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Records (Documents)

Vilas Flying Certificate

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Certificate issued to E.M. Griffith, the Wisconsin State Forester, so that Griffith could prove that he had flown at an altitude of 1600 feet in the "flying boat" piloted by Jack Vilas. A portrait of Vilas and a picture of his flying boat illustrate the certificate. The plane in which Griffith flew is probably the one that Vilas used to spot fires for the state of Wisconsin in 1915, the first known use of an airplane for conservation work.

Date Created:
1915

Publication Information

Date Created 1915

Physical Description

Format Image
Dimensions 30 x 21 cm

Collection Information

Source Collection Subject albums, 1753?-1990? (bulk circa 1850s-circa 1950s)
Call Number Album 24.48

Copyright Information

Copyright Status NO COPYRIGHT - UNITED STATES
Rights Holder Wisconsin Historical Society
Unique ID
W013IKV
Legacy ID
WHi 10500

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For a credit line: Wisconsin Historical Society, Creator, Title, Unique Identifier. 

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Photographs
Vilas Flying Boat

Vilas Flying Boat

1915

Jack Vilas (seated) in the Curtiss hydroplane he used to spot forest fires for the Wisconsin Conservation Department. (His companion is not identified.) This is believed to be the first use of an a...

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Postcards
Curtiss Flying Boat at Trout Lake

Curtiss Flying Boat at Trout Lake

1915

View from shoreline of Trout Lake of a group of six men posed with the pilot, possibly Jack Vilas, on an early seaplane or flying boat floating in the water at the shoreline. The six men are dresse...

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Photographs
Vilas Flying Boat

Vilas Flying Boat

July 1, 1913

The Curtiss flying boat in which Jack Vilas made the first flight across Lake Michigan. Vilas, a Chicago businessman, was greeted by a crowd of aerial enthusiasts. His achievement was not only the ...

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Photographs
Glenn Curtiss Flying Langley's Plane

Glenn Curtiss Flying Langley's Plane

Image of Curtiss flying an airplane over a body of water. There is a hill along the shoreline in the background.

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Postcards
Bellinger in Navy Flying Boat

Bellinger in Navy Flying Boat

1914

Lieutenant Patrick N.L. Bellinger, one of the first Navy flyers, piloting a U.S. Navy flying boat during the U.S. occupation of Vera Cruz, Mexico. During this assignment, Bellinger became the first...

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Photographs
Final Wreck of the Vin Fiz?

Final Wreck of the Vin Fiz?

June 12, 1913

The second fatal wreck involving the Wright Model B airplane in which Calbreith Perry Rodgers had died a year earlier. This crash killed Andy Drew, friend and partner of Jesse Brabazon, pioneer avi...

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