At the beginning of World War I airplanes were still in their infancy, but by the time the war was over they had become more durable and reliable, and more forgiving of error and inexperience. By then they could carry heavier loads and travel greater distances at higher speeds than at any time before. This led to a greater number of pilots and ground crews and helped some of them set new speed and distance records. Such people, both servicemen and civilians, began to be treated as champions rather than "birdbrains."
In 1919, Capt. E.F. White was the first to fly from Chicago to New York -- a distance of 738.6 miles in 6 hours and 50 minutes. He flew at heights of at least 10,000 feet for almost the entire way, sometimes reaching as high as 12,000 feet. With the flight he not only set the record of the first flight from Chicago to New York, he also had accomplished the longest successful nonstop flight.
Also in 1919, a civilian by the name of Leslie Leroy Irvin made the first premeditated free-fall parachute jump from an airplane. The leap was over Dayton, Ohio. The airplane was flown by Floyd Smith, who had designed the parachute Irvin used for the daring demonstration. The type of parachute became the standard means of survival that we see today in the form of a backpack with rip cord.
During the 1920s, all records set in 1919 and before were surpassed. Aviation quickly included an unprecedented series of innovative ideas and technologies. The mile-markers set in just this short time period were nothing less than astonishing, especially considering that the horse had been the most effective and efficient means of travel overland for centuries.
In 1922, U.S. Army Lt. James H. Doolittle made the first transcontinental flight from Florida to California in a day. He traveled 2,163 miles in 21 hours and 20 minutes. As it turned out, his career of notable achievement was just beginning.
Such was also the case with Russell Maughan, of Logan, Utah, who is memorialized in the Utah Aviation Hall of Fame. During World War I, Maughan served with distinction with the 139th Pursuit Squadron shooting down four enemy aircraft. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation's second highest air combat award.
In 1922 and 1923 Maughan won National Air Races. The speed he attained during those competitions as well as tests at Dayton gave him the idea of trying to fly from New York to San Francisco in a day. After two failed attempts in 1923, in 1924 he became the first person to do so.
On Maughan's first attempt at the unprecedented transcontinental trip, a clogged fuel line forced him down in a pasture near St. Joseph, Mo. Turning sharply to avoid hitting a cow, he damaged the landing gear, ending that try. On his second attempt, Maughan got as far as Rock Springs, Wyo., where an oil leak ended the flight. After that attempt the Air Service Newsletter said, "Each failure augurs for better success on the next attempt, for it is only by a thorough test of any equipment that defects are found and constructors are enabled to take proper steps to correct them."
On Maughan's record-setting flight, a hundred people saw him off from Mitchell Field, N.Y., at 2:58 in the morning, and 50,000 came to see him pass over and land at Crissy Field, San Francisco, at 9:40 p.m. -- one minute before the official time of dusk.
Also in 1924, a race to see who would be the first to fly around the world was developing among aviators of several nations. The same year U.S. Army Air Service officers completed the first round-the-world flight. The trip was also recorded as the first trans-Pacific flight and the first westbound Atlantic crossing. The flight left Seattle in April and returned in September 1924 logging 26,345 miles in 363 hours or approximately 175 days.
Throughout the 1920s members of the U.S. Army Air Service set many flying records. At one time they held over two-thirds of the world records for land-based airplanes, certified by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale.
Nonetheless it would not be until a disastrous February-June 1934 attempt to fly the mail that the service would begin to receive resources it required to become more than second-rate overall. One of the resulting means for the service's world-class development and growth would be this base, officially established in 1940.
Comments