1. Chapter 6 Golden Age (1927-1939) A. Charles Lindbergh B. Adventure, Exploration, and Sport C. Commercial Airlines and Airliners D. Aviation Radio and Military Aviation

2. Section A Charles Lindbergh In 1927 the young American pilot Charles Lindbergh flew alone across the Atlantic Ocean to France and fame. More that 90 people had flown across the Atlantic before Lindbergh’s historic flight, so his flight both closed the postwar period of long distance flying and opened the Golden Age of Aviation.

3. Charles Lindbergh Lindbergh took his first flight lesson in 1922. –Received 8 hours of dual instruction  Joined friends barnstorming, wing walking, and parachuting. He bought his own airplane in 1923 - Curtiss JN-4D Jenny - First solo

4. Charles Lindbergh Educated at Brooks Field, Army Air Service, San Antonio, Texas in 1924. - Graduated in 1925 in a class of 18 that started with 104 cadets. Lindbergh joined the Robertson Aircraft Corporation of St. Louis as an airmail pilot

5. Charles Lindbergh Orteig Prize Raymond Orteig, a New York businessman, offered a $25,000 prize for the first nonstop airplane flight between New York and Paris in either direction. Raymond Orteig, a New York businessman, offered a $25,000 prize for the first nonstop airplane flight between New York and Paris in either direction. This lured Lindbergh from flying the mail to planning the flight. This lured Lindbergh from flying the mail to planning the flight.

6. Charles Lindbergh  Lindbergh raised money from the St. Louis business community.  He selected a single-engine monoplane ~ less drag, less fuel consumption.  More than 90 people made the trip, but never nonstop in an airplane.

7. Charles Lindbergh In 1927, there were more than 20 attempts.  On 21 Sept. 1926, French ace Rene Fonck and his crew crashed their Sirkorsky S-35 on takeoff, killing 2.  Despite, the prize attracted many!!

8. Charles Lindbergh  20-21 May 1927 –Lindbergh flew the Spirit of St. Louis, a Ryan monoplane, non stop from New York to St. Louis. –3600 miles crossed in 33 hours and 29 minutes. –He won the $25,000 Orteig Prize.

9. Charles Lindbergh  The flight also won Lindbergh the reserve officer promotion to colonel and the Congressional Medal of Honor.  Wrote a book “We”, referring to man and machine, about the flight. –His book The Spirit of St. Louis won a Pulitzer prize in 1953.

10. Charles Lindbergh The flight proved the reliability of aircraft and engines designed and built after the war. Lindbergh flew the Spirit of St. Louis on tour of the US, visiting all 48 states, covering 22,000 miles, logging 260.7 flight hours

11. Charles Lindbergh Lindbergh got jobs with two airlines –Pam Am and –Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) which later became known as “The Lindbergh Line.” End of Section A

12. Section B Adventure, Exploration, and Sport Aviation was sport and spectacle. It was an adventure in the exploration of the planet, the plane, and the pilot. Pilots promoted themselves, their aircraft, and their flights. Geographical and scientific expeditions used airplanes not only as service vehicles, but to attract supporters of aviation. Filmmakers used airplanes for aerial photography an as subject matter. Light airplanes, homebuilt, and glider brought aviation to ordinary people. This was the Golden Age of Aviation.

13. Adventure, Exploration, and Sport James D. Dole organized a Pacific Air Race with a $35,000 prize for nonstop flight from Oakland, California to Honolulu, Hawaii. Who Wants to be a Millionaire?... How about the next American Idol?... Any Bachelors looking for date?... Prizes, Prizes, Prizes…

14. Adventure, Exploration, and Sport  Many tried…many died.  Two planes did complete the race, both with the Wright J-5 engine. –The Winning plane, the Woolaroc, flown by Art Goebel and William V. Davis. –Second was the Aloha

15. Adventure, Exploration, and Sport Although the Pacific was the new challenge, some did not lose interest in the Atlanic. –Amelia Earhart – the Lady Lindy – in 1932 became the first female pilot to make a solo, nonstop transatlantic flight. –James Allan Mollison made the first east-to- west solo flight –Graf Zeppelin made 18 crossings of the South Atlantic. –In 1932, 5 planes carried 22 passengers across the Atlantic.

16. Adventure, Exploration, and Sport  Douglas Corrigan –Decided to fly across the Atlantic, but lacked the necessary authorizations. –On 17-18 July 1938, Corrigan made the flight claiming that he intended to fly to California, but flew the wrong way. –Earned the nick-name “Wrong-Way Corrigan.

17. Adventure, Exploration, and Sport Round the World –1929 Graf Zeppelin made a circumnavigation flight. –Pilot Wiley Post and navigator Harold Gatty flew around the around in 1932. –Von Gronau flying boat trip in in 1932. –Post made a second round the world flight in 1933, this time solo. –Howard Hughes made it in 1938.

18. Adventure, Exploration, and Sport Polar Flights –Remember Richard Byrd?? –Well… he does it again. This time to the South Pole, Nov. 1929.

19. Adventure, Exploration, and Sport Italian Distance Flights –Nation Pride at stake –Benito Mussolini sent his Minister of Air Italo Balbo to the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933. –They flew 25 plane from Rome, Italy to Chicago  Lost one plane on the way  Lost one more on the return trip.

20. Adventure, Exploration, and Sport 1934 MacRobertson Air Race  12,300 miles from England to Australia. –C.W.A Scott and T. Campbell Black won the race in a de Havilland 88 Comet. –Second and Third place were won by Americans.

21. Adventure, Exploration, and Sport Altitude Flights  1934, William Kepner, Orvil Anderson, and observer A.W. Steven manned a balloon (Explorer 1) and rose to more that 11 miles  The next year Kepner and Anderson did it again in the Explorer II, this time to 72,395 ft or 13.7 miles

22. Adventure, Exploration, and Sport Speed Flights  Absolute speed record at the time Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic –278.481 mph  Speed records were set and broken constantly…almost on a yearly basis. –9 times in 12 years

23. Adventure, Exploration, and Sport French Raids  The French started exploratory flights, known as raids. –French gov’t. air ministry offered prizes for first flights to far destinations –Additional prizes for the fastest flights to those destinations already reached.  Raids were classed as a sport in the 1930s

24. Light Airplanes  Europe –de Havilland DH 60 Moth biplane became so popular that the word ‘Moth’ came to denote every small airplane. ~Much like how the word ‘Cessna’ is used today  United States –C.G. Taylor and William Piper finds the Taylor Aircraft Company and starts production of the Model A Cub in 1930.

25. Homebuilt Aircraft Starting with the Montgolfier Bros., aircraft have been built at home. Even the Wright Bros. sold airplanes with the intention of the customer building it at home.  The Heath Parasol was one of the first aircraft to be marketed solely as a homebuilt.  Homebuilt gliders and the Germans are what began in our investigating and understanding of thermals.

26. End of SectionB