Frederic Brossy

Frederic A. Brossy (March 25, 1902 – February 20, 1974) set the flight endurance record with Walter Edwin Lees on May 28, 1931.

Biography

He was born in 1902 to Francis E. Brossy. In 1931 he was an ensign in reserve squadron VN-9RD9 at the Naval Reserve Aviation Base in Grosse Ile, Michigan. Walter Edwin Lees was a lieutenant in the same squadron. Both men were on inactive duty and were working as test pilots for Packard when they set the flight endurance record on May 28, 1931. Brossy later went on active duty and became a flight instructor at Long Beach Airport in Long Beach, California, in the late 1930s. He married Betty Higman (1904–1975), and he died in Santa Barbara, California, in 1974.

References

• The New York Times; May 29, 1931; Set Flight Record Without Refueling; Lees And Brossy, 84:33 Hours In Air, Recapture World Mark From France. Land On Florida Beach Take-Off In Diesel-Motor Plane Was Made Early Monday. Pair Slept Easily In Craft. Throngs Held Back For Landing. Set Flight Record Without Refueling Storm Threat Blows Over. Not Tired By 6,600-Mile Grind. Lees Once Drove Horse Car. Jacksonville, Florida, May 28, 1931, Walter Lees and Frederic Brossy, Detroit aviators, established a new world's record of 84 hours and 33 minutes for a non-refueling airplane flight when they landed at Jacksonville Beach at 7:20 o'clock, Eastern ...
• The Detroit News; June 5, 1931; When Walter Lees reached the Detroit City Airport Friday and was welcomed as co-holder of the world's non-refueling endurance record, made last month in Florida, in a Bellanca Packard-Diesel motored monoplane, he was greeted by his wife and four daughters to whom his return was just part of the day's work. Walter Lees has been flying since 1911 and is one of the oldest pilots, in point of service, who is making similar flights. Only Mrs. Lees, of the Lloyd family, has known a time when he was not a flier, when his daily life was not of the utmost hazard and his return home each day problematical. To Loa Betty, 15; Burt, 13; Billie, 12; and Jo, 2, he has always been a flier, but one of such skill and care that his work, to them, is just a job, no matter how thrilling it may seem to others. Lees taught himself to fly, for when he started, there were no instructors. One of his most noted students was Brig-Gen. William Mitchell, former assistant chief of the Army Air Service. Lees, now a test pilot for the Packard Motor Car Company, lives at 2019 Seward Avenue. His associate in his record breaking flight of 84 hours, 33 minutes, was Frederic Brossy, son of Mr. and Mrs. Francis E. Brossy, 981 Burns Avenue.

External links

• Early Aviators: Frederic Brossy