ride in a different direction at each revolution of the ring. The entire ring and motorcycle are illuminated with electric lights, and give a wonderful effect." The account states that the act ran 12 extra hazardous minutes and that Robinson would "give his act, which he calls the Circle of Death, a try out at the Princess Theatre"...and would be with the Barnum & Bailey Circus that summer. It was the highest paid act at the time. Robinson was the first person to complete a 360-degree vertical loop in an airplane and the first right turn; it was previously thought this maneuver would tear the plane apart. After a long danger-filled life, surviving 15 major crashes and a massive train wreck, he died not quite two months short of his 81st birthday, March 23, 1963 of natural causes at his home at Tacoma Park, MD. Legacy In 1999, U.S. Congressman Roy Blunt gave a tribute to Hugh Armstrong Robinson; it is recorded in the Congressional Record, v.145, pt.11. Shortly after, during Neosho's Independence Day Celebration the Neosho Municipal Airport, Neosho, Missouri was dedicated and renamed Neosho Hugh Robinson Airport in his honor. Resources Hugh Robinson - Pioneer Aviator(1995), George L. Vergara. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida. References External links EarlyAviators.com 1881 births 1963 deaths People from Neosho, Missouri American aerospace engineers Aviators from Missouri Aviation pioneers Members of the Early Birds of Aviation 20th-century American inventors