BIRTH: San Diego County Recorder, Birth Records, 1870-1891, Book A, page 130, San Diego Regional Family History Center, 4195 Camino del Rio South, San Diego, CA, microfilm #1,290,434.

BURIAL: Section 1-Central, Calvary Cemetery [now a part of Calvary Pioneer Memorial Park, aka Pioneer Park; aka Catholic Cemetery, aka Mission Hills Cemetery, aka Old Catholic Cemetery], 1501 Washington Place, San Diego, CA 92103

CENSUS:
1880 San Diego Township, San Diego County, California, E.D. #68, sheet 46B, page 560B

1900 Ward 8, San Diego, San Diego Township, San Diego County, California, E.D. #200, sheet 8B; born Sep 1878

1910 Otay Township, San Diego County, California, E.D. #139, sheet 1A, page 255A


BIOGRAPHY:
The Early Birds of Aviation, Inc.
http://www.earlyaviators.com/ewalsh.htm

http://deford.com/walsh/


NEWSPAPER:
The San Diego Union, San Diego, California, Saturday, April 8, 191?, page 16
Walsh Makes Daring Flights
Tests Biplane at North Island
Local Aviator Takes New Machine Aloft In Strong Wind

*****

The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, September 13, 1910, page 17
AVIATION NOTES.
Charles F. Walsh of San Diego, one of the few successful amateur aviators of the Coast, having flown over a mile and a half in his biplane, which is similar to the Curtiss type, brought his machine to the Motordome Thursday.

Walsh expects to go after the Knabenahue cup in the hands of the Aero Club of California to be awarded to the first member who flies 500 feet under observation in a California built machine. There are several others about ready to contest for the cup, so the board of directors are to meet and set a date which will probably be September 18 for those who wish to try for it.

*****
The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, September 21, 1910, page 17
PRETTY FLIGHT.
WALSH AN AVIATOR.

Charles K. Walsh proved himself a finished aviator, yesteday, when he made a pretty flight of 1000 feet at the Motordrome, with his Curtiss type of biplane.

In all he made three flights, one with the wind, which is considered quite a feat even for the most experienced aviators. Walsh could have flown for miles but for the confines of the big pie-pan track which forced him to descend.

Walsh is preparing to take part in the novice meet which the Aero Club of California, of which he is a member, is to hold early in October. His flights yeasterday showed that he has a successful machine and should be able to carry out a plan to fly at California towns.

*****

The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, October 9, 1910, page II-AS5
AERO MEET BY NOVICES
Famous Aviators Unable to Fly This Month
Novice Events Have Plenty of Good Entries
Roehrig, Walsh and Martin the Head-Liners

*****

The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, October 23, 1910, PAGE 14
ON THE WINGS.
WALSH FLIES SUCCESSFULLY.
COVERS NEARLY THREE MILES IN HIS AEROPLANE.
FIRST CALIFORNIAN TO MAKE DOUBLE CIRCLE.

*****

The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, October 25, 1910, page II-8
TURN
WALSH WINS ALL TROPHIES.
TAKES FOUR COUPS AND MOST OF PRIZE MONEY.
SLAVIN FLIES, BUT FALLS AND SMASHES CHASSIS.
CANNON MAKES FINE TOWING FLIGHT IN BIPLANE

*****

The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, October 30, 1910, page V-4
READY TO FLY.
SKY FLIERS IN MATINEE
Aviators of Aero club to Give Exhibitions Today
Walsh, Roehrig, Slavin and New Men on Programme
Weekly Events Planned by Aero Club Officials

*****

The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, March 2, 1911, page II-11
Get Your Tickets.
FIRST AIR BUS LINE TO START FROM PASADENA.

*****

The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, April 9, 1911, page VII-6
It's Assured.
WALSH IS TO FLY TO QUALIFY FOR AVIATOR PILOT'S LICENSE.

*****

The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, April 13, 1911, page II-1
Mishap and Luck.
HE PLUNGES TO EARTH FULL HUNDRED FEET.

