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This is a very scarce real photo portrait of
the great early aviator from Ft. Wayne, Indiana, Art Smith. Note
the way he wears his cap! Long before the young men of our generation wore their
baseball caps backwards, somebody else was doing it; however, in Art's case it had a
practical purpose. The cards below are some of the ones that document his romantic elopement by airplane with his sweetheart, Aimee Cour. Her father would not permit the marriage because of the danger of Art's work and the uncertain financial outlook connected with it. |
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Art Smith and Aimee Cour took off for Hillsdale, Michigan on Oct. 26, 1912. Six minutes into the flight they had a valve problem and had to land the plane to get it fixed. A friend of Art's, who was a mechanic, came to their rescue and got the plane airborne again. |
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Just outside of Hillsdale, the plane had more problems and crashed! A man who was delivering mattresses for a store was first on the scene. He moved both of them onto a mattress in his truck and took them to a local hotel where they were put in separate rooms, both of them unconscious. |
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When Art and Aimee awoke they insisted on being together. A minister was called to marry them. Bruised and bandaged as they were, it couldn't have been much of a honeymoon... it took the couple several weeks to really recover. Aimee's father was so glad to see her alive that he forgave the couple. |
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Their marriage was not to last. Although Aimee had lots of spunk for a woman of her era, (and loads of tolerance), Art filed for divorce in 1917 before sailing to Japan on a tour. |
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© vicki stock, 2002. All rights reserved |