‘Birdmen Over Boston Harbor’: Free Lecture Highlights Quincy’s Contributions to Aviation History

In September 1910, Quincy, Massachusetts, was the site of the second-largest aviation exhibition in the United States. The event attracted more than a million spectators to witness human beings taking flight.

That story is captured in a new book by Quincy historian Wayne Miller, Birdmen Over Boston Harbor: The 1910 Harvard-Boston Aero Meet." Miller will present a free lecture on Thursday, March 6, at 7 p.m. at the Quincy Historical Society, 8 Adams St., inside the Adams Academy building. Autographed copies of the book will be available for sale at the event.

According to Miller's research, the Harvard-Boston Aero Meet, held at Aviation Field in Squantum, was a significant milestone for aviation history in New England, following the pioneering flight by the Wright brothers in 1903. For many New Englanders, it was the first opportunity to witness an airplane in flight. The event caused a media stir and ignited the public's early fascination with the mysteries of aviation.

Today, the area where the event occurred has been developed into Marina Bay, Squantum Point Park, FedEx, and Boston Scientific.

The event featured daring aerial stunts and offered cash prizes for pilots. According to a Patriot Ledger report, the main event featured a race to Boston Light. Down to the lighthouse on Little Brewster Island and back, earning the pilot $10,000.

Notable personalities who participated in the event included President William Howard Taft and aviators such as Wilbur Wright and Glenn Curtiss.

Miller notes that while this era of aviation heightened the public's fascination, it was also fraught with peril, as many aviators faced life-threatening accidents. Tragedy struck during the third Harvard-Boston Aero Meet in July 1912, when Harriet Quimby and her passenger were killed when her monoplane returning from Boston Light to Squantum Aviation Field tilted, throwing them to their deaths in Boston Harbor.