Inventors & Innovators Archives » Rhode Island Aviation Hall of Fame

George Armitage

RIAHOF — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 22:01:59 +0000

George Armitage (1887-1948) Born in England, he came to Rhode Island as a youngster and attended Providence public schools. He may have been the first person to fly in Rhode Island; it is known that he began experimenting with “power driven gliders” as early as 1905. A 1934 article in Rhode Island Review stated: “To […]

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Allen P. Bourdon

RIAHOF — Sat, 19 Nov 2022 21:34:00 +0000

Allen P Bourdon (1888-1972) was an aviation pioneer and WWI instructor pilot; he also flew with Amelia Earhart. He moved to RI in 1917 to learn to fly at Gallaudet Aviation in East Greenwich. He became a designer and test pilot for Gallaudet and later set up his own manufacturing plant at Hillsgrove. Bourdon Aircraft […]

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R. W. (Dick) Foote

Rich Cayer — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:26:49 +0000

Navy veteran of WWII, local and international businessman, aviator, and inventor, R. W. (Dick) Foote was born in Providence in 1919. Foote’s successful business career followed his service as a Naval Aviator and test pilot during World War II. He was also instrumental in the development of the first “anti-blackout” or “pressure suit”, the forerunner […]

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Edson Fessenden Gallaudet

RIAHOF — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 22:27:13 +0000

Edson Fessenden Gallaudet (1871-1945), Aviation Pioneer/Aircraft Manufacturer In 1898, four years before the Wright Brothers, he constructed and flew a glider, now in the Smithsonian, which embodied the principle of the warping wing. In 1911 he learned to fly at the Wright school, earning US pilot’s license #32 and a similarly low number in France. […]

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Antoine Gazda

Rich Cayer — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:26:32 +0000

Antoine Gazda was an Austrian count, a race car driver, and a World War I fighter ace (on the losing side), but he spent World War II in Providence, living in suite 1009 of the Biltmore Hotel. The work he performed here in Rhode Island was considered so crucial to the Allied war effort that […]

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Otto Hermann

Rich Cayer — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 18:26:49 +0000

Otto Hermann (c. 1870-1930): Otto Hermann was an auto stuntman who held a 1907 patent for a double loop-the-loop automobile-stunt ramp. He moved to Providence from Atlantic City, and started building his own biplane in the summer of 1909, described in a Journal article as “the first one to be tried out on testing grounds […]

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