DeLloyd Thompson

On July 13, 1949, the DeLoyd Thompson Memorial Gates were dedicated at the Washington County Airport.

At one time, it hosted memorials for DeLloyd Thompson, a famous early pilot from Washington County, but those memorials had been discarded.

The event, which was attended by 5,000, was marked with an airshow conducted by the Early Birds of Aviation.

He was born in 1888 and grew up in Buffalo Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania.

As a pilot, he was part of the tradition of "exhibition" pilots, travelling throughout countrysides and entertaining with their aeronautical feats.

On August 6, 1914, Thompson set the flight altitude record by flying to a height of 15,256 ft over Overland Park, Kansas in his Day-Gyro plane.

On August 6, 1914, Thompson set the flight altitude record by flying to a height of 15,256 ft over Overland Park, Kansas in his Day-Gyro plane.

This feat, which placed him at the altitude of modern turboprop planes, happened only 10 years after the Wright brothers' first flight.

This feat, which placed him at the altitude of modern turboprop planes, happened only 10 years after the Wright brothers' first flight.

In 1916, during the run-up to American involvement in World War I, he tried to raise American awareness of the aerial warfare and to encourage greater protections for the East Coast, by launching pyrotechnics over Washington, D.C..

In 1916, during the run-up to American involvement in World War I, he tried to raise American awareness of the aerial warfare and to encourage greater protections for the East Coast, by launching pyrotechnics over Washington, D.C..

In 1916, during the run-up to American involvement in World War I, he tried to raise American awareness of the aerial warfare and to encourage greater protections for the East Coast, by launching pyrotechnics over Washington, D.C..

He dropped packets reading, "This 'Bomb' is Harmless. Suppose it had contained Nitro-Glycerine and was hurled by the enemy instead of by DeLloyd Thompson, who flies the American Flag? WAKE UP AND PREPARE"

He dropped packets reading, "This 'Bomb' is Harmless. Suppose it had contained Nitro-Glycerine and was hurled by the enemy instead of by DeLloyd Thompson, who flies the American Flag? WAKE UP AND PREPARE"

He was the second American to loop an airplane.

In 1937, developed and constructed the DeLloydCabinaire, a 2 seat monoplane, but that venture failed, due in part to the continuing Great Depression, and only 2 were ever built.

Following his aeronautical career, he made an unsuccessful bid to become mayor of Washington, Pennsylvania in 1939.

He also became the owner of a coal mine and worked as a construction contractor He was in an automobile accident on U.S. Route 40 in Pennsylvania 1945.

The event, which was attended by 5,000, was marked with an airshow conducted by the Early Birds of Aviation.

They eventually were placed in the custody of the Washington County Historical Society at the F. Julius LeMoyne House.