Leland James Hagadorn was born on April 2, 1894. He was the son of Henry D. Hagadorn and Ella Luther Hagadorn.

After attending schools in Orlean, New York, he spent one year at Philips Academy and later graduated from Sheffield Scientific School in 1916. He was connected with the Baldwin Locomotive Works and the Union Petroleum Company. He enlisted in the service and was sent to the Ithaca Ground School for Aviation. There he was selected as one of the first ten honor pupils to be sent to France for further training. He passed through several flying schools in that country, and served in the Aviation Section, Signal Reserve Corps, as a First Lieutenant during World War I. He was finally assigned to Cazaux, France for practice with the combat plane.

On February 23, 1918, some officers watching trial flights saw the main body of an airplane coming down with one wing only, the other wing, and several loose pieces of canvas falling more slowly behind the engine. They reached the debris within a minute after the crash, only to find that Hagadorn had been killed instantly. He had taken a nose dive with the motor full on, and the strain had proved too great for the machine. He was buried at Mount View Cemetery, Olean, Cattaraugus County, New York, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com