OBITUARIES : Harold Harris; Pioneer Flier Headed Airline

Aviation pioneer Harold R. Harris, who was one of the first if not the first person to save his life by bailing out of an airplane, died Thursday at his home here after a brief illness. He was 92.

Harris, whose civilian jobs included the presidency of Northwest Airlines, began his aviation career in 1917, when he enlisted in the Army Signal Corps, which sent him to Europe to test Italian bombers.

After the war, he worked as a test pilot. On Oct. 20, 1922, he was forced to try out his new parachute when the experimental plane he was flying began disintegrating over Dayton, Ohio.

In 1942, Harris returned to military service to help organize the Air Transport Command. He retired from the armed forces as a brigadier general.

During the next two decades, he was a vice president of American Overseas Airlines, a vice president of Pan American World Airways, president of Northwest Airlines and president of Aviation Financial Services. He retired in 1965.