Guide to the MS-220 Edward A. Korn Collection

Biography of Edward A. Korn

Edward Albert Korn was born on Mar. 2, 1888 in Montra in Shelby County, Ohio, the vicinity of the Korn family's farm. John and Mary Korn had seven children, and Edward and his younger brother Milton were the eldest of the four boys. As members of a farming family, these Korn brothers grew up working with farming machinery. Their mechanical interest also extended to aviation, and in 1909 and 1910, they built a monoplane on their farm, one of the first airplanes built in Ohio.

Edward Korn trained as a pilot at the Benoist School of Aviation at Kinlock Field in St. Louis, Missouri in 1911 and 1912. He was licensed by the Aero Club of America on May 1, 1912, receiving license number 117, becoming known as one of the "Early Birds", one of the aviators who was licensed to fly before 1914. Korn was also an assistant instructor at the Benoist School (1911) and an exhibition pilot (1912-1913). He and his brother Milton had opened the Korn Brothers Aeroplane Company in Sidney, Ohio by 1913 and also started a flying school.

Edward Korn also served in the Ohio National Guard and had been educated at Capital University, the Ross College of Chiropractic, and the U.S. College of Naturopathy.

Sources:

Korn, Edward Albert. In Who's Who in World Aviation and Aeronautics, Vol. 2, American Aviation Publications, Inc., 1958, p. 250.

Miller, Roger L. "The Korn Brothers of Ohio-Early Aviators" . [typewritten manuscript], undated. In [Box 3, File 1] MS-220, Edward A. Korn Collection. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.

Walker, Lois. Wright Patterson Air Force Base.[Summary and Appraisal of] MS-220, The Edward A. Korn Collection], undated typewritten manuscript.

Scope and Content

The Edward A. Korn Collection documents the aviation career of "Early Bird" Pilots Edward Korn and his brother, Milton.

Series I, Photographs, roughly covers the years of 1910-1916 and focuses on the Korn Brothers' planes and flights. The series is comprised of 109 individual photographs as well as a photograph album of 27 photographs that include both typewritten and handwritten comments from Edward Korn himself. The album also includes an article about the Korn brothers.

Many of the photographs form a visual record of the only surviving Benoist plane, a biplane, Type XII, Number 32, originally owned by Edward Korn which he deeded to the National Air and Space Museum in the late 1940s (Walker, L.E.).

The Benoist Aeroplane Company was based in St. Louis, Missouri and Sandusky, Ohio and constructed plans from 1910 to 1917 (Walker, L.E.)

Series I has been digitized in its entirety and is available online in Wright State University's Campus Online Repository (CORE Scholar):
http://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/special_ms220/.

Series II consists of correspondence, typewritten manuscripts, newspaper and journal clippings, post cards, and farm machinery catalogs of varying sizes. The majority of these items focuses on early aviation history and the Korn Brothers' aviation career, but some of the items also document the Korn's farming background with catalogs of farm equipment companies and a small number of post cards illustrating threshing machines.

Source: Walker, Lois. Wright Patterson Air Force Base.[Summary and Appraisal of] MS-220, The Edward A. Korn Collection], undated typewritten manuscript.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Use

Copyright restrictions may apply. Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Restrictions on Access

There are no restrictions on accessing materials in this collection.

MS-1, Wright Brothers Collection

MS-158, Fulton Flight Scrapbook

MS-159, C.T. Hutchins Papers

MS-165, Peter B. Kline Papers

MS-166, William H. Chisam Papers

Subject Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

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Preferred Citation

[Box #, Folder #], MS-220, Edward A. Korn Collection, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.

Acquisition Information

The collection was donated to Wright State University in September 1991. Additions were transferred to Wright State University from the University of Wyoming's American Heritage Center in June 2008.

Processing Information

Additions (photograph album, clippings, and threshing publications) were processed and supplemental biographical information and scope and content information were added to the finding aid and converted to EAD format in July-August 2012 by Ximena Chrisagis.

Other Finding Aid

The finding aid is available on the Special Collections & Archives, Wright State University Libraries web site at
https://wright.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resources/254.

Collection Inventory