LOWELL SMITH, ADVENTURER

After flying in World War I, Lowell Smith came to Eugene and lived with Judd and Emma Skinner in the Historic Skinner House for more than a year, while flying on fire patrols for Judd. As a young man, he had flown in the early days of the Mexican Revolution under Pancho Villa. He later participated in the Great Transcontinental Air Race of 1919. He was credited with being the first pilot to drop a bomb from an airplane. In 1923, a year after he left Eugene, he became the first pilot to take part in the air-to-air refueling of an aircraft. In 1924, he was the lead pilot and commander of the team completing the first US Army Air Service Flight Around The World, a feat commemorated at the Wright Brothers Memorial and at the Smithsonian, where Smith's plane, the Chicago, is displayed. The official start and end to the record-setting flight was Seattle, but Eugene laid claim to the unofficial title as the first and last leg of the historic flight. The pilots landed in Eugene on their way to the starting point in Seattle, and stopped again, with much fanfare, six months later on their way to the official finish line on September 27, 1924.

Lowell Smith was a famous national hero, and his connection to Eugene was such that for a time the McDonald Theater in downtown Eugene was named the Lowell Theater, and a nearby apartment building was also called The Lowell. By the time his career as a pilot ended, Lowell Smith had set 16 records for military aircraft in speed, endurance and distance. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.