Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery - Pioneers' Resting Place

Pioneers' Resting Place

Beneath the memorial tablets rest the remains of other aviation pioneers, including:

• Augustus Roy Knabenshue (1876–1960), who in 1904 became America's first dirigible pilot. He also founded a dirigible passenger service, from Pasadena to Los Angeles, in 1912.

• Evelyn "Bobbi" Trout (1906–2003), who held numerous records for endurance, mileage and altitude.

• James Floyd Smith (1884–1956), who built and flew his own plane in 1912 and invented the free-type manually operated parachute for the Army in 1918.

• Hilder Florentina Smith (1890–1977), who became a parachute jumper in 1914. Two years later, she became the first female pilot to fly out of the bean patch that later became Los Angeles International Airport. She was married to James Floyd Smith.

• Matilde Moisant, the second American woman to earn her pilot certificate — two days after her friend, journalist Harriet Quimby. In 1911, Moisant let Quimby be first, because Quimby needed the extra acclaim: She wrote about air races and the thrill of flight.

• John B. Moisant (1868–1910), who designed and built the first metal plane. Matilde Moisant was his sister.