This is the second part of a two-part review of aviation from its inception to the present. It is a subjective look at some of the highlights of aviation development over the centuries.
Glenn Hammond Curtiss, well known in the field of aviation in 1908, won America’s first prize, the Scientific American Trophy, for a flight in an airplane when he flew the ‘June Bug’ 5,090 ft (1,552 m) in 1 min 42.5 It’s the 4th of July. , 1908. Curtiss also won the first international sprint event, at about 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 was greatly improved. Pusher biplanes (two-winged aircraft with the engine and propeller behind the wing) were replaced by tractor biplanes (two-winged aircraft with the engine and propeller in front of the wing). Monoplane designs were rare and when World War I began, huge biplane bombers with two to four engines were developed. Airmail was also launched, although it only lasted a week. The first officially approved airmail by the US Postal Department began on September 23, 1911 with the pilot (Earle Ovington) carrying the mail on his lap and throwing the bag overboard as 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 on 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 aircraft.
Between 1919 and 1926, amazing progress in breaking records for aviation took place. Captain EF White made a non-stop flight from Chicago to New York (727 mi – 1,170 km) in 1919 and Lt. Oakley Kelly and Lt. John A. Macready made the first non-stop transcontinental flight. flight May 2–3, 1923. This flight was made 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 non-stop transatlantic flight from June 14 to 15. It took a little over 16 hours to complete and they won the $50,000 “London Daily Mail” prize.
Mail delivery also took an important turn during these years. In 1925, Congress passed the Kelly Air Mail Act which authorized the Post Office Department to hire air freight operators. 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 nearly 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 arose 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 flights that circle the globe.
During World War II, airplanes became a decisive factor in the war, and aviation in general made giant strides. 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; in addition, about 3,375,000 passengers were carried by 18 US airlines at this time, about 1 million more than in 1940. Airmail and express cargo would also increase about 30 percent. But by 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. Orders for civilian aircraft rose 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 airplanes were bigger, faster, and had pressurized cabins. New aerodynamic designs, metals, and power plants would result in high-speed turbojet aircraft. These planes could then fly supersonic and make regular transoceanic flights.
One of the most famous record-breaking flights in aviation from this era 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.