Lesson 2-2bLesson 2-2bDeveloping AircraftDeveloping Aircraft

Lesson 2-2bLesson 2-2bDeveloping AircraftDeveloping Aircraft

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

OverviewOverviewOverviewOverview

Key individuals involved in early aircraft development

The names and anatomy of period aircraft

The significance of other American pioneers in aviation following the Wright brothers

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

Key Individuals Involved in Key Individuals Involved in Early Aircraft Development Early Aircraft Development Key Individuals Involved in Key Individuals Involved in Early Aircraft Development Early Aircraft Development

In the first decade of the 1900s the Wright brothers were making aviation history

But other people were also becoming aviation pioneers

Calbraith Perry Rodgers Louis Blériot

Alberto Santos-DumontCourtesy of the Smithsonian Institute(Dumont) Taken from wikipedia.com (Bierot and Rogers)

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

Glenn CurtissGlenn CurtissGlenn CurtissGlenn Curtiss

Thomas Baldwin was looking for a lightweight engine for his dirigible

He saw how well Curtiss’s bike engine performed and asked if he could buy one

Curtiss agreed and tweaked one of his engines for use in an aircraft

Baldwin’s aircraft, with a Curtiss engine, was the first powered dirigible in America

Courtesy of Underwood & Underwood/Corbis

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

The Aerial Experiment The Aerial Experiment AssociationAssociation

The Aerial Experiment The Aerial Experiment AssociationAssociation

Curtiss joined the Aerial Experiment Association

Alexander Graham Bell—best known as inventor of the telephone—formed this group

The group made some important design breakthroughs AileronsSeaplanes

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

The Aerial Experiment The Aerial Experiment AssociationAssociation

The Aerial Experiment The Aerial Experiment AssociationAssociation

Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Glen H. Curtiss (left), director of experriments; John A.D. McCurdy, treasurer; Alexander Graham Bell, chairman;Frederick W. Baldwin, chief engineer; and Thomas Selfridge, secretary of the Aerial Experiment Associatioin

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

Ailerons Ailerons Ailerons Ailerons

An aileron aileron is a small flap on the wing for controlling turns

Ailerons replaced the Wright brothers’ wing-warping technique

The aileron was a more effective means to move an aircraft left or right

It also provided lateral balance The association introduced ailerons to

America but the idea originated in England

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

First SeaplaneFirst SeaplaneFirst SeaplaneFirst Seaplane

Members of the group also built and flew the country’s first seaplane

Curtiss would later win the first government contract with the US Navy for seaplanes

Courtesy of the US Navy

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

Curtiss’s Fame GrowsCurtiss’s Fame GrowsCurtiss’s Fame GrowsCurtiss’s Fame Grows

He won awards for distance and speed (the Scientific American trophy and an award at the Rheims Air Meet in France)

Curtiss opened a flight school in 1910, the same year the Wright brothers opened their school

Most early pilots were trained on the Curtiss Jenny JN-4 which became America’s most famous WW I aircraft trainer

Courtesy of Bettman/Corbis

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

Louis BlériotLouis BlériotLouis BlériotLouis Blériot

French pilot Louis Blériot was the first man to cross the English Channel in a heavier-than-air craft

Although Blériot encountered problems—he got lost and his engine overheated—he managed to land safely

The flight took 37 minutes

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

Blériot XIBlériot XIBlériot XIBlériot XI

Blériot built and flew the first powered monoplane

Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

Names and Anatomy of Names and Anatomy of Period AircraftPeriod Aircraft

Names and Anatomy of Names and Anatomy of Period AircraftPeriod Aircraft

Frenchman Robert Esnault-Pelterie was the first to fully enclose the fuselage and use ailerons

A fuselagefuselage is the body of an airplane containing the crew and passengers (or cargo)

Enclosed cabins protected pilots and passengers from the wind and rain

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

Multiengine PlanesMultiengine PlanesMultiengine PlanesMultiengine Planes

English brothers Eustace, Howard, and Oswald Short experimented with adding engines to their aircraft

