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Early Air Shows

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Early Air Shows

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Early Air Shows

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Early Air Shows

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Early Air Shows

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Pioneers – Wright Brothers

1901 glider being flown as a kite, Wilbur at left side, Orville at right; Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

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Pioneers – Alexander Graham Bell

Inventor

"Cygnet #2, "a tetrahedral kite built in Nova Scotia, containeds 3,960 tetrahedral cells covered with

red silk and driven a motor

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Pioneers – Glenn Curtiss

Motorcycle Builder

…but not in an airplane…

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Aerial Experiment Association

• Alexander Graham Bell & Glenn Curtiss– Invented the aileron to turn

• Replaced Wright’s wing-warping

• Click here for demo or or here

– Developed first seaplane

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Aerial Experiment Association

• Alexander Graham Bell & Glenn Curtiss– First carrier landing (USS Pennsylvania)

• Really, a battleship – carriers hadn’t been invented!

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Louis Bleriot

• French

• 1st to cross English Channel (heavier-than-air)

• 1st monoplane

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Robert Esnault-Pelterie

• 1st to fully enclose the fuselageWhat’s the

advantage of an enclosed fuselage?

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The Short Brothers

Eustace, Howard, Oswald

• 1st multi-engine aircraft– Increased safety

• Triple Twin– 3 propellers

– 2 engines

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Igor Sikorsky

• 4-engine aircraft

• Later, helicopters

Helicopters:

•Louis Breguet•Paul Cornu•Emile and Henry Berliner

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Calbraith Perry Rodgers

• Where did Vin Fiz name come from?

• Who was William Randolph Hearst?

• Flight across the U.S. in 30 days

• How do cross the Rockies

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PFC Vernon Burge

• 1st enlisted man to become a pilot

• Built a landing system

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Bessie Coleman

• 1st black female

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Blanche Stuart Scott

• “Aviatrix”

• Accidental solo flight?

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Bessica Medlar Raiche

• Was she really the first woman to solo?

• Never got a license

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Harriet Quimby

• 1st woman to earn a pilot’s license

• Fashionable!

• Fell out of plane

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World War 1

• Discovered uses for aircraft still used today:– Reconnaissance

– Fighter

– Bomber

– Transport

– Battle Damage Assessment (BDA)

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World War 1 – Bombers & Fighters

• Link to Bombers

• Link to Fighters

The Red Baron – Manfred von Richthofen80 “kills” – still the ace of aces

Fokker Dr. 1 Triplane

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World War 1NC-4

The NC-4, commanded by Lt-Cmdr A.C. Read and piloted by Lt Walter Hinton, was the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Four aircraft, the NC-1, NC-2, NC-3, and NC-4 were to make the flight together, but the NC-2 was damaged in a

fire and was used for spare parts. The remaining three aircraft began the flight on May 8, 1919. The NC-1 became lost and sank (the crew was rescued), the NC-3 suffered a mechanical failure, leaving only the NC-4 to arrive. The trip took 23 days, but the total flying time was only 53 hours and 58 minutes. The US Navy had 68 destroyers spaced out across the Atlantic

to be used as navigation marker buoys for the flight, while 5 Battleships, spaced at 400 mile intervals, acted as weather stations.

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World War 1Voisin

October 5, 1914French Mechanic Louis Quenalt used a Hotchkiss machine gun to bring down a German Aviatik aircraft flown by Sergeant

joseph Frantz. History’s first recorded air-to-air kill.