Richard C. du Pout, Sr. (1911-1943) was designer and builder of gliders, holder of soaring records, pioneer of rural airmail service, and founder of the forerunner of US Airways. His romance with flight began as a boy building model airplanes, then piloting gliders in his teens. He earned his pilot's license in 1930, but focused on soaring and went on to establish national and world records for altitude, endurance and distance. He served as president of the Soaring Society of America from 1937 through 1939.
In the late 1930s and early 40s, his All American Aviation developed a nonstop airmail drop and pick-up service for small towns. It featured 260-h.p. Stinson Reliants equipped with hooks that snatched up mail pouches as the craft swooped low over airports in Delaware, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and other reaches of the Alleghenies.
In 1943, Air Corps commander Gen. Henry "Hap" Arnold called on Richard du Pont to head glider
R & D for the military. Drawing on his own experience and first-hand observations in the Sicilian campaign, he effected major changes in glider operations. Tragically on Sept. 11, 1943, a test flight of a large experimental Air Corps glider in California took the lives of four airmen, including that of the 32-year-old Delawarean.
Conferring the Distinguished Service Medal, accepted by the flier's widow, Allaire, President Roosevelt said du Pont "contributed materially to the successful accomplishment of a mission of the greatest importance to the war effort."
After the war, the Civil Aeronautics Board awarded All American a permanent route system across the Allegheny states; the company renamed itself Allegheny Airlines and expanded ultimately into US Airways.
Richard C. du Pont, Sr. is survived by his wife Allaire Crozer du Pont whom he met in their glider-flying days when she set women's soaring records, and daughter Helena du Pont Wright. They live near Chesapeake City, Md. The du Ponts' late son Richard C. (Kip) du Pont founded Summit Aviation at Middletown.
