T. Claude Ryan*

T. Claude Ryan was born in 1898 in Parson, Kansas. As a boy, he mowed lawns and delivered the Saturday Evening Post. In 1917, he enrolled in the American School of Aviation at Venice, California. He was accepted into the Aeronautical Division of the U.S. Army (later known as the U.S. Army Air Corps), and graduated in 1921 with a pursuit pilot rating. Ryan then flew forestry patrol duty for the remainder of his enlistment.

After moving with his family to California, Ryan sold his Model T Ford for $400 to purchase a war-surplus Jenny airplane in 1922. Operating from a small airstrip along the San Diego waterfront, he flew his Jenny on sightseeing trips, gave private instruction, and occasionally went on barnstorming tours. From his earnings, he saved enough to buy six used Standard biplanes, and he rebuilt them into enclosed-cabin transports. Ryan started the first regularly scheduled year-round airline in the United States, with flights between San Diego and Los Angeles.

Charles Lindbergh commissioned him to design the "Spirit of St. Louis" for the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic. The success of that venture launched Ryan Airlines into fame. The Ryan M-1 became the nation's first mass-produced monoplane.

Ryan Aeronautical Corporation became famous for producing some of the most famous and most common unmanned aerial vehicles in the 20th century. In 1965, Ryan was inducted into the International Aerospace Hall of Fame.