Talbert Abrams

• Name — Talbert T. Abrams • Born — 17 August 1895 • Birthplace — Tekonsha, Michigan • Died — 25 August 1990 • Place of death — Lansing, Michigan • Occupation — Photographer and aviator

Born in Tekonsha, Michigan, Abrams learned to fly at the Curtiss Aviation School while working as a mechanic for Curtiss. He was issued Fédération Aéronautique Internationale pilot's license number 282. The certificate was signed by Orville Wright. He joined the US Marine Corps in 1917 and was assigned to the US Navy flying school at Pensacola. Following World War I, his squadron took photos of rebel activities on Haiti, and Abrams became interested in the potential of aerial photography.

In 1920, he left the military, purchased a war-surplus Curtiss JN-4 and founded a small airline, ABC Airline (Always Be Careful!), but remained more interested in photographic work. On January 17, 1923, he married Leota Pearl Fry. The same year, he purchased a Standard J-1, fitted it with cameras, and founded the Abrams Aerial Survey Corporation (sold to Aerocon in 2003). Over the next few years, he formed the Abrams Instrument Corporation to develop better cameras and instruments for his work, and the Abrams Aircraft Corporation in 1937 to develop specially designed aircraft. He got his first income from aerial photography when he took a photo of a racetrack from his biplane for a newspaper. Later he used stereo-plotters to make maps for highway design and construction projects. In 1937 he developed a novel form of aircraft called "The Explorer", which was the first aircraft designed exclusively for aerial photography. During World War II, he founded the Abrams School of Aerial Surveying and Photo Interpretation to teach these skills to the US military, while his Instrument Corporation built reconnaissance cameras for aircraft. In 1961, he sold the Abrams Instrument Corporation to Curtiss-Wright and went into semi-retirement. In 1962 Abrams and his wife made a large donation to Michigan State University in order to fund the construction of a planetarium, which was then named in their honor. He died in a nursing home in Lansing, Michigan on August 26, 1990, at the age of 95.