Wings #3 - Carissa Wolfe

Wings #3

Carissa Wolfe

5. The U.S. Postal Service integrated the field of aviation with the distribution of mail. This business allowed mail to be carried faster and more efficiently. The Air Mail Act of 1925 was instrumental in this process. The growing business caused a boom in the number of entrepreneurs interested in building airlines.

Ford Air Transport, Stout Air Services, and United Aircraft and Transportation were some of the corporations involved in airmail (249-250). These airlines also carried passengers, but with the cost and risk involved with flying, the postal service was what consistently returned revenue. The success of airmail created competition among airlines and resulted in a battle for monopolies. Postmaster Walter Folger Brown was head of this operation, seeking to eliminate small airlines with short routes. By 1931, only five major airlines existed. This scandal climaxed when pilots flying in dangerous weather conditions lost their lives. President Roosevelt reformed the regulations for carrying mail by air. He banned flying in inclement weather and made the competition for airlines completely free. He prohibited any airline that had operated under the old system from bidding. While this decision once again allowed the existence of small airlines it reduced the total income of the postal service, leaving airlines struggling to finance their business (271-275).

8. The air races of the twenties and thirties were a natural outcropping of the airplane sensation sweeping America. Heroes like Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart were idolized and the public swooned over anyone who could fly faster, further, or perform stunts. Races for the Schneider Trophy attracted many pilots and spectators. Earhart founded the Women’s Air Derby in 1929. Clifford Henderson brought back the National Air Races after the Pulitzer Race was cancelled. The best-known aviators attended, flying for the Schneider, Bendix, and Thompson Trophies on a closed course.

The author compares these races with stock car races because though they were once popular, they are now practically obsolete. Planes are rarely flown for entertainment anymore and it is viewed as a hobby rather than a career or sport. Rather than attracting a wide audience, air racing attracts a limited number of enthusiasts, similar to stock car racing. Similar to stock car racing, air racing is done on a closed course with planes that are revamped from their original form. In addition, just as stock car races were inspired by moonshiners during the prohibition era as a way to outrun the authorities, air races were inspired by the successes and failures of planes during World War I. Americans wanted to be able to defend themselves in conflict and to do so, they needed to be able to maneuver and outfly their opponents, hence the races were born (277-289).

9. Women, still facing discrimination on the ground, saw flight as a means to freedom. Amelia Earhart, Louise Thaden, Blanche Noyes, and Helen Richey paved the way by keeping pace with and exceeding the feats of male pilots. Louise Thaden and Blanch Noyes won the Bendix race of 1936, proving that women could fly as well as men. Women were desired to be sales representatives for planes because the public thought that if a “temperamental” woman could approve a plane, than it must be safe.

African Americans faced even more prejudice than women. Female pilot Bessie Coleman broke barriers in both arenas, as the first African American to get her pilot’s license. William Powell founded the Bessie Coleman Aero Club and sponsored an all-black air meet in 1931. African Americans, Banning and Thomas Allen flew east from Los Angeles to New York. They received recognition from black media but respect from white media still had a long way to go (309-312).