Harold Neumann "Aviation Pioneer"

Why now? Why after all these years are we bringing Harold Neumann's accomplishments back to light. A few years ago, two of Harold's cousins felt that Harold's accomplishments in aviation were an important part of Geneseo's history and that is how the quest to educate people about Harold Neumann began.

Harold Neumann was born on May 17, 1906 in rural Geneseo, Illinois. He had a flying career of 70 years with 30,000 flight hours logged (which is the equivalent of ten years and one month of continuous flying). His first pilots license was signed by Orville Wright in 1929.

Here are just a few of his career accomplishments:

Harold won the Thompson Trophy in 1935 at the National Air Race in Cleveland, Ohio as well as the Greve Trophy in which he was given permanent possession after winning three consecutive races. Because of his many successful races in 1935 he was also awarded the #1 Pilot by the National Aeronautical Association. He is acknowledged in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum "Golden Age of Flight" exhibit for winning the 1935 races. He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame as well as many individual State Aviation Hall of Fames throughout the country.

In 1936 Harold became a Pilot for TWA. He was the first commercial pilot to fly non-stop from Paris to Chicago, after which he presented Mayor Richard Daley with a replica of the Eiffel Tower from the Mayor of Paris. This flight made O'Hare Airport an International Airport. He was also the first to fly passengers over the North Pole.

Along with his racing career and piloting TWA flights, Harold was a successful aerobatic pilot/barnstormer and skywriter.

The Harold Neumann Project Board will continue to collect memorabilia for the Geneseo Historical Museum Exhibit. We will offer our time and knowledge to educate about our own aviation pioneer, Harold Neumann, a farm boy from Geneseo, Illinois.