Aviation Pioneer, Pioneer Balloonist, Inventor. He was only 12 years old when he witnessed the murder of his mother and father by marauding renegades during the Civil War. As an orphan, he lived with a foster family until he ran away at the age of 14. Becoming a railroad brakeman, he was discovered by a circus manager while practicing acrobatics atop railroad cars. Accepting a job with the circus, he began traveling as an apprentice acrobat, but soon he was performing on the high trapeze. Not satisfied with his act, he continued to tweak it until he was using a hot-air balloon, which would ascent during his act, as he performed on the trapeze bar hung below. His daring death-defying acrobatics and feats soon made him a star attraction. After acquiring his own hot-air balloon, he quit the circus and began a free-lance tour of the county fair circuit with his brother. Coining the name "Captain Tom", not only to satisfy his ego, but also for name recognition, he continued to enhance his theatrics. Making his first balloon ascent in 1875, he quickly became the star attraction at county fairs all over the country and in Canada and the Far East. He made nearly 3,000 ascents from a balloon and had several close calls, but his seemingly proverbial luck and great skill always lifted him from the most dangerous situations. After ten years, and thousands of shows, the novelty of balloon ascents began to fade and he found himself searching for a daring new exhibition specialty. The brothers rediscovered the rigid parachute, invented a century before, and redesigned it to be lighter, flexible and more compact. They tested their first parachutes with weighted sand bags from cliffs nearby. It would be the daring "Captain Tom" who would attempt the first live jump. Obviously succeeding, he was ready to take his new act on the road. In front of an audience at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park on January 30, 1885, he offered the park manager a deal-he would jump from a hot-air balloon for $1.00 per foot of height, with 2,000 feet being the maximum. The crowd, unknowingly, witnessed the first public descent from a balloon with a parachute. He was now dubbed "The Father of the Modern Parachute." His parachute jumps were nothing like the parachute jumps today. Holding onto a ring fastened to his dangling parachute, he would ascend in a sitting position on a small seat beneath his balloon. When he reached the desired altitude, he would pull a rip panel in his balloon to release the hot air, causing the balloon to begin a rapid descent. With the momentum needed to fill the parachute with air, he would then jump from the seat. He, nor his brother ever patented their parachute design and construction. He would later comment, "We never thought anyone else would care to try it." At the turn of the century the luster of his act faded and he set out to create an even greater, more daring act. Intrigued by the work of Alberto Santos-Dumont, the first man to make a successful dirigible flight in 1898; he traveled to France to study motor driven balloons. After struggling over four years to find just the right engine, he finally found a lightweight engine used for motorcycles and built by Glenn Curtiss. Immediately ordering one, he waited hastily for his new engine to arrive, but becoming overly impatient, he made the trek from San Francisco to Hammondsport, New York, to expedite his request. Once arriving in Hammondsport, he was somewhat astonished by the modest factory and rather young Curtiss working alongside his employees. Finding Curtiss inundated with orders, and realizing he had not even begun the work on his engine, he asked for Curtiss to remove an engine from a motorcycle and send it immediately to San Francisco. Completed in July of 1904, his dirigible made its first trial flight on the 29th, and its first public flight on August 3, 1904. The dirigible caught the public's attention and sparked Glenn Curtiss' interest in aviation. The California Arrow, and more importantly the Curtiss engine, ignited a new breed of man who daringly risked their lives for a show. It would not only be the public who embraced the dirigible, but soon the Army would see it's potential and enlisted Curtiss and Baldwin to build the Army's first dirigible. The airship would be designated as Signal Corps. Airship No. 1, or rather, SC-1, making its first successful flight, completing all Army requirements on August 5, 1908. By 1910 he was searching for a new challenge and found it in the airplane. The Wright brothers were stealing the show with their heavier-that-air plane, and he was determined to do it better. In 1911, he designed his own pusher biplane, one of the first to have a framework with interplane struts of mild steel tubing and wooded frame wings. He named his invention the 'Red Devil' and soon he abandoned his dirigibles in favor of the airplane, but not for long. In 1914, just before World War I, his interest turned to dirigibles again and he designed the Navy's first successful dirigible, the DN-I. Recognizing the need to train fliers, he managed the Curtiss School at Newport News, where one of his students was General "Billy" Mitchell. When the United States went to war, he volunteered his services and became Chief of Army Balloon Inspection and Production and personally inspected every balloon and airship used by the Army in the war. His final employment, however, was with the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio, continuing to design and manufacture airships. The airships today are his "children."
