Wyen, Aloys Joseph, 1889-1979

Aloys Joseph Wyen was born August 31, 1889 in Monchengladbach, Germany, the Rhineland area on the border of Holland. His mother, Mary (Hofer) Wyen was from the "Haus of Hofer" in the Rhineland. His father, Martin Wyen, was an officer in the Prussian army under Hindenberg. Aloys had two brothers: Frederick, born in 1887; and Peter, born in 1892.

In 1897, the family immigrated to America and settles in Mercer and Auglaize Counties, Northwest Ohio. Because of conditions in Germany and the threat of impending war, they did not want their son on the Prussian Army.

Their first year in America, the family came down with typhoid fever and Martin Wyen died. Two years later, with encouragement from her parish priest, Mary Wyen married John Schoenlein, a widower with six children, the youngest nine months. The family resided on a large farm in Mercer County, St. Peter, Ohio. Two years later, John Schoenlein died of a ruptured appendix.

In 1902, at the age of thirteen, Aloys went to Dayton, Ohio, where he initially worked for Orville and Wilbur Wright in their bicycle shop. Eventually, he also worked with the Wright Brothers at Huffman Prairie in flight mechanics in a shed which served as both a work shop and hanger.

For the next nine years, as a pioneer in flight mechanics, Aloys helped design and build the first planes, one of which is known as the Model R or Baby Grand, a small racing plane. Aloys designed and built the landing gear. It was taken to Belmont Park, New York, where it crashed and was later rebuilt. He also worked on the first American glider built by the WACO Aircraft Company in Troy, Ohio.

From 1911 to 1916, Aloys Wyen flew at Los Angeles, California. He crashed in 1916 and was hospitalized for many months. A souvenir memento that served as a remembrance to the day of his death at age ninety-six was a silver plate that was placed up his nose.

When released from the hospital in 1916, he returned to Dayton, Ohio, at which time he married Mary Hierholzer and started an automobile business. Aloys Wyen was a resident of Dayton for eighty one years. His spouse, Mary Wyen, was a resident for eighty three years. They had four daughters: Mary Elizabeth Wyen, Rita Louis Wyen Martin, Alvira Helen Wyen Marburger, and Shirley Ann Wyen Huffman. Processor's Note: The above biographical sketch was written by Mary E. Wyen, Aloys Wyen's daughter.

From the guide to the Aloys J. Wyen Papers, 1910-1988, (Wright State University, Special Collections and Archives)