Piece of History: Arnel J. Cronkhite aeroplane

The name Arnel J. Cronkhite might not get the same reaction as Orville or Wilbur Wright, but he was among the first to fly over Iowa. Cronkhite, a Linn County carpenter, did not just fly planes but built them as well. He exhibited the plane pictured during a March 1911 automobile show in Cedar Rapids.

By that point, he had already been called upon to fly in a rescue mission.

R. G. Stewart organized a polar expedition in August 1910 to find records he believed were left at Etah Harbor in Greenland that would prove the original discoverer of the North Pole. By Oct. 8, no dispatches had been received for a week and the explorer was believed to be stuck. Cronkhite took off at once for the Arctic region, equipped with a gallon of gum drops, 10 bottles of Duke's Mixture and a plug of fine cut tobacco.

The day before his departure, Cronkhite was quoted as saying his biplane was "unquestionably fitted for Arctic exploration. I made a preliminary flight from my aviation station on the wood shed to pansy bed below, alighting with but minor injuries." Cronkhite was successful in his rescue mission, returning with Stewart on Oct. 15, 1910.

Cronkhite remained a resident of Linn County, dying in a Center Point nursing home on Dec. 1, 1953.

Tara Templeman is curator at The History Center. Comments: curator@historycenter.org