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Concept
Lowell Smith
Summary
Lowell Herbert Smith (October 8, 1892 – November 4, 1945) was a pioneer American airman who piloted the first airplane to receive a complete mid-air refueling (along with Lt. John P. Richter) on June 27, 1923, and later set an endurance record of 37 hours on August 28, both in a De Havilland DH-4B. Smith also piloted the Douglas World Cruiser Chicago, which along with one other made the first aerial circumnavigation in 1924. Smith held 16 records for military aircraft in speed, endurance and distance. He was awarded the best achievement in flight Mackay Trophy twice.
Smith was born October 8, 1892 in Santa Barbara, California to the Rev. Jasper G Smith, the second of four children. The family subsequently moved to North Yakima and Spokane in Washington, then to San Fernando, California, as his father sought work as a mechanical and electrical engineer. Smith received his high school education in San Fernando and went on to college but left his studies to work in a pumping plant in the Mojave Desert and then as a mechanic in an automobile repair shop. He learned to fly after finding work in mines south of Battle Mountain, Nevada.
Smith then decided to join Pancho Villa's revolutionary army in Mexico were he became engineering officer of its tiny three-aircraft air service and he subsequently flew reconnaissance for a time in 1915 before all three aircraft were lost.
Back at Battle Mountain in 1917, the entry of the United States into the First World War inspired Smith's joining the Air Service in San Francisco. He took a course in aeronautics at the University of California and he was posted to Rockwell Field, near San Diego, and then Kelly Field, Texas, as a flying instructor. He did not see active service in the war. After a period as Engineering Officer at Rockwell Field after the war, he was given command of the 20 aircraft 91st Squadron, flying fire patrols in the Pacific Northwest, where he served for four years.
In 1919, he found himself able to participate in the Trans-Continental Speed, Reliability and Endurance Contest.
Official source
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