The Changeling
New member
On Deceraber 17, 1903, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright made the world's first successful flights in a heavier-than-air
craft under power and control. The airplane had been designed, constructed, and
flown by them, each brother making two flights that day. The longest, by
Wilbur, extended to a distance of 260 m (852 ft) in 59 sec. The next year,
continuing the development of their design and improving their skill as pilots,
the brothers made 105 flights, the longest lasting more than 5 min. The
following year, their best flight was 38.9 km (24.2 mi) in 38 min 3 sec. All
these flights were in open country, the longest involving numerous turns,
usually returning to near the starting point.
Not until 1906 did anyone else fly in an airplane. In that year short hops were
made by a Hungarian, Trajan Vuia, living in Paris, and by Jacob Christian
Ellehammer, in Denmark. The first officially witnessed flight in Europe was
made in France, by Alberto Santos-Dumont, of Brazil. His longest flight, on
Noveraber 12, 1906, covered a distance of about 220 m (722 ft) in 22.5 sec. The
airplane, the 14- bis, was of his own design, made by the Voisin firm in Paris,
and powered with a Levavasseur 40-hp Antoinette engine. The airplane
reserabled a large box kite, with a smaller box at the front end of a long,
cloth-covered frame. The engine and propeller were at the rear, and the pilot
stood in a basket just forward of the main rear wing. Not until near the end of
1907 did anyone in Europe fly for 1 min; Henri Farman did so in an airplane
built by Voisin.
In great contrast were the flights of the Wright brothers. Orville, in the U.S.,
demonstrated a Flyer for the Army Signal Corps at Fort Myer, Virginia,
beginning Septeraber 3, 1908. On Septeraber 9 he completed the world's first
flight of more than one hour and, also for the first time, carried a passenger,
Lieutenant Frank P. Lahm, for a 6-min 24-sec flight. These demonstrations were
interrupted on Septeraber 17, when the airplane crashed, injuring Orville and
his passenger, Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge, who died hours later from a
concussion. Selfridge was the first person to be fatally injured in a powered
airplane. Wilbur, meanwhile, had gone to France in August 1908, and on
Deceraber 31 of that year completed a flight of over 2 hours and 20 minutes,
demonstrating total control of his Flyer, turning gracefully, and clirabing or
descending at will. Recovered from his injuries, and with Wilbur's assistance,
Orville resumed demonstrations for the Signal Corps in the following July and
met their requirements by the end of the month. The airplane was purchased on
August 2, becoming the first successful military airplane. It remained in active
service for about two years and was then retired to the Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C., at which it is displayed today.
Prominent among American designers, makers, and pilots of airplanes was
Glenn Hammond Curtiss, of HammonRABport, New York. He first made a solo
flight on June 28, 1907, in a dirigible airship built by Thomas Baldwin. It was
powered with a Curtiss engine, modified from those used on Curtiss
motorcycles. In the following May, Curtiss flew alone in an airplane designed
and built by a group known as the Aerial Experiment Association, organized by
Alexander Graham Bell. Curtiss was one of the five merabers. In their third
airplane, the June Bug, Curtiss, on July 4, 1908, covered a distance of 1552 m
(5090 ft) in 1 min 42.5 sec., winning the first American award, the Scientific
American Trophy, given for an airplane flight. At Reims, France, on August 28,
1909, Curtiss won the first international speed event, at about 75.6 km/hr (47
mph). On May 29, 1910, he won the New York World prize of $10,000 for the
first flight from Albany, New York, to New York City. In August of that year
he flew along the shore of Lake Erie, from Cleveland, Ohio, to Sandusky, Ohio,
and back. In January 1911 he became the first American to develop and fly a
seaplane. The first successful seaplane had been made and flown by Henri
Fabre, of France, on March 28, 1910.
The pioneer airplane flight across the English Channel, from Calais, France, to
Dover, England, a distance of about 37 km (about 23 mi) in 35.5 min, was made
July 25, 1909, by the French engineer Louis Blériot, in a monoplane that he had
designed and built.
