Archie Hoxsey
Archibald Hoxsey (October 15, 1884 – December 31, 1910) was an early pioneer aviator for the Wright brothers.
He was born in Staunton, Illinois on October 15, 1884, and used the name Arch Hoxsey. He moved with his parents to Pasadena California as a child. Not much is known about Hoxsey's early life. By his early twenties he showed an interest in the new technology of automobiles and became a competent automobile mechanic and chaeuffeur.
By 1909-1910 this mechanical ability led to a meeting with the Wright Brothers through their manager Roy Knabenshue. In March 1910 Orville Wright opened a school in Montgomery Alabama to teach new aspiring aviators how to fly. Hoxsey signed up to be trained and joined Wright at Montgomery. Hoxsey became such an adept pilot that Wilbur later considered him one of his favorites. These aviators were to be the select pilots for the new Wright Exhibition Team scheduled to hit the road as a troupe in the summer of 1910.
Hoxsey was amongst one of the first Wright pilots to fly the Wrights' new Model B aircraft after having been trained by Orville on the model A-B which was a transitional aircraft.
The troupe's aircraft would consist of a consortium of models: a few left over A-Bs, the new B, a few one seater Baby Wright machines. After hitting the road with the Wright Exhibition Team Arch began to set a few records of his own in aircraft and flew from Springfield, Ohio to Saint Louis, Missouri, to set a new non-stop distance record, of 104 miles.
On May 25, 1910 he made the first night time flight in the United States at the Wright Flying School near Montgomery, Alabama. Hoxsey piloted the plane with fellow Wright pilot Walter Brookins as passenger. The Montgomery Advertiser described the aeroplane as "glinting now and then in the moonlight" during flight. Hoxsey also brought the first aeroplane, a Wright model B, to Grand Forks, North Dakota and made the first flight in the state on July 19, 1910.
On October 11, 1910 at Kinloch Field St. Louis, he took Theodore Roosevelt up in an aeroplane, the first flight by a U.S. President. This was a history making event nevertheless the Wright Brothers nearly fired Hoxsey as they considered flying a VIP like Roosevelt as being a risky stunt.
Because of their dueling altitude record attempts, he and Ralph Johnstone were nicknamed the "heavenly twins". Hoxsey's life was cut short at 26 when he died in a crash on December 31, 1910 in Los Angeles, California after spinning into the ground from 7,000 feet. He was trying to set a new flight altitude record. A speculative theory has it that Hoxsey flew to such a high altitude that he passed out at the controls and the aeroplane went into a spin. Upon his death condolences poured in to his mother. He was killed the same day as fellow aviator John B. Moisant just a few hours after sending a telegram of condolence to Moisant's family. A Hoxsey street was established in his memory in Los Angeles not long after his death. The street survived up until at least the 1970s but is no longer in existence.