and Maroney would have to catch himself. Upon occasion the knee caused him to fall to the ground. It is the theory of friends that as Maroney cranked the plane he suddenly pitched forward when his knee gave way. Another theory is that Maroney fainted, as it is said at East Saint Louis that the veteran pilot was not feeling very well Saturday morning.
One of the first American pilots, Maroney learned to fly in the old Curtiss pusher type plane. He went to Montana and as a pioneer aviator of that state won early day headlines.
Maroney flew the old DeHaviland and Curtiss planes and when the war came was chief test pilot at Gerstner and Chandler fields in Louisiana. There he flew all types of ships, including seaplanes. He was a graduate of both the army and navy schools. In 1921 Maroney quit flying and went into the hotel business with 3,500 flying hours behind him.
Since September, Mr. Maroney had lived in Wichita, where he again had taken to the air and had made application for a pilot's license. He left here Tuesday for St. Louis and was returning when the fatal accident happened.
Mr. Maroney is survived by five children in California and Montana and by a sister here, Mrs. W. L. Quick of Crescent apartments.
The body will leave St. Louis today and arrive in Wichita Monday morning.
Please copy/paste this very interesting obit to Terah's memorial, preferably above extraneous information so it will be noticed. Thank you. Cara
__________
The Witcita Eagle (KS), 13 Jan 1929
Blame Old Injury for Maroney Death. Think Bad Knee Gave Way Causing Flier To Pitch Into Propellor
That Terah T. Maroney, 48, a man who took to the air in 1911 in a crate-like pusher plane, who spun over the ocean in flying boats and seaplanes and finally took the modern ships of Wichita from the ground, met his death through an old injury in East St. Louis Saturday morning when a propeller struck his head was the opinion of several friends last night.
Maroney was twirling the propeller while Ray W. Brown, sales manager of the Travel Air Manufacturing company sat in the cockpit. He got the motor started and then seemed to slump forward into the arc. A blade hit him on the head and he died two hours later.
Friends here say that some years ago Maroney injured his knee in an accident. The knee would suddenly "let down" and Maroney would have to catch himself. Upon occasion the knee caused him to fall to the ground. It is the theory of friends that as Maroney cranked the plane he suddenly pitched forward when his knee gave way. Another theory is that Maroney fainted, as it is said at East Saint Louis that the veteran pilot was not feeling very well Saturday morning.
One of the first American pilots, Maroney learned to fly in the old Curtiss pusher type plane. He went to Montana and as a pioneer aviator of that state won early day headlines.
Maroney flew the old DeHaviland and Curtiss planes and when the war came was chief test pilot at Gerstner and Chandler fields in Louisiana. There he flew all types of ships, including seaplanes. He was a graduate of both the army and navy schools. In 1921 Maroney quit flying and went into the hotel business with 3,500 flying hours behind him.
Since September, Mr. Maroney had lived in Wichita, where he again had taken to the air and had made application for a pilot's license. He left here Tuesday for St. Louis and was returning when the fatal accident happened.
Mr. Maroney is survived by five children in California and Montana and by a sister here, Mrs. W. L. Quick of Crescent apartments.
The body will leave St. Louis today and arrive in Wichita Monday morning.
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