Flying Lucky 13: From Motorcycles to Tailhooks, Hugh Armstrong Robinson

Pioneer aviators often faced challenges, trials, and tribulations as they worked to make the dream of human flight a reality. One of these aviation pioneers, whose name and contributions are often overlooked, was Hugh Armstrong Robinson. An inventor, engineer and pilot, Robinson survived several test flights, air show stunts and spectacular crashes to further his dream of flying. In the process, he set many aviation records, had many “firsts” in the field of general aviation and made several contributions to military aviation. He lived doing what he loved.

Born at the edge of the Missouri Ozarks in the small town of Neosho, Mo., on May 13, 1882, Robinson was an inspired inventor from an early age. Possessing natural mechanical talents, he earned his engineering degree in 1900 from Webb City (Missouri) Baptist College.1 Beyond his inventive and engineering genius, Robinson also was somewhat of a daredevil and enjoyed performing for an audience. As one Neosho resident put it: “Hugh never did talk very much, but he always performed right smart.”(2)

Robinson started with building and repairing bicycles, but he soon progressed to motorcycles. In fact, he created the first motorcycle Neosho residents had ever seen.(2) Although his early efforts often met with disaster, Robinson would faithfully repair and restore his bikes to allow him to engage in additional outstanding feats. Once he attempted to ride down a long flight of wooden steps in a Neosho park. “For the first 30 steps the performance was perfect, but Hugh overlooked the fact that the steps were broken by a landing. When he reached the landing he and the motorcycle abruptly severed connections. He shot straight into the air for 20 feet and then dropped like a plummet for 20 feet more.”(2) It took two doctors two days to remove all the gravel from his body!

Robinson also built the first car Neosho residents had ever seen.(3) Known as the “Red Devil,” this automobile, which featured bicycle wheels, shrieked rapidly through Neosho streets to the great consternation of the town’s residents. “Every mule in Neosho township developed nervous prostration during Hugh’s mad gasoline career, and erstwhile gentle, placid cows contracted hysterics. Mild and well-behaved ducks became flighty and, while the population of Neosho was divided into two fierce factions, one faction contending that Hugh wouldn’t be killed for a week and the other insisting that he couldn’t possibly survive another day.”(2)

In 1904, Robinson moved to St. Louis to take a job as a foreman for the Dorris Automobile Co., and in this city, he had the opportunity to interact with some of the best balloon pilots in the world at the St. Louis World’s Fair.1 His burgeoning interest in flight grew to a passion and progressed from ballooning and gliders to powered airplanes. In 1909, he met Glenn Curtiss at the St. Louis Centennial . . .