HOUDINI & THE RED BARON

Harry & Bess at the controls of his Voisin "pusher."

We've been looking into Houdini's exploits as an aviator, spurred on by Harry himself, who told a newspaper reporter that he had done some flying for the U.S. Army.

There is anecdotal evidence that suggests Houdini may have actually even flown during his stay in San Antonio. In a Providence newspaper, Houdini is credited as being "... last but not least an aviator of the United States Army." Around the same time ... Houdini told the noted Boston reporter Ira Mitchell Chappelle, "... I'm an aviator, and in case there's war, will surely be a member of the aviation corps."

        - - Kalush & Sloman, The Secret Life of Houdini

Houdini was only the 25th person on earth to fly an airplane. In those early day of aviation Harry had logged more flying hours than the entire United States Air Force combined! (It was then called the Aviation squadron of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, and later the First Aero Squadron of the U.S. Army.)

He told the reporter he had flown for the U.S. Army, though we have not been able to corroborate this independently. We know that his mechanic and flight engineer Montraville Wood was in San 
Antonio in 1911 teaching Lt. Paul Beck how to fly - Beck is considered the father of American military aviation.

We can't yet confirm Houdini's connection to the U.S. Army, but we do know for sure that Harry gave flight instruction to the Imperial German Army, in the year 1909, just before he set his record for the first manned flight in Australia. His first actual successful flight took place in Hamburg in 1909.

When the U.S. ultimately went to war against Germany in 1917 Harry regretted this early contact and, we're told, never referred to it again. All that has survived are a few shots of Harry and his plane surrounded by the 15th Hussar Regiment of the German Army. Their parade ground at Wandsbeck, near Hamburg, was his practice field, and later became a military airfield for the Imperial German Air Corps.

Houdini is in background, in cockpit, marked with 'x.' Click to enlarge.

Hussars for centuries were light horse cavalry but during the First World War many of them became aviators. One Hussar hero was none other than Wolfram von Richthofen, cousin to Manfred, the infamous Red Baron.

Another Hussar whom Houdini may have initiated was Werner Voss, a legendary World War One ace considered by many to be even more skilled than von Richthofen. He became superstar of the Luftwaffe in World War Two; it took eight British aces to knock him out of the sky.

[Images: National Air & Space Museum; Adelaide (Australia) Daily Herald]



RELATED:

HOUDINI AT WAR

HOUDINI'S ENGINEER