History

F. A. Mills

exhibition aviator · active 1915

Aviator of Albany, New York, partner of B. H. Kendrick in the Curtiss aeroplane that carried fifteen passengers at $15 each off the beach at Ocean City on 31 October 1915, before the pair flew south to Chincoteague and on toward Palm Beach.

In the record (1)

  1. 1915 · 1915-10-31

    On Sunday 31 October 1915 two aviators from Albany made fifteen flights off the beach at Ocean City at $15 a passenger, and thousands came — 500 automobiles on the sand and Sinepuxent Bay lined with loaded boats.

    The Democratic Messenger of 6 November, under "15 MAKE FLIGHT AT OCEAN CITY — Several Men and Miss Bryan Among Aviators' Patrons At $15 Each": "B. H. Kendrick and F. A. Mills, of Albany, N. Y., made fifteen successful flights at Ocean City Sunday in their Curtiss airship, taking with them a passenger on each trip. They charged $15 a flight. Thousands of people were there from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Delaware and Virginia. There were at least 500 automobiles and hundreds of horse-drawn vehicles. The Sinepuxent Bay was lined with boats of all kinds loaded with people. Kendrick and Mills left Monday for Chincoteague, Va., where they gave several exhibitions on their way to Palm Beach." The paper then named every passenger: "Luther T. Hoster, W. Ewing Livingston, Vernon Conway, Salisbury; Daniel Collins, Bishopville; J. Townsend, John Townsend, Selbyville, Del.; Miss Annie Bryan, Parsonsburg; Ralph Baker, Pittsville; George Mitchell, C. D. Powell, T. M. Purnell, Kendall Jarvis, Berlin; O. L. Mitchell, J. G. Scott and George T. Givans, Ocean City." The Washington Herald caught the departure: "Off in Aero for Palm Beach. Ocean City, Md., Nov. 1. — Aviator Beryl H. Kendrick left here today in his aeroplane for Chincoteague, Va. He is on his way to Palm Beach, where he will spend the winter." This is the earliest aviation of any kind at Ocean City in the registry, and Miss Annie Bryan of Parsonsburg is the first woman recorded in the air over the town. Note what the crowd arrived in: five hundred automobiles, at a resort still reachable only by train, boat or the summer's new motor bus. The bay bridge was a year away.

    B. H. KendrickMiss Annie Bryan

    Source · checked 2026-08-06