Arthur L. Welsh

Arthur L. Welsh
Arthur L. Welsh and George William Beatty circa 1911
Born	Laibel Wellcher (1881-08-14)August 14, 1881 Russian Empire
Died	June 11, 1912(1912-06-11) (aged 30) United States Army Aviation School College Park, Maryland
Cause of death	Aircrash
Other names	Al Welsh

Arthur L. "Al" Welsh (August 14, 1881 – June 11, 1912) was a Jewish, Russian-born American pioneer aviator who became the first flight instructor for the Wright Brothers. He was killed in an aircrash in 1912.

He was born as Laibel Welcher on August 14, 1881, in Kiev, Ukraine, which was then part of the Russian Empire. He was one of six children of Abraham and Dvora Wellcher. In 1890, the family emigrated to Philadelphia, speaking no English. He attended both public school and Hebrew school there. His father died when he was 13 years old and he was sent to Washington, D.C. to live with relatives shortly after his mother remarried. He was a top student who did best in math and mechanics, and was excellent at swimming.

He changed his surname to "Welsh" when he joined the United States Navy as a 20-year-old, expecting greater success in the Navy with a name that did not sound "too Jewish". He received an honorable discharge after a tour of duty that lasted four years. He contracted typhoid fever one month after he was discharged and spent four months recovering in a hospital.

After his recuperation, Welsh moved back to Washington, D.C. While working as a bookkeeper at a local gas company, Welsh wrote a letter to the Wright brothers after seeing a flight demonstration in Virginia, but did not receive a job offer with the company. He traveled to Dayton, Ohio, convinced that he could make a positive impression in person. The brothers gave him a job in the Wright Company's new flying exhibition division, even though he did not have the experience they were looking for.

He began his orientation with the Wright Company in Dayton and traveled to the company's winter flying location in Montgomery, Alabama where he showed strong potential as a pilot with Orville as his instructor. Called back to Dayton, he was asked to help establish the company's flight school at Huffman Prairie. He worked there as an instructor and test pilot alongside pioneers Frank Trenholm Coffyn and Ralph Johnstone. There he taught students including Hap Arnold, who would become a five-star general leading the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. He set multiple records for flight time and altitude and won several flying competitions.