A multiengine planemultiengine plane is a plane with more than one engine

Two (or more) engines upped an aircraft’s power, reliability, and safety

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

The The Triple TwinTriple TwinThe The Triple TwinTriple Twin

The Short brothers built the Triple Twin, a two-engine, three-propeller aircraft, in 1911

They placed one engine in front of the cockpitcockpit—a space inside the fuselage where the crew sits

They mounted the second engine behind the cockpit

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

Le GrandLe GrandLe GrandLe Grand

Russian pilot Igor Sikorsky designed a four-engine aircraft called Le Grand

He flew it on 13 May 1913

He used four 100-horsepower engines to lift the 92-foot-wingspan airplane

Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institute

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

Rotary EnginesRotary EnginesRotary EnginesRotary Engines

The earliest engines were relatively heavy and inefficient

One reason was that these early engines used water as a coolant

Brothers Laurent and Gustav Seguin of France set out to reduce the motor weight

Their solution? Rotary engines

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

Rotary EnginesRotary EnginesRotary EnginesRotary Engines

Rotary engines used circulating air, rather than water, as a coolant

The Seguins placed the engine’s cylinders in a radialradial, or round, pattern

They fitted each cylinder with a fin to draw out the heat as the plane flew

With these changes, engines became more efficient and their weight dropped

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

HelicoptersHelicoptersHelicoptersHelicopters

Helicopters are different from other aircraft in two important ways:

First, they don’t have fixed wings—they have rotating wings

Second, they take off and land vertically

Courtesy of Branger/Getty Images

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

HelicoptersHelicoptersHelicoptersHelicopters

The wings of helicopters, like those of other aircraft, must be in constant motion

Helicopters have rotorsrotors—another name for propellers

Rotors are made up of blades, each of which acts as a wing, and as the blades rotate, they lift the helicopter

Helicopters are also known as rotary-wing aircraft

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

Manned HelicoptersManned HelicoptersManned HelicoptersManned Helicopters

In 1842 W. H. Phillips got a model helicopter with a steam engine into the air

In 1907 Frenchman Louis Bréguet flew one, as did his countryman Paul Cornu

In 1909 Americans Emile and Henry Berliner also built and piloted a helicopter

All these men faced one common problem: helicopters are difficult to balance

No one would find a solution for 30 years

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

American Aviation PioneersAmerican Aviation PioneersAmerican Aviation PioneersAmerican Aviation Pioneers

While some aircraft pioneers were achieving fame as inventors, others were breaking barriers as pilots

Those barriers ranged from distance to altitude to gender and race

The early 20th century was a time when all kinds of records could be broken

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

The The Vin Fiz FlyerVin Fiz FlyerThe The Vin Fiz FlyerVin Fiz Flyer

Could Calbraith Perry Rodgers fly across the United States in 30 days? That was his goal in 1911

Newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst was offering a $50,000 prize

Rodgers asked soft drink manufacturer Vin Fiz if it would provide financial support for his flight in exchange for nationwide publicity

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

The The Vin Fiz FlyerVin Fiz FlyerThe The Vin Fiz FlyerVin Fiz Flyer

Rodgers took off on 17 September 1911 from Sheepshead Bay on New York’s Long Island

The plane needed countless repairs and made many stops along the way

It took 49 days—Rodgers didn’t win the award because the flight took too long—but he made history

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

The The Vin Fiz FlyerVin Fiz FlyerThe The Vin Fiz FlyerVin Fiz Flyer

Rodgers had earned a place in aviation history—he made the first airplane crossing of the US from coast to coast

Taken from centennialofflight.gov

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

First Enlisted Pilot Gets First Enlisted Pilot Gets His WingsHis Wings

First Enlisted Pilot Gets First Enlisted Pilot Gets His WingsHis Wings

PFC Vernon Burge was the first enlisted man to become a pilot

The US Army Signal Corps’ Aeronautical Division had a general rule that only officers could be pilots

