Harry Palmerston Williams

Harry Palmerston Williams (October 6, 1889 – May 19, 1936) was a Louisiana businessman and co-owner of the Wedell-Williams Air Service Corporation that dominated air racing in the United States during the so-called Golden Age of Aviation.

Personal life Williams was married to Marian Graham on December 12, 1912, and divorced in 1917. During a World War I War Bonds Tour in the same year, he met famed actress Helen Marguerite Clark and was married on August 19, 1918. The couple were important socialites in Louisiana where Helen presided as acting Tsaritsa of the Mystic Court at the Duke of Alexis Tableau Ball in New Orleans, 1924.

Aviation career In the late 1920s, the St. Bernard Cypress Co. lumber operation was being wound up, and Williams began to explore other options, first concentrating on a personal interest in speed boats. In 1927, spurred by the news of the Lindbergh solo flight across the Atlantic, he had purchased a similar Ryan monoplane from Jimmy Wedell, a noted race pilot. After working closely with Wedell in learning to fly, Williams formed a partnership with Wedell and his brother, Walter Wedell, forming the Wedell-Williams Air Service Corporation in 1928, based in Patterson. While Wedell provided the "seat-of-his-pants" design ingenuity, Williams provided business acumen and a reported $2 million-dollar stake, and the two friends formed a strong bond.

Throughout 1933 and 1934, Wedell-Williams racers set innumerable records and went on to dominate air racing for the next several years. Model 44s were raced in 1932, 1933, and 1934 Bendix Trophy races, as well as the 1934 Thompson and Shell Trophy. The "44" (Wedell-Williams Model 44) became one of the fastest aircraft flying in the United States, Wedell called it, "hot as a .44 and twice as fast."

In 1934, Wedell was involved in not only air racing but also exhibition flying and even flight training where he was killed in an accident on June 24, 1934. Wedell's death garnered national attention and was a major blow to the Wedell-Williams Air Service Corporation, but Williams was willing to step up his involvement.

Death and aftermath On May 19, 1936, as Williams was returning from Baton Rouge where he had a conference with Governor Richard Leche, and flying with the company's chief pilot, John Worthen, their Beechcraft Model 17 Staggerwing crashed on takeoff, killing both men instantly.