Early Birds of Aviation

{{short description|Organization devoted to the history of early pilots}}

File:Aviator deaths in Je Sais Tout on 15 August 1912.jpg

File:Aviator deaths in Je Sais Tout on 15 August 1912, image 2.jpg

File:Signatures of the Original Early Birds.jpg

The Early Birds of Aviation is an organization devoted to the history of early pilots. The organization was started in 1928 and accepted a membership of 598 pioneering aviators.{{cite news |author=Robert McG. Thomas Jr. |title=George D. Grundy Jr., 99, Last of Pioneers in Aviation |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/22/nyregion/george-d-grundy-jr-99-last-of-pioneers-in-aviation.html |quote=George D. Grundy Jr., the last of the world's first fliers, died on Tuesday at a nursing home in Leesburg, Fla. He was 99 and had been the sole surviving member of the Early Birds, an international organization of aviation pioneers. |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 22, 1998 |access-date=2012-08-28 }}

Membership was limited to those who piloted a glider, gas balloon, or airplane, prior to December 17, 1916, covering the entirety of the pioneer era of aviation, and just over two years into World War I. The cutoff date was set at December 17 to correspond to the first flights of Wilbur and Orville Wright. 1916 was chosen as a cutoff because a large number of people were trained in 1917 as pilots for World War I.{{cite news |title=The Men and Women Who Taught World To Fly Were a Dedicated Crew |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0E14FC3B55107B93C3A8178BD95F478585F9 |quote= "Early Birds" is an organization whose membership requirement is that the applicant must have flown in either an airship or an airplane during the first thirteen years of aviation. between 1903 and 1916. ... |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 11, 1953 |access-date=2012-08-27 }} Twelve of the aviators were women.

The original organization dissolved once the last living member had died. This occurred with the death of 99-year-old George D. Grundy Jr. on May 19, 1998. The organization was restarted and is devoted to collecting and publishing biographies on those who met the 1916 deadline. There were many pilots who soloed before the 1916 deadline who never applied to the club to be members. Some have been made honorary members.