Aviation History

Our imagination takes off as we watch leaves scurrying in the wind, as one takes off and glides a distance. We glance up at a bird lifting in the breeze. Humankind has achieved so many things. Why can we not soar into the air too? The First Flying Machine Painted on a Wall The ancients surely pondered over this a long while ago. They would have experimented with different ways to harness leaves, before an artist painted a picture of a...

1918 was a year of consolidation in military aircraft design, to the virtual exclusion of any civilian purpose. There was no lack of innovation on the part of aircraft manufacturers vying for their slice of the cake. However, many designs failed to make it to these pages, because they were either flawed, overtaken by others, or victims of the Armistice that paused the conflict for 21 years. First Person Clambers Aboard a Flying Aircraft (January 1918) On a day in January 1918,...

1922 continued the uptick in new aircraft design, and construction. Better fighters and bombers were in demand for colonial wars, while seaplanes lined up for innovative aircraft carriers launching from ship yards. Several innovative fast racing aircraft kept the bar above 200 mph. While passenger aircraft, large and small continued to tempt the new taste for passenger flight. The overall trend showed the industry had shrugged off the anything-goes culture of World War 1. Military, civilian and private customers were more...

Aircraft design took a sudden, almost unprecedented step forward in 1927. Sure, the customary procession of faster, more deadly military aircraft continued. But something else was in the air. The challenge of crossing the Atlantic Ocean, and traveling in luxury airliners to the four corners of the world beckoned. Of course, this was only in its infancy, although  Fokker  and Farman were getting closer to daring to do it. Meanwhile Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart were a step ahead. They...

Our story begins on a day in 1801. When French military officer André Guillaume Resnier de Goué achieved a downhill glide of 985 feet, while waving wire wings covered over with waxed silky material, and breaking his leg when coming down to earth. Some thirty years later, French mathematician and brigadier general Isidore Didion remarked, ‘Aviation will be successful only if one finds an engine whose ratio with the weight of the device to be supported will be larger than...

There were many hopeful designs that never made it to these pages because they were not sufficiently successful (if at all) to make lasting contributions.  Simulation technology was primitive. Aviation was sometimeas a semi hit-and-miss-affair despite the accumulation of knowledge. JANUARY 1925 Czechoslovak Aero A.11 Light Bomber / Reconnaissance Biplane The Aero A.11 was a light bomber and reconnaissance biplane that formed the basis for several future military developments. Around 250 were made after it first flew in 1925. Some were still...

The world breathed easier as peace began to return to the sky. Millions of young people returned home with new life skills, keen to resume their lives over again. There was a huge surplus of aircraft and pilots. These came together to create a world where they could fly almost as free as birds, and establish new records of personal endurance. Air passenger and freight services began to pick up, taking advantage of an oversupply of aircraft, and wartime aviators thirsting...

Aircraft manufacture ticked up in 1921. However, this time the focus was more on military aircraft required for local conflicts, and maintaining self-defense capability.  The United States military developed an interest in winning competitions, and broke the 200-mph barrier. Japan entered the arena as it manufactured its own airplanes for aircraft carriers. Civilian air transport continued to test its wings by developing local routes, although it focussed on small aircraft while dirigibles did the heavy lifting.  JANUARY 1921 British aircraft carrier HMS Argus...

1929 was a year of mixed fortunes. There was a flurry of passenger airliner crashes in the midst of rapidly increasing demand. A connection could be argued with a temptation to cut corners in a year of distance and speed records. Perhaps the real winners were a new generation of high wing monoplanes, though. Meanwhile, major protagonists in a future World War II upped the ante with larger, faster and more sophisticated warplanes. Germany, France and Great Britain were major...

1920 was a year for consolidation, after rapid progress in World War 1. Hostilities had taken fixed wing aircraft to new heights and top speeds. Civilians were attracted to their potential for carrying passengers and freight on a commercial basis when hostilities ended. However the supply of war surplus airplanes dampened demand for new models. But the military were restless because they wanted to retain air superiority in their domains. Aircraft manufacturers were on the back foot, because they had to...