Courtney, Frank T.

Frank T. Courtney was born in London in 1914. He started his career with an apprenticeship at the Grahame-White Aircraft Company in 1913 and attained his pilot's certificate in Aug. 1914 flying primitive box-kite airplanes. He attained the rank of Captain while serving in the Royal Flying Corps in World War I while flying in a Morane-Saulnier "Parasol." After the war Courtney became a test pilot for De Havilland and in between testing planes he was an avid air racer. The early 1920s saw Courtney pioneer airline service routes between Britain and the Continent across the English Channel for Daimler Airways. In 1925 Courtney tested the newly invented autogiro and helped with its development into a practical concept. Courtney's next pioneering venture came in 1927 and 1928 when he tried and failed on two separate occasions to prove the concept of an airline service route between Europe and North America by flying unsuccessfully across the Atlantic from east to west. In 1928 Courtney came to the U.S. as a technical assistant to the Curtiss-Wright Corporation, went back to England in 1936 to test hydroplanes, and returned to the U.S. in 1940 to test planes for Convair. During World War II he served as a ferry pilot routinely flying B-24s and PBYs for delivery. After the war Courtney served as an advisor to Boeing and finished up his aviation career by participating in the development of the Atlas Missile. He published an autobiography, The Eighth Sea, in 1972 through Doubleday publishing (published as Flight Path in the UK). He died in 1982.

Frank T. Courtney (1894-1982) was born in London and served with the Royal Flying Corps (the forerunner of the Royal Air Force) in France during World War I, attaining the rank of captain. He was a test pilot and racer in England from 1919-1928. He also tried to fly the Atlantic from east to west in 1919, 1926 and 1928, but was unsuccessful each time.

Courtney came to the U.S. in 1928 as a technical assistant to the Curtiss-Wright Corporation. From 1936-1940 Courtney tested hydroplanes in England and came to the U.S. in 1940 to fly test planes for Convair and later served as an advisor to Boeing. Courtney was married to Constance May "Ginger" Filby (1901-1968), who was also an aviator.