*****

The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, April 16, 1911, page VII-4
Lucky Three.
AVIATOR WALSH QUALIFIES FOR LICENSE AT DOMINGUEZ.

*****

The New York Times, New York, New York, October 4, 1912
50,000 SEE FLIER FALL TO HIS DEATH
Aviator Charles F. Walsh Killed in 2,000-Foot Plunge at Trenton Fair.
MACHINE LANDS IN A TREE
Rescuing Physicians Have to Climb It to Reach Limp body - The 193d Fatality.

Special to The New York Times.

TRENTON, N. J., Oct. 3. - With women fainting and men turning their heads away that they might not see, Charles F. Walsh, an aviator, plunged to his death in the presence of more than 50,000 persons at the Inter-State Fair here late this afternoon. He fell a distance of 2,000 feet, breaking every bone in his body and only living a few moments after his fall.

Walsh, who was only about 25 years old, had been startling the fair crowds all week with his daring flying, in which he not only raced an automobile around a half-mile track, but also made sensational "dip of death" descents from high altitudes.

He soared upward nearly 4,000 feet today, then came down half way to earth and began his circling glide. Scarcely had he begun it when a wing of his frail machine collapsed and he, with his craft, commenced falling to the ground. A gasp of horror went up from the army of spectators, and then a hush fell upon the multitude. He landed about half a mile outside the inclosure in a tree, and there was a stampede to the spot. He died shortly after doctors got to him. The physicians had to climb the tree to reach him, hanging limp in his wrecked machine. There was a scramble among men, women, and children for souvenirs of the tragedy, and little was left of the aeroplane when the crowd finished its work.

Walsh was taught flying by Lincoln Beachy, and Mrs. Beachy accompanied him this afternoon in an automobile ride before the grand stand. He was a native of San Diego, Cal., was married and is survived by his widow and two small children. His family lives at Hammondsport, N.Y. Beachy took charge of the body. Walsh was to have begun his vacation in two days.

The death of Walsh is the first aviation fatality this month so far, and the 193d since the first death of a man in an aeroplane accident in 1908. Last month eighteen men lost their lives in falls and as many more were badly injured. This number of deaths for a single month is the largest that has occurred in the four years of flying.

*****

The San Diego Union, San Diego, California, Friday, October 4, 1912, page 1:2-3
SAN DIEGO AVIATOR KILLED BY FALL OF 2000 FEET
Charles F. Walsh Dashed to Instant Death at Trenton, New Jersey.
WAS AMUSING FAIR CROWD
Doing Fancy Stunts, He Started Spiral Descent When Plane Became Loose.

By the Associated Press
Trenton, N.J., Oct. 3 - Charles F. Walsh, an aviator, fell 2000 feet to instant death here today while trying to amuse a state fair crowd by making a spiral glide. Walsh came east from San Diego, Cal. He was 25 years of age and is survived by a wife and two children, who are at Hammondsport, N.Y.

Walsh had been giving exhibitions at the fair all week and was dong fancy stunts in the air with his machine. He was probably 5000 feet high when he began his descent. He was making the spiral descent with the front of the machine pointed almost downward when the upper plane seemed to become loose. Walsh could be plainly seen struggling to regain his balance, but without avail. From 2000 the machine dived straight, and Walsh was under it when it struck the ground. Every bone in his body was broken.

Photograph caption: CHARLES F. WALSH Aviator of San Diego Who Met Instant Death at Trenton, N.J.

*****

The San Diego Union, San Diego, California, Friday, October 4, 1912, page 1:3
PLANNED AND BUILT AEROPLANE IN CITY

Charles F. Walsh was well known in San Diego. He left here to attend aerial meets in various parts of the county. His father W. J. Walsh and his brother R. J. Walsh, reside in San Diego. He worked here as a steam and electrical engineer.

He planned and built an aeroplane while working here and was successful with it in the aviation meet at Los Angeles in 1910. The money for building the machine was subscribed by a company of local men known as the San Diego Aeroplane Manufacturing company.

