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earlier stop in Indianapolis in March, and would be in Terre Haute later in June.Walter Hinton, the leader of the tour, was born on an Ohio farm in 1889. After joining the Navy as a young man, he was sent to flight school. Quickly advancing to flight instructor, he taught a young Richard Byrd%u2014later known famously as Admiral Byrd%u2014how to pilot an airplane.Hinton gained national fame in 1919 when, as part of a crew of six, which included copilot Elmer Stone, he made the first trans-Atlantic flight in history in a Curtiss NC-4 flying boat%u2014eight years before Charles Lindbergh performed the feat solo and without stops. Hinton had gotten his wings just two years before the flight.Not long after the Atlantic crossing, Hinton decided to explore the Arctic by balloon, but an accident caused him to crash in the Canadian wilderness. He was so famous at the time that newspapers around the world ran headlines about the search. A month after his crash, when he was on the verge of being presumed dead, he walked out of the backcountry alive and well.Hinton was also the first pilot to fly from North America to South America%u2014on his second try. His first attempt ended with him sitting on the wing of his plane in shark-infested waters near Cuba waiting to be rescued. After that, he became the first pilot to explore the Amazon rain forest by hydroplane.By the time Hinton Landed in South Bend on the Service to Aviation Tour, he had received the Congressional Medal of Honor from President Hoover, and was the third Vice President of the National Exchange Club, as well as a member of its National Committee on Aviation. Walter Hinton, leader of the 1931 Service to Aviation Tour. c. 1925.The Curtiss NC-4 airplane that Walter Hinton piloted across the Atlantic Ocean in 1919.