Hammondsport, New York

Hammondsport, New York, was the hometown of Glenn H. Curtiss, a leading figure in early flight and the Father of Naval Aviation. Between 1904 and 1915, Curtiss worked there with other aviation pioneers, including Alexander Graham Bell, to advance aviation. In 1908, John Newton Williams made the first U.S. manned vertical lift using a Curtiss engine. The Curtiss School of Aviation, founded in 1910, was the site of Blanche Stuart Scott's historic flight as the first woman to solo an aircraft in the U.S. In 1920, the Aerial Service Corporation was founded there; it later became Mercury Aircraft Inc., developed the T-2 Mercury Chic aircraft, helped the nation during World War II by manufacturing P-40 tail sections for Curtiss-Wright in Buffalo, and continues today as Mercury Integrated Manufacturing.

Urbana, New York · United States