HOLD ON TIGHT!
IT WAS four years before the earliest pilots of heavier-than-air craft invited anyone else aboard—more properly, atop—their flying contraptions. Once passengers tried it, a good number took up flying on their … Continue reading
FLYING AROUND THE WORLD—IN 1920?
A WONDERFUL poster came my way through Facebook car/aviation colleague Tom Heitzman. The Lake Aero Corporation of Bridgeport, Connecticut, proposed an ambitious plan to fly around the world—in 1920. Lake … Continue reading
BUGATTI U-16 ENGINE
ONE OF Ettore Bugatti’s more exuberant engine designs had logic, if not luck, in its favor. This engine was a U-16, a pair of Bugatti inline-8 designs aligned in two … Continue reading
MAPANARE—IN THE TROPICAL FOREST AND IN THE AIR
THANKS TO a Facebook colleague sharing aeronautical and flight-simulation interests, I came to learn about the mapanare, a species of pit viper found in the tropical lowlands of northern South … Continue reading
FLIGHT OF THE ?
CHARLES LINDBERGH and his Spirit of St. Louis were the first, in 1927, to fly solo non-stop from New York to Paris. However, aircraft cognoscenti also recognize the Navy-Curtiss NC-4 … Continue reading
A WRIGHT WHIMSY
THE FOLLOWING two fantasy correspondences are offered for your amusement: Wilbur Wright, 7 Hawthorne Street, Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A. April 11, 1909 My Dear Wilbur, Greetings from the little bathing town … Continue reading
THE FERVOR OF FRENCH FLYERS, 1898 – 1908
FRENCH AÉRONAUTS came this close—no, closer than this—to being the first in the world to demonstrate sustained, controlled, heavier-than-air flight. What about the Wrights? Between 1898 and 1908, there was … Continue reading
SAMUEL F. CODY—A LIFE WELL CRAFTED
THIS RAKISH guy named Cody with long flowing hair and cowboy garb must be the famed Buffalo Bill, right? A common conclusion. In fact, though, this particular Cody was born … Continue reading
ROOSEVELT FIELD—AND RACEWAY
YESTERDAY WE admired the Rhonie murals at Roosevelt Field (http://wp.me/p2ETap-2GJ). Today, I’ll fill in some of Roosevelt’s history between its 1909 origin and 1951 demise. In between, there’s Glenn Curtiss, … Continue reading
ALINE RHONIE—GOLDEN-AGE AVIATRIX AND MURALIST
PURSUITS HAVE an interesting way of evolving. I was perusing Minute Epics of Flight, a wonderful collection of one-page vignettes in the Minute series. (See “Minutes of Knowledge,” http://wp.me/p2ETap-1rI, for … Continue reading
