Evening star., 1927-10-09
A|RPLANE PIONEER
ACHIEVES AMBITION
lanes l.. Simmons, Early
Builder of Machines, Now
Manages Plant.


Berliner Aircraft Co, Alexandria, Va
over which factory he presides as gen
eral superintendent.
The aircraft company has jus
transferred its headquarters from Col
lege Park, Nd. to the old Blake
Palm elevator plant on the Alexa n6ri;
water front at the foot of Duke street
and already work has begun on TIVE
thTee-passenger monoplanes. designed
by Henry ~. Berliner, president o
the company.
Mr.. simmons. founder. With two as
sociates OF the Washington Aeroplane
Co, at 500 Water street southwest
in 1912. which built several airplane>
for private consumption and profit
to the company including a flying
boat, is not pilot or flyer, and is
rot interested in flying beyond see
ing his creations perform successfully
in the air.
Made Only One Flight.
Throughout his aeronautical career
he has been up only once, and that
was in 1909. when a man who flew
in an airpane was hero. Mr.. Sim
mons today has little recollection OF
that flight and because of it's short
duration, he is inclined to disregard
1t as being flight altogether anu
say he never has been up. Neverthe.
less. he recalls climbing into a mono.
plane at College Park belonging to
Rex Smith. a colleague and aircraft
builder of the time, for the purpose
OF looking over the engine, which had
an ambiguous nature. On the ground
1t performed beautifully, but in the
air it was not so good.
Smith gave her the gun" and away
they romped down the field. Mr.. Sim
mons was exhibiting an intense in.
terest in the performance of the en-
CINE when he happened to look up and
found the plane staggering through
the air. His altitude, however, was
within so feet and in a minute or two
the flight was over.
Mr.. Simmons used to be the SUBJ
Ject of standing wise crack" at the
old Garrick Club which ran this way:
Are you a flyer. Mr.. Simmons?"
one club brother would ask Before
he could reply, another would inter-
rupt:
why. should say not. Any man
who has sense enough to. build one of
those things, has sense enough to
keep out OF them"
Throughout his career, Mr.. Sim.
mons has been closely associated with
Emile Berliner, the noted inventor.
This Included Mr.. Berliner's expert.
ments with the phonograph, and an
air-cooled rotary aircraft engine, both
OF which were successful and the
helicopter, which had reached an en-
couraging stage of development when
it was temporarily sidetracked in
favor of the conventional type flying
machines.
In those days of pioneering, all eff
fort was directed for the ultimate
good of the subject under considera-
tion and today Mr.. Simmons, as gen.
eral superintendent of the Berliner
Aircraft factory. presides over it with
the same interest as though he owned
every inch of the building, equipment
and stock. -
Born in FrSdsgick County, Nd, Mr..
Simmons carkeb Washington in 1888.
1t was whiies was employed in the
Capital Tractt1h Co.'S shops where
the District Building now stands, that
the senior Berliner employed him to
do some work in connection with his
phonograph experiments. Then fol-
lowed some work on the helicopter,
which Mr.. Berliner had given thought
to even before the first flight Of the
Wright Brothers.
Builds First Machine.
Mr.. Simmons drifted towards flying
and with the appearance of the Wright
Brothers here in 1908 he took UP the
subject in earnest. In odd times he
and friend, Robert S. Moore. built
a monoplane-and it flew. Photo
graphs of the ship in flight bear a
close resemblance to the famous
Fokker monoplanes Of today.
The ship was taken out to the Ben
ming race track and a daring young
man, Sam Luttrell, later to become a
figure in the District automobile bust.
ness, agreed to fly it. He knew
nothing about flying, as very few
people did at that time, but he showed
off. The flight ended abruptly when
the ship refused to put on sufficient
altitude to clear a fence at the end
of the field and the Simmons Moore
monoplane halted in a disgraceful
position-straddling the fence. When
they arrived at the end of the field,
the designers and builders found Mr.
Luttrell lighting a cigarette. The
plane was not badly damaged, was re.
paired and flown many times later.
A second monoplane was built and
reached the difficult altitude of 100
feet. Then Mr.. Simmons temporarily
turned his attention to engine build
ing. Mr.. Berliner, Mr.. Simmons and
Mr.. Moore, each had made certain in.
ventions on a rotary air-cooled cylinder
engine, which they called the "Gyro"
and a corporation was formed, the
patents We're pooled and the Gyro
Motor Co., manufacturers of high
grade aeronautical motors, Office and
factory, IA Girard street, Washing
ton, d. Co" was organized in Septem-
Der. 1912.
During the previous year Mr.. Sim.
mons had built a biplane which was
named the Columbia, and in this
ship Paul Peck, who today would be
known as chief test pilot for the
Washington Aeroplane Co, broke the
American endurance record at Mine
ola, \. Y, by flying 4 hours % min.
utes and 15 seconds. His flight was
interrupted by a violent thunder
storm, although for a long time Peck
continued to lily in almost total dark.
moss. For many minutes it was only
possible to see the plane during
flashes cf lightning. This plane used
the Gyro engine and the Simmons
propeller, which was being manu-
factur6d at that time, was sold in
large numbers and was the subject
OF favorable comment by airmen both
in this country and in England.
The following month Peck was
killed in Chicago during an exhibition
flight on the Columbia Kid, a smaller
ard speedicr plane, which Mr.. Sim.
mons built. The cause of the acci-
dent never WAS learned. Peck, only
% years old, was bere1ved over the
death OF his wife a few days prior to
che flight. Before he went aloft Mr.
Simmons said he heard him say: III
give Chicago something to talk about
IN the morning" At about 1900 feet
ne was seen to go into dive. He
plunged downward and a high wind
caught him, blowing him out Of con.