This Week in Aviation History: July 7 - 11

Over Atlantic City, NJ, Walter Brookins (July 11, 1889 – April 29, 1953) reached an altitude of 6,175 feet in a Wright biplane, becoming the first pilot to fly a mile high.

July 9, 1910

Winning a prize of $5,000, he broke the previous world record for achieved altitude that he himself had set a month earlier at an Indianapolis meet when he attained a height of 4,380 feet.

The first pilot instructor to be trained by the Wright brothers, "Brookie," as he was called by the Wrights, had been instructed in school by Katherine Wright, sister to Orville and Wilbur, and soon after, in 1909, began taking classes at the Wright Flying School. His first solo flight came after just two and a half hours of demonstration and instruction. As his flight career progressed, Brookins would go on to set records for transcontinental flights and endurance. He died in Los Angeles and was interred at the Portal of Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation in North Hollywood, CA.

This Week in Aviation History

7/7/08

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