death_date home_town birth_place parents birth_date alma_mater article_title name death_cause
11 march 1916 grinnell , iowa redfield , south dakota mrs. franklin robinson 24 september 1884 grinnell college billy robinson -lrb- aviator -rrb-
 william c. robinson aircraft crash
billy robinson -lrb- aviator -rrb-

william c. `` billy '' robinson -lrb- september 24 , 1884 in redfield , south dakota -- march 11 , 1916 in near grinnell , iowa -rrb- was an early american aviator .
robinson moved to grinnell in 1896 at age 12 .
he was a handyman , tinkerer , and bicycle repairman who designed and built his own flying machine .
in 1911 , with the help of charles hink , robinson constructed a 60 horsepower radial motor for his monoplane .
his innovations for the radial motor were revolutionary .
in 1914 he set a record for non-stop flight , carrying mail from des moines to kentland , indiana .
later he founded the grinnell aeroplane company .
robinson perished while flying his biplane , attempting to set an altitude record on march 11 , 1916 .
his aircraft was witnessed climbing to altitude , before drifting down like a falling leaf , and gliding to a landing , which was controlled enough to leave skid marks , but rough enough to rupture the fuel tank and ignite the aircraft .
hypoxia was suspected among other reasons for the crash , but the fire made it impossible to verify the exact cause .
