This is the second part of a two-part review of aviation from its inception to the present day. It’s a subjective look at some of the highlights of aviation development throughout the centuries.

Glenn Hammond Curtiss, who was well known in the aviation field in 1908, won the first American award, the Scientific American Trophy, for an airplane flight when he flew the ‘June Bug’ 5090 feet (1552 m) in 1 minute 42 , 5 seconds on July 4. , 1908. Curtiss also won the first international speed event, at approximately 47 mph (75.6 km / h), on August 28, 1910. He also became the first American to develop and fly a seaplane, the first flight successful in seaplane made by Henri Fabre of France on March 28, 1910.

Before World War I, aircraft design was vastly improved. Thrust biplanes (two-wing aircraft with the engine and propeller behind the wing) were replaced by tractor biplanes (two-wing aircraft with the engine and propeller in front of the wing). Monoplane designs were rare and when World War I began, huge biplane bombers with two or four engines were developed. Airmail was also started, although it only lasted a week. The first airmail officially approved by the US Post Office began on September 23, 1911 and the pilot (Earle Ovington) carried the mail on his legs and threw the bag overboard when it reached its destination. Also in 1911, Calbraith P. Rodgers completed the first transcontinental flight across the US His flight from New York to California took 3 days, 10 hours, and 14 minutes and was on a Wright plane.

During World War I, aviation made great strides forward in the fields of aircraft design and manufacture. Equally important was the experience gained by the pilots who flew the first combat ships through the aerial maneuvers required in dogfighting. Von Richthofen, Rickenbacker, and many others were so successful because they had learned to master their airplanes.

Between 1919 and 1926 there was amazing progress in breaking records for aviation. Captain EF White made a nonstop flight from Chicago to New York (727 miles – 1,170 km) in 1919 and Lieutenant Oakley Kelly and Lieutenant John A. Macready made the first non-stop transcontinental flight. flight from May 2 to May 3, 1923. This flight was made from Roosevelt Field, Long Island to Rockwell Field, San Diego; and the first trip around the world took place from April 6 to September 28, 1924. Also in 1919, John William Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight from June 14 to 15. hours to complete and they won the “London Daily Mail” award of $ 50,000.

Mail delivery also took an important turn during these years. In 1925, Congress passed the Kelly Air Mail Act authorizing the Post Office to hire air transport operators. This made possible the air transport of mail from the United States; After this, 14 national airmail companies were created in 1926.

On May 20, 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh took off at The Spirit of St. Louis from Roosevelt Field near New York City and landed in Paris 33 1/2 hours later.

The largest operator of all the international airlines in operation before World War II was Pan American Airways. Pan American served 46 countries and colonies linking all continents and nearly all oceans. Its huge seaplanes were known worldwide as Flying Clippers.

Pan American World Airways began life in 1927 with a single-engine plane and a single route from Key West, Florida, to Havana. From this beginning came the airline that would literally open the world to aviation. Pan Am launched more new aircraft developments than any other airline in history. It pioneered routes across the world’s oceans and continents, eventually flying daily around the world.

During World War II, airplanes became a decisive factor in warfare and aviation in general took great strides forward. Small aircraft production increased significantly. Before World War II, only about 193,000 people were employed in the aviation industry and during 1941 the number increased to 450,000; in addition, about 3,375,000 passengers were carried by 18 US airlines at this time, about 1 million more than in 1940. Air mail and express cargo would also increase by about 30 percent. But at the end of World War II, a new frontier of flight would take shape, jet and rocket-powered aircraft.

After World War II and in 1947, all the basic technology necessary for aviation had been developed; jet propulsion, aerodynamics, radar, etc. Civil aircraft orders increased dramatically from 6,844 in 1941 to 40,000 by the end of 1945. One of the minor military contractors was the Boeing Company, which later became the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer. With all the new technologies developed at that time, passenger planes were bigger, faster, and featured pressurized cabins. New aerodynamic designs, metals, and power plants would result in high-speed turbojet aircraft. Subsequently, these aircraft could fly supersonic and perform regular transoceanic flights.

One of the most famous flights in aviation at this time was the Voyager, developed by Burt Rutan. The flight, which maintained an average speed of 115.8 mph (186.3 km / h), lasted 9 days, 3 minutes, 44 seconds and covered 25,012 miles (40,254 km) and was completed in December 1986.