Relative pens book about local flying ace Ira Biffle

It shouldn't come as a surprise that the Ira Biffle Airport in Marble Hill, Missouri, is named after a famous pilot from The Show Me State.

Marjorie Francis Davies wrote "Ira O. Biffle, Pilot of Pilots," about her granduncle. (Submitted photo)

Ira Oris Biffle, who grew up on farms in Bollinger County, became an early aviation pioneer, helping initiate the Army Air Service and teaching famed pilot Charles Lindbergh to fly. (Submitted photo)

Biffle was a native of Patton, Missouri, in Bollinger County.

Once known as Twin City Airport, on Feb. 11, 2013, the airport was renamed in honor of Biffle.

For aviation enthusiasts or those who may be interested in knowing more about this local legend, one of his relatives, Marjorie Francis Davies, recently released a book titled "Ira O. Biffle, Pilot of Pilots."

Growing up, she heard many stories about Biffle, and he was heralded as a family hero, said Davies, who hails from California.

"He was always a point of interest in my family," Davies said. "He's my granduncle -- my dad's uncle."

She learned this when her mother began researching the family's genealogy and was able to put together many interesting facts about Biffle's life, some of which are contained in the book.

Davies took up her mother's interest in genealogy and discovered there was much information missing, and, more disconcerting, a lot of misinformation about Biffle, which prompted her to write the book.

The book is chock-full of information, photographs and colorful copies of memorabilia of Biffle's life; he's pictured in the book in the biplane he flew.

He also taught flying in Nebraska, where he taught renowned aviator Charles Lindbergh to fly.

"He had a point of fame in that he was Lindbergh's first teacher," Davies said.

It was a fact about Biffle that Davies said was often the topic of conversation in her family.

"That point of fame kind of stuck," Davies said. "Anytime his name was mentioned in an article, that fact was always included in the headline."

This is Davies' first book, and she said she wrote it in nine months, but she began gathering facts about her granduncle in 2009.

The book is written as a chronology of the history of Biffle's life and accomplishments.

Born in 1886, he learned to fly during World War I and went on to teach flying to military personnel from 1911 to 1918.

The book contains photographs of Biffle at the different places he was stationed while in the military.

The biplane he flew was made by the Wright brothers, Davies said.

Another of Biffle's accomplishments is that he flew the first commercial flight into Chicago.

He went on to work as pilot for the Airmail Service and flew part of its first transcontinental flight, which departed from Chicago, and was done in several legs. One of the many historic items featured in the book is a post card dated July 19, 1927, containing the names of all of the pilots who flew with him on the legs of that flight.

Biffle died in 1934 in Chicago at age 47 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, D.C.

The book is available for $23, which includes shipping. To order a copy, contact Davies via email at marjslandscape@yahoo.com or by mail at 335 N. Palomar Ave., San Jacinto, CA 92582.