THE GOLDEN AGE OF AVIATION
OVERVIEW
• Flying the Atlantic
• Advances in Aviation
• Commercial Aviation
• General Aviation
• Aeronautics – Research Centers
and Progress
FLYING THE ATLANTIC
• First Transatlantic Crossing
– First natural barrier challenged was the Atlantic Ocean
• May 1919, US Navy made the first attempt at a
transatlantic crossing, flying 3 new Curtiss flying boats
• New York, Newfoundland, Azores, Portugal
• 1,200 miles of open water, navy ship every 50 miles
• Radio, rockets, searchlights to guide the way
• 26 hours, 45 minutes; 15 hours, 18 minutes
• Nonstop Transatlantic Crossing
– London Daily Mail (newspaper) offered $50,000, 72 hours
– June 1919, Newfoundland to Ireland, 16 hours, 12 minutes
ADVANCES IN AVIATION
– Barnstormers
• Air Shows, flying exhibitions, rides, etc.
• War-surplus aircraft and pilots
• County fairs, carnivals, etc.
– Charles Lindbergh
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Barnstormer, wing walker, one 30 minute lesson before solo, 1922
Air mail pilot, 1925
$25,000 prize, New York to Paris nonstop
San Diego to St Louis, 21 hours, 20 minutes
In May 1927, 3,600 miles, 33 hours, 30 minutes
– Amelia Earhart
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(text 2-43 to 2-46)
(text 2-54 to 2-60)
Nurse, student, first flight in 1921
Rode across the Atlantic, June 1928
First transcontinental flight in autogiro
Tried to fly around the world at equator, 1937
(1964)
• Fate unknown
Commercial Aviation after
World War I
– Air Mail
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May 1918, army pilots, New York to Chicago
1920, extended to San Francisco
Originally could not compete with trains
Night flights (1924) w/ bonfires, beacons, emergency fields,
landing/navigation lights on planes
• Military to Civilian, 1925
– Legislation
• Air
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Mail Act, 1925
Post Office to contract with commercial carriers
Commerce Act, 1926
Safety regulations, licenses, air traffic rules, navigational
facilities, map airways, investigate accidents
• Air Mail Act, 1934 and 1938
Commercial Aviation after
World War I
– Passenger Service
• By 1930, passenger flights across country, 48 hours, $352
• Today, 5 hours or less and half the price
• Bonus paid for multiengine aircraft w/ latest instruments
– Subsidy to carry passengers
• By 1930, 150 companies with as many different planes
– Seaplanes
• Pan American Clippers, island to island in Caribbean, then
Central America and down Atlantic coast of South America
• China Clippers, Hawaii, Wake Island, Guam, Manila, Hong Kong
• Yankee Clippers, only 6, government service during WWII
Commercial Aviation after
World War I
– Rigid Airships
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Germans flew dirigibles or “Zeppelins” between the wars
US Navy built Shenandoah, 1923, public relations
Goodyear built Akron, 1931; Macon, 1933
Today there are a number of nonrigid “blimps”, publicity and sporting
events
GENERAL AVIATION: A
BEGINNING
– Air Races of this Era
• Very popular and incentive for better/faster airplanes
• National Air Races, 10 days, 1 M+, famous names
– The Ninety-Nines
• Women’s professional/social organization of female
pilots, 1929; suggested aerial markings, 1936
– Air Racing Today
• National Air Races; Reno, Nevada
AERONAUTICS – RESEARCH
CENTERS and PROGRESS
– The Science of Aeronautics between wars
• Monoplane, more efficient wing shapes and cowlings,
pressurized cabins, retractable landing gear, air-cooled
radial engines, wing flaps to increase lift and allow
slower takeoff and landing speeds
– Rotary – Wing Progress
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Autogiro, 1923, Spanish
Helicopter, 1937, German
Igor Sikorsky, 1940
First military helicopter in WWII
– Rocket and Jet Research
• Dr. Robert Goddard, liquid fueled rockets, 1926
• Steering, pumping fuel, combustion chamber, nozzle
• Herman Oberth, German rocket program WWII
CONCLUSION
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Flying the Atlantic
Aviation Accomplishments
General Aviation–A Beginning
Aeronautics–Research Centers
and Progress