Aviation Pioneer, Pioneer Balloonist, Inventor. He was only 12 years old when he witnessed the murder of his mother and father by marauding renegades during the Civil War. As an orphan, he lived with a foster family until he ran away at the age of 14. Becoming a railroad brakeman, he was discovered by a circus manager while practicing acrobatics atop railroad cars. Accepting a job with the circus, he began traveling as an apprentice acrobat, but soon he was performing on the high trapeze. Not satisfied with his act, he continued to tweak it until he was using a hot-air balloon, which would ascent during his act, as he performed on the trapeze bar hung below. His daring death-defying acrobatics and feats soon made him a star attraction. After acquiring his own hot-air balloon, he quit the circus and began a free-lance tour of the county fair circuit with his brother. Coining the name "Captain Tom", not only to satisfy his ego, but also for name recognition, he continued to enhance his theatrics. Making his first balloon ascent in 1875, he quickly became the star attraction at county fairs all over the country and in Canada and the Far East. He made nearly 3,000 ascents from a balloon and had several close calls, but his seemingly proverbial luck and great skill always lifted him from the most dangerous situations. After ten years, and thousands of shows, the novelty of balloon ascents began to fade and he found himself searching for a daring new exhibition specialty. The brothers rediscovered the rigid parachute, invented a century before, and redesigned it to be lighter, flexible and more compact. They tested their first parachutes with weighted sand bags from cliffs nearby. It would be the daring "Captain Tom" who would attempt the first live jump. Obviously succeeding, he was ready to take his new act on the road. In front of an audience at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park on January 30, 1885, he offered the park manager a deal-he would jump from a hot-air balloon for $1.00 per foot of height, with 2,000 feet being the maximum. The crowd, unknowingly, witnessed the first public descent from a balloon with a parachute. He was now dubbed "The Father of the Modern Parachute." His parachute jumps were nothing like the parachute jumps today. Holding onto a ring fastened to his dangling parachute, he would ascend in a sitting position on a small seat beneath his balloon. When he reached the desired altitude, he would pull a rip panel in his balloon to release the hot air, causing the balloon to begin a rapid descent. With the momentum needed to fill the parachute with air, he would then jump from the seat. He, nor his brother ever patented their parachute design and construction. He would later comment, "We never thought anyone else would care to try it." At the turn of the century the luster of his act faded and he set out to create an even greater, more daring act. Intrigued by the work of Alberto Santos-Dumont, the first man to make a successful dirigible flight in 1898; he traveled to France to study motor driven balloons. After struggling over four years to find just the right engine, he finally found a lightweight engine used for motorcycles and built by Glenn Curtiss. Immediately ordering one, he waited hastily for his new engine to arrive, but becoming overly impatient, he made the trek from San Francisco to Hammondsport, New York, to expedite his request. Once arriving in Hammondsport, he was somewhat astonished by the modest factory and rather young Curtiss working alongside his employees. Finding Curtiss inundated with orders, and realizing he had not even begun the work on his engine, he asked for Curtiss to remove an engine from a motorcycle and send it immediately to San Francisco. Completed in July of 1904, his dirigible made its first trial flight on the 29th, and its first public flight on August 3, 1904. The dirigible caught the public's attention and sparked Glenn Curtiss' interest in aviation. The California Arrow, and more importantly the Curtiss engine, ignited a new breed of man who daringly risked their lives for a show. It would not only be the public who embraced the dirigible, but soon the Army would see it's potential and enlisted Curtiss and Baldwin to build the Army's first dirigible. The airship would be designated as Signal Corps. Airship No. 1, or rather, SC-1, making its first successful flight, completing all Army requirements on August 5, 1908. By 1910 he was searching for a new challenge and found it in the airplane. The Wright brothers were stealing the show with their heavier-that-air plane, and he was determined to do it better. In 1911, he designed his own pusher biplane, one of the first to have a framework with interplane struts of mild steel tubing and wooded frame wings. He named his invention the 'Red Devil' and soon he abandoned his dirigibles in favor of the airplane, but not for long. In 1914, just before World War I, his interest turned to dirigibles again and he designed the Navy's first successful dirigible, the DN-I. Recognizing the need to train fliers, he managed the Curtiss School at Newport News, where one of his students was General "Billy" Mitchell. When the United States went to war, he volunteered his services and became Chief of Army Balloon Inspection and Production and personally inspected every balloon and airship used by the Army in the war. His final employment, however, was with the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio, continuing to design and manufacture airships. The airships today are his "children."
