This Week
Insight
Ig,nin
Fotrire
The Wright Stuff
Worlds first Jewish pilot is little remembered as the centennial
of powered flight nears.
ROBERT THUM
Dayton Jewish Observer
From the pages of the Jewish News this
week 10, 20, 30,40, 50 and 60 years
ago.
mompownimmin
Israel and the Vatican are on the
verge of establishing diplomatic rela-
tions, marking a historic turning
point between Catholics and the
Jewish state.
19833empalloossomiewom
Jews of Prussia, an exhibition of 1,000
photographs and montages, will be
displayed at the JCC. The exhibit
portrays life in Germany from-the
crusades through the Holocaust.
Dayton, Ohio
O
Remember
When • •
n Dec. 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur
Wright sent a brisk telegram to their
father, Milton:
"Success four flights Thursday morning — all
against 21 mile wind started from level with engine
power alone — average speed through air 31 miles.
longest 57 seconds inform press home Christmas."
The Wright brothers, a pair of bicycle mechanics
known in their Dayton, Ohio, hometown as tin-
kerers and dreamers, had just made mankind's first
powered and controlled flight on the wind-swept
dunes of Kitty Hawk, N.C.
Now, as the nation prepares to celebrate the cen-
tennial of a flight that reshaped the world, only a
few aviation buffs and historians are likely to
recall Arthur L. Welsh, a leader among the
Wrights' pilots in the years following that historic
flight. Born Leibl Welcher, Welsh is widely
believed to be the world's first Jewish aviator.
The Jewish Historical Society of Greater
Washington and the Lillian and Albert Small
Jewish Museum held a program on Welsh last
week, possibly the first public observance in years
of his contributions to the early days of aviation.
Welcher came to America with his parents from
Kiev in 1891 at age 10 speaking no English. But
he easily assimilated into American life and soon
Al Welsh at the controls.
became known as Arthur, or Al.
He changed his last name to Welsh when he
joined the Navy at age 20, believing Welcher
think Welsh had the right stuff, but his persistence con-
sounded too Jewish.
vinced them to offer him a job in their company's new
When he left the Navy in 1905, Welsh contracted
flying exhibition division.
typhoid fever and was hospitalized. During his convales-
They sent Welsh to the company flight school in
cence, he became fascinated by what the Wright
Montgomery, Ala., where Orville Wright taught him to
Brothers had accomplished in only two years. He began
fly. Impressed by how quickly Welsh learned, Wright
reading everything he could about aviation.
had him return to Dayton to help start another flight
Three years later, Welsh — by then living in
school.
Washington, D.C. — read that the brothers would
demonstrate powered flight for the United States War
Department.
Lasting Legacy
He showed up to view the flights at Fort Myer, Va.,
Many of Welsh's students became legends in aviation
across the Potomac River from the nation's capital.
history, including Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, who would
Fascinated by what he saw, Welsh wrote the Wrights
become a five-star general and the first secretary of the
seeking a job. They weren't interested, but Welsh was
Air Force.
determined.
While he was teaching, Welsh competed in exhibitions
Confident that he could sell himself in a face-to-face
meeting, Welsh traveled to Dayton. The brothers didn't
WRIGHT STUFF on page 34
1973
On his birthday, Israeli President
Zalman Shazar prays in the newly
renovated Chabad-Lubavitch
Synagogue, known as the "Tzemach
Tzedak Shul" in the Old City of
Jerusalem.
Cantor Harold Klein, chazzan at
Shaarei Shomayim Congregation of
Toronto, will entertain at the annual
Mikva dinner at Young Israel of Oak-
Woods.
1963 .
A resolution calling for intensified
efforts to enlist governmental, church
and civic opposition to increasing
anti-Semitism in Toronto is adopted
by 400 representatives of major
Canadian Jewish organizations.
A gift of $75,000, believed to be the
largest of its kind made by a Detroit
Jew for an educational purpose,
boosts the drive in Detroit for the
new Technion University in Haifa.
Ground is broken for a new branch
of United Hebrew Schools on
Schaefer Highway south of Seven
Mile in Detroit, to be known as the
Esther Berman Branch.
194A111111111EMEI
Rabbi Max J. Wohlgelernter, one of
Detroit's delegates to the American
Jewish Conference, is selected for
membership and service on the
Rescue, Relief and Rehabilitation
Commission.
— Compiled by Holly Teasdle,
archivist, the Rabbi Leo M Franklin
Archives of Temple Beth El
.
12/12
2003
33