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ACONE Winter Icebreaker: Ted Russell

Aero Club February Icebreaker:
Plum Island – New England’s Cradle of Aviation 


Photo Credit - Bartlett Gould Collection
The Great Marsh in Newbury was the site of New England’s first flying field, when, in the spring and summer of 1910, yacht builder W. Starling Burgess conducted a series of successful flight tests with biplanes that he designed and built in Marblehead. After a single flight test on the frozen surface of Chebacco Lake in Hamilton on February 28, 1910 – New England’s first flight – Burgess built a hangar and runway where the dunes meet the marsh, in the current Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. His team of intrepid pilots perfected their aircraft, and their skills, from April to August 1910. The local populace became increasingly fascinated by these men and their flying machines, eventually travelling out to Plum Island in the hundreds to witness the flights. The flying field was abandoned after those tests, and Burgess moved his operation elsewhere on the North Shore, especially Saugus, which became the North Shore’s aviation center until 1919. Burgess built hundreds of aircraft of dozens of different designs up to the end of World War I, and had significant connections to the greatest early aviators. The current Plum Island Airport began commercial operation in 1933, had its heyday from 1933-1977, and has operated essentially continuously to the present.
Photo Credit: Bartlett Gould Collection

About the presenter
Ted Russell of Byfield, a retired mechanical engineer, began researching the history of aviation on the North Shore in 2000, when the Plum Island Airport was in danger of being closed by its landlord, the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA, now Historic New England). He compiled the history of aviation on Plum Island that was instrumental in successfully persuading SPNEA to reconsider. He was on the board of Plum Island Community Airfield Inc., a non-profit organization that managed the airport from 2002 to 2005, including one year as its president. After leading a team of volunteers that opened the Burgess Aviation Museum at the airport in 2002, Ted expanded his research to include the aviation pioneers who made the North Shore a leading center of innovation and aircraft manufacture before and during World War I. In the years before his 2016 retirement from GE Aviation in Lynn, Ted compiled the history of GE’s aircraft engines, culminating in a graphic chronology that was displayed at GE’s booth at both Oshkosh and the Paris Air Show. Ted has presented different versions of this story more than 20 times to different groups.


Aero Club of New England Winter Icebreaker:

Plum Island – New England’s Cradle of Aviation

Presenter:
Ted Russell

When:
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
6:00PM - 8:30PM

Where:
Chateau Restaurant
195 School Street
Waltham, MA 02451

Cost: $22/Members (Must log-in first)
$32/Non-Members/Non-Member guests
Includes very heavy appetizers. Cash bar will be available.

Networking begins promptly at 6:00pm, followed by a program featuring plenty of discussion and Q&A.

The atmosphere and dress are relaxed business casual.

Many thanks to our sponsor, Schrager Hampson Aviation Insurance Agency LLC!



ACONE Icebreakers are an excellent opportunity to network, reconnect with fellow aviators and friends,
and learn something new!
Reservations required by Monday, February 17th.

For details, registration or to join the 
Aero Club of New England, click Register Now!
Or follow this link:  Event Registration


The Aero Club of New England:
Advancing Aviation Since 1902.
www.acone.org


When:
Wednesday, February 19, 2020, 6:00 PM until 8:30 PM
Where:
The Chateau Restaurant
chateaurestaurant.com
 195 School St
Waltham, MA  02451

(781) 894-3339
Additional Info:
Event Contact(s):
David Hampson
Category:
Social
Registration is required
Payment In Full In Advance Only
Capacity:
60
$22.00
$22.00
$22.00
$32.00
$32.00
 
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