Charles K. Hamilton

Charles Keeney Hamilton (May 30, 1885[1][2][3][4] – January 22, 1914) was an American pioneer aviator nicknamed the "crazy man of the air".

[5][6][7] He was, in the words of the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission, "known for his dangerous dives, spectacular crashes, extensive reconstructive surgeries, and ever present cigarette"[8] and was "frequently drunk".

[4][10] On the day Louis Bleriot flew the English Channel, July 25, 1909, Hamilton was sailing his own airship across the Bay of Osaka in Japan.

[2][6] In December, he flew at St. Joseph and outside St. Louis, Missouri, and in Overland Park, Kansas, before participating in the 1910 Los Angeles International Air Meet at Dominguez Field, the first major airshow in the United States, which ran from January 10–20, 1910.

[5] He then embarked on an 11-city, two-month exhibition tour across the American Southwest, starting at Phoenix, Arizona, and ending in San Diego, California.

[13] In San Diego, he became just the third American flier to remain aloft for at least an hour, crossing the ocean to Mexico and back.

[6][14] The very next day, he went up again, drunk, and "Swooping like a rapacious bird from a height of 500 feet [150 m], the Curtiss biplane, with Charles K. Hamilton, dived into the newly formed lake at The Meadows".

[5] In September, however, the Hamiltonian stalled and crashed during a demonstration flight outside Sacramento, California; Hamilton was "badly cut, bruised and burned", but was flying again in a week.

Hamilton flew over nearby Ciudad Juárez and performed the first wartime aerial reconnaissance, looking for rebel forces of the Mexican Revolution.

[25] It was the first plane landing ever in Cleveland and the local newspaper called it at the time "The greatest event in the history of Bradley Country.