E. N. (Elisha Noel) Fales

Born in 1887, Elisha Noel Fales is chiefly remembered today for Learning to Fly in the U.S. Army: A Manual of Aviation Practice, first published in 1917. The book was written as a practical introduction for student aviators and helped explain the basics of military flying in clear, usable terms.

Contemporary records connect him not only with aviation writing but also with engineering and aeronautical research. A 1917 edition of his book identifies him as a former assistant professor of mechanical engineering and chair of aeronautics at the University of Illinois, and archival records from the U.S. Army Air Service later list E. N. Fales as an engineering-division author at McCook Field in the 1920s.

Fales died in 1970. Although little widely circulated biographical material appears to survive, his work remains a vivid window into the early years of American military aviation and the effort to teach flying systematically during a period of rapid change.