FRAZIER CURTIS
Escadrille Americaine (lafayette), Second Groupe
D'aviation
Son of Greely Stevenson and Harriet (Appleton) Curtis; was born in Boston, July 18, 1876. He attended Mrs. Shaw's, and J. P. Hopkinson's private schools, and graduated (cum laude) from Harvard College in the class of 1898 (A.M. '99). He played on his class football team and on the Harvard second eleven. He was married June 16, 1909, to Gladys Margaret Roper.
In Sept., 1914, Curtis sailed for England, where he tried to enlist in the Air Service. Being rejected on account of his age and nationality, he returned to the U.S. hoping to take back to Europe a Burgess-Dunne seaplane, which might be of assistance in his next application. At Marblehead he met Norman Prince and discussed with him the idea of creating an American Escadrille in the French Army. Returning to England he tried again unsuccessfully to enter the British service. In Feb. he went to Paris, and with Prince organized the American Escadrille, later called the Lafayette.
Curtis trained with the Escadrille at Pau, and later at the Camp d'Avord, until disabled by two accidents; his machine catching fire at about 2000 feet, followed five days later by an axle breaking in two places on landing. After a week in the hospital he was given 45 days' sick-leave. At the end of his furlough he applied to be transferred from a bombing-machine, on which he had been hurt, to a fighting-machine. In answer to this request the French War Office gave him an honorable discharge as unfit for further flying, on Aug. 8, 1915.
After four months' rest in England, he returned to the U.S. and in March, 1916, organized the Harvard Flying Corps, but his health again broke down and he had to give up his work and go to California to recuperate.
It is believed that Curtis was the first American pilot to go over to Europe to offer his services to the Allied Air Force, having sailed from Boston on the Arabic, Sept. 2, 1914.
Frazier Curtis's father, Greely S. Curtis, organized and commanded the 1st Mass. Cavalry in the Civil War. His grandfather served aboard the U.S.S. Chesapeake and U.S.S. Constitution in the War of 1812, and his great-grandfather was one of the "Boston Tea Party."
Biography source - Google books, "New England Aviators 1914-1918: Their Portraits and Their Records, Volume 1" edited by Caroline Ticknor, Houghton Mifflin, 1919 Aeronautics - 472 pages
Escadrille Americaine (lafayette), Second Groupe
D'aviation
Son of Greely Stevenson and Harriet (Appleton) Curtis; was born in Boston, July 18, 1876. He attended Mrs. Shaw's, and J. P. Hopkinson's private schools, and graduated (cum laude) from Harvard College in the class of 1898 (A.M. '99). He played on his class football team and on the Harvard second eleven. He was married June 16, 1909, to Gladys Margaret Roper.
In Sept., 1914, Curtis sailed for England, where he tried to enlist in the Air Service. Being rejected on account of his age and nationality, he returned to the U.S. hoping to take back to Europe a Burgess-Dunne seaplane, which might be of assistance in his next application. At Marblehead he met Norman Prince and discussed with him the idea of creating an American Escadrille in the French Army. Returning to England he tried again unsuccessfully to enter the British service. In Feb. he went to Paris, and with Prince organized the American Escadrille, later called the Lafayette.
Curtis trained with the Escadrille at Pau, and later at the Camp d'Avord, until disabled by two accidents; his machine catching fire at about 2000 feet, followed five days later by an axle breaking in two places on landing. After a week in the hospital he was given 45 days' sick-leave. At the end of his furlough he applied to be transferred from a bombing-machine, on which he had been hurt, to a fighting-machine. In answer to this request the French War Office gave him an honorable discharge as unfit for further flying, on Aug. 8, 1915.
After four months' rest in England, he returned to the U.S. and in March, 1916, organized the Harvard Flying Corps, but his health again broke down and he had to give up his work and go to California to recuperate.
It is believed that Curtis was the first American pilot to go over to Europe to offer his services to the Allied Air Force, having sailed from Boston on the Arabic, Sept. 2, 1914.
Frazier Curtis's father, Greely S. Curtis, organized and commanded the 1st Mass. Cavalry in the Civil War. His grandfather served aboard the U.S.S. Chesapeake and U.S.S. Constitution in the War of 1812, and his great-grandfather was one of the "Boston Tea Party."
Biography source - Google books, "New England Aviators 1914-1918: Their Portraits and Their Records, Volume 1" edited by Caroline Ticknor, Houghton Mifflin, 1919 Aeronautics - 472 pages
FRAZIER CURTIS
Escadrille Americaine (lafayette), Second Groupe
D'aviation
Son of Greely Stevenson and Harriet (Appleton) Curtis; was born in Boston, July 18, 1876. He attended Mrs. Shaw's, and J. P. Hopkinson's private schools, and graduated (cum laude) from Harvard College in the class of 1898 (A.M. '99). He played on his class football team and on the Harvard second eleven. He was married June 16, 1909, to Gladys Margaret Roper.
In Sept., 1914, Curtis sailed for England, where he tried to enlist in the Air Service. Being rejected on account of his age and nationality, he returned to the U.S. hoping to take back to Europe a Burgess-Dunne seaplane, which might be of assistance in his next application. At Marblehead he met Norman Prince and discussed with him the idea of creating an American Escadrille in the French Army. Returning to England he tried again unsuccessfully to enter the British service. In Feb. he went to Paris, and with Prince organized the American Escadrille, later called the Lafayette.
Curtis trained with the Escadrille at Pau, and later at the Camp d'Avord, until disabled by two accidents; his machine catching fire at about 2000 feet, followed five days later by an axle breaking in two places on landing. After a week in the hospital he was given 45 days' sick-leave. At the end of his furlough he applied to be transferred from a bombing-machine, on which he had been hurt, to a fighting-machine. In answer to this request the French War Office gave him an honorable discharge as unfit for further flying, on Aug. 8, 1915.
After four months' rest in England, he returned to the U.S. and in March, 1916, organized the Harvard Flying Corps, but his health again broke down and he had to give up his work and go to California to recuperate.
It is believed that Curtis was the first American pilot to go over to Europe to offer his services to the Allied Air Force, having sailed from Boston on the Arabic, Sept. 2, 1914.
Frazier Curtis's father, Greely S. Curtis, organized and commanded the 1st Mass. Cavalry in the Civil War. His grandfather served aboard the U.S.S. Chesapeake and U.S.S. Constitution in the War of 1812, and his great-grandfather was one of the "Boston Tea Party."
Biography source - Google books, "New England Aviators 1914-1918: Their Portraits and Their Records, Volume 1" edited by Caroline Ticknor, Houghton Mifflin, 1919 Aeronautics - 472 pages
Escadrille Americaine (lafayette), Second Groupe
D'aviation
Son of Greely Stevenson and Harriet (Appleton) Curtis; was born in Boston, July 18, 1876. He attended Mrs. Shaw's, and J. P. Hopkinson's private schools, and graduated (cum laude) from Harvard College in the class of 1898 (A.M. '99). He played on his class football team and on the Harvard second eleven. He was married June 16, 1909, to Gladys Margaret Roper.
In Sept., 1914, Curtis sailed for England, where he tried to enlist in the Air Service. Being rejected on account of his age and nationality, he returned to the U.S. hoping to take back to Europe a Burgess-Dunne seaplane, which might be of assistance in his next application. At Marblehead he met Norman Prince and discussed with him the idea of creating an American Escadrille in the French Army. Returning to England he tried again unsuccessfully to enter the British service. In Feb. he went to Paris, and with Prince organized the American Escadrille, later called the Lafayette.
Curtis trained with the Escadrille at Pau, and later at the Camp d'Avord, until disabled by two accidents; his machine catching fire at about 2000 feet, followed five days later by an axle breaking in two places on landing. After a week in the hospital he was given 45 days' sick-leave. At the end of his furlough he applied to be transferred from a bombing-machine, on which he had been hurt, to a fighting-machine. In answer to this request the French War Office gave him an honorable discharge as unfit for further flying, on Aug. 8, 1915.
After four months' rest in England, he returned to the U.S. and in March, 1916, organized the Harvard Flying Corps, but his health again broke down and he had to give up his work and go to California to recuperate.
It is believed that Curtis was the first American pilot to go over to Europe to offer his services to the Allied Air Force, having sailed from Boston on the Arabic, Sept. 2, 1914.
Frazier Curtis's father, Greely S. Curtis, organized and commanded the 1st Mass. Cavalry in the Civil War. His grandfather served aboard the U.S.S. Chesapeake and U.S.S. Constitution in the War of 1812, and his great-grandfather was one of the "Boston Tea Party."
Biography source - Google books, "New England Aviators 1914-1918: Their Portraits and Their Records, Volume 1" edited by Caroline Ticknor, Houghton Mifflin, 1919 Aeronautics - 472 pages
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