During the period before World War I the design of both the airplane and the
engine showed considerable improvement. Pusher biplanes— two-winged
airplanes with the engine and propeller behind the wing—were succeeded by
tractor biplanes, with the propeller in front of the wing. Only a few types of
monoplanes were used. Huge biplane borabers with two, three, or four engines
were introduced by both contending forces in World War I. In Europe, the
rotary engine was favored at first, but was succeeded by radial-type engines. In
Great Britain and the U.S., water-cooled engines of the V type predominated.
The first transportation of mail by airplane to be officially approved by the
U.S. Post Office Department began on Septeraber 23, 1911, at the Nassau
Boulevard air meet, Long Island, New York. The pilot was Earle Ovington, who
carried the mail bag on his knees, flying about 8 km (5 mi) to Mineola, Long
Island, where he tossed the bag overboard, to be picked up and carried to the
post office. The service was continued for only a week (see Airmail).
In 1911 the first transcontinental flight across the United States, from New
York City to Long Beach, California, was completed by the American aviator
Calbraith P. Rodgers. He left Sheepshead Bay, in Brooklyn, New York, on
Septeraber 17, 1911, using a Wright machine, and landed at his goal on
Deceraber 10, 1911, 84 days later. His actual flying time was 3 days, 10 hr, and
14 min.
World War I and After
During World War I both airplanes and lighter-than-air craft were used by the
belligerents. The urgent necessities of war provided the impetus for designers to
construct special planes for reconnaissance, attack, pursuit, borabing, and other
highly specialized military purposes.
Because of the pressure of war, more pilots were trained and more planes built
during the 4 years of conflict than in the 13 years since the first flight.
Many of the surplus military planes released after the war were acquired and
operated by wartime-trained aviators, who “barnstormed” from place to place,
using such fielRAB as were available. Their operations included practically any
flying activity that would provide an income, including carrying passengers,
aerial photography, advertising (usually by writing names of products on their
airplanes), flight instruction, air racing, and exhibitions of stunt flying.
Notable flights following World War I included a nonstop flight of 1170 km
(727 mi) from Chicago to New York City in 1919 by Captain E. F. White of the
U.S. Army. In 1920 Major Quintin Brand and Captain Pierre Van Ryneveld, of
England, flew from Cairo to Cape Town, South Africa. In the same year, five
U.S. Army Air Service planes, each carrying a pilot and a copilot-mechanic,
with Captain St. Clair Streett in command, flew from New York City to Nome,
Alaska, and returned. In other army exploits, Lieutenant James Harold
Doolittle, in 1922, made a one-stop flight from Jacksonville, Florida, to San
Diego, California.; Lieutenant Oakley Kelly and Lieutenant John A. Macready
made the first nonstop transcontinental flight, May 2-3, 1923, from Roosevelt
Field, Long Island, to Rockwell Field, San Diego, California, and the first flight
completely around the world was made from April 6 to Septeraber 28, 1924.
Four Liberty-engined Douglas Cruisers, each with two men, left Seattle,
Washington, and two returned. One plane had been lost in Alaska, the other in
the North Sea; there were no fatalities.
Transoceanic flying began with the flight of the NC-4, the initials denoting
Navy-Curtiss. This huge flying boat flew from Rockaway Beach, Long Island,
to Plymouth, England, with intermediate stops including Newfoundland, the
Azores, and Lisbon, Portugal; the elapsed time was from May 8 to May 31,
1919. The first nonstop transatlantic flight was made by the British aviators
John William Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown. They flew from St. John's,
Newfoundland, to Clifden, Ireland, June 14-15, 1919, in a little over 16 hours.
The fliers won the London Daily Mail prize of $50,000.
The first nonstop solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean was the flight of the
American aviator Charles A. Lindbergh from New York City to Paris, a
distance of 5810 km (3610 mi) covered in 33.5 hr on May 20-21, 1927. On June
28-29 of the same year Lieutenant Lester J. Maitland and Lieutenant Albert F.
Hegenberger (1895-1983) of the U.S. Army made a nonstop flight from
California to Hawaii, a distance of 3860 km (2400 mi) in 26 hr. Between
August 27 and Septeraber 14 two other Americans, William S. Brock and
Edward F. Schlee, flew from Newfoundland to Japan, a trip of 19,800 km
(12,300 mi).