Walsh was a star aviator of a recent meet at Denver, in which he disproved the theory that the heavier than air machines would not ascend to great altitudes in that region.

The machine with which he began his career as an aviator was the largest monoplane in the world at that time, but it carried only two pounds of weight for every square foot of sustaining surface, as against five pounds of weight carried by the monoplanes of other makes. The seat and engines were placed below the main planes and there were only two levers for controlling the machine in flight, one for steering and one for the engine. Equilibrium was maintained by means of a pendulum device.

*****

Griffith, Van M. The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California: Oct 6, 1912. page VII3
GREAT AVIATOR PASSED WHEN WALSH WAS KILLED.


OBITUARY:
The San Diego Union, San Diego, California, Sunday, October 6, 1912, page 5
DEATHS
WALSH - At Trenton, N. J., Oct. 5, 1912, Charles Francis Walsh, husband of Alice Walsh, father of Kenneth and Juanita Walsh, son of Walter J. Walsh and brother of Robert J. Walsh of San Diego; a native of San Diego, Cal., aged 34 years.

The remains will be brought to San Diego for interment. Announcement of funeral services will be made later by Johnson, Connell & Saum.

*****

The San Diego Union, San Diego, California, Wednesday, October 9, 1912, page 7:1-2
AVIATOR'S BODY ARRIVES TODAY

Young Walsh, Killed at Trenton, Will Be Buried Beside His Mother.

The body of Charles F. Walsh, the daring young aviator of San Diego who met death in a 2000-foot fall recently at Trenton, N.J., will arrive here this evening for burial Friday morning in the Catholic cemetery beside his mother.

Walsh, a pupil of Curtiss, was considered second only to the far-famed Beachy in the field of aviation. He began his experiments two years ago at Imperial Beach where he built an aeroplane, and continued them later at Coronado. At the last Los Angeles meet, he took his wife and two children into his aeroplane and with them sailed around the 600-foot level. He is the first aviator to take his family on a trip in a flying machine. He attained an altitude of 9000 feet at Havana.

From his boyhood Walsh took a lively interest in clean sport. He pitched ball for the "Yellow Kids" of whom his brother, R. J. Walsh, was manager, and won a fifteen-inning errorless contest from the San Diego Giants, a game which, although played fifteen years ago, is still fresh in the memory of his friends. He could deliver as speedy a ball and with as sharp a curve with either hand.

When he took to aviation, his friends tried to discourage him, but without avail. He was interested in the great question of overcoming gravity and he repeatedly declared his intention to devote his life to it. His friends who have watched his career say that he was fearless.

Walsh had gone up 5000 feet at Trenton Friday and had descended 3000 feet when a plane on his machine broke and he fell to the ground.

Services will be held at St. Joseph's Catholic church. The funeral will be private.

*****

The San Diego Union, San Diego, California, Thursday, October 10, 1912, page 13
DEATHS
WALSH - At Trenton, N. J., Oct. 5, 1912, Charles Francis Walsh, husband of Alice Walsh, father of Kenneth and Juanita Walsh, son of Walter J. Walsh and brother of Robert J. Walsh of San Diego; a native of San Diego, Cal., aged 34 years.

Friends are invited to attend the funeral from the chapel of Johnson, Connell & Saum, D and Seventh streets, Friday, October 11, at 9 o'clock a.m., thence to the Church of Our Lady of Angels, Twenty-fourth and G streets, where a solemn requiem mass will be held at 9:30 o'clock. Interment at Catholic cemetery.

*****

The San Diego Union, San Diego, California, Saturday, October 12, 1912, page 7:1
FUNERAL SERVICES HELD FOR NOTED AVIATOR
Remains of Charles F. Walsh Buried Beside Those of His Mother.
SHORT, EVENTFUL CAREER
Secretary Griffith, Aero Club of California, Details Life of Deceased.

Beside the dead body of his mother, in the Catholic cemetery, rest the remains of Charles F. Walsh, noted aviator, crushed to death last week by a 2000-foot fall from his biplane at Trenton, N.J.

The funeral services took place yesterday morning at Our Lady of Angels Catholic church. The casket was banked with the floral tributes of local friends and those elsewhere prominent in the world of aviation.

Walsh's career as an aviator with tribute to his memory as the first bird-man to be granted a license under the Aero Club of California's sanction, has been contributed by Van M. Griffith, secretary of the club, Los Angeles. It is as follows:

Flyer of Judgment
"Charles Francis Walsh, the noted aviator, who met death at Trenton, N.J., October 3, was one of the two greatest flyers America has ever produced, his cool judgment and intrepid daring having placed him in the front ranks of the world's best aviators.

"Walsh first became interested in aviation during the summer of 1909 in San Diego. With some friends he organized the San Diego Aeroplane company. The company built a large monoplane, designed by Walsh, which was destroyed by a wind storm when about completed. The machine was rebuilt and on January 24, 1910, was used in conjunction with Charles K. Hamilton's biplane for an exhibition. While testing the machine, Walsh started down the course straight for the Hamilton biplane, and, unable to turn to the left, he turned right, crashing into a fence, thus saving Hamilton's machine, but demolishing his own.

His First Flight
"Thirty-one days later Walsh completed a biplane similar to the one used by Hamilton, in which he made his first flight. Concerning this, Walsh made the following statement: After a couple of weeks running on the ground, one day I happened to tilt the elevator at just the right angle and I was in the air at an altitude of twenty feet. It would be hard to describe the sensations that I experienced. I might say that I was overjoyed that I had at last succeeded in accomplishing the thing that I had dreamed about so long. This feeling was immediately surmounted by the desire to return to terra firma as soon as possible, so I depressed my elevator and landed on all three wheels, for a wonder, considering that I did not know how to operate the machine.

"These experiments were made with a twenty-horsepower automobile motor, which was barely powerful enough to lift the machine after a long down-hill run.

"During the early part of September, 1910, Walsh shipped his machine to Los Angeles, where his biplane was set up at the Motordrome. Here he made several short flights across the infield of the track. The biplane was then moved outside and on October 22 he entered the novice meet held by the Aero Club of California in which he captured all the prizes and trophies.

Turning Point of Career
"This was the turning point in his career, as previous to this time he had never made a circle either to the right or left.

"His next move was to build a new machine, with which he entered the international meet held in December, 1910, but being handicapped with a worthless motor which he contracted to use, was unable to make any showing whatever.

"On February 19, 1911, Walsh wrote a new page in aerial history by taking up with him his wife and two children for a flight of one-half mile at an altitude of fifty feet. The total weight of the passengers, including the operator, was 419 pounds.

"On the morning of April 16, 1911, Walsh made the first trial on the Pacific coast for an aviator's license, but owing to some misunderstanding in regard to the rules, no license was granted. On May 1, Walsh was in Portland, Ore., giving exhibition flights throughout the northwest.

Gets First License
"August 8, 1911, he was granted aviator license No. 1 of the Aero Club of California. During September of the same year he gave exhibitions throughout the states of Iowa, Nebraska, Utah, New Mexico and Texas, flying a standard Curtiss machine under the management of the Curtiss Exhibition company.

"One of the greatest flights made by Walsh was in Havana, Cuba, in the early part of January, 1912, where he ascended to an altitude of 9000 feet in thirty-eight minutes.

"In this age of the world, any man whose life has been a success can be justly called great, but there is a greatness even greater than this: to be crowned with the love and admiration after his death of all those who knew him. Such men were born to live in our affections, and in years to come, the name of Charles Francis Walsh will be recalled with an honest sense of pride that such a man lived and labored among us as a pioneer in the field of aviation."

• Married: 23 Sep 1903

1. Kenneth Charles WALSH b: Jun 1905 in , Los Angeles, California
2. Juanita Enola WALSH b: 22 Apr 1907 in Goldfield, Esmeralda, Nevada