Find archive articles on Aviation. Our site has great information from old magazine newspaper articles about Aviation history.
A 1921 article from The Independent reported on the accident that doomed the dirigible Z-R2 in the skies over the British town of Hull. This British-built R-38 class airship was to be handed-over to the U.S. Navy and had a mixed crew composed of both Yanks and Brits; five of whom survived. Among the dead was Air-Commodore E.M. Maitland (b. 1880).
The Downfall of a Dirigible (The Independent, 1921) Read More »
Pieced together from the captain’s log as well as various first-hand observations that were called to mind by the 29 surviving crew members, this article presents a blow-by-blow account as to how the U.S. Navy dirigible Shenandoah was overwhelmed by turbulent winds over Eastern Ohio and torn in two.
As they climbed into the hull, the ship began spinning counter-clockwise on its keel, then lifted its nose and shot upward. Girders groaned and wires snapped. Then came a crunching, sickening roar as the girders parted. The ship had broken in two. Another rending crash and the control car plunged earthwards, carrying Lt. Commander Landsdowne and seven other men to their death.
The Destruction of the Shenandoah (Coronet Magazine, 1949) Read More »
This article from a 1937 issue of The Magazine of Art addressed the over-all aesthetic appeal of the Hindenburg’ . Written by Blanche Naylor, no stranger to all matters involving industrial design of the Thirties and Forties, the article goes into some detail as to the color scheme, upholstery, paintings and the names of the assorted German designers responsible for the beauty of the air-ship. The article is accompanied by seven photographs and one diagram of the public rooms accessible to the Hindenburg’ passenger’s.
The Interior Design of the Hindenburg’ (Creative Art Magazine, 1937) Read More »
Click here to read about the China Clipper.
‘The Wreck of the Word’s Largest Plane” (Literary Digest, 1921) Read More »
Attached is a well illustrated article concerning two of the earliest parachute drops: one was quite fatal while the other had a jollier ending. The first leap documented in this column was made by a fellow known only as F. Rodman Law (dates?); he jumped 345 feet from the torch of the Statue of Liberty and landed 30 feet from the water’s edge. The next day, parachute enthuiast Franz Reichelt (1879 – 1912) jumped from the first platform of the Eiffel Tower with a parachute of his own design. The Popular Mechanics correspondent reported that:
His body was a shapeless mass when the police picked it up.
Two Parachute Pioneers (Popular Mechanics, 1912) Read More »
Photographs of the Christmas Bullet, the flexible-winged strutless bi-plane, and the designer of the craft, Dr. William Christmas (1865 – 1960). Also pictured are the Curtiss two seater, the Dayton-Wright Air Limousine and the Dayton Wright bi-plane.
Click here to read the 1912 obituary of Wilbur Wright.
The Christmas Bullet and Dayton-Wright Biplane (Vanity Fair, 1919) Read More »
An article on the pioneer aviator Harry Hawker (1889 – 1921), written on the heels of his his failed attempt to beat the Yankees in crossing the Atlantic. Australian by birth, Hawker came to Britain specifically to seek a career in the infant aviation industry. His wish was answered in 1912 when he was hired by Tommy Sopwith. Hawker saved his wages to afford flying lessons and acquired his flying permit in the September of that same year. The following month he won the British Michelin Cup with a grueling endurance flight of 8 hr, 23 min. Sopwith was impressed and Hawker was promoted to chief test pilot. The rest is told herein…
from Amazon: Hawker: Aviator, Designer, Test Pilot
Harry Hawker (The Literary Digest, 1919) Read More »
Pilot Charles Hamilton (1886 – 1914) made the first round-trip flight from Philadelphia to New York and back again flying a Curtis bi-plane in 1910:
He flew from New York to the Philadelphia in one hour and fifty minutes. His average speed on trips to the Quaker City was 46.92 miles per hour, but returning he averaged 51.36 miles per hour.
The NEW YORK TIMES paid Hamilton $5,000.00 for this achievement.
New York to Philadelphia in Record Time (Popular Mechanics, 1910) Read More »
The attached 1912 Literary Digest article addresses the debt that past and future aviators owe to Louis Pierre Mouillard (1834 – 1897); an aviation visionary whose relentless study of bird flight throughout the last half of the Nineteenth Century paved the way for aviators yet unborn.
Mouillard: Aviation Pioneer (The Literary Digest, 1912) Read More »
Originally created for the editors of the now defunct Aero Digest, the diagram depicted the interior of The Spirit of St. Louis (also referred to to as The Ryan Transatlantic Monoplane) shows the layout of the famous craft, and the placement of the water supply, air vent, earth inductor compass and more. The Spirit of St. Louis weighed 5,000 pounds, could travel at the speed of 135 miles per hour and had a wing span measuring 46 feet.
A Diagram of Lindbergh’s Plane (Literary Digest, 1927) Read More »