The first nonstop westward flight by an airplane over the Atlantic was on
April 12-13, 1928, by Captain Herman Kِhl and Baron Guenther von Hünefeld,
Germans, and Captain James Fitzmaurice, an Irishman. They flew from Dublin,
Ireland, to Greenly Island, Labrador, a distance of 3564 km (2215 mi). Between
May 31 and June 9, 1928, Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith and Charles T. P. Ulm,
Australian fliers, with Harry W. Lyon and James Warner, Americans, flew the
Southern Cross from Oakland, California, to Sydney, Australia, 11,910 km
(7400 mi) with stops at Hawaii, the Fiji IslanRAB, and Brisbane, Australia. Three
American fliers, Amelia Earhart with pilots Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon,
crossed the Atlantic from Trepassey Bay, Newfoundland, to Burry Port, Wales,
on June 17-18; and from July 3 to 5 Captain Arturo Ferrarin and Major Carlo P.
Del Prete, Italian army pilots, made a nonstop flight of 7186 km (4466 mi)
across the Atlantic from Rome to Point Genipabu, Brazil.
In 1920 airlines were established for mail and passenger service between Key
West, Florida, and Havana, Cuba, and between Seattle, Washington, and
Vancouver, British Colurabia. In 1921 scheduled transcontinental airmail
service between New York City and San Francisco was inaugurated by the U.S.
Post Office Department. Congress passed the Kelly Air Mail Act in 1925,
authorizing the Post Office Department to contract with air-transport operators
for the transportation of U.S. mail. Fourteen domestic airmail lines were
established in 1926. Lines were also established and extended between the U.S.
and Central and South America and between the United States and Canada.
Between 1930 and 1940, commercial air transportation was greatly expanded, and
frequent long-distance and transoceanic flights were undertaken. The
transcontinental nonstop flight record was reduced by American aviators flying
small planes and, subsequently, transport planes. In 1930 Roscoe Turner flew from
New York City to Los Angeles in 18 hr 43 min; Frank Hawks flew from Los
Angeles to New York City in 12 hr 25 min. In 1937 Howard Hughes flew from
Burbank, California, to Newark, New Jersey, in 7 hr 28 min. In 1939 Ben Kelsey
flew from Marsh Field, California, to Mitchell Field, New York, in 7 hr 45 min.
craft under power and control. The airplane had been designed, constructed, and
flown by them, each brother making two flights that day. The longest, by
Wilbur, extended to a distance of 260 m (852 ft) in 59 sec. The next year,
continuing the development of their design and improving their skill as pilots,
the brothers made 105 flights, the longest lasting more than 5 min. The
following year, their best flight was 38.9 km (24.2 mi) in 38 min 3 sec. All
these flights were in open country, the longest involving numerous turns,
usually returning to near the starting point.
Not until 1906 did anyone else fly in an airplane. In that year short hops were
made by a Hungarian, Trajan Vuia, living in Paris, and by Jacob Christian
Ellehammer, in Denmark. The first officially witnessed flight in Europe was
made in France, by Alberto Santos-Dumont, of Brazil. His longest flight, on
Noveraber 12, 1906, covered a distance of about 220 m (722 ft) in 22.5 sec. The
airplane, the 14- bis, was of his own design, made by the Voisin firm in Paris,
and powered with a Levavasseur 40-hp Antoinette engine. The airplane
reserabled a large box kite, with a smaller box at the front end of a long,
cloth-covered frame. The engine and propeller were at the rear, and the pilot
stood in a basket just forward of the main rear wing. Not until near the end of
1907 did anyone in Europe fly for 1 min; Henri Farman did so in an airplane
built by Voisin.
In great contrast were the flights of the Wright brothers. Orville, in the U.S.,
demonstrated a Flyer for the Army Signal Corps at Fort Myer, Virginia,
beginning Septeraber 3, 1908. On Septeraber 9 he completed the world's first
flight of more than one hour and, also for the first time, carried a passenger,
Lieutenant Frank P. Lahm, for a 6-min 24-sec flight. These demonstrations were
interrupted on Septeraber 17, when the airplane crashed, injuring Orville and
his passenger, Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge, who died hours later from a
concussion. Selfridge was the first person to be fatally injured in a powered
airplane. Wilbur, meanwhile, had gone to France in August 1908, and on
Deceraber 31 of that year completed a flight of over 2 hours and 20 minutes,
demonstrating total control of his Flyer, turning gracefully, and clirabing or
descending at will. Recovered from his injuries, and with Wilbur's assistance,
Orville resumed demonstrations for the Signal Corps in the following July and
met their requirements by the end of the month. The airplane was purchased on
August 2, becoming the first successful military airplane. It remained in active
service for about two years and was then retired to the Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C., at which it is displayed today.
