# Early aviation, a love triangle, deaths and a crash **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 13, 2015, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-aviation-a-love-triangle-deaths-and-a-crash/714926 "2015-03-13T17:28:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-aviation-a-love-triangle-deaths-and-a-crash/714926/1 "2015-03-13T17:28:50Z")
[This](http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2015/March/12/Did-The-Lost-Aviator-murder-his-rival?WT.mc_id=150313epilot&WT.mc_sect=news) showed up in my inbox today. A documentary called _The Lost Aviator_ has been made, about [Bill Lancaster](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Lancaster_(aviator)). Lancaster was the great-uncle of the filmmaker. In a nutshell, Bill Lancaster was an Englishman who emigrated to Australia before WWI. He joined the Australian Army, then the Australian Flying Corps, and joined the RAF after the war. He attempted to set the long-distance flying record in 1927 from England to Australia. He and his co-adventurer and love interest Jessie ‘Chubbie’ Miller were beaten by Bert Hinkler – which is why I’ve heard of Bert Hinkler and not Bill Lancaster. In 1932 Lancaster was flying in Mexico after moving to Miami, while Miller stayed in Florida to write her autobiography. American writer Haden Clarke was helping her. Well, wouldn’t you know it? Miller and Clarke hooked up and decided to get married. Lancaster was a little put out, and returned to Miami. Clarke suffered a lead-induced cerebral hemorrhage, and Lancaster went to trial for murder. Yes, it was Lancaster’s gun. Yes, Lancaster admitted forging suicide notes. He was acquitted anyway. In 1933 Lancaster attempted to set a new speed record for flying from England to South Africa. He disappeared, and the wreckage and Lancaster’s ‘mummified remains’ were not found until 1962. Evidence suggests that he died on 20 April, 1933 – a year to the day after Haden Clarke suffered his unfortunate shooting accident. I love aviation, and reading about early aviation. (I’m expecting Jerrie Mock’s book _Three-Eight Charlie_ any day now.) But for Hinkler, I may have heard of Lancaster. It’s interesting to hear his story. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-aviation-a-love-triangle-deaths-and-a-crash/714926/2 "2015-03-13T20:57:32Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > … Lancaster was a little put out, and returned to Miami. Clarke suffered a lead-induced cerebral hemorrhage, and Lancaster went to trial for murder. Yes, it was Lancaster’s gun. Yes, Lancaster admitted forging suicide notes. He was acquitted anyway. > > … Well, it was Florida after all. You find the most interesting aviation articles. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-aviation-a-love-triangle-deaths-and-a-crash/714926/3 "2015-03-13T22:37:05Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > You find the most interesting aviation articles. They come with the membership. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-aviation-a-love-triangle-deaths-and-a-crash/714926/4 "2015-03-14T05:16:45Z")
I like that one. Have not heard of it before. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-aviation-a-love-triangle-deaths-and-a-crash/714926/5 "2015-03-14T07:05:57Z")
Barnstorming was interesting. Anyone acquainted with Lincoln J. Beachey: “The World’s Greatest Aviator”? > [@](#): > > **Death** > It was at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition that Beachey made his final flight. Prior to the exposition, in 1914, he had the Beachey-Eaton Monoplane[10] built. The plane was similar to the Morane-Saulnier H with the addition of tricycle landing gear and large ailerons trailing the wing, which made the wing shape similar to, and caused some to refer to it as a Taube. Using the same 80 horsepower (60 kW) rotary engine he had been using in his Beachey Biplane in the lighter and more maneuverable monoplane allowed for the top speed to increase from 80 mph to 100 mph., thus making his loops and maneuvers even more spectacular. It would also be the first exhibition of inverted flight in a monoplane. He had tested it at higher altitudes, and on March 14, 1915, he was ready for his first public flight. > > He took the plane up in front of a crowd of 50,000 (inside the Fairgrounds—with another 200,000 on the hills), made a loop, and turned the plane onto its back. He may have been so intent on leveling the plane inverted he failed to notice he was only 2,000 feet (610 m) above San Francisco Bay. He pulled on the controls to pull the plane out of its inverted position, where it was slowly sinking. The strain caused the rear spars in wings to break, and the crumpled plane plunged into the bay between two ships. Navy men jumped into action, but it took 1 hour and 45 minutes to recover Beachey’s body. Even then, rescuers spent three hours trying to revive him. The autopsy found he had survived the crash and had died from drowning.[1] > **[Lincoln Beachey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_J._Beachey)** > > Lincoln Beachey (March 3, 1887 – March 14, 1915) was a pioneer American aviator and barnstormer. He became famous and wealthy from flying exhibitions, staging aerial stunts, helping invent aerobatics, and setting aviation records. > He was known as The Man Who Owns the Sky, and sometimes the Master Birdman. Beachey was acknowledged even by his competitors as "The World's Greatest Aviator". He was "known by sight to hundreds of thousands and by name to the whole world". > On 3 March 1887, Lincoln ... I was wondering the breaking of the wings: was this a major blunder by the people who built the airplane–or did people not understand the engineering theory of structures back then? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-aviation-a-love-triangle-deaths-and-a-crash/714926/6 "2015-03-14T09:52:40Z")
Keep in mind, that occurred only 12 years after the initial sustained powered flight. Aviation was still very new and not all the details had been worked out. Engineering theory about building flying machines was still being worked out. There was a tendency to either overbuild or underbuild components depending on whether someone was trying to save weight or improve safety. They also lacked the computer modeling we have, designs were either minimally tested or empirically tested. There was less understanding of the forces imposed on airplanes during maneuvering. Death by broken airplane was, unfortunately, all too common in the early days of powered flight.