Quiet Birdmen

The Quiet Birdmen is a secretive club in the United States for male aviators. Founded in 1921 by World War I pilots, the organization meets in various locations, never announced to the public. Members, called QBs, must be invited to join, and they join for life. Today, the club's membership, organized into regional "hangars", is made up primarily of retired airline, military and freight pilots, as well as a few astronauts. It is also known as ye Anciente and Secret Order of Quiet Birdmen.

In France in November 1919, a group of World War I aviators started a drinking club called "The American Flying Club", and re-convened in New York City only to be barred from their clubhouse by the bailiff. In January 1921, a subset of that group, some ten to twenty aviators, began meeting fairly regularly on Monday nights in New York City at Marta, an Italian restaurant located at 75 Washington Place in the Greenwich Village neighborhood. Harold Hersey, the editor of Aces High magazine, ironically called the group the Quiet Birdmen because they were so boisterous. At one meeting, reporter Steve Hannigan noticed the jocular group, and visited again the next week, bringing a sketch artist. Hannigan wrote up a feature story about the group, accompanied by a sketch—the first public information about the group. The attendees that night were Harry Bruno, S. H. MacKeon, Wallace James, Richard R. "Dick" Blythe, Earle D. Osborn, Charles S. "Casey" Jones, Harold T. "Slim" Lewis, Ernest Loftquis, Paul G. Zimmerman, Donald Mcllhenny, Ladislas d'Orcy, Richard H. DePew Jr, George Hubbard, R. B. C. Noorduyn, John (Jack) Bishop and J. E. Whitbeck. Because the group grew too large, or because of the noise bothering other patrons, the management at Marta stopped them from meeting there. Subsequent meetings were held in a different location each time, often a restaurant. Membership in the 1920s cost one dollar and lasted until death. In the 1920s the emblem of the club was created: a blue shield with the letters QB in silver, the shield flanked by silver wings. In 1938, the club's meetings settled into the building owned by the Architectural League of New York.

Harvey Mummert, vice president and chief engineer of Mercury Aircraft, has been credited as co-founder of the club. Early members Bruno and Blythe started a public relations firm in 1923 and in 1927 they became known for promoting Charles Lindbergh's solo trans-Atlantic flight. Lindbergh was made a member of the Quiet Birdmen. Unusually, a former combat foe was invited to join the club: Ernst Udet, the highest-scoring German flying ace to survive World War I. Known as a fun-loving playboy, Udet performed aerobatics at the National Air Races in Cleveland in 1931 and '32, Los Angeles in '33, and again in Cleveland in '38. While visiting the U.S., Udet befriended Lindbergh,Eddie Rickenbacker,Jimmy Doolittle, Wiley Post, Roscoe Turner and other American QBs.

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