Prominent among American designers, makers, and pilots of airplanes was
Glenn Hammond Curtiss, of HammonRABport, New York. He first made a solo
flight on June 28, 1907, in a dirigible airship built by Thomas Baldwin. It was
powered with a Curtiss engine, modified from those used on Curtiss
motorcycles. In the following May, Curtiss flew alone in an airplane designed
and built by a group known as the Aerial Experiment Association, organized by
Alexander Graham Bell. Curtiss was one of the five merabers. In their third
airplane, the June Bug, Curtiss, on July 4, 1908, covered a distance of 1552 m
(5090 ft) in 1 min 42.5 sec., winning the first American award, the Scientific
American Trophy, given for an airplane flight. At Reims, France, on August 28,
1909, Curtiss won the first international speed event, at about 75.6 km/hr (47
mph). On May 29, 1910, he won the New York World prize of $10,000 for the
first flight from Albany, New York, to New York City. In August of that year
he flew along the shore of Lake Erie, from Cleveland, Ohio, to Sandusky, Ohio,
and back. In January 1911 he became the first American to develop and fly a
seaplane. The first successful seaplane had been made and flown by Henri
Fabre, of France, on March 28, 1910.
The pioneer airplane flight across the English Channel, from Calais, France, to
Dover, England, a distance of about 37 km (about 23 mi) in 35.5 min, was made
July 25, 1909, by the French engineer Louis Blériot, in a monoplane that he had
designed and built.
During the period before World War I the design of both the airplane and the
engine showed considerable improvement. Pusher biplanes— two-winged
airplanes with the engine and propeller behind the wing—were succeeded by
tractor biplanes, with the propeller in front of the wing. Only a few types of
monoplanes were used. Huge biplane borabers with two, three, or four engines
were introduced by both contending forces in World War I. In Europe, the
rotary engine was favored at first, but was succeeded by radial-type engines. In
Great Britain and the U.S., water-cooled engines of the V type predominated.
The first transportation of mail by airplane to be officially approved by the
U.S. Post Office Department began on Septeraber 23, 1911, at the Nassau
Boulevard air meet, Long Island, New York. The pilot was Earle Ovington, who
carried the mail bag on his knees, flying about 8 km (5 mi) to Mineola, Long
Island, where he tossed the bag overboard, to be picked up and carried to the
post office. The service was continued for only a week (see Airmail).
In 1911 the first transcontinental flight across the United States, from New
York City to Long Beach, California, was completed by the American aviator
Calbraith P. Rodgers. He left Sheepshead Bay, in Brooklyn, New York, on
Septeraber 17, 1911, using a Wright machine, and landed at his goal on
Deceraber 10, 1911, 84 days later. His actual flying time was 3 days, 10 hr, and
14 min.
World War I and After
During World War I both airplanes and lighter-than-air craft were used by the
belligerents. The urgent necessities of war provided the impetus for designers to
construct special planes for reconnaissance, attack, pursuit, borabing, and other
highly specialized military purposes.
Because of the pressure of war, more pilots were trained and more planes built
during the 4 years of conflict than in the 13 years since the first flight.
Many of the surplus military planes released after the war were acquired and
operated by wartime-trained aviators, who “barnstormed” from place to place,
using such fielRAB as were available. Their operations included practically any
flying activity that would provide an income, including carrying passengers,
aerial photography, advertising (usually by writing names of products on their
airplanes), flight instruction, air racing, and exhibitions of stunt flying.
