Flying High

Some Early Aviation Facts.....

Aviation has moved on in leaps and bounds since the Wright Brothers first flew their heavier than air craft.   It took place on 17^th December, 1903, flew twenty feet above the ground for a distance of 120 feet.

It is said, and I do not know whether or not it is true, that their flight in relation to height and distance could have taken place inside the fuselage of a Boeing 747.    

Those are some of the facts that we are generally told about whilst a lesser known aspect is seldom spoken of..............

When Orville Wright tried desperately to encourage the US Army to take up the idea of flight and its military advantages, he attended Fort Myer, Virginia on 17^th September, 1908 to give an exhibition.   He was joined in his aircraft, the Wright Flyer by Signal Corps Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge.

They circled Fort Myer several times – four and a half times in fact – at a height of 150 feet.   Suddenly there was a shuddering: one of the two propellers broke thereby causing the plane to drop to the ground nose first.    Orville was not seriously injured whilst the unfortunate Selfridge was killed by a fractured skull.

He thereby goes down in history as the first aviation fatality.....................

The next time you take a flight, consider the following fact:   The engine of your plane is highly likely to have been manufactured and supplied by Rolls Royce.    Yes – the same people who used to make those expensive beautiful cars.   The company, formed in 1906, is the second largest supplier of aircraft engines in the world.

Charles Stewart Rolls, who formed the company with Frederick Henry Royce, was an early aviator and in fact obtained British Pilot’s license number Two.   (The first official UK pilot’s certificate No1 license was given to Moore-Brabazon – an early aviator).

In any event, Rolls was a very adept aviator and flew a plane supplied by the Wright Brothers Company.   Not completely satisfied with its performance, he fitted an additional elevator on the wings and on 12^th July 1910, he flew it at an air show at Bournemouth, in the south of England.   Whilst attempting to recover from a dive, the new fitting failed and the aircraft fell to the ground from only twenty feet.   Rolls died of head injuries thereby becoming Britain’s first aviation fatality..................

There appears to be a moral to that story:  Stick to what you know best and keep making those beautiful cars...........

This next account is both uplifting and tragic at the same time:........

Bessie Coleman was a young poor girl from a large family of thirteen.   She was born in the Deep South of the United States with a Native American father and an African-American mother.   When one of her older brothers returned from World War One, she was fascinated by his stories of ‘flying machines’.    She continually dreamt of flying...................

In 1921, she somehow got herself to France and with her savings she enrolled in an aviation school.   She returned home and became famous by performing in many air-shows.   She earned the name ‘Queen Bess’ and was the darling of the press and media. She became the first black US pilot in 1921.  

Whilst practising for an air-show on 30^th April 1926 in Jacksonville, Florida she and her co-pilot (who was also her mechanic) William Wills in her aircraft – a Jenny Trainer – she was scouting for a parachute landing site.   As she leaned over the edge of the cockpit and whilst not wearing a seatbelt, the plane suddenly lurched forward and started to roll.   Bessie was thrown to her death from a height of 1,500 feet.   Wills could not regain control and was also killed when the plane crashed. 

The cause was found to be a wrench left inside the control gears by Wills..............

The moral of this one is: Hire a mechanic you can trust not to put a spanner in the works.................

Oh Yes:  Enjoy your next flight......................

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