Glenn Messer

Glenn Edmund Messer (July 12, 1895 – June 13, 1995) was an American aviation pioneer, responsible for major advances in the use and modification of existing aircraft and in the design and construction of aircraft and aircraft instruments.

Biography

He was born in Henry County, Iowa on July 12, 1895.[1][2]

He began his flying career by taking lessons on a Wright biplane from aviator George Gustafson in Bay City, Michigan. He and fellow pilot Jack Turner completed a successful demonstration U. S. Air Mail flight from Birmingham's Roberts Field to Marr Field in Chattanooga, Tennessee on March 24, 1925 under a temporary commission. Messer recreated that flight on its 50th anniversary in 1975.[3]

Messer operated Birmingham Municipal Airport in Birmingham, Alabama with Edward Stinson. He later operated Messer Field. In 1927 he started the Southern Aircraft Corporation which designed and built the Air Boss. He later started The Glenn E. Messer Company of Birmingham.

He died on June 13, 1995 in Birmingham, Alabama.

Legacy
Plaque of Messer at the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame

The highway from 5th Avenue North in downtown Birmingham to the airport was named the Glenn E. Messer Airport Highway in his honor. In 1991 he was inducted into the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame.[4]

Timeline
  • 1911 - takes first flying lessons
  • 1917 - joins the Aviation Section of Signal Corps
  • 1919 - flyer on new airmail route from Washington, D.C. to New York, NY
  • 1920 - starts Messer Flying Circus (Phoebe Fairgrave Omlie soon joins)
  • 1922 - starts Birmingham Aero Club to sell airplanes
  • 1925 - organizes company to sell Dim-A-Lite products
  • 1927 - starts Southern Aircraft Corporation (Messer Aeronautical Industries Inc.)
  • 1932 - starts The Glenn E. Messer Company
  • 1965 - The Glenn E. Messer Company, Inc. begins instrument repair operation in Woodlawn
  • 1976 - forms Southern Museum of Flight Foundation

References
  1. He used the year 1894 for his World War I draft. The Social Security Death Index uses the year 1895.
  2. Ralph Cooper. "Glenn Messer". Early Birds of Aviation. Retrieved 2011-11-17. Glenn E. Messer was born in Henry County, Iowa, July 12, 1895, son of a farmer, General Contractor, Hardware and Farm Implement Dealer. He attended local grade and high schools, then was induced to enter Medical School at the University of Iowa by their elderly family doctor who agreed to pay his college expenses ... Glenn Messer passed away Tuesday A.M. June 13, 1995 in Birmingham, leaving his wife Tommie, and a daughter, Sarah L. Baker surviving.
  3. Crane, Barbara (March 24, 1975) "Pilot to relive historic mail flight." Birmingham Post-Herald
  4. "Glenn E. Messer". Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame. Retrieved October 9, 2018.

Further reading
  • Morehouse, Harold E. (July 1995) "Glenn E. Messer: Pioneer Mid-West Aviator." Early Bird's CHIRP. No. 96
  • Wilson, George Tipton. "The Flying Omlies." Aviation History Magazine.
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