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Volume 6; Issue 3 |
April/May 2003 |
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_____________________________________________________________________ Centennial
of Flight Early
Days of Mail and Passenger Service By Barbara Harris-Para _____________________________________________________________________ |
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During
the “Golden Age of Flight, 1921-1935,” the freshness of attitudes and
curiosity, and a quest for adventure was dominant, even through the Great
Depression. Aviation advances were numerous, as the industry began
to take on a personality of its own while more and more uses were found for
aircraft. The
general size of the aircraft hadn’t increased dramatically. They were
still two-seat capacity or able to carry 300 pounds of mail.
However, there were vast improvements to the aircraft. Struts for landing
gears were improved, which made them safer; welded steel tubing was used
in the fuselages making it sturdier; and the engine horsepower increased
from 120 to 675. The later part of the Golden Age saw dramatic
changes in size, shape, power sources and construction. All of these
added to the usefulness of aircraft. New
names in the aircraft manufacturing industry appeared every year.
First, was the Curtiss Company, which built aircraft for the Navy
and Army. The Martin Company worked on heavy bombers. Douglas built for
both branches of the services. Boeing worked strictly with the Army.
Smaller aircraft companies sprang up trying to seize the opportunities
presented by the demands of the time, some of which are still in business
today. Beechcraft, Cessna, Sikorsky, Vought, Fairchild, Northrup,
and others have dominated the industry for centuries. Transcontinental
airmail service began in the early 1920s. Attempts were made to
establish transport and cargo services using worn out military planes.
Unfortunately, most airports were merely cow pastures, there weren’t any
established air routes, and weather was a huge problem.
A few companies started small ventures from New York to Havana and Cleveland
to Detroit, but just for a short while as the paying customers couldn’t
wait for the weather to be clear enough to fly. Mail
service needed to run both night and day, but there were problems such as
no lighted fields or routes. Airplanes were used mostly in the daytime
while trains did the overnight hauls. The government began a system
of beacons across the U.S., airways were established, and lighting of
airfields helped to move the mail into the night hours. This
development made it necessary for airplanes to be equipped with landing,
navigational and interior lights. In the early days, a group of
pilots flew a relay from San Francisco to New York along the lighted
routes carrying the mail (similar to the pony express). It took 33
hours, 21 minutes for the mail to get through. The continuous chain of
lighted airways from coast to coast was inaugurated in July 1924. Bill
Stout designed the first all metal transport and Navy torpedo bomber. This aircraft made it profitable for carrying passengers and mail.
Henry Ford bought the plans thus creating the Ford Tri-motor, nicknamed
the “Tin Goose.” It had three nine-cylinder, 200-horsepower
engines. In one hour it could travel over 100 miles carrying eight people
with a ceiling of 8000’. The Ford Tri-motor is still flying almost
80 years later at various air shows. By the end of 1926, there were
16 air transport operators holding mail contracts, but most were using
single engine aircraft. Speed had not yet entered the equation. Air
transports was the name used before it was changed to Commercial
Operators. Record
setting flights were taking place all over the world. Tony Fokker, a
native of Holland, designed aircraft for the Germans during WWI. After the
war, he assisted the U.S. to improve the country’s aircraft
capabilities. His designs were state-of-the-art. From these designs, came
the Boeing 247, Martin M-130 and the Lockheed Electra series. The aircraft
that changed aviation forever was the DC-3, which dominated the overland
routes in the U.S. The DC-3’s gleaming exterior, luxury 21 seat
interior, and a lucrative mail contract made this the aircraft of choice.
New companies such as Pan American, TWA (Transcontinental & Western
Airways), United, and Eastern Air Lines started coast to coast flights.
Records were starting to be set by such pilots as Jack Frye, Eddie
Rickenbacker, Oakley Kelly and John Macready. The
transcontinental record of 33 hours was reduced to 13 hours using the DC-2
(Cyclone-powered Douglas) into Newark Airport ahead of a snowstorm.
United Air Lines Boeing 247 managed to do coast-to-coast in 22 hours in
the early 1930s. Even though the airlines managed to get the mail
delivered in less and less time a difference of opinion surfaced over the
mail contract, this lead to the cancellation of it in early 1934.
The U.S. Army began moving mail but failed miserably. Six months
later the mail was once again an integral part of the airlines lending
needed revenues. Towards
the end of the “Golden Years,” better aircraft were being built with
such features as: radio use from the plane to the ground; radio beacons to
guide aircraft; and Morse Code letters were used to guide aircraft on
airways. The pilots used the dot-dash system, which created a hum in
their ears guiding them on course. The dashboards of planes became
gyroscopi. This allowed pilots to register the changes of attitude, turn
and bank indicators helped in moving the plane in the air, gyro-horizons
and directional gyro were also very helpful equipment. Wiley Post
flew around the world in his Winnie Mae using the Gyropilot, which today
would be called an autopilot. Octane of the fuel used by the
aircraft also increased the abilities of aircraft. Most
aircraft carried the pilot and a co-pilot, but towards the end of the
“Golden Era,” stewardesses were added. The Boeing 247-D, which
was used by United Airlines, introduced the stewardesses, who were also
trained nurses, as part of the crew. The DC-3 was produced in 21 passenger
day planes, 14 passenger deluxe “Skylounges” or “Skysleepers.”
Fewer stops were needed thus lowering fares in half, which helped promote
air travel. During
the 1920s, many individuals took to flying including women. Harriet Quimby was the first woman pilot to get a license and fly over the English
Channel. Katherine Stinson was the first woman to fly mail, as well
as “sky-write.” She also spent time on tour in China and Japan.
Ruth Law set non-stop distance record for both men and women. She was an
accomplished aerobatics flyer. All these women paved the way for
Amelia Earhart’s era to be recognized as serious flyers. In 1929,
the Cleveland Air Race was held on Labor Day weekend. The gals who
were racing that weekend got together under the bleacher after the race to
discuss starting a “women’s flying organization.” In the U.S.
at that time were 117 licensed women pilots, invitations were sent out
asking if they would like to partake in this group. Ninety-nine women
responded, thus forming the “Ninety-Nines, Inc.” In the next
story other famous firsts will be highlighted between 1920-1940. |
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