THE WRIGHT ENGINE PART 2
IN PART 1 yesterday, we learned that the 1903 Wright Flyer was powered by a horizontally aligned inline-four designed and fabricated by the brothers themselves and their mechanician Charlie Taylor. … Continue reading
THE WRIGHT 1903 ENGINE PART 1
THE WRIGHT BROTHERS designed and developed the first powered heavier-than-air craft with theoretical as well as practical considerations. “The Wright Brothers—Aero Theoreticians” here at SimanaitisSays described one aspect of this, … Continue reading
THE HINDENBURG’S BABY GRAND
IT WOULD seem incongruous to find a piano aboard an airship. But, for awhile, the Lounge of the Zeppelin LZ-129 Hindenburg featured a baby grand built by Julius Blüthner Pianofortefabrik … Continue reading
THE FIRST PERSON TO FLY IN THE U.S.
JUST AS GEORGE Washington crossed the Delaware River in December 1776, within two decades Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard entered aviation history as the first person to fly in the U.S., also … Continue reading
TROOPS (AND PLANES) TO THE BORDER PART 2
YESTERDAY WE left U.S Army General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing and Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa poised for interaction in a border squabble. Today, we see how aeroplanes played a … Continue reading
TROOPS (AND PLANES) TO THE BORDER PART 1
“A STORY as timely as today’s headlines,” it has been said. However, this story about the United States versus Mexico took place 100 years ago. The tale involves a U.S. … Continue reading
GEORGE CONSTANTINESCU—SCIENTIST, INVENTOR, ENGINEER, CARMAKER PART 1
ALLIED AIRCRAFT synchronized armament in 1917. An automotive torque converter in 1926. Let’s celebrate the fellow who devised these two and other technicalities: George Constantinescu, a Romanian-Briton with an office … Continue reading
AERO HISTORY—A CENTURY AGO PART 2
C.G. GREY’S 1917 Jane’s summary of “modern” aeronautics seems to predate his political inclinations discussed yesterday here at SimanaitisSays. However, his views were no less outspoken in matters technical and … Continue reading
AERO HISTORY—A CENTURY AGO PART 1
“A BRIEF History of Modern Aeronautics,” by C.G. Grey, appeared as a supplement to Jane’s All The World’s Aircraft 1917. By that time, Jane’s had become the world’s authority on … Continue reading
A THREE-ENGINE TRANSPORT—FROM BOEING
DO I MEAN the 1926 Fokker F.VII in its trimotor configuration? Or the 1926 Ford TriMotor? Them too, but Boeing introduced its Model 80, a three-engine transport in 1928. Yet, … Continue reading
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