The Aviator - Wheeling, West Virginia
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 40° 04.458 W 080° 41.707
17T E 525996 N 4436048
Figurative sculpture of a World War I aviator placed as a memorial to those who lost their lives in World War I on the campus of Linsley School in Wheeling, West Virginia.
Waymark Code: WMK1QW
Location: West Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 01/30/2014
Views: 4
Near the main entrance stands the Aviator, a statue by Augustus Lukeman. It was erected in 1924 by Mrs. Louis A. Bennett in memory of her son, Louis A. Bennett, Jr., a lieutenant in the Fortieth Squadron British Royal Air Force, who was killed in action during the First World War. -West Virginia: A Guide to the Mountain State, 1941, pg. 294.
The above quotation the from the Guide, was from a section about the Linsly Institute of Technology. At the time of the Guide it was an engineering school for men with an emphasis on military training. At the time the Guide was written the school was located on Theda Place. Since then the school is now known as Linsly School, and it is a coeducation college prep school for grades 5 through 12. It is both a boarding a day school. The school has relocated and is now on Knox Lane. The statue was relocated to the school's new location in 1975 and rededicated.
On front the granite base is inscribed:
Ready To Serve
To The Glorious Memory
Of All Americans
Who Sacrificed Their
Lives In The World War
1914 1818
On the back is mounted a bronze tablet inscribed:
Gift Of Mrs. Louis Bennett
Whose Only Son
Louis Bennett Jr. "Yale 1917"
Was Captain Of The West Virginia
Flying Corps Which He Organized
At Wheeling West Virginia
He Was Killed in Action
August 24th 1918 While Serving
As Lieutenant 40th Squadron
Royal Air Force In France
His Record August 15th-24th Being
3 Enemy Planes 9 Balloons
Destroyed (4 In One day)
"And Thus This Man Died Leaving
His Spirit As An Example Of Able
Courage, Not Only Unto Young
Men But Unto All The Nation"