This is part 2 of a two-part review of Aviation from its beginnings to the modern day. It is a subjective look at a couple of the highlights in the development of Aviation over the centuries. Glenn Hammond Curtiss, who was widely known in the aviation field by 1908, won the 1st Yankee award, the Systematic Yankee Trophy, for an aeroplane flight when he flew the ‘June Bug’ 5090 ft (1552m) in one min 42.5 sec on July four, 1908. Curtiss also went on to win the 1st global speed event, at 47mph (75.6 km / h), on Aug twenty-eight, 1910. He also became the 1st Yank to develop and fly a seaplane — the 1st successful seaplane flight having been done by Henri Fabre of France on March twenty-eight, 1910. Before World War I, plane design significantly improved. Pusher biplanes (two-winged planes with the engine and propeller behind the wing) were succeeded by tractor biplanes (two-winged planes with the engine and propeller in front of the wing). Monoplane designs were rare and when World War I started, huge biplane bombers with 2 to 4 engines were developed. Airmail was also started, though it only lasted a week. The 1st airmail officially licensed by the U.S.
Post Office started on Sep twenty-three, 1911 and the pilot (Earle Ovington) carried the post on his legs and tossed the bag overboard when he reached his destination. Also in 1911, the 1st transcontinental flight across the U.S. was finished by Calbraith P. Rodgers.
His flight from Manhattan to California took three days, ten hours and 14 mins and was by a Wright aircraft. During WWI Aviation made great jumps forward in the fields of design and make of aircraft.
Similarly vital was the experience gained by the pilots flying the early fighter craft thru the aerial maneouvers needed in dog fights. Von Richthofen, Rickenbacker and countless others were such a success because they’d learned to beat their aircraft. Some extraordinary progress in record-breaking for aviation happened between 1919 and 1926. Captain E. F. White made a non stop flight from Chicago to Manhattan (727 mi – 1170km) in 1919 and Lieutenant Oakley Kelly and Lieutenant John A. Macready made the first non-stop transcontinental flight from May two to May three, 1923. This flight was made of Roosevelt Field; Manhattan to Rockwell Field, San Diego; and the first round the world flight was made of Apr six to Sep twenty-eight, 1924.
The biggest operator of all of the international airlines in operation previous to WWII was Pan Yank Airways. Pan Yankee served 46 states and colonies linking all continents and virtually all seas. Its giant seaplanes were known around the world as the Flying Clippers. Pan Yank World Airways started life in 1927 with some single engine aircraft and a single route from Key West, Florida, to Havana and from this the airline that would open the world to Aviation. Also Pan Am introduces more new aircraft than any other airline in history that pioneered routes around the world’s seas and continents.
