English: Trading Card showing cartoon representation of Forrest Bird.

“A little green box called “The Bird” became familiar to hospital patients throughout the world after it was introduced in 1958. It was the first highly reliable, low-cost, mass-produced medical respirator in the world, invented by Forrest Bird.

The “Babybird” respirator, introduced in 1970, reduced infant mortality due to respirator problems from 70 percent to less than ten percent.

His daddy taught him how to fly a plane as a young boy and he flew solo by the age of 14. By the age of 16 he was working toward several high level pilot certifications.

   During World War II Bird was a pilot and officer with the Army Air Corps.
   He has piloted almost every type of airplane there is.
   He founded the Bird Aviation Museum and Invention Center located near Sandpoint,Idaho
   Forrest Bird was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2008.      

He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1995.