Biographical Sketches

GROVER CLEVELAND LOENING

Born: September 12, 1888    In: Bremen, Germany
Died: February 29, 1976    In: Coconut Grove, FL

Pioneer, engineer, public servant and prolific author, Grover Cleveland Loening’s father was U.S. Consul-General in Germany. He received science and engineering degrees from Columbia College in 1908, and Columbia University in 1910 and 1911. After graduation, Loening joined a small company in New York building Bleriots for exhibition pilots and, in 1912, built his own pioneer Aeroboat. In 1913 Orville Wright hired him as an assistant and as manager of the Dayton factory. In 1914 he was appointed Chief Aeronautical Engineer of the Army’s Aviation Section in San Diego.

In 1917 he formed his original company, Loening Aeronautical Engineering Corp, to work on a Navy contract for a small plane that could be launched from a destroyer, and an Army contract for the M-8 Pursuit featuring pioneer use of rigid-strut bracing, patented by Loening and, 30 years later, still widely used. After the war, Loening produced the Flying Yacht that established world records and opened up the first significant market for private aircraft. For that he received the Collier Trophy for 1921. His next success was the novel Loening Amphibian -- with the first practical retractable landing gear -- used by the military, as well as airlines and private owners the world over. Among its historic records was the Army’s famous Pan-American Goodwill Flight of 1926.

Loening Corp merged with the Curtiss-Wright Corp in 1928, and Loening subsequently formed Grover Loening Aircraft Co, building several research aircraft and establishing his first consulting engineering practice, for the Chase Bank, Fairchild Aircraft, Grumman Aircraft, Curtiss-Wright and many others. During that period he was also a director of Pan Am Airways.

When the National Air Museum was founded in 1948, President Truman selected Loening as the first of two civilian members for its advisory board, an appointment renewed by Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson. He was awarded the Medal for Merit in 1946, Columbia University’s Eggleston Medal in 1949, the Wright Memorial Trophy in 1950, the Air Force Medal in 1955, and the Guggenheim Medal in 1960 for "a lifetime devoted to the development of aeronautics in America." In 1966 he was awarded the Silver Wings plaque by that organization of aviators. As Director and Consulting Engineer of New York Airways, he contributed to the design of the Pan Am rooftop heliport in New York City. (Jean Lail, NAHF)

Enshrined in National Aviation Hall of Fame 1969.

REFERENCES:
The Air Road Will Widen! Grover Loening (Wings Club 1969)
Amphibian: The Story Of The Loening Biplane ; Grover Loening (NY Graphic Society 1973)
The Conquering Wing ; Grover Loening (Chilton Book 1970)
50 Years of Flying Progress ; Grover Loening (USGPO 1955)
Military Aeroplanes ; Grover Loening (Best 1917)
Military Aeroplanes Simplified ; Grover Loening (Loening 1918)
Monoplanes and Biplanes ; Grover Loening (Munn & Co 1911)
Our Wings Grow Faster ; Grover Loening (Garden City 1935)
Takeoff Into Greatness ; Grover Loening (Putnam 1968)
Morehouse Early Pioneers

Denotes an individual known to have soloed an aircraft prior to December 16, 1917, whether they were members of the "Early Birds of Aviation" Organization or not.