Alfred W. Lawson (1869-1954) was a professional baseball player, the publisher of the the first popular aviation magazine Fly, an innovative aircraft designer, and an eccentric philosopher who codified his bizarre scientific and religious theories in Lawsonomy.

The First Passenger Airliner in the United States

"The Lawson is the first multi-motored passenger-carrying plane with inclosed cabin to attempt a cross-country flight in the United States."
—Aerial Age Weekly, September 22, 1919. (Full story below.)

View photographs of Lawson's C-2 airliner, 1919.

Documents from 1919-1920 include a letter from Lawson to Milwaukee's Mayor Hoan, an article in Aerial Age Weekly, and two receipts for shares in the Lawson Aircraft Company, one on the company's letterhead, the other handwritten by Lawson.

View documents (PDF file).

A Two Thousand Mile Trip in the First Airliner
by Alfred Lawson (1869-1954). Detroit: Humanity Benefactor Foundation, 1980-1989?

"Relatively unknown in the annals of aviation history, Lawson might be described as an eccentric genius, one well ahead of his time. . . . [Lawson] coined the word "Aircraft" and trademarked it in 1908, but it quickly fell into generic use after generically appearing in Webster's Dictionary of 1912, where he worked as Aeronautics Editor." — K. O. Eckland.

See Eckland on Lawson and his aircraft on this page from Eckland's Aerofiles site.

View complete book (PDF file).

The First Airmail Contract in the United States

Two documents and a photograph from 1920 include a letter from the Post Office Department to Lawson, a newspaper clipping from the South Milwaukee Journal, and a photograph showing mail being loaded onto Lawson's plane. (Lawson is at the top of the ladder next to the aircraft.)

View PDF file.