Notable flights following World War I included a nonstop flight of 1170 km
(727 mi) from Chicago to New York City in 1919 by Captain E. F. White of the
U.S. Army. In 1920 Major Quintin Brand and Captain Pierre Van Ryneveld, of
England, flew from Cairo to Cape Town, South Africa. In the same year, five
U.S. Army Air Service planes, each carrying a pilot and a copilot-mechanic,
with Captain St. Clair Streett in command, flew from New York City to Nome,
Alaska, and returned. In other army exploits, Lieutenant James Harold
Doolittle, in 1922, made a one-stop flight from Jacksonville, Florida, to San
Diego, California.; Lieutenant Oakley Kelly and Lieutenant John A. Macready
made the first nonstop transcontinental flight, May 2-3, 1923, from Roosevelt
Field, Long Island, to Rockwell Field, San Diego, California, and the first flight
completely around the world was made from April 6 to Septeraber 28, 1924.
Four Liberty-engined Douglas Cruisers, each with two men, left Seattle,
Washington, and two returned. One plane had been lost in Alaska, the other in
the North Sea; there were no fatalities.
Transoceanic flying began with the flight of the NC-4, the initials denoting
Navy-Curtiss. This huge flying boat flew from Rockaway Beach, Long Island,
to Plymouth, England, with intermediate stops including Newfoundland, the
Azores, and Lisbon, Portugal; the elapsed time was from May 8 to May 31,
1919. The first nonstop transatlantic flight was made by the British aviators
John William Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown. They flew from St. John's,
Newfoundland, to Clifden, Ireland, June 14-15, 1919, in a little over 16 hours.
The fliers won the London Daily Mail prize of $50,000.
The first nonstop solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean was the flight of the
American aviator Charles A. Lindbergh from New York City to Paris, a
distance of 5810 km (3610 mi) covered in 33.5 hr on May 20-21, 1927. On June
28-29 of the same year Lieutenant Lester J. Maitland and Lieutenant Albert F.
Hegenberger (1895-1983) of the U.S. Army made a nonstop flight from
California to Hawaii, a distance of 3860 km (2400 mi) in 26 hr. Between
August 27 and Septeraber 14 two other Americans, William S. Brock and
Edward F. Schlee, flew from Newfoundland to Japan, a trip of 19,800 km
(12,300 mi).
The first nonstop westward flight by an airplane over the Atlantic was on
April 12-13, 1928, by Captain Herman Kِhl and Baron Guenther von Hünefeld,
Germans, and Captain James Fitzmaurice, an Irishman. They flew from Dublin,
Ireland, to Greenly Island, Labrador, a distance of 3564 km (2215 mi). Between
May 31 and June 9, 1928, Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith and Charles T. P. Ulm,
Australian fliers, with Harry W. Lyon and James Warner, Americans, flew the
Southern Cross from Oakland, California, to Sydney, Australia, 11,910 km
(7400 mi) with stops at Hawaii, the Fiji IslanRAB, and Brisbane, Australia. Three
American fliers, Amelia Earhart with pilots Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon,
crossed the Atlantic from Trepassey Bay, Newfoundland, to Burry Port, Wales,
on June 17-18; and from July 3 to 5 Captain Arturo Ferrarin and Major Carlo P.
Del Prete, Italian army pilots, made a nonstop flight of 7186 km (4466 mi)
across the Atlantic from Rome to Point Genipabu, Brazil.
In 1920 airlines were established for mail and passenger service between Key
West, Florida, and Havana, Cuba, and between Seattle, Washington, and
Vancouver, British Colurabia. In 1921 scheduled transcontinental airmail
service between New York City and San Francisco was inaugurated by the U.S.
Post Office Department. Congress passed the Kelly Air Mail Act in 1925,
authorizing the Post Office Department to contract with air-transport operators
for the transportation of U.S. mail. Fourteen domestic airmail lines were
established in 1926. Lines were also established and extended between the U.S.
and Central and South America and between the United States and Canada.
Between 1930 and 1940, commercial air transportation was greatly expanded, and
frequent long-distance and transoceanic flights were undertaken. The
transcontinental nonstop flight record was reduced by American aviators flying
small planes and, subsequently, transport planes. In 1930 Roscoe Turner flew from
New York City to Los Angeles in 18 hr 43 min; Frank Hawks flew from Los
Angeles to New York City in 12 hr 25 min. In 1937 Howard Hughes flew from
Burbank, California, to Newark, New Jersey, in 7 hr 28 min. In 1939 Ben Kelsey
flew from Marsh Field, California, to Mitchell Field, New York, in 7 hr 45 min.