Steamboat Building in Elizabeth, PA

A Journal of daily activities at the Elizabeth Marine Ways 1898 to 1925 

First Flying Machine

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From October 5, 1914  to October 8, 1914 the town of Brownsville, PA celebrated the opening of its new bridge over the Monongahela River with a "Home Coming Week."  On Thursday October 8, 1914 the bridge was officially opened with all the appropriate celebrations.  One of the events was the visit of an airplane which was considered one of the highlights of the day as airplanes were considered a rare sight.  The photos below are from this visit of this airplane to Brownsville during the celebration, all the photos are from the collection of the Brownsville Historical Society.

A close up view of the plane taxing on the river   The airplane is seen in the middle of the river, from a distance   I assume the two man crew of the plane along with Brownsville citizens are shown, of more interest is a closer look at parts of the plane

On Friday October 9, 1914, the day after the Brownsville celebration, JW wrote that he saw his first flying machine as it flew down the Monongahela River. My thoughts are that the airplane left Brownsville on Friday the 9th and followed the river for safety incase it needed to land, to it destination, probably Pittsburgh. I believe the airplane shown above at Brownsville is the "first flying machine" that JW Lynch saw, at 2:05 PM on Friday October 9, 1914.  I can only imagine the excitement of seeing a machine fly in 1914, I have tried to think of an event that I have personally witnessed that would be as exciting, I can not think of one even though I saw a man walk on the moon but this was viewed on a TV.

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