Aero Club of New England (II)

From Inventing aviation
Jump to navigation Jump to search

The period from 2 Jan. 1902 to 1 Nov. 1907 appears to represent a time of preliminary organization followed by little or no activity for the Aero Club of New England (ACONE). [See Aero Club of New England (ACONE) (Preliminary).] It appears that a meeting to complete the organization of the club did not occur until 1 Nov. 1907. Officers were elected on 21 November and the club was chartered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on 9 Dec. 1907. According to the charter, the club's purposes included advancing the the development of the science of aeronautics and kindred sciences; encouraging and organizing aerial navigation, excursions, conferences, and expositions; and holding contests and exhibitions of balloons or other inventions or constructions designed to be propelled or travel through the air. ACONE was one of the first four affiliates of the Aero Club of America, according to the New York Times of 10 Apr. 1908 and the ACA Annual of 1909.

Charles J. Glidden organized the meeting of 1 Nov. 1907 and he, George E. McQuesten, and Alfred R. Shrigley, all members of the Massachusetts Automobile Club, were appointed to effect a permanent organization. At a follow-up meeting 21 Nov. 1907, reported as the 124th anniversary of the first balloon ascension (said to have been witnessed by Benjamin Franklin in France in 1783), some 37 charter members were identified and officers, including Prof. A. Lawrence Rotch, pres.; Glidden and Frank E. Stanley, VPs; A. R. Shrigley, sec.; and Harry G. Pollard, treas., were elected; Leo Stevens, the New York balloonist, was named the club's aeronautical engineer. Held first dinner 2 May 1908. On 21 Nov. 1908, Prof. W. H. Pickering was elected president; the club had nearly 100 members. 150 members in June 1910. Published charter, constitution, lists of officers and members, 1910. Ca. 1908, the club purchased a balloon of 35,000 cubic feet capacity and maintained one of the same capacity until 1915. ACONE entered a balloon in the August 1910 Harvard-Boston Meet.

Affiliated with ACA in 1908.

Sources

9 Horseless Age 90 (15 Jan. 1902); 39 Electrical World and Engineer 131 (18 Jan. 1902); 1907 Boston Daily Globe, 29 Oct.; 2, 16, 22, & 27 Nov.; 1907 Hartford Courant, 11 Nov.; 1907 NYT, 22 Nov; 1907 Baltimore Sun, 23 Nov.; 1907 The Automobile (14 Nov); 1:6 Aeronautics (NYC) 38 (1907); 1908 NYT, 10 Apr.; 1908 BDG, 3 May and 22 Nov.; ACA annuals (1908-1917, 1919); 1909 Jane's All the World's Aircraft 251; 1910 NYT, 23 June; 1910 BDG, 13, 14, & 16 Aug.; 2:11 Flying 34 (1913); 5 Flying 250 (1916); 6 Flying 498 (1917); 8 Flying 549 (1919); 9 Flying 50 (1920); http://www.acone.org; Dir1920; WorldCat.org and WorldCat-OCLC


Organization names Aero Club of New England (ACONE) (II)
Entity type
Country US
City Boston, Massachusetts
Affiliated with ACA
Scope Local
Started aero 1907
Ended aero Still exists
Keywords
Key people
Wikidata id
  • Address: Hotel Touraine, Boston (at least 1907-1908); 526 Tremont Bldg., Boston (at least 1910-at least 1917); 940 Old South Building, Boston (at least 1919-1920)

|Cable address=0 |Phone=0 }}