Rocket PoweR, InteRstellaR tRavel and eteRnal lIfe

Elmira Aeroplane Exhibition Corporation: Daniel and
Floyd with colleagues in 1921 incorporated the Elmira
Aeroplane Exhibition to give “exhibition flights with
aeroplanes or other aerial instrumentalities, carrying
passengers therewith, general manufacture, buying,
selling and dealing in aeroplanes and aeroplane supplies”
as well as, in the generalized inclusive terms of
many incorporations, to include anything involved
with automobiles, boats and “vehicles of every kind
and description for the transportation of passengers or
goods.” 37 With $500 of capital, the four subscribers to
the certificate of incorporation were Daniel and Floyd
as well as Frank N. Edic (386 ½ E. Warren Street) and
George R. Haight (219 South Avenue). Each of the incorporators
took five $25 shares and also served on the initial
board of directors joined by Lewis Henry, 38 the
attorney who prepared the incorporation papers.
George Ross Haight (1897?–?) appeared in the 1920
federal census as an unmarried machinist employed as
a “setline [?] welder”. The city directory listed him 1920
as a “repairman” boarding at 217 [sic] South Avenue. In
1925, he was a “mechanic” boarding at 850 Perine
Street. His youth and lack of attachment to Elmira
through marriage or property ownership suggest
Haight was an incorporator more on a basis of his
enthusiasm for aviation than on his experience or
investment.
Edic (1882?–?), mentioned above, had joined
Hungerford in the Bleriot airplane project. The 1920 federal
census indicated that he was, at that time, a 38-year
old, self-employed auto repairer. City directories
showed Edic as a partner in an automobile garage in
1915, a machinist at the Willys-Morrow automobile factory
in 1919, an auto repairer in 1920 and 1921, an auto
salesman 1922–1927, and an auto salesman through the
1930s into 1940.
The 1928 city directory actually had the earliest listing
for the Elmira Aeroplane Exhibition Corporation. The
field was at “junction Corning rd and Tompkins
Corners rd, office 823 W Second.” Daniel Hungerford
was president, Floyd secretary, and Arthur G. Bingham
of Waverly treasurer.
In the 1930 federal census, Bingham, age 46, was a
druggist although apparently not a pharmacist.
Waverly directories are enlightening. For example, in
1926 Bingham’s operation on Broad Street stocked gifts,
sodas, candy, and paints as well as patent medicines. In
1930 Bingham was manager of Bingham’s Medicine
Store in Athens, Pennsylvania. Owned by his wife, Julia
K. Bingham, the shop sold “patent medicines and
conf[ections].” In 1938 Bingham was running a secondhand
furniture store in South Waverly. What aviation
interest or other connection to the Hungerfords brought
Bingham to be involved in the Aeroplane Corporation
has not been discovered here.
An undocumented transcript of a conversation about
Chemung County aviation history quotes a man named
Griswold about “the Hungerford Field.” In response to
a question about whether the Hungerfords had their
own airplane, Griswold replied, “Oh yes. They always
had something to fly. There was usually something
[Daniel] was wrestling with. He didn’t do as much flying
as he did working on stuff. Other people used his
field.” 39
Photographing from an airplane in the late winter of
1923 Hungerford promoted a soaring meet around
Elmira as well as “part of Bradford County,
Pennsylvania.” The executive vice-chairman of the
National Aeronautic Association of the United States of
America contest committee, B. Russell Shaw, acknowledged
the materials Hungerford had sent, but
Hungerford years later noted, “We got no pay for this
great job. Not even a gallon of gas was offered – gas
–was - .07–.08 per gallon From- Elmira or Chemung
County we – photographed the county . . . from the air
– airplane D. D. – F.S. Hungerford D.D.H.” 40
Cleoral Lovell in 1967 wrote that, “My most thrilling
excursions as a child were to Hungerfords’ Airport with
my parents to spend the days watching early flights.
The airport was in “Fisherville”—midway between
Horseheads and Big Flats.” 41
Jasper Hungerford as a nine-year old nephew told of
flying with Daniel Hungerford piloting a biplane.
Daniel Hungerford told Jasper to “hang on” as he rolled
the airplane a complete circle, that they would have no
problem as long as he kept his seat belt on. 42
An undated newspaper clip from the early 1920s tells
of the first flights of an 83-year-old man, Erie F. Vaughn,
from the “Hungerford field”. “Pilot [Leon] Brink” was
the man in charge of the airplane for several Vaughn
jaunts. Brink had “carried hundreds over Elmira but
finds that with advancing years there is less inclination
on the parts of visitors to the field to imitate a bird . . .” 43
But there were other uses for flying; one involved the
funeral of Edward J. Dunn (1866–1927). As president of
the Eclipse Machine Company (manufacturing among
other products self-starters for automobiles), Dunn had
been successful in other businesses, as well. And
according to the Elmira Star-Gazette, Dunn was “among
the community’s great benefactors, and Dunn
Memorial at St. Joseph’s Hospital”. On October 26, 1927
there was to be an additional tribute to Dunn “paid
from the air.”
It was about 15 years ago [ca. 1912] that, through
the generosity of Mr. Dunn an airport was provided
for Daniel and Floyd Hungerford, pioneers in
airplane building and flying in Elmira. From that
10 Daniel and Floyd Hungerford: Rocket Power, Interstellar Travel and Eternal Life, by Geofrey N. Stein