in
Waynesboro, Virginia He was born on January 2, 1911, in
Wilmington, Delaware. He was the son of
A. Felix du Pont (1879–1948) and Mary Chichester (1878–1965). As a young boy he developed an enthusiasm for aviation and took flying lessons. His interest in flight expanded to include gliders and he was flying them while still a teenager. At the
University of Virginia, he founded a campus soaring club. In 1932, he went to study aviation at the
Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute. That year, he and his sister
Alice (1912–2002) flew an open-cockpit airplane up the
Amazon River. In 1933, Richard du Pont partnered with Hawley Bowlus to set up the
Bowlus-du Pont Sailplane Company, a glider manufactory in
San Fernando, California. Du Pont made a record flight in one of their sailplanes on September 21, 1933, taking off from Afton Mountain into the
Rockfish Gap and gliding 121.6 miles to
Frederick, Maryland. The firm remained in business for only a few years, ceasing operations in September 1936. On March 19, 1934, Richard du Pont married Helena Allaire Crozer (usually known as
Allaire du Pont). They had two children, Richard Chichester du Pont, Jr. and Lana du Pont. Richard du Pont and his older brother
Alexis Felix du Pont, Jr. (1905–1996) established the forerunner to
US Airways and now renamed
American Airlines, the largest airline in the world. Their
All American Aviation Company was at first an airmail service that eventually serviced parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. In 1949, the company began passenger service and changed its name to All American Airways and then to
Allegheny Airlines. During
World War II, the
United States War Department created the American Glider Program. After the death of the program's director, Lewin B. Barringer, Richard du Pont was made a Special Assistant to
General "Hap" Arnold and placed in charge of the glider program at
Army Air Force Headquarters. On September 11, 1943, at
March Air Field in
California, Richard du Pont was killed when the experimental
XCG-16 glider in which he was a passenger crashed during a demonstration flight. After bailing out of the aircraft his parachute failed. His brother, Major
Alexis Felix du Pont, Jr., was appointed to succeed him as head of the glider program. ==Legacy==