He was born on May 5, 1894, in
East Cleveland, Ohio, to Frank E. and Artemisia Edgerton Skeel. Skeel commanded the
27th Pursuit Squadron of the
First Pursuit Group at
Selfridge Field in
Mount Clemens, Michigan. On October 6, 1923, Skeel won the second running of the
Mitchell Trophy Race in
St. Louis, Missouri, with his
MB-3A reaching a speed of 161 mph (258 km/h). Skeel had boasted that he intended to win the
Pulitzer Trophy Race at
Wilbur Wright Field. Instead, he was killed on October 4, 1924, when the wings of his
Curtiss broke away from the fuselage when he was still at 2,000 feet (615 m), and he went into a dive at about 275 mph (440 km/h).
Camp Skeel in
Oscoda, Michigan was named in his memory. ==References==