Father of Aircraft Maintenance - Charles Edward Taylor

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Father of Aircraft Maintenance – Charles Edward Taylor

I recently took a trip to Southern California to do research for my site eveythingairplanes.com. After visiting a few museums (watch for coming reviews) and seeing some of the north Los Angeles County scenery I found myself standing outside the Portal of the Folded Wings on the east end of Valhalla Memorial Park near Bob Hope airport in Burbank. This is a memorial to pioneer aviators. One of the more noteworthy aviation pioneer is Charles Edward Taylor.

Charles Taylor involvement with the Wright Brothers started as a mechanic for their bicycle shop. He was a self-taught mechanic / machinist. The Wrights were so impressed with his abilities that they left him in charge of operating their shop while they were testing their gliders on the shores of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

The Wrights realized Charles’ natural mechanical ability and tasked him with creating an engine for their flying machine when a suitable engine was not currently available. The original requirement was for an engine to produce 8 horsepower. Mr. Taylor set out to produce a water-cooled aluminum copper engine with nothing but a set of sketches provided by Wrights and a cast aluminum block and crankcase as a starting point. Charles produced the complete engine in just 6 weeks. It was determined the engine actually produced 12 horsepower rather than the 8 requested by the Wright Brothers and weighed just 152 pounds.

On Thursday morning December 17, 1903 at approximately 10:35 am the Wright Brothers recorded the first powered heavier than air flight in history. The is the world famous photograph showing their first flight below.

Charles Taylor continued to work for the Wright Brothers and was involved with preparing the Wright Flyer for flight demonstrations for the military and the public.

Taylor worked for the Wright Brothers until 1920 when he moved to California. He returned to Dayton several times and ended up in back in California working for a defense factory. He suffered a heart attack in 1945 after which he was no longer able to work. He died in 1956.

Life, Death & Burial Site Information

Taylor was born on May 24, 1868 in Cerro Gordo, Illinois . He died January 30, 1956 (aged 87) in Los Angeles, California.

He died from complications from Asthma.

I was honored to stand before his memorial and offer my respects.

Summary

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