Reuben H. Fleet

Birth and early career

Fleet was born on March 6, 1887, to Lillian Waite and David Fleet in Montesano, Washington. The Fleets were a prosperous family; David Fleet was city engineer and county auditor for Montesano, and owned large tracts of land in the Washington Territory. He also served as the city clerk. Reuben grew up in Grays Harbor, Washington. The Panic of 1893 wiped out the land holdings of the Fleets and the family lived in much diminished conditions from the time Reuben was six until he was thirteen.

At 15, Fleet attended Culver Military Academy where his uncle, Alexander Fleet, was superintendent. He spent his fourth and final year at the academy as the editor-in-chief of the cadet newspaper, the C.M.A. Vedette. Culver provided the equivalent of an associate degree, and after his graduation Fleet intended to continue his education at Stanford University.

Deciding against going to Stanford immediately, in 1907 Fleet returned home, where he took the state teachers examination and began teaching all grades from first through eighth. After a number of months, Fleet set himself up as a realtor and resigned from teaching. It was also during this time that Fleet joined the Washington National Guard, as captain.

In 1908, with a loan from Montesano State Bank for $1500, Fleet began investing in local real estate, which would eventually culminate in Fleet owning large tracts of timberland which he would subdivide and parcel out, often for railroad right-of-way or logging, for substantial profit.

In March 1911, Fleet, a captain of a National Guard company, was ordered with his men to quell a civil disturbance organized by the Industrial Workers of the World, a militant labor organization. Later, from April through May Fleet and three other officers were assigned to San Diego, California, to keep track of the agitators who had moved south from Washington and Oregon, heading to Mexico. So impressed was Fleet with San Diego and its climate that he told himself that he would arrange to have his business in San Diego if he could. The promise was kept 24 years later when he relocated the Consolidated plant to San Diego from Buffalo, New York.

Fleet married Elizabeth Girton on April 29, 1908, and they settled in Montesano, Washington. They had two children, Phyllis Fleet and David Girton Fleet; David later became an executive with Consolidated and a real estate developer, creator of the upscale Fleetridge neighborhood in San Diego. Fleet and Elizabeth were divorced in 1920. In 1931 he married Dorothy Mitchell, and they had three children, Preston "Sandy" Fleet, Dorothy Fleet, and Nancy Fleet. Preston Fleet went on to found the Fotomat Corporation. Fleet and Dorothy were divorced in 1944. He married Eva May VanDenburgh in 1947.

Fleet died in San Diego on October 29, 1975, at age 88 from injuries related to a fall. He was buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, Point Loma, San Diego, California.

Leaving Consolidated, Fleet divided his time between his landmark home in Point Loma, California, the "Spanish Castle", and his residence in Palm Springs, California. During this time Fleet served on the California State Highway Commission. He was also active in the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences (IAS), the professional society for aeronautical engineers and researchers in related fields. IAS was founded in 1932 and was the predecessor of today's AIAA.

In 1961 Fleet founded the San Diego Aerospace Museum to commemorate President Kennedy's commitment to land a man on the moon within this decade.

In 1965 Fleet was invested in the International Aerospace Hall of Fame, and his portrait now hangs along with the other inductees' in the Hall of Fame's gallery within the San Diego Air and Space Museum. In 1967, Fleet's son, Sandy, founded the Fotomat Corporation.

In the early 1970s, Fleet largely funded construction of The Bishop Center for Performing Arts at Grays Harbor College in Aberdeen, Washington, in honor of E. K. "Ned" and Lillian Fleet Bishop. Lillian was Fleet's sister, and "Ned" Bishop, a logging tycoon in western Washington state, was an early investor in Consolidated Aircraft. The Bishops left their fortune to a foundation that funds operation of the Bishop Center.

The Reuben H. Fleet Space Theatre, now the Fleet Science Center, was established in San Diego in 1973 after an initial gift by his son Preston Fleet and the rest of the Fleet family. It was the first science museum to combine interactive science exhibits with a planetarium and very large screen theater based on the IMAX film format, setting the pattern that most major science museums have since adopted.

In 1975, Reuben was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio.