5. In your opinion, did the Wright Brothers’ patent suits affect the
progress of aviation?
I believe the
Wright Brothers’ patent suits did aversely affect the progress of aviation,
however I do not think they were wrong for fighting for their intellectual
property. It is very difficult to understand how the United States, despite
being the first nation in flight, fell so dramatically behind France, Germany
and the rest of Europe in the aviation race. The Wrights obviously made the
furthering of flying technology very difficult early on by suing everyone who
tried to create a flying machine in the states. Other countries were developing
advancements in the industry rapidly and independently of one another, feeding
off of each new idea. In America, on the other hand, every new idea was being
treated as a copy of Wilbur and Orville’s incention, and thus being stopped in
its track. One cannot argue the numbers. The US brought less than 500 airplanes
into WWI combat. France and Germany piloted tens of thousands a piece. The US
Government spent $435,000 on aviation in 1913, France and Germany together
spent $50 million. Luckily, the suits were not all bad. Orville was able to
profit from them, as he should have, and the US eventually got on track,
leading the world in aviation advancements today.
7. What was the cult of the heroic airman?
During World War
I, the airman was seen as the new ideological hero. He was a new breed of
soldier, more of an artist than a grunt fighter. Unlike the majority of
combatants who were landlocked in trenches, these arimen engaged in intricate
dances for strategic air positions. The fighting style became a sensational new
sport.
Nations rallied
behind their aces: pilots that took down at least five enemy fighters. Georges
Guynemer “remains today one of the greatest of all French heroes,” dying with
his plane after taking out over 50 enemy fighters. Germany’s Red Baron, the
most successful ace of the war, became even more famous, forever immortalized
in Charles Schultz’ Peanuts cartoons.
Despite their conquests, however, these airmen had very little impact on the
war itself. Yet, the had a great impact on patriotism and each nation’s spirit
of war.
8. Did the war have an impact on flight technology? How?
The war did have
an impact on flight technology, but not as much as one might think. As far as
technological advancements go, very few occurred during the war. Most of the
shifts away from the original Wright flyers took hold before the war even
started. These technologies include the use of metal in airplane design,
multiple engine bombers, and long distance flying boats. What the war did
contribute, though, was a greater understanding of how to manufacture and fly
aircraft. With the boom in production, airplane makers were creating higher
quality machines with fewer kinks and greater power. Pilots were learning
quickly and imporving greatly, so that the standards of altitude, distance, and
speed were much higher in 1918 than they were in 1914. Furthermore,
specialization was a wartime innovation. There were planes now being built to
fulfill a specific purpose, like oversized bomber planes, or armored planes
designed specifically to fire at the trenches. Finally, the war convinced world
leaders that flying should be taken seriously, and the results began to show in
the years following the war.
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