A Brief History of Aviation – 1908 Awards

This is the second part of a two-part review of aviation from its beginnings to the present day. It is a subjective look at some of the highlights of aviation development over the centuries.

Glenn Hammond Curtiss, who was well known in the field of aviation in 1908, won the first American award, the Scientific American Trophy, for an airplane flight when he flew the ‘June Bug’ 5,090 feet (1,552 m) in 1 minute 42 .5 seconds on July 4. , 1908. Curtiss also won the first international speed event, at approximately 47 mph (75.6 km/h), on August 28, 1910. He also became the first American to develop and fly a seaplane, the first successful seaplane flight. made by Henri Fabre of France on March 28, 1910.

Before World War I, aircraft design greatly improved. Pusher biplanes (two-wing aircraft with the engine and propeller behind the wing) were replaced by tractor biplanes (two-wing aircraft with the engine and propeller ahead of the wing). Monoplane designs were rare and when World War I began, huge biplane bombers with two to four engines were developed. Air mail was also launched, although it only lasted a week. The first air mail officially approved by the US Post Office Department began on September 23, 1911 and the pilot (Earle Ovington) loaded the mail on his legs and tossed the bag overboard when he reached his destination. Also in 1911, Calbraith P. Rodgers completed the first transcontinental flight across the US His flight from New York to California took 3 days, 10 hours, and 14 minutes and was in a Wright plane.

During World War I, aviation made great leaps in the fields of aircraft design and manufacturing. Equally important was the experience gained by pilots flying early fighter craft through the aerial maneuvers required in dogfighting. Von Richthofen, Rickenbacker, and many others were so successful because they had learned to master their plane.

Between 1919 and 1926, amazing progress in breaking aviation records took place. Captain EF White made a nonstop flight from Chicago to New York (727 mi – 1,170 km) in 1919 and Lieutenant Oakley Kelly and Lieutenant John A. Macready made the first nonstop transcontinental flight. May 2–3, 1923 flight. This flight was from Roosevelt Field, Long Island to Rockwell Field, San Diego; and the first round-the-world flight was made from April 6 to September 28, 1924. Also in 1919, John William Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown made the first nonstop transatlantic flight from June 14 to 15. It took just over 16 hours to complete and they won the “London Daily Mail” prize of $50,000.

Mail delivery also took a major turn during these years. In 1925, Congress passed the Kelly Air Mail Act which authorized the Post Office Department to hire air carriers. This made it possible to transport American mail by air; after this, 14 national airmail companies were created in 1926.

On May 20, 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh took off in The Spirit of St. Louis from Roosevelt Field near New York City, landing in Paris 33½ hours later.

The largest operator of all international airlines in operation before World War II was Pan American Airways. Pan American served 46 countries and colonies linking every continent and almost every ocean. Their huge seaplanes were known worldwide as the Flying Clippers.

Pan American World Airways began life in 1927 with a few single-engine planes and a single route from Key West, Florida, to Havana. From this beginning came the airline that would literally open the world to Aviation. Pan Am launched more new aircraft development than any other airline in history. It pioneered routes across the world’s oceans and continents, eventually operating daily round-the-world flights.

During World War II, airplanes became a decisive factor in warfare, and aviation in general took giant steps. The production of small aircraft increased significantly. Before World War II only about 193,000 people were employed in the aviation industry and during 1941 the number increased to 450,000; moreover, about 3,375,000 passengers were carried by 18 US airlines at this time, about 1 million more than in 1940. Airmail and express freight would also increase by about 30 percent. But at the end of World War II, a new frontier of flight, jet- and rocket-powered aircraft, would take shape.

After World War II and by 1947 all the basic technology needed for aviation had been developed; jet propulsion, aerodynamics, radar, etc. Civil aircraft orders increased dramatically from 6,844 in 1941 to 40,000 by the end of 1945. One of the minor military contractors was the Boeing Company, which later became the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer. With all the new technology developed at the time, commercial airliners were bigger, faster, and had pressurized cabins. New aerodynamic designs, metals, and power plants would result in high-speed turbojet aircraft. These aircraft could then fly supersonic and make regular transoceanic flights.

One of the most famous record flights in aviation at this time was Voyager, developed by Burt Rutan. The flight, maintaining an average speed of 115.8 mph (186.3 km/h), lasted 9 days, 3 minutes, 44 seconds and covered 25,012 miles (40,254 km) and was completed in December 1986.

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