CHARLES L. FAY -1961

 

CURTISS FLYING SCHOOL, 1912 To the folks in the little village on Keuka Lake, John Lansing Callan became known by the nickname "Lanny". This handsome young man was born in 1886 in Cohoes, N.Y., the son of Peter J. Callan, a prominent real estate broker. John Lansing Callan, what could be a more fitting name for a dashing member of the Curtiss Flying School, Class of April, 1911. Here Lanny meet several other chaps of similar grace and demeanor. William E. Doherty, who became better known as "Gink" and Beckwith Havens, whose friends called him "Becky", became close friends sharing the many adventures of learning to fly and watching, among other things, the first Navy contingent experimenting with the then new Curtiss Triad aeroplane which the Navy designated the A-1. Upon graduation from the Curtiss school, they became assistant instructors at the school in both land and hydroaeroplane types.      In January, 1915, "Signor" Callan was requested by the Italian Naval authorities to oversee the establishment of their first naval aeronautics school at Taranto. Permission was granted by the Curtiss Co., and in February, Lanny became Chief pilot instructor and assistant to the commandant of the school, to advise in all matters pertaining to the course of instruction of both officers and enlisted personnel. Callan was joined by William E. Doherty, Dave McCullough and Charles Fay, all of whom were Curtiss trained pilots Editor's Note: These paragraphs were excerpted from a copy of The Curtiss Flyleaf of 1987, a publication of the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum of Local History I invite you to visit their site by clicking on Glenn H. Curtiss Museum of Early Aviation and Local History of Hammondsport, New York.

 

Charles L. Fay died in 1961 From The Early Birds of Aviation Roster, 1996

 

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