Alan R. Hawley

Alan Ramsay Hawley
Sgt. Clarence Blair Coombs (1888-1944) and Hawley in 1918
Born	(1864-07-29)July 29, 1864 Perth Amboy, New Jersey
Died	February 16, 1938(1938-02-16) (aged 73) Manhattan, New York City
Education	Trinity School
Occupation	President of the Aero Club of America
Parent(s)	Peter William Radcliffe Hawley (1829–1884) Isabella Meritt (1838–1904)

Alan Ramsay Hawley (July 29, 1864 – February 16, 1938) was one of the early aviators in the United States. In 1910, he won the national race with his balloon America II along side his aide and life-long friend Augustus Post. Hawley was the first passenger to fly in an airplane from New York City to Washington, D.C., in May 1916. He was the president of the Aero Club of America from 1913 to 1918.

He was born on 29 July 1869 in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, to Peter William Radcliffe Hawley (1829–1884) and Isabella Meritt (1838–1904). He attended the Trinity School in New York City before becoming a with his brother, William Hawley, until he retired in 1912.

Before becoming interested in aeronautics, Hawley was a pioneer in the automobile movement, at the time when the car was an exceptional thing. He was also a founding member of the Automobile Club of America.

He learned to pilot a balloon from 1905 to 1906. He held the Aero Club of America's pilot's certificate No. 7, issued in 1907.

On January 1, 1907, he ascended with Major James C. McCoy in a 35,000 cubic foot balloon Orient in St. Louis, Missouri.

On April 22, 1907, he ascended over a mile in his balloon with Arthur T. Atherolt.

He entered the 1910 Gordon Bennett International Balloon Race with Augustus Post and they left the grounds of the Aero Club of St. Louis at 5:45 p.m. on Monday, October 17, 1910, in their balloon America II. The balloon had been specially constructed in France for this race and was owned by Major James C. McCoy. During the flight they took watches of three hours each, "one sleeping and one watching the statiscopes, aneroid, and other instruments" (sic). A recording barograph (altimeter) kept a precise log of their altitude during the flight. They reached altitudes of 5,000 meters (16400 ft) above the altitude of St. Louis, their 0 altitude reference point. St. Louis is at 140 meters (465 ft) above sea level. 46 hours later, at 3:45 p.m. on Wednesday, 19 October they landed in the middle of the wilderness in Quebec, Canada, about 58 miles (93 km) north of Chicoutimi. They had been forced to land because of a storm. They were on a hillside at some 1,500 feet (460 m) altitude and had traveled 1887.6 kilometers (1,173 mi) from St. Louis. They had traveled at an average of 50 kilometres per hour (30 miles per hour). The next day they traveled south towards the last inhabited area they had passed over. Hawley was slowed by an ankle twisted just after landing. For the next three days they walked, sleeping under their blankets at night and eating a bare minimum of food. They eventually came upon a trapper's hut, at the edge of Lake St. John, which was not occupied at that moment. They rested there for a day, after which two French Canadian men out on a hunting trip arrived and agreed to help them. The trappers took them to Saint-Ambroise-de-Kildare, Quebec. Once there, they sent telegrams to family and the Aero Club to let them know they were alright. The message Hawley sent to his brother read: "Landed in wilderness week ago, fifty miles north of Chicoutimi. Both well —Alan." Their telegrams ended searches which had various parties had started, looking for them around the Great Lakes. Clifford B. Harman, a wealthy amateur aeronaut and aviator, had offered $1,000 to anyone who found Hawley and Post, dead or alive. On the evening before their telegrams were sent, Harmon had increased the reward to $7,000.