Flight & Flyers

In the aftermath of the First World War, the stream of government money dried up and the manufacturing of aircraft declined drastically. In this period, when the market for new aircraft was almost nonexistent, it hardly seemed time for a new enterprise to start manufacturing aircraft. But there were those with the desire to design […]

Suppose you are cruising along in an airliner at 34,000 feet, nestled comfortably in your seat in a heated, pressurized environment. Now image turning to look out of your window and, to your amazement, you catch a glimpse of a cloth-covered triplane with the pilot sitting in the open, wearing heavy coveralls, goggles, a leather […]

“Wright’s new control” was the heading of a 1914 report in the “New York Times.” It stated that Orville Wright had introduced a new system that would make it “easier and safer to fly.” In the new controls the usual lever was replaced by an automobile-type steering wheel in combination with a lever that made […]

A 1961 British book on the development of air transportation includes a chart on early scheduled air services, which includes the operations of the U.S. Air Mail Service from 1918 till 1927. It may seem unusual to see the Air Mail Service listed here, but as it operated more than 200 aircraft, you realize it […]

Great aerial adventures followed in the wake of World War I as aviation tried to find its post-war role. It was a period of conquest of the oceans and continents — the NC-4 across the Atlantic via the Azores; Alcock and Brown’s first non-stop flight from Canada to Ireland; the R-34 airship’s first round-trip flight […]

“Air speed record to Los Angeles broken” was a headline in the Oakland (California) Tribune on Jan. 28, 1932. The story reported that a new coastal speed record for tri-motored planes was made on the Oakland-Los Angeles airway when a Transcontinental and Western airplane made the 360-mile hop in 1 hour and 52 minutes. The […]

The Curtiss Jenny, particularly the JN-4, is one of America’s most famous airplanes. Jenny was ubiquitous — everybody had a Jenny, along with bailing wire, a five-gallon gas can and the grease gun needed to keep her going. The Jenny, with all its struts, wires and fittings, was referred to as “a bunch of parts […]

Flight & Flyers By DENNIS PARKS During the two years following Lindbergh’s success across the Atlantic, the United States saw the swift transition of aviation from an experimental posture to a recognized part of the world of transportation and commerce. Air mail had become an accepted fact and passengers could fly coast-to-coast. The Curtiss Company, […]

William Luckey, a test pilot and exhibition aviator for the Curtiss Company, came to aviation late in life. Best known as the winner of The New York Times race around Manhattan Island on Oct. 13, 1913, Luckey was nearing 50 when he took an interest in aviation in 1912. Just a year later, he won […]