Weldon Cooke’s 1913 Tractor

Weldon B. Cooke, seen in the cockpit of his 1913 Tractor Biplane, readies for what will prove to be a successful flight from the lengthy runway of a (conveniently) frozen Lake Erie near Sandusky, Ohio.
Mr. Cooke’s machine was of an advanced design. In the 1913 world, where pilots and passengers perched on the wing of pusher aircraft such as those built by Wright or Curtiss, Cooke’s airplane had two real cockpits and an engine up front. In addition to placing the motor in a position to pull his aircraft, Mr. Cooke found that inverting said aeroplane motor improved both performance and the pilot’s visibility. Many consider this an aviation first (and by far, not an aviation last). Perhaps this is not surprising given that Mr. Cooke, unlike many other aviation pioneers, had a solid engineering background. He was a self-taught pilot as well.
Unfortunately, like many innovative devices, Cooke’s airplane never attracted customers, and Sandusky, Ohio, never became a mecca for aviation manufacturing. This setback did not dissuade Weldon B. Cooke, who persisted in advancing aviation technology until his untimely demise in an aircraft crash in 1914.