Charles F. Willard

{{short description|American aviator (1883–1977)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2016}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Charles F. Willard

| image = Charles Foster Willard (1910).jpg

| caption = Willard in 1910

| birth_name = Charles Foster Willard

| nickname =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1883|10|13|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Melrose, Massachusetts, U.S.{{cite journal|journal=American Aviation Historical Society Journal|year=1969|title=The Flying Pioneers: Charles F. Willard|page=125|quote=Willard was born at Melrose, Massachusetts, October 13, 1883, attended grade school at Hull, Massachusetts...|last=Buckner|first=Harold E.|oclc=1479442}}

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1977|2|1|1883|10|13|mf=y}}

| death_place = Glendale, California, U.S.

| resting_place =

| occupation = Aviator, engineer, explorer

| education =

| known for = * First barnstormer (1909)

• Fourth American pilot of an airplane (1909)
• First person to fly three passengers in the United States (1910)
• First person to be shot down in an airplane (1910)

| spouse =

| parents =

| children =

| signature = Charles F. Willard.svg

}}

Charles Foster Willard (October 13, 1883{{snd}}February 1, 1977) was an American aviator and engineer, who became known as the first barnstormer with his trick flights. Willard was the first person taught to fly by Glenn Curtiss in 1909 and was the 10th person to receive an official pilot's licence. Willard made a number of aviation 'firsts'.

In 1910, Willard made the first ever flight over downtown Los Angeles.

He was the first person to fly three passengers in the United States.

Willard has the unfortunate record of being the first person to have his airplane shot out of the sky by a bullet—that of an annoyed farmer who hit his propeller with a squirrel gun.{{cite news|title=3 Passengers in Aeroplane; Charles F. Willard Establishes Record For America|page=1|work=The Sun|location=Baltimore, Md.|date=August 15, 1910|quote=New York. Aug. 14 —Charles F. Willard in a Curtiss aeroplane, flew with three passengers and himself for 500 yards at Mineola, L. I. this evening. This is the first three passenger flight recorded in America. With his brother, W. H. Willard, R. F. Patterson and Archibald Albin aboard he ascended prettily and skimmed the distance at a height of 20 feet.}}{{cite news| title=Charles F. Willard, Who is Trying to Perfect the Monoplane; Bullet Hit Airship of Boston Aviator; Charles F. Willard of Hull Has Become Prominent in Aeronautics|page=3|date=June 2, 1910|location=Boston, Mass.|work=Boston Journal|quote=It was a Boston man who figured in the first case recorded of an aeroplane brought to earth by a bullet...Charles F. Willard, whose machine was wrecked in Joplin, Mo., during a cross-country flight}}{{cite news|title=Charles F. Willard Is Dead|date=February 2, 1977|work=The New York Times|location=New York|author=AP News|page=17}}{{cite book|title=Frail were my Wings|last1=Willard|first1=Charles F.|editor=Frank H. Ellis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9ny49YQ7XlAC&pg=PA31|pages=31, 70|magazine=Flying Magazine|date=February 1956}}

At the Harvard-Boston Aero Meet of 1910 Charles Willard took Miss Eleanor Ladd of Boston on a flight. She worked for a Boston newspaper, and was reportedly the first newspaper woman in America to fly in an airplane.{{cn|date=December 2022}}

During the Airshow Willard also took along Army Lieutenant Jacob E. Finkel, a rifle sharpshooter up in his Curtiss biplane. As Willard circled the airfield, Finkel fired shots from the airplane at targets on the ground, hitting them more often than not. The “experiment” was considered “highly satisfactory”.Norwich Bulletin, (Conn.) “Continue For Two Days”, September 14, 1910.

With aviation pioneer Stanley Yale Beach, they've built the Beach-Willard Monoplane, from which they received patents, having invented the connection of planes or wings to a triangular body, enforceable in France, England and the United States.[https://ia804702.us.archive.org/3/items/aeronautics56aero/aeronautics56aero.pdf Aeronautics, The American Magazine of Aerial Locomotion, Vol. 5, No. 1, July 2009, p. 14-15][https://books.google.com/books?id=wrIVAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22beach-willard%22+monoplane&pg=PA98 American Magazine of Aeronautics, Volumes 5 à 7, p. 98]

On July 1, 1912, Willard's father, William A. Willard, was pilot Harriet Quimby's passenger when both died in a crash.