Enlisted men trained as mechanics Burge was one of eight enlisted men

who joined the division in 1907

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

First Enlisted Pilot Gets First Enlisted Pilot Gets His WingsHis Wings

First Enlisted Pilot Gets First Enlisted Pilot Gets His WingsHis Wings

Burge helped build a landing system for 1st Lt Benjamin Foulois’ airplane

During this time, Burge learned as much as he could about airplanes

He became a pilot in 1912 It wasn’t until 18 July 1914 that the US

House of Representatives passed a bill that authorized enlisted men to fly

It also gave official status to the Army’s aviation arm

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

Bessie ColemanBessie ColemanBessie ColemanBessie Coleman

Bessie Coleman faced two obstacles to becoming a pilot—her race and her gender; she overcame both

In 1921 Coleman became the first black woman to get a pilot’s license

She had to go to France for training because no flight school in the United States would accept her

She died in an airplane crash only four years after getting her license

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

Blanche Stuart ScottBlanche Stuart ScottBlanche Stuart ScottBlanche Stuart Scott

Scott was Glenn Curtiss’s only female student in 1910

Curtiss worried about this—if Scott crashed, he feared he’d be blamed for putting a woman in harm’s way

So Curtiss did what he could to keep Scott from being able to take off

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

Blanche Stuart ScottBlanche Stuart ScottBlanche Stuart ScottBlanche Stuart Scott

Nonetheless, Scott managed to fly one of Curtiss’s planes one day

Scott had become the first American woman to solo in a fixed-wing airplane

Courtesy of Hill Air Force Museum

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

Bessica Medlar Raiche Bessica Medlar Raiche Bessica Medlar Raiche Bessica Medlar Raiche

Some aviation historians think Bessica Medlar Raiche was really the first woman to go solo

She made that flight on 13 October 1910 Raiche never got a license, but flying

excited her She and her husband, François, formed a

lightweight airplane company called the French-American Aeroplane Company

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

Harriet QuimbyHarriet QuimbyHarriet QuimbyHarriet Quimby

In 1911, Quimby became the first American woman to earn her pilot’s license

She was also the first woman to fly at night (1911) and to pilot across the English Channel (1912)

She broke a fashion barrier, too, by designing and wearing a jumpsuit

Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

Harriet QuimbyHarriet QuimbyHarriet QuimbyHarriet Quimby

Quimby entered the Boston Air Meet in 1912 She and her passenger took off over Boston

Harbor in hopes of making a record 58 mph flight over a body of water

At 5,000 feet, the plane flipped and nosed downward

Quimby and Willard fell from the plane and plunged into the waters—both perished

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

Matilde MoisantMatilde MoisantMatilde MoisantMatilde Moisant

On 13 April 1911, Moisant became the second woman in America to get a pilot’s license

She won the Rodman Wanamaker Trophy for flying at an attitude of 2,500 feet

She also had court to acknowledge it was legal to fly on Sundays

Her brother John Moisant, also a pilot, had died in a crash in 1910

His death deeply affected her and on 13 April 1912, she said she’d make her last flight the next day

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

Julia ClarkJulia ClarkJulia ClarkJulia Clark

On 19 May 1912, Julia Clark was the third American woman to gain her pilot’s license

Sadly, she was also the first woman pilot to die in a crash

She learned to fly at the Curtiss Flying School at North Island in San Diego

After soloing in a Curtiss plane, she joined an exhibition group

She took a test flight on 17 June 1912; she hit a tree limb, crashed, and died

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

Katherine and Marjorie Katherine and Marjorie StinsonStinson

Katherine and Marjorie Katherine and Marjorie StinsonStinson

Katherine Stinson earned her pilot’s license on 24 July 1912

She was the fourth American woman to do so, and at age 16, she was also the youngest

She would eventually become one of the most successful women in aviation

Her younger sister, Marjorie, graduated from the Wright Flying School in August 1914

When WWI began, the sisters opened a school to train Americans and Canadians as pilots for the war

Chapter 2, Lesson 2

Next….Next….Next….Next….

Done—developing aircraft

Next—air power in World War I

Courtesy of the EAA/Jim Koepnick