Essential Iowa History

On October 17, 1914, Billy Robinson set a new airmail record for his flight between Des Moines and Chicago. Robinson lived in Grinnell and is considered one of the great pioneer aviators of all time. His plane crash outside of Grinnell on March 11, 1916, not only ended Robinson’s life, but also quashed the possibility that the city would become one of America’s great aviation centers.

Robinson moved to Grinnell with his mother, sister and two brothers in 1896, at the age of 12, after his father had died in Florida. To support his family, he worked as a handy man in a bicycle shop. When his family moved to Oskaloosa, Robinson stayed behind, living with his employer and his mother and sister returned following a mining accident that killed his two brothers.

After the advent of the motor, Robinson began tinkering with one-cylinder automobile engines and began experiment with airplane engines.

Eventually, he bought the repair shop in partnership with another mechanic. He built his first flying machine, a monoplane, molding his own castings, welding the iron, and constructing both the motor and plane according to this own ideas. His first engines failed, but eventually he produced one of the very earliest successful radial engines and pioneered the way for the modern radial engines of today.

Although he owned a plane, Robinson didn’t know how to fly, so in 1912, he became a mechanic for pioneer aviator Max Lillie of Cicero, Illinois. The two went to Florida for a year where Lillie taught Robinson to fly. On August 2nd, 1912, he obtained pilot license No. 162.

After several months flying exhibition around the country, Robinson returned to Grinnell and on October 17, 1914, he took off from Des Moines for a non-stop flight to Chicago, carrying a bundle of letters from central Iowa. When the weather turned and Robinson feared that a landing in Chicago would be risky. He flew south and landed in Kentland, Indiana, a distance of 390 miles from take off, exceeding the American non-stop record by 125 miles.

The flight brought Robinson measured fame and so on March 11, 1916, he set out to break the altitude record of 17,000 feet. Robinson had flown as high as 14,000 feet and thought the new height would be easily attainable. But after spending much of the day inching upward, witnesses said they heard a break in the steady drone of the engine and watched Robinson’s bi-plane spiral into an ascent. He crashed outside of town and died in the flaming wreckage.

The what-if of Robinson’s life loom large. In Grinnell, he had organized the Grinnell Aeroplane Company with planes to manufacture flying machines. Scores of citizens invested in the company and with his mechanical acumen and fame, chances of success seemed strong.

The Palimpest, the official journal of the State Historical Society of Iowa, noted in an article:

"When he organized the Grinnell Aeroplane Company, citizens of Grinnell bought stock liberally. If he had lived a year or two longer, Grinnell, with the advantage of an established airplane factory and flying school, might have been selected as the site of a military aviation training camp during World War I. And with such prestige, the aviation center of the nation might have developed there. Billy Robinson's premature death was a distinct loss to Grinnell and to Iowa."

The airport in Grinnell bears Robinson’s name and artifacts from his fledgling company are on display at Grinnell College. He is buried in Hazlewood Cemetery, the grave marked by a granite slab split from a lone boulder and bearing a bronze tablet.