Hofstetter WINGS #2

1. Did flight have any influence outside of aviation? If so, how?

The development and experience of flight certainly had influence outside of just aviation. People of all professions all around the world were intrigued by flight. Air shows and competitions developed in Europe. Aviators attracted crowds of people at fair grounds in the United States. Everyone wanted to witness human flight in person. People were inspired by the development of something they did not think possible, or at least expect to see in their lifetime. Flight took over media as news spread around the world of each new development. Newspapers focused their main stories on flight. Flying competitions gave people a new area to focus their competitive spirits. The painter Pablo Picasso himself attended airshows. He worked with Georges Braque to build model airplanes. In 1912, Picasso produced a commentary on the importance of aviation to the defense of the nation, “Still Life: Our Future Is in the Air.” Poets and novelists were captured by the new era of flight. All of popular culture focused on the impact of flight. Songs were created revolving around flight. The Aviator was created and premiered at Boston’s Tremont Theater. Toys and merchandise were developed. Model aircraft, aviator dolls, and aeronautical games popped up. Images of airplanes were on everything you could think of front clocks to plates. Flight captured the world (pg 119-123).

5. In your opinion, did the Wright Brothers’ patent suits affect the progress of aviation?

I believe that the Wright Brothers’ patent suits affected the progress of aviation in America and throughout the world.  When the Wright brothers realized they had created a flying machine that no one had succeeded in creating up until that point, they decided to protect their creation. They stopped flying and they took the time to establish patents on their work. Aviation progress was halted while the brothers waited for their patents to become effective. After their patents were in place, their suits began in 1909. Glenn Curtiss and the Herring-Curtiss Company were filed as making, selling, or exhibiting airplanes that infringed on the patents. Visiting aviators were prohibited from operating aircraft that infringed on the brothers’ patents. Six French manufacturing companies were accused of infringing on the patent. Some cases were not solved until after the Wright brothers’ patents expired. Much of the public, government, and industry agreed that the Wright patent suits retarded the progress of aeronautics. One federal official blamed the patent suits as causing the United States to lose its place at first in the nation’s race to the air. Both Japan and France produced more military airplanes than the United States. The Wright Company did not sell many airplanes themselves. The Wrights were reluctant to alter their patented design for anything more promising. The Wright brothers’ patent suits temporarily slowed the progress of aviation (145-148).

10. When does the author mark the beginning of civil aviation and why?

The author of “WINGS” marks the year 1919 as the beginning of world civil aviation. On October 13, 1919 representatives of twenty-seven nations met in Paris to sign the International Convention on Air Navigation. This treaty recognized the right of all nations, including the United States, to control their own airspace. This treaty declared that all nations at the convention should be allowed free access to airspace. The convention created the Commission for Aerial Navigation under the League of Nations to adjudicate any disputes. The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in the United States recommended that federal government take control of licensing pilots, inspecting aircraft, and maintaining airports. 1919 was also noted as the first year of air transport. After the war there was a surplus of aircraft and experienced airmen, which provided a foundation for commercial aviation to grow. Germany established the world’s first sustained scheduled airline passenger service. The first postwar scheduled civil air passenger service was inaugurated on February 5, 1919. By September of 1919 a few other carriers flew routes. The earliest cross-Channel commercial flight was on February 8, 1919. Great Britain ran some of the first commercial air operations. After the war, the world could focus on civil aviation (pg. 204-207).