Emil Matthew Laird

Emil Matthew Laird (November 29, 1895 – December 18, 1982) was a pioneering American aircraft designer, builder, pilot, and businessman. He put the first commercial aircraft into production at his E. M. Laird Aviation Company.

While working at the bank, Laird had his first experience with aviation. He watched Walter Brookins fly a Wright Model A in Chicago's Grant Park. Laird later described the experience, "I was so thrilled with seeing him fly and maneuver around the land that I said right then and there that I wanted part of it and made up my mind I was going to have it. I didn't know how, but I would." Towards that end he started building models and joined a model airplane club. and flew it on September 15, 1913, getting off the ground. Four months later, he managed to get twice as high. Over the next three years Laird performed as a barnstorming pilot at county fairs all over the Midwest. He also worked during the winter at the Sloan Aircraft plant in Bround Brook, New Jersey, primarily to learn how to better build planes by working under skilled craftsmen. This plane is on display at the Henry Ford Museum.

In March, 1917, Laird was testing a new biplane built by another designer. During one of the test flights the plane entered a spin from which Laird could not recover. The resulting crash broke numerous of Laird's bones and he almost lost a leg. He was in the hospital for months and ended up with an improperly knitted elbow, which disqualified him from military service during World War I. Towards the end of the war he returned to Chicago to build airplanes.

World War II and retirement In anticipation of the United States entering World War II, Laird closed his plant in July 1941,

Legacy He was inducted into the Kansas Aviation Hall of Fame in 1999.