William Whitney Christmas
{{short description|American physician and aviator}}
{{other people|William Christmas}}
{{Infobox person
| name = William Whitney Christmas
| image = File:William Whitney Christmas in 1915.jpg
| caption = Christmas in 1915
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1865|9|1}}
| birth_place = Warrenton, North Carolina, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1960|4|14|1865|9|1}}
| death_place = Bellevue Hospital
Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
| other_names =
| known_for =
| education = St. John's Military Academy
| alma_mater = {{plainlist|
- University of Virginia {{small|(BS, MS)}}{{citation needed |date=June 2021 |reason=specific degree not in citation}}
- George Washington University {{small|(MD)}}
}}
| occupation = Physician
Aviator
| spouse = {{marriage|May Norris|1899}}
| partner =
| children = 1
| relatives =
}}
William Whitney Christmas, M.D. (September 1, 1865 – April 14, 1960) was a physician, failed aircraft designer, and supposed con man. He was one of many claimants for an early design of the aileron. He was a vice-president of the General Development Corporation.{{Cite web |title=William Whitney Christmas (1865-1960) |url=http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_290623 |access-date=8 August 2015 |website=Smithsonian Institution Archives |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}
Biography
Christmas was born on September 1, 1865, in Warrenton, North Carolina, to James Yancey Christmas and Rhoda Gaines. He attended the St. John's Military Academy then the University of Virginia where he obtained a bachelor's degree and a master's degree.{{Cite web |last=Freed |first=Callie |date=December 21, 2011 |title=Mr. Christmas And His Flights Of Fancy |url=http://www.virginiamemory.com/blogs/out_of_the_box/2011/12/21/mr-christmas-and-his-flights-of-fancy-2/ |access-date=2013-11-25 |publisher=Library of Virginia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191113113240/http://www.virginiamemory.com/blogs/out_of_the_box/2011/12/21/mr-christmas-and-his-flights-of-fancy-2/ |archive-date=2019-11-13 |url-status=dead}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/79415697/local-matters-13-sep-1884-alexandria-g/ |title=Local Matters |date=1884-09-13 |page=3 |newspaper=Alexandria Gazette |access-date=2021-06-12 |via=Newspapers.com}} He graduated from George Washington University in 1905 with an M.D.
He married May Norris in 1899 in Maryland, and they had as their son, Whitney Norris Christmas.
He developed the Christmas Bullet airplane in 1918 which had sprung steel wing spars, which crashed on its maiden flight after the wings tore themselves from the fuselage, killing the pilot. He then built a second example which also crashed on its maiden flight, again killing the pilot.{{Cite web |date=22 May 2014 |title=World's Worst Planes: The Aircraft That That Failed |url=http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140522-are-these-the-worlds-worst-plane |access-date=8 August 2015 |website=BBC Future Media |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation}}{{Cite web |last=Lovell |first=Joseph Tyler |date=19 April 2018 |title=The Christmas Bullet Was The Worst Plane Ever Made |url=https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-christmas-bullet-was-the-worst-plane-ever-made-1825187889 |access-date=20 April 2018 |website=Foxtrot Alpha |publisher=Gizmodo Media Group}}
In retirement he was still proposing improbable aeroplane designs.{{Cite news |date=September 1, 1950 |title=Sky Giant Is Urged By Air Pioneer, 85. Dr. Christmas Plans Plane Like Battleship. His New Paper Dooms Counterfeiters |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/09/01/archives/sky-giant-is-urged-by-air-pioneer-85-dr-christmas-plans-plane-like.html |access-date=2015-08-08}}
He died at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, New York City, of pneumonia on April 14, 1960.{{Cite web |date=June 1, 1960 |title=In Memoriam |url=http://earlyaviators.com/echristm.htm |access-date=2015-08-08 |publisher=Early Birds of Aviation}}
Aircraft
Aircraft designed or developed by Christmas, most of which never left the drawing board, but were supposed to introduce various aviation patents. It is unlikely that any of them other than the Bullet ever flew.
(1910: (Dr William Whitney) Christmas Aeroplane Co, Washington DC. c.1912: Durham Christmas Aeroplane Sales & Exhibition Co. 1918: Cantilever Aero Co, Copiague, NY.){{Cite web |last=Eckland |first=K.O. |date=2008-08-15 |title=American airplanes: Ca - Ci |url=http://aerofiles.com/_ca.html |access-date=2011-01-28 |website=Aerofiles.com}}
Footnotes
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
{{commons category}}
- [http://earlyaviators.com/echristm.htm William Whitney Christmas] at Early Birds of Aviation
- [http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_290623 William Whitney Christmas] at Smithsonian Institution
- [https://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/?action=click&contentCollection®ion=TopBar&WT.nav=searchWidget&module=SearchSubmit&pgtype=Homepage#/%22William+W.+Christmas%22/ William Whitney Christmas] at The New York Times
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christmas, William Whitney}}
Category:George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences alumni
Category:Members of the Early Birds of Aviation