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3019/thomas_scott-baldwin: accessed
), memorial page for Thomas Scott Baldwin (30 Jun 1854–17 May 1923), Find a Grave Memorial ID 3019, citing Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington,
Arlington County,
Virginia,
USA;
Maintained by Find a Grave.
Add Photos for Thomas Scott Baldwin
Fulfill Photo Request for Thomas Scott Baldwin
Photo Request Fulfilled
Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request
There is an open photo request for this memorial
Are you adding a grave photo that will fulfill this request?
Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s).
Oops, something didn't work. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again.
Make sure that the file is a photo. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced.
All photos uploaded successfully, click on the <b>Done button</b> to see the photos in the gallery.
General photo guidelines:
Photos larger than 8.0 MB will be optimized and reduced.
Each contributor can upload a maximum of 5 photos for a memorial.
A memorial can have a maximum of 20 photos from all contributors.
The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional 10 photos (for a total of 30 on the memorial).
Include gps location with grave photos where possible.
No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments.)
You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial.
Memorial Photos
This is a carousel with slides. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel.
Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried.
Show Map
If the memorial includes GPS coordinates, simply click 'Show Map' to view the gravesite location within the cemetery. If no GPS coordinates are available, you can contribute by adding them if you know the precise location.
Photos
For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab.
Photos Tab
All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer.
Flowers
Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button.
Family Members
Family members linked to this person will appear here.
Related searches
Use the links under See more… to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc.
Sponsor This Memorial
Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option.
Share
Share this memorial using social media sites or email.
Save to
Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print.
Edit or Suggest Edit
Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager.
Have Feedback
Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you.
You may not upload any more photos to this memorial
"Unsupported file type"
Uploading...
Waiting...
Success
Failed
This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has photos
This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded photos to this memorial
This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has photos
This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded photos to this memorial
Invalid File Type
Uploading 1 Photo
Uploading 2 Photos
1 Photo Uploaded
2 Photos Uploaded
Added by
GREAT NEWS! There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery.
Sorry! There are no volunteers for this cemetery. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request.
Enter numeric value
Enter memorial Id
Year should not be greater than current year
Invalid memorial
Duplicate entry for memorial
You have chosen this person to be their own family member.
Reported!
This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates.
0% Complete
Saved
Sign in or Register
Sign in to Find a Grave
Sign-in to link to existing account
There is a problem with your email/password.
There is a problem with your email/password.
There is a problem with your email/password.
We encountered an unknown problem. Please wait a few minutes and try again. If the problem persists contact Find a Grave.
We’ve updated the security on the site. Please reset your password.
Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. Please contact Find a Grave at [email protected] if you need help resetting your password.
This account has been disabled. If you have questions, please contact [email protected]
This account has been disabled. If you have questions, please contact [email protected]
Email not found
Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person.
Sign in to your existing Find a Grave account. You’ll only have to do this once—after your accounts are connected, you can sign in using your Ancestry sign in or your Find a Grave sign in.
We found an existing Find a Grave account associated with your email address. Sign in below with your Find a Grave credentials to link your Ancestry account. After your accounts are connected you can sign in using either account.
Please enter your email to sign in.
Please enter your password to sign in.
Please enter your email and password to sign in.
There is a problem with your email/password.
A system error has occurred. Please try again later.
A password reset email has been sent to EmailID. If you don't see an email, please check your spam folder.
We encountered an unknown problem. Please wait a few minutes and try again. If the problem persists contact Find a Grave.
Password Reset
Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code.
Registration Options
Welcome to Find a Grave
Create your free account by choosing an option below.
or
Ancestry account link
To create your account, Ancestry will share your name and email address with Find a Grave. To continue choose an option below.
or
If you already have a Find a Grave account, please sign in to link to Ancestry®.
New Member Registration
Email is mandatory
Email and Password are mandatory
This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. Resend Activation Email
Your password is not strong enough
Invalid Email
You must agree to Terms and Conditions
Account already exists
Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox
Internal Server error occurred
If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map
You must select an email preference
We have sent you an activation email
Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters.
We just emailed an activation code to
Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account.
cemeteries found in will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
Within 5 miles of your location.
Within 5 kilometers of your location.
0 cemeteries found in .
0 cemeteries found.
Add a cemetery to fulfill photo requests
You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below.
Search above to list available cemeteries.
Getting location…
Loading...
Loading...
No cemeteries found
Find a Grave Video Tutorials
Default Language
Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [email protected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. Thanks for your help!
Preferred Language
We have set your language to based on information from your browser.