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Archives at The Museum of Flight


Maroney, Terah T., 1880-1929

 Person

Staff Only

Dates

  • Existence: 1880 March 7 - 1929 January 12
  • Usage: 1880 - 1929

Biographical Note

Terah Maroney was an early pilot who gave William E. Boeing his first flight.

Terah Thomas "T.T." Maroney was born in Tennessee on March 7, 1880. He worked for a time as a carpenter and as a mechanic in Alabama and then moved to Montana. While living there he learned to fly on Curtiss pusher planes, making his first flight on July 6, 1911. He earned his pilot's license in 1912. He then earned his living by performing in aerial shows, providing rides to paying customers and giving flying lessons. In 1914 the city of Everett, Washington hired Maroney to fly in an aerial show over the waterfront at the annual Kla-How-Yah festival.

Though accounts vary and the exact date is questionable, likely in 1915 Maroney gave a seaplane ride to William E. Boeing (his first airplane ride) and George C. Westervelt. Seeing the simplicity of Maroney's likely homebuilt airplane, Boeing surmised that he and Westervelt could build a better one.

Maroney later lived in Seattle, Louisiana, Utah, and Washington, D.C., among other places T. T. Maroney died January 12, 1929 in East St. Louis, Illinois after being struck in the head by an airplane propeller.

Sources: "Boeing founder’s first flight pilot: Terah T. Maroney," HeraldNet. https://www.heraldnet.com/2014/07/02/boeing-founders-first-flight-pilot-terah-t-maroney/ Accessed May 8, 2026. "Terah Maroney," Early Birds of Aviation. https://earlyaviators.com/emaroney.htm Accessed May 8, 2026.

Citation:
http://www.helenahistory.org/Terah-Maroney.htm

Gender

  • male

Occupations

Places

Found in 4 Collections and/or Records:

Biographical Information Files - M

 Sub-Group
Scope and Contents Individuals whose names begin with M: MacCready, Paul [Aeronautical designer and engineer] "A Man for All Reasonings," California Magazine, November 1986"The Sky's the Limit," The Country Gentleman, Spring 1982"Masterful Tinkering of Genius," Insight, June 25, 1990"P.B. MacCready, 81, Inventor, Dies," New York Times, August 31, 2007 MacGilchrist, John...
Dates: circa 1900-2020s
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives / The Museum of Flight Biographical Information Files

Katherine Duffy Ashe Kla Ha Ya Flight Collection

 Collection — Folder 1
Identifier: 2011-07-20
Contents of the Collection The Katherine Duffy Ashe Kla Ha Ya Flight Collection consists of five black-and-white 6x8" photographs and four newspaper clippings relating to the 1914 flight of Katherine Duffy Ashe and pilot T. T. Maroney in a Curtiss Model D 1912 Pusher at the Kla Ha Ya Days festival in Snohomish, Washington. Each of the photographs is affixed to a matboard with "O. E. Graves, Everett, Wash." (photographer Orrin E. Graves) pressed into the lower left corner of the border. On the...
Dates: 1914, 1977
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

Bremerton Airplane Service Certificate of Flight

 Collection — Folder 1
Identifier: 2020-00-00-27
Content Description

This small collection consists of a single item: a Bremerton Airplane Service Certificate of Flight dated August 17, 1919. The certificate reads "This is to certify that Miss Irene Petersen Made A Flight Over the City of Bremerton as a Passenger in a Boeing Airplane." It is signed by pilot "Maroney TT."

Dates: 1919 August 17
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

Terah Maroney Plane at Port of Everett Photograph

 Collection — Folder 1
Identifier: 2021-02-25
Content Description The Terah Maroney Plane at Port of Everett Photograph is a small collection consisting of a single 3.25x4.5" black-and-white photograph. The image depicts Terah Maroney's plane at the Port of Everett surrounded by a crowd on July 4, 1914. Maroney had been invited to perform at the Kla-How-Yah Festival (later called the Kla-Ha-Ya Days). Bill Boeing, Sr. and his partner George Conrad Westervelt were at the event and saw Maroney fly. Some sources say Boeing took his first flight with Maroney at...
Dates: 1914 July 4
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

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