Thomas L. Timmons, the first Beloit man to build and fly an airplane, was born on August 13, 1896, in Dubuque County, Iowa, the son of George and Olive Alexander Timmons. During his early years he worked on his grandparents’ farm and attended school.

Around 1910, Tom’s parents sold their Iowa farm and moved to Beloit to join other family members who were living and working in the area. Tom soon found employment in South Beloit at the A.P. Warner Instrument Company and became a very competent machinist.

About this time, he became interested in airplanes and read all available publications on the subject. As he read of the Wright Brothers’ feats at Kitty Hawk, his interest grew into an intense desire to build and fly his own airplane. This desire became stronger as he became involved in motorcycle racing. At one time he and another Beloiter, Willard Piske, raced their motorcycles at a South Beloit track against a plane piloted by Jimmy Ward, an old-time barnstormer. Though Tom did not win the race, his resolve to build and fly a plane became even stronger.

In 1912, he and a friend, Trenton Fry, began building a plane in a workshop at the rear of the Timmons home. As the work progressed, an enthusiastic friend, Willard Schlenk, offered the use of his parents’ barn behind their home at 1211 Bushnell Street for assembling the plane. It was there that the airplane was finished in the spring of 1914.

The craft was a biplane with a 27-foot wingspan and an overall length of 25 feet. The wings were about 5 feet wide, and the plane was powered by a second-hand 50-horsepower Roberts Engine.

In the fall of 1913, realizing his inadequate knowledge of flying, Timmons rode his motorcycle to St. Louis to attend the Benoist Flying School. This school, its founder, and early students (including Tom Timmons) are commemorated by a plaque located in the Kitty Hawk Room of Parks College of Aeronautical Technology at St. Louis University.

After several months of flying instruction, Timmons returned to Beloit to finish building the plane and to find a suitable site for take-offs and landings. Once completed, the plane was partially disassembled and trucked to the Shaw farm south of Beloit on what is now Illinois Highway 2, where it arrived on June 1, 1914.

Unsuitable weather delayed the flight for several days, but in due course, Tom Timmons took off and soared 50 to 60 feet in the air. He subsequently made 30 to 40 successful flights, thus establishing himself as the first Beloiter to build and fly his own airplane.

In 1916, Thomas Timmons married another Beloiter, Anna Wallace, and they moved to Rockford, Illinois, where he worked for the Barber-Colman Company for a few years before returning to Beloit.

In 1921, Mr. Timmons joined the Beloit Police Department as a patrolman, later rising to the rank of sergeant and eventually detective. He served in that role for many years and was well known in Beloit for his competent handling of assigned cases.

Thomas Timmons died on April 13, 1948, at the age of 61. He was survived by his wife and a daughter, Anita.