Allen County, Indiana People

Arthur Art Roy Bird Boy Smith

BirdBoyFunFact

Another Fun Fact flying into your Friday! ✈️ Did you know this about Bird Boy? Now you do! #FunFactFriday #BirdBoy #PBS #PBSFortWayne #FortWayne

Posted by PBS Fort Wayne on Friday, July 28, 2023

Friday, July 28, 2023 video post by PBS Fort Wayne on Facebook:

Another Fun Fact flying into your Friday! ✈️ Did you know this about Bird Boy? Now you do!  

Aviator or writer? The Legacy of Fort Wayne’s Birdboy by Daniel Beals uploaded May 14, 2022 on YouTube
from the article Aviator or writer? The Legacy of Fort Wayne’s Birdboy by Daniel Beals published November 17, 2020 on 21AliveNews.com.

Namesake Smith Field airport. He is buried in Lindenwood Cemetery, his obituary and tombstone photo are as Arthur Roy “Bird Boy” Smith on Find-A-Grave. See also National Airmail Museum.

  1. 1914 pilot Art Smith & wife Amy (World's first couple to elope in an aeroplane!

    1914 pilot Art Smith & wife Amy (World's first couple to elope in an aeroplane!

  2. December 13, 2018 post by Hofer and Davis, Inc. Land Surveyors on Facebook and shared December 13, 2022 on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook:

    For "Throwback Thursday" we share this picture of the dedication of the Art Smith monument at Memorial Park on August 13, 1928. A. K. Hofer would become the Park Engineer for the BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS in 1930.

    Art Smith monument dedication at Memorial Park was on August 13, 1928 with photos from 1928, 1929 World War I Memorial Dedication, and 1930 Reports of Board of Park Commissioners posted May 4, 2017 by Hofer and Davis, Inc Land Surveyors on Facebook.

  3. Art Smith Birdboy Of Fort Wayne on Smithsonian National Museum of American History blog and same information as Art Smith Birdboy Of Fort Wayne at the National Air and Space Museum Smithsonian.
  4. Art Smith, Birdboy by JoAnne P. Miller at Hillsdale County Historical Society.
  5. The Smash-Up Kid: Fort Wayne Aviator Art Smith online in Air Mail Pioneers was originally published starting on page 26 in the Fall 1998, Volume 10, Number 4 issue of TRACES OF INDIANA & MIDWESTERN HISTORY, a publication of the Indiana Historical Society by Rachel Sherwood Roberts. The "Birdboy of Fort Wayne" once claimed to be the world's greatest flyer. He is credited with being the originator of skywriting and is one of the pioneers of the US Air Mail Service. In he was killed in 1926 in a plane crash. Excerpt was posted December 8, 2011 on the original Great Memories and History of Fort Wayne, Indiana page on Facebook.
  6. Flying High in Fort Wayne published February 2, 2011 on History Center Notes & Queries blog.
  7. Indiana Aviator Pioneers page by Fort Wayne Allen County Airport Authority.
  8. Photos on Early Aviators and Early Days 1905-1915.
  9. THE COMPLETE WRITINGS OF ART SMITH, THE BIRD BOY OF FORT WAYNE, EDITED BY MICHAEL MARTONE has been shortlisted for the @...

    Posted by Michael Martone on Thursday, August 4, 2022

    Thursday, August 4, 2022 post by Michael Martone on Facebook:

    THE COMPLETE WRITINGS OF ART SMITH, THE BIRD BOY OF FORT WAYNE, EDITED BY MICHAEL MARTONE has been shortlisted for the @INAuthorsAwards! Huzzah! to my wing mates, the other shortlisters in the fiction category: Laird Hunt, Angela Jackson-Brown, D.A. Lockhart, and Susan Neville.

    The biennial Awards honor the best books written by Indiana authors. See all the shortlisted books and sign up to get word of the winning books on Aug. 24 at IndianaAuthorsAwards.org.

    The Collected Writings of Art Smith, The Bird Boy of Fort Wayne edited by Michael Martone published March 4, 2013 on The Brooklyn Rail.

  10. Photos discussion March 10, 2014 on the original Great Memories and History of Fort Wayne, Indiana page on Facebook.
  11. Art Smith – The Life and Times of “The Comet” with photos published May 5, 2014 on The Old Motor.com.
  12. The Spirit of Flight photo of memorial in Memorial Park with some history published October 13, 2014 by Daniel Baker-Photographer on Facebook.
  13. 'Birdboy' memorial binds city to aviation heritage by Kerry Hubartt published April 29, 2017 in The News-Sentinel newspaper.
  14. August 23, 2023 post by the US National Archives on Facebook:

    It’s time to celebrate #AviationWeek by taking a flight through the numerous National Archives records relating to aviation. Lean your seat back and get some snacks as you learn about trailblazers such as the Wright Brothers, Ruth Law, Charles Lindbergh, and Amelia Earhart. Flip through our photos of airplanes, pilots, and aviation activities in our still picture holdings. Ready for your inflight movie? We have aviation footage spread throughout our motion pictures holdings. If you’re looking to relax with your headphones, enjoy sound recordings of the 1927 arrival of Charles Lindbergh in Washington, DC, or interviews with #WWI aviation heroes. If you feel like you're getting lost, we even have maps, plans, and charts that will help you to your final destination.
    https://ow.ly/Jltl50PACAT

    Image: Charles Lindbergh, Lambert Field, St. Louis, 1925.
    https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6788416

    #Aviation #AviationHistory 

    [there are over 265 records for Art Smith search, not all are for aviation, many are not online.]

Art Smith and the Panama-Pacific International Exposition by Historyans uploaded July 18, 2011 on this 1915 YouTube

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