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Barnstorming
Barnstorming was a form of entertainment in which stunt pilots performed tricks individually or in groups that were called flying circuses. Devised to "impress people with the skill of pilots and the sturdiness of planes," it became popular in the United States during the Roaring Twenties. Barnstormers were pilots who flew throughout the country to sell airplane rides and perform stunts. Charles Lindbergh first began flying as a barnstormer. Barnstorming was the first major form of civil aviation in the history of manned flight. History Background The Wright brothers and Glenn Curtiss had early flying exhibition teams, with solo flyers like Lincoln Beachey and Didier Masson also popular before World War I, but barnstorming did not become a formal phenomenon until the 1920s. The first barnstormer, taught to fly by Curtiss in 1909, was one Charles Foster Willard, who is also credited as the first to be shot down in an airplane when an annoyed farmer fired a squirrel g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Curtiss JN-4
The Curtiss JN "Jenny" is a series of biplanes built by the Glenn Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft for the US Army, the "Jenny" (the common nickname derived from "JN") continued after World War I as a civilian aircraft, becoming the "backbone of American postwar ivilaviation". Thousands of surplus Jennys were sold at bargain prices to private owners in the years after the war, and became central to the barnstorming era that helped awaken the US to civil aviation through much of the 1920s. Design and development Curtiss combined the best features of the model J and model N trainers, built for the US Army and US Navy, and began producing the JN or "Jenny" series of aircraft in 1915. Curtiss built only a limited number of the JN-1 and JN-2 biplanes. The design was commissioned by Glenn Curtiss from Englishman Benjamin Douglas Thom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stunt Pilot
Stunt flying refers to any stunts performed in an aircraft. It encompasses aerobatics, wing walking, and transferring from one airplane to another or to a moving vehicle on the ground, such as an automobile or train, and vice versa. History From the Wright brothers to World War I The Wright brothers showed that motor-powered flight was possible, with their first sustained flight on 17 December 1903. Aerobatics followed within a decade. Frenchman Adolphe Pégoud was the first to fly inverted, on 1 September 1913. On 9 September, Russian Pyotr Nesterov flew the first loop. World War I (1914–1918) was a major impetus to the development of aerobatics. Those who mastered it were more likely to survive dogfights. The 1920s: era of the barnstormer After the war ended, some of these pilots used the skills they had mastered by barnstorming to earn a living, traveling across the country performing stunts and providing rides. It was helpful that the US government was selling plentiful, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, and author. On May 20–21, 1927, he made the first nonstop flight from New York (state), New York to Paris, a distance of . His aircraft, the ''Spirit of St. Louis'', was built to compete for the $25,000 Orteig Prize for the first flight between the two cities. Although not the Transatlantic flight of Alcock and Brown, first transatlantic flight, it was the longest at the time by nearly , the first First solo flight, solo transatlantic flight, and set a new flight distance Flight distance record, world record. The achievement garnered Lindbergh worldwide fame and stands as one of the History of aviation, most consequential flights in history, signalling a new era of International flight, air transportation between parts of the globe. Raised in both Little Falls, Minnesota and Washington, D.C., Lindbergh was the son of U.S. Congressman Charles August Lindbergh. He became ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Didier Masson
Didier Masson (23 February 1886 – 2 June 1950) was a pioneering France, French aviator. He was born in Asnières-sur-Seine, Asnières, France. He died and was buried in Mérida, Yucatán, Mérida, Yucatan, Mexico. Among his adventures was his life as a pioneering barnstorming, barnstormer, being the second flier in history to bomb a surface warship, as well as combat service in the Lafayette Escadrille with Edwin C. Parsons and Charles Nungesser. In one of the more unusual aerial victories of history, Masson shot down an enemy plane after his own plane's motor quit running. Later in life, he was a manager for pioneer Pan American World Airways, as well as a French consular officer. Early life and flying career Didier Masson apprenticed as a jeweler for a short while in 1903 before joining the French army. He served in the 129e Regiment d'Infanterie from 1904 to 1906. After his enlistment ended, he worked for a magneto manufacturer for some years. In 1909, he hired on as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marie Meyer Flying Circus
Marie Meyer (January 17, 1899 – May 24, 1956), later Marie Meyer Fower, was an American barnstorming pilot who ran the Marie Meyer Flying Circus in the United States in the 1920s. She was a pilot, a wingwalker and a parachutist. She competed in international air races in both St. Louis and Dayton. Early life Marie Meyer was born in Illinois on January 17, 1899. Soon after her parents, John and Dora Meyer, moved to St. Louis, Missouri. After graduating from high school, Marie worked in a store and saved money for flying lessons. She learned to fly with William B. Robertson, who opened a flying school in 1918 at the St. Louis Flying Field. St. Louis was one of a few cities in the United States to have a civilian airfield. Meyer completed her last hour of practice flying in 1921, at the State Fair in Sedalia. Career By 1922, Marie had earned her pilot’s license, bought one of the training " Jennies" being sold off by the US Army, and formed the Marie Meyer Flying Circu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Standard J
