LINDBERGH DOES IT! TO PARIS IN 33-1/3 HOURS cried out the newspaper headlines on May 22, 1927. Lindbergh’s epic flight made front page headlines in papers all around the world. We are all aware of the impact Lindbergh’s New York-to-Paris ?ight had on the public, but what other aviation events of the 1920s and 1930s […]
The crazy man of the air: C.K. Hamilton wows crowds in 1910
Aviation burst upon the American public in 1910 through a frenzy of air meets, contests, daring flights and maneuvers. Over the year, 100 regularly organized meets and exhibitions were held. New records were set and broken almost every week. During that one year, the art of aviation made such extraordinary advances that there are few […]
The first regulations
Those who are familiar with today’s Federal Aviation Regulations know that they are a thicket of rules, occupying four volumes of the Code of Federal Regulations, consisting of 460 sections extending over 3,600 pages. But 85 years ago, it was a simpler time for aviation. That’s when the regulation of aircraft and pilots began with […]
The OX-5 racers
In a previous column, I discussed the penetration of the ubiquitous, war-surplus Curtiss OX-5 engine into the new aircraft market, which lasted into the 1930s. Not only was the OX-5 engine used as a powerplant option on new aircraft, it also powered custom-built aircraft that were used in exhibition work and races. In fact, the […]
California’s air heritage
Dennis Parks is Curator Emeritus of Seattle’s Museum of Flight. Aviation was introduced to California — and Californians were introduced to aviation — via a spectacular 11-day event held at Dominguez Ranch outside of Los Angeles in January 1910. Aviation activities were common in the eastern United States, but no airplane up to this time […]
Fliers or liars?
Dennis Parks is Curator Emeritus of Seattle’s Museum of Flight. When Wilbur Wright arrived in France May 29, 1908, to carry out demonstrations for a French syndicate interested in building Wright Flyers, it would be the first time one of the Wright brothers flew outside of America. Wilbur not only faced the challenge of flying […]
The flying bicycle
Dennis Parks is Curator Emeritus of Seattle’s Museum of Flight. Before they pioneered the airplane, inventors such as Orville and Wilbur Wright and Glenn Curtiss had another technical fascination: Bicycles. Both the Wrights and Curtiss serviced, designed and raced this new technological triumph at the end of the 19th Century. While they were all businessmen […]
Flying Gypsies
Dennis Parks is Curator Emeritus of Seattle’s Museum of Flight. Ever since the conception of the light airplane in the 1920s, the magnitude of flights achieved by pilots using light planes never ceases to surprise, especially when used for around-the-word tours. Such trips would seem to be in the provenance of larger, higher-powered aircraft, not […]
The first sport planes
Dennis Parks is Curator Emeritus of Seattle’s Museum of Flight. In the May 13, 1920, issue of the English magazine Flight, a survey of a new type of aircraft they called the “sporting aeroplane” was published. The article provided a list of these aircraft of 50 horsepower or under, along with drawings of each. Though […]