![]() |
AAHS Journal, Vol. 53, No. 3 - Fall 2008 Table of Contents
|
The
Boeing 707, the world’s first successful commercial jet, is a milestone
in commercial aviation history representing the point in time when
propellers once and for all gave way to jets, and air travel, having
become affordable and available, eclipsed travel by sea and rail. The Roots of the 707 – Swept Wings and Podded Engines When the leadership of the Boeing
Co. decided to go forward with the development of a jet transport,
revolutionizing the science and technology of flight was not a new concept
to the people of Boeing who had earned a reputation of progressive
aeronautical thinking and taking risks with new technology. What Boeing
Senior VP, Wellwood Beall called "a tradition of pioneering." That
tradition went back to Bill Boeing’s command: "Let no new improvement
in flying and flying equipment pass us by." That philosophy shaped the
world’s first modern airliner, the Boeing 247 of 1933, the legendary
B-17 Flying
Fortress, the cutting
edge B-29 Superfortress,
and the revolutionary B-47 Stratojet – the world’s first
swept-wing jet bomber. |
|
The 1935
National Air Races (NAR) were held in Cleveland, Ohio, August 30 to
September 2. This year’s event might best be described as the "Benny
Howard year," as we will see later in this article.
Bendix Trophy Race
The Bendix Race departed from Burbank, Calif. On the
morning of August 30 with eight aircraft lining up at the starting line.
Disaster would strike almost immediately with the modified Granville
Brothers Gee Bee R1/R2 flown by Cecil Allen crashing on takeoff. Allen was
killed and the aircraft was destroyed. |
|
Trans World
Airlines: Entering
this world far from what he will come to know and influence, William John
"Jack" Frye was born in Sweetwater, Okla., (some sources note he was
born in Sulphur, Okla., where his mother was visiting) on March 18, 1904,
to William Henry and Nellie Cooley Frye. In the years that followed he
would become an aviation visionary and who, along with Paul E. Richter and
Walter A. Hamilton, created and formed Transcontinental & Western
Airlines (T&WA, but more commonly referred to as TWA). TWA would
eventually grow into a 17,000 employee, $70 million corporation, with both
a domestic and international route network while evolving into the seventh
largest airline in the world. |
|
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport
(Minnesota): Major
airports are places of constant change, constant metamorphosis, constant teardown and rebirth. But,
while this story is specifically about only one of those airports, it is surely representative of most large
airports around this country, perhaps the one in the reader’s
hometown. Most current major metropolitan airports began as grass
strips, serving barnstormers, then progressed over the years to
serve a wide range of general aviation, ag-applicators, airlines, military and corporate operations. Perhaps the
municipality outgrew its original 40 acres and was reborn across town
in grander style. I am emotionally close to the
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP), and have a historian’s
sense of its growth, having watched it over the course of its
last 55 years. I am fortunate to have a record from its infancy
and adolescence. But, though the following portrait is about
one major airport, in truth, MSP is only one of many with such
a colorful transitory background.
The Early Years
The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport really
began in 1915 as Twin City Motor Speedway, a two mile, high-banked oval auto speedway paved with concrete. Left
to its intended purpose, the track would today be a rival of Indianapolis or Daytona. The original owners, some of them
board members of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation, recognized in the early 1910s the need for
additional tracks for competitors to race on. In the days
of board racetracks and dirt road courses, paved
super-speedways such as Indy (paved with bricks,) were an anomaly. An additional paved high-speed track would create further fan
interest and foster the growth of American motor racing. |
|
George
Jansen was the Chief Test Pilot of the Douglas Aircraft Company’s flight test facility at Edwards Air
Force Base (EAFB) from the late 1940s into the 1960s. As a Douglas test pilot, he was my boss - a damned tough
boss to work under for which I’ve always been grateful. When
I was handed a test flight on my A3D and Jansen had signed
the test card, I knew I was good to go. He saw not only the
test to be accomplished from the test pilot’s perspective, but
also knew the history of each aircraft that flew in his stable.
And his stable consisted of ADs, A2Ds, F3Ds, A3Ds, F4Ds, A4Ds, B-66s, C-133s and T-33s. How he accomplished this I could
never understand other than his entire life was devoted to knowing both the test aircraft and the pilot who would fly
the test. As a grunt test pilot I considered George Jansen a magical figure. |
|
112
Victories: Aerial Victory Credits of the Tuskegee Airmen The only
African-American pilots in combat with the Army Air Forces during World War II believed they had
something to prove. They knew that if they performedwell in battle, the decision to accept them in a role from
which they had previously been excluded would be vindicated. Excellent combat performance would also contribute to
expanding opportunities for African Americans, not only in
the armed forces of the United States, but in American society
as a whole. Later known as "Tuskegee Airmen" because they
had trained to fly at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama, members of the 332nd Fighter Group and its four squadrons,
the 99th, 100th, 301st and 302nd, more than met the
challenge. They shot down 112 enemy aircraft in flight. This paper describes that important part of their story. |
|
Leo Barnum
Kimball’s father was Erastus S. Kimball who was born in Illinois, and at the age
of two came to Connecticut with his mother, eventually settling in New Haven, where he worked for many years at the Winchester
Arms Company. On March 5, 1890, he married Anna Barnum. Erastus and his wife Anna had three children, Leo Barnum,
born April 3, 1896, Norma Alpihene Kimball and Anita Gardner Kimball.
The Early Years
While a student in Strong Grammar School, Leo Kimball
attained quite a reputation as a builder of model gliders,
and for a time he had one of his models on display at the library building. He attracted considerable attention when he won
a gliding contest at the school in 1911. It was predicted by the local newspaper (Journal-Courier)
that Kimball would attempt flights in a machine of his own design. |
|
Remember When . . . Bellanca Cruisair Senior For those of us who recall the period, a boom in general aviation
was to take place following World War II. It was anticipated that
returning airmen would trade their wartime aircraft, flown in hostile
skies, for light planes flown over peaceful American terrain. The return
of many veteran pilots, aviators and airmen was to be the catalyst behind
the figurative statement "an airplane in every garage," and it gave
impetus to artists’ conceptions of smiling families flying to vacation
destinations in futuristic light planes. Aviation magazines of the day
reinforced this vision by depicting modern-day housing developments with a
runway and individual taxiways leading up to each new home. |
|