The Standard J is a two-seat basic trainer two-bay biplane produced in the United States from 1916 to 1918, powered by a four-cylinder inline Hall-Scott A-7a engine. It was constructed from wood with wire bracing and fabric covering. The J-1 was built as a stopgap to supplement the Curtiss JN-4 in production. Development Charles Healy Day had designed the preceding Sloan H series of aircraft, and continued the line under the Standard Aero Corporation (later Standard Aircraft Corporation). Four companies, Standard, Dayton-Wright, Fisher Body, and Wright-Martin, delivered 1,601 J-1s between June 1917 and June 1918. The Standard J-1 can be differentiated from the Curtiss JN series by its slightly swept-back wing planform, triangular king posts above the upper wings, and the front legs of the landing gear which were mounted behind the lower wing's leading edge, just about where the forward wing spar of the lower wing panel attaches to the fuselage. Operational history Altho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bessie Coleman
Elizabeth Coleman (January 26, 1892April 30, 1926) was an early American civil aviation, civil aviator. She was the first African-American woman and first Native Americans in the United States, Native American to hold a Pilot certification in the United States, pilot license, and is the earliest known Black person to earn an Pilot licensing and certification#History, international pilot's license. She earned her license from the ''Fédération Aéronautique Internationale'' on June 15, 1921. Born to a family of sharecroppers in Texas, Coleman worked in the cotton fields at a young age while also studying in a small Racial segregation in the United States, segregated school. She attended one term of college at Langston University. Coleman developed an early interest in flying, but African Americans, Native Americans, and women had no flight training opportunities in the United States, so she saved and obtained sponsorships in Chicago to go to France for flight school. She then ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of Aviation
The history of aviation spans over two millennia, from the earliest innovations like kites and attempts at tower jumping to Supersonic speed, supersonic and hypersonic flight in powered, heavier-than-air flight, heavier-than-air jet aircraft. Kite flying in China, dating back several hundred years BC, is considered the earliest example of man-made flight. In the 15th-century Leonardo da Vinci created several flying machine designs incorporating aeronautical concepts, but they were unworkable due to the limitations of contemporary knowledge. In the late 18th century, the Montgolfier brothers invented the Hot air balloon, hot-air balloon which soon led to manned flights. At almost the same time, the discovery of hydrogen gas led to the invention of the hydrogen balloon. Various theories in mechanics by physicists during the same period, such as fluid dynamics and Newton's laws of motion, led to the development of modern aerodynamics; most notably by Sir George Cayley. Balloons, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lincoln Beachey
Lincoln Beachey (March 3, 1887 – March 14, 1915) was a Aviation in the pioneer era, pioneer American aviator and barnstorming, barnstormer. He became famous and wealthy from flying exhibitions, staging aerial stunts, helping invent aerobatics, and setting aviation records. He was known as ''The Man Who Owns the Sky,'' and sometimes the ''Master Birdman''. Beachey was acknowledged even by his competitors as "The World's Greatest Aviator". He was "known by sight to hundreds of thousands and by name to the whole world". Career On 3 March 1887, Lincoln Beachey was born in San Francisco, and in 1903, first rode in a tethered balloon. In 1905, Lincoln and his older brother Hillery signed a contract with Thomas Scott Baldwin to fly his dirigible at the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. On 10 September 1906, the Beachey brothers flew their dirigible around Washington, D.C., with Lincoln landing on the White House lawn, and then on the United States Capitol steps. Lincoln then ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black people, Black racial groups of Africa. African Americans constitute the second largest ethno-racial group in the U.S. after White Americans. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of Slavery in the United States, Africans enslaved in the United States. In 2023, an estimated 48.3 million people self-identified as Black, making up 14.4% of the country’s population. This marks a 33% increase since 2000, when there were 36.2 million Black people living in the U.S. African-American history began in the 16th century, with Africans being sold to Atlantic slave trade, European slave traders and Middle Passage, transported across the Atlantic to Slavery in the colonial history of the United States, the Western He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
13 Black Cats
The 13 Black Cats, also known as the 13 Flying Black Cats or simply the Black Cats, was a 1920s group of Los Angeles–based performers who would do stunts, primarily using airplanes and also including motorcycles and automobiles, for a set price. Examples included upside-down flying for $100 and blowing up an airplane in mid-air for $1500. They performed at airshows and in movies and were featured in newsreels of the era. The group's advertising used the tagline "If a Black Cat can't do it—It can't be done." History On its founding in 1924, the group had 13 members, led by Ronald "Bon" MacDougall (1901–1970), and was based at Burdette Airport—of which MacDougall was a part-owner, and where some of them worked or learned to fly—at Western Avenue and 102nd Street in Los Angeles, California. The group disbanded in 1929, due to competition from cut-rate pilots. The uniform of the Black Cats was a black sweater which was adorned on the front with a cat and number 13 patch. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Curtiss JN-4 In Flight Over Central Ontario
The Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company (1909–1929) was an American aircraft manufacturer originally founded by Glenn Curtiss, Glenn Hammond Curtiss and Augustus Moore Herring in Hammondsport, New York. After significant commercial success in its first decades, it merged with the Wright Aeronautical to form Curtiss-Wright Corporation. History Origin In 1907, Glenn Curtiss was recruited by the scientist Dr. Alexander Graham Bell as a founding member of Bell's Aerial Experiment Association (AEA), with the intent of establishing an aeronautical research and development organization. According to Bell, it was a "co-operative scientific association, not for gain but for the love of the art and doing what we can to help one another."Milberry 1979, p 13. In 1909, shortly before the AEA was disbanded, Curtiss partnered with Augustus Moore Herring to form the Herring-Curtiss Company.Gunston 1993, p. 87. It was renamed the Curtiss Aeroplane Company in 1910 and reorganized in 1912 a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
