Walter Edwin Lees

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Walter Edwin Lees (July 16, 1887 – May 16, 1957) was an early American aviator who set a flight endurance record in 1931.

He was born in 1887 in Janesville, Wisconsin, and attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He made his first solo flight on November 14, 1912, near St. Louis, Missouri. He joined the Army Air Service as a civilian flying instructor in 1917, and married Loa Lloyd. He worked as a pilot, test pilot, instructor, and barnstormer. He also worked as a mechanic in the Army Air Service at Wright Field between 1919 and 1920. He and Frederick Brossy made a world's non-refueling duration record at Jacksonville Beach, Florida in 1931 with a flight time of 84 hours and 32 minutes in a Bellanca J2 Diesel. His military service included five years as a pilot in the US Air Force Reserve, and 20 years as pilot in the United States Navy Reserve, and 6 years active duty with the US Navy from 1940 to 1946. He retired from the Navy in 1948 with the rank of Commander. He was active in aviation for over 35 years and flew approximately 12,000 hours, in over 60 different types of planes.

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  • World War I draft registration, 1917
  • New York Times; May 29, 1931; Set Flight Record Without Refueling; Lees And Brossy, 84:33 Hours In Air, Recapture World Mark From France. Land On Florida Beach Take-Off In Diesel-Motor Plane Was Made Early Monday. Pair Slept Easily In Craft. Throngs Held Back For Landing. Set Flight Record Without Refueling Storm Threat Blows Over. Not Tired By 6,600-Mile Grind. Lees Once Drove Horse Car. Jacksonville, Florida, May 28, 1931 Walter Lees and Frederick Brossy, Detroit aviators, established a new world's record of 84 hours and 33 minutes for a non-refueling airplane flight when they landed at Jacksonville Beach at 7:20 o'clock, Eastern [Standard Time] ...
  • Detroit News; June 5, 1931; When Walter Lees reached the Detroit City Airport Friday and was welcomed as co-holder of the world's non-refueling endurance record, made last month in Florida, in a Bellanca Packard-Diesel motored monoplane, he was greeted by his wife and four daughters to whom his return was just part of the day's work. Walter Lees has been flying since 1911 and is one of the oldest pilots, in point of service, who is making similar flights. Only Mrs. Lees, of the Lloyd family, has known a time whe he was not a flier, when his daily life was not of the utmost hazard and his return home each day problematical. To Loa Betty, 15; Burt, 13; Billie, 12;and Jo, 2, he has always been a flier, but one of such skill and care that his work, to them, is just a job, no matter how thrilling it may seem to others. Lees taught himself to fly, for when he started, there were no instructors. One of his most noted students was Brig-Gen. William Mitchell, former assistant chief of the Army Air Service. Lees, now a test pilot for the Packard Motor Car Company, lives at 2019 Seward Avenue. His associate in his record breaking flight of 84 hours, 33 minutes, was Frederick Brossy, son of Mr. and Mrs. Francis E. Brossy, 981 Burns Avenue. ...