Legends of Pine Village, Indiana: Lee N. Brutus, Pilot

During the exhilarating years in Pine Village, Indiana, at the beginning of the 1900s, inventor Lee N. Brutus (1895–1998) became fascinated with flying. He served as an army pilot during World War I (yes, the first world war). Later, he became executive vice president of Waco Aircraft in Troy, Ohio, and, still later, president of Luscombe Airplane Corporation in Trenton, New Jersey. In 1947, Brutus served as Pacific Coast sales representative for the Nylok Nut Corporation of New York. As may be seen in the dates that I have provided, Lee lived longer than a century. He once told my father, Joseph C. Rhode (1918–1999), his WWI flight training involved taking off and flying until he had used half his fuel before returning to his point of origin by recognizing landmarks along the way.

Lee N. Brutus' Biplane Beside Charley Cobb's Barn in Pine Village, Indiana

Lee was one of three sons born to John Brutus and Rosetta Belle Belew. Lee’s brothers were Arba and Glenn H Brutus. Lee married Geraldine Broadie. The couple had no children. (Lee’s brother Arba will figure prominently in this series of blogs, for Arba invented a machine deserving of attention and comment.)

Despite assertions that Waco began in May or June of 1929, Waco may have formed as early as 1928. Lee was with the firm from its start. Waco grew from the Weaver Aircraft Company, which changed its name to the Advance Aircraft Company before becoming Waco, which was an acronym derived from Weaver Aircraft Co.

I remember seeing Lee at the Methodist Church when he visited his family in Pine Village. My recollection is of a distinguished gentleman who was soft-spoken. 

It must have been a stirring sight in 1922 to see Lee land a biplane in the pasture beside the barn on the land that my father eventually farmed across from the school. Tom Cobb first owned the farm. Then his son, Charley, owned it. Charley’s widow, Margaret, came into possession of it. Finally, my father owned it. At the time that the biplane was the center of attention, the land was in Charley’s name. Charley was fascinated with machines and undoubtedly took a keen interest in Lee’s aircraft. Charley ran steam engines, including a Reeves, a Huber, and a Gaar–Scott, and he assembled his own gasoline tractor from a hit and miss engine. I can only imagine what his conversation with Lee must have been like when Lee brought his plane to Charley’s farm.

The early decades of the 1900s were indeed heady times in Pine Village!