1912

Recently the Winchester, Mass., Star nostalgically sent an interviewer to visit nonagenarian Norman Albree at his home there. Norman was briefly a member of the class of 1912 at Dartmouth.

As World War I was developing, our army owned two biplanes, both declared unsuitable for service. With great foresight, Norman decided that airplanes should be monoplanes, although contemporary planes were all biplanes. So he developed his idea until, in 1916, the army bought two of his monoplanes as part of a 64-plane order - all the rest of which were biplanes. The government didn't purchase another monoplane until about ten years later, although, of course, all planes are now single-winged.

Norman retired from the aircraft business long ago, but he earned a real part in our early aviation history.

[Editor's note: See the story on the oppositepage for more details on the pioneering aviationwork of Norman Albree.]

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