AERIAL WHO’S WHO—1913
SOME AVIATION PIONEERS are well known, such as the Wright Brothers, Glenn Curtiss and Louis Blériot, for example. Others may be well known, but not in the context of early … Continue reading
THE WRIGHT BROTHERS—AERO THEORETICIANS
THE WRIGHT BROTHERS went far beyond being bicycle builders because of their extraordinarily methodical approach to all of their activities. Why, for example, did these Ohioans first fly at Kitty … Continue reading
AN ENTHUSIAST’S FATHER BROWN
BEING ENTHUSED about classic cars, vintage aircraft and English mystery stories, I recommend the BBC TV adventures of Father Brown. In a recent PBS presentation, this parish priest/amateur sleuth found … Continue reading
1916 GALLAUDET D-1 SEAPLANE—THE TRADEOFFS OF INNOVATION
SOME AIRCRAFT INNOVATIONS, such as ailerons and joystick, proved lasting. Others may have been based on sound engineering principles, but this wasn’t enough. An example is the patented Gallaudet Drive, … Continue reading
FLIGHT AND THE GREAT SPHINX
EGYPT DOESN’T OCCUPY a great deal of my memory bank, nor of the items here at SimanaitisSays. There’s Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida, this opera and its wayward tomb doors and Winston Churchill’s … Continue reading
THE MUSIC OF AVIATION
AVIATION HAS provided significant inspiration for music. And I’m not just talking about titles such as Flying Down to Rio or Der fliegende Holländer. I’m thinking of classic musical pieces … Continue reading
SAGA OF THE SUNDSTEDT-HANNEVIG “SUNRISE”
IN THE SPRING of 1919, a dozen aeronautical teams declared their intentions of flying across the Atlantic. This was in quest of Lord Northcliffe’s Daily Mail newspaper prize of £10,000, … Continue reading
SUNDSTEDT (ALMOST) FLIES THE ATLANTIC
CAPTAIN HUGO SUNDSTEDT failed to cross the Atlantic in his Sunrise seaplane in 1919. But this sure wasn’t for the lack of trying. Today I’ll offer tidbits on Sundstedt; tomorrow, … Continue reading
VOISIN FARMAN BIPLANE, 1907
MILESTONES OF THE AIR: Jane’s 100 Significant Aircraft includes the biplane of Frenchmen Gabriel and Charles Voisin as its second entry, directly following the Wright Flyer, and for good reason. … Continue reading
LA FAMILLE SOMMER—L’ESSENCE PROPRE
LIKE ENGLISH, French is amenable to multiple meanings, puns, if you will. To describe the Sommer men, father Roger and sons François, Raymond and Pierre, I sought the French equivalent … Continue reading
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