Aviation History – Page 6 – Old Magazine Articles

Experimental Nightflights
(Popular Mechanics, 1914)

Photographs of one of the first attempts at night flying with wing-mounted electric lights.

Air Cruisers of the British Flying Squadron
(Popular Mechanics, 1914)

Here is a short article with photographs depicting two unnamed British fighter- planes: one is described as double-decker, with the pilot riding directly over the gunner and the second boasts of a steel fuselage construction.

Anticipating Trans-Atlantic Flights
(Dress and Vanity Fair, 1913)

A 1913 article that examined the nascent world of hydroplanes.

1911: The First U.S. Shipboard Landing
(Naval Operations, 1970)

At 11:01 a.m., (January 18, 1911) Eugene Ely (1886 – 1911), flying a Curtiss Pusher, landed on a specially built platform aboard the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania at anchor in San Francisco Bay.

A black and white photograph of the event is provided.

Zeppelin Diagram
(L’Illustration, 1917)

A schematic plan of a German World War One Zeppelin that illustrates the airship’s bombay, crew quarters and gondola.

‘Charley” Lindbergh in Brooklyn
(The Chicagoan Magazine, 1927)

One of the First Bomb Sights
(Popular Mechanics, 1914)

Attached is a photograph and short description of One of the latest bomb-dropping devices that were available to French and British pilots during the earliest days of World War One.

French Dirigible
(Popular Mechanics, 1914)

Pictured herein is the French dirigible ADJUDANT REAU as it appeared during the first months of the First World War.
Also depicted are two early tri-planes which were used to help elevate the craft.

Dirigible Accident: ROMA
(The Literary Digest, 1922)

Two LITERARY DIGEST articles, printed seven days a part, addressing the topic of the destruction of the U.S. military’s semi-rigid airship, ROMA; much attention is paid as to where the blame for the disaster must be placed. The journalists concur that the U.S. Congress was answerable for the loss due to that body’s unwillingness to pay for the necessary helium, rather than the less expensive, and highly flamable, hydrogen gas. Thirty-four lives were lost.

ZMC-2: The First All Metal Airship
(Literary Digest, 1929)

1929 saw the creation of the U.S. Navy airship ZMC-2, the first metal dirigible (aluminum alloy) of its kind:

Heretofore, the trend in dirigible construction has been toward larger and longer ships; the egg-shaped ZMC-2 can withstand the buffeting of the winds much better than her larger and more unwieldy sister ships.

Built by the Aircraft Development Corporation (Detroit), ZMC-2 was in use by the U.S. Navy until her retirement, in 1941.