Historic Pelham Blog Archive
June 21, 2007

350TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION BOOK:  "THOMAS PELL AND THE LEGEND OF THE PELL TREATY OAK" -- $11.95 (PROCEEDS AFTER PRINTING COSTS WILL GO TO BARTOW-PELL MANSION MUSEUM).  CLICK HERE TO BROWSE BEFORE YOU BUY! LEARN MORE.

The lovely neighborhood known as Pelhamwood north of the railroad station in the Village of Pelham was developed in the early 20th Century by Clifford B. Harmon and his company, Clifford B. Harmon & Co. I previously have written about Clifford Harmon. See, e.g., Thursday, May 12, 2005: Clifford B. Harmon, Developer of Pelhamwood.

A few years ago a full history of the neighborhood was published in The Pelham Weekly. See Bell, Blake A., The Early Development of Pelhamwood, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 37, Sept. 17, 2004, p. 12, col. 2.

Clifford B. Harmon was one of the nation's premier amateur "aeronauts" during the very infancy of airplane flight. Today's blog posting transcribes text from a book published in 1910 detailing some of Clifford B. Harmon's "aeronautical" exploits as of that date.

"CLIFFORD B. HARMON.

CLIFFORD B. HARMON has the double distinction of being not only the foremost amateur aviator of America, but his feats have also at times excelled those of the professional airmen. On July 2, 1910, [Page 401 / Page 402] Mr. Harmon made a continuous flight of more than 2 hours, breaking all American records, and this he held for several months.

Mr. Harmon's first experience in the air was as a balloonist, and in this capacity he held the duration record of 48 hours 26 minutes for a year. On this same voyage, at the St. Louis Centennial, he made a new record in America for altitude attained, 24, 400 feet.

At the Los Angeles aviation meet, in January, 1910, where he went with his balloon New York, he met Paulhan, and became his pupil. At that meet Paulhan made a new world's record for altitude with a Farman biplane, and this machine Mr. Harmon bought, and brought to Mineola, L. I., where he practised assiduously, crowning his minor achievements by flying from there across Long Island Sound to Greenwich, Conn.

At the Boston-Harvard aviation meet, in September, 1910, Mr. Harmon won every prize offered to amateur contestants."

Source: Ferris, Richard, How It Flies or, The Conquest of the Air - The Story of Man's Endeavors to Fly and of the Inventions by Which He Has Succeeded, pp. 401-02 (NY, NY: Thomas Nelson and Sons 1910).

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posted by Blake A. Bell @ 4:40 AM Comment

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