HISTORY REPORT FOR 18 th JANUARY 2010.History of Aviation.
In December 1903, the Wright Brothers made the first powered flight of a plane with a person in it .This then set in course a series of events with many years later the public taking it for granted to fly in planes holding 200/300 people, and man landing on the moon in 1969.
It all started in 1799 when Sir George Cayley first worked out the relationship of the 4 basic principals of aerodynamics- weight, lift, drag and thrust - which enabled him to build and fly the first glider with his coachman in. This then set in motion the events for Wright Brothers in 1903.
Julie talked about her grandfather George Bertram Cockburn who was an early aviator, and took part in the first flying competition held in Rheims, France in 1909. In 1911 he started to train future pilots at the Aero Club based at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain, and there is now a plaque there to commemorate this. He was a good friend of the pilot Mr Rolls (of Rolls Royce the car makers) who became a pilot but was killed in a flying accident in 1910.
In the early days flying was considered a man’s job -with no room for women- and it took many years for them to fly and gain recognition from the men. (There is now a woman pilot in the Red Arrows).
In America in 1925 the first woman pilot’s air race across the country was organised, but they could only fly inferior planes and a man had to be with them for the whole race. However it was not many more years before women were organising their own solo races.
Amy Johnson took flying lessons and became the first woman to be granted an Aircraft Ground Engineer’s Licence . In 1930 she became the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia.
In the second World War women took on the role of flying planes around the world from the factory to the airfields (with many losses).
Airships were around before planes, indeed in 1900 Count Ferdinand Von Zeppelin flew his airship for the first time, a short distance near Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance in Southern Germany. In 1915 a German Zeppelin crossed the Norfolk coast at night and bombed unsuspecting British towns, with 20 civilian deaths and 40 seriously injured. This first event heralded the bombing of civilians from the air in time of war, and went on to the massed bombing raids of WWII.
Michael finished off by recounting about his 3 parachute jumps in 1966/7 at Thruxton. The plane they went up in had no door and no seats. In order to jump he had to climb out of the doorway and onto the wing and hold the strut(at 3000 feet),he then let go and fell off, the parachute opened and he gently glided down to earth (what a great experience).
The next meeting will be on Monday 15th February and the topic will be “Native American Indians”.
Michael Page.
