Wings #3

8. Why does the author compare the air races of the twenties and thirties with stock car racing?

I think that perhaps the author compares the air races of the twenties and thirties with stock car racing due to it becoming less popular and more for a certain audience, as well as the machinery used.  More specifically, he is referring to the Thompson and Bendix races. These were for pure entertainment and are on a closed-course.  NASCAR typically is only attractive to only one certain kind of audience, and is not as broad and popular as football or baseball (Not meaning to sound stereotypical, I am a huge NASCAR fan and this is merely observation).  It is also an American sport, not popular worldwide like soccer or Formula 1 racing.  The Thomson and Bendix races were not internationally popular like the Schneider Trophy, another type of aerial race.  As for machinery, the author states that “Production airplanes were now flying faster than specialized racing aircraft.” (289) This is what led to the end of the air races in America.  The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing has specific cars, specific rules for the way these cars are made in order for you to race, and they are not good for driving on anything other than the racetrack.  At the end of the aerial racing era, technology had surpassed their specially made racing aircraft.  It was not practical for these planes to be used like this any longer, just as it’s not practical to purchase a racecar to drive to work.

 

9. What opportunities existed for women and African Americans in aviation during this period?

With aviation came the idea that “… a mastery of flight would banish the notion that some were less capable than the white males who had dominated the new technology.” (307) It provided an opportunity for groups that were discriminated against, such as women and African Americans, to prove they were just as good as the white man.  Women, despite the doubts from men about their mental capacity to handle flight, had been able to fly from the beginning, albeit their numbers were one-third that of the number of male pilots.  This is proven by the fact that Amelia Earhart is arguably the second-most recognizable aviator in America.  African Americans, on the other hand, did not get off as easy as women did.  There were African American pilots, less in number than women pilots, however it did not change the general social discrimination against them, and their achievements “…remained virtually unknown to white newspaper readers.” (312)

 

10. What role did airships and clipper ships play in aviation between the wars?

After WWI, airships were hoped to bring a new era of intercontinental transportation.  However, with the crash of the British R 101 in 1960 killing all of the passengers this idea was abandoned.  After the war the Germans were the ones who had mastered the airship designs with their Zeppelins.  Between the wars the U.S. and Germany continued to work on airships, trying to find the best design and function, but ultimately failed.  The era of the airship ended with the invention of the large flying boats.  “The story of the rigid airship illustrates the role of transitional technologies that flourish until more appropriate means of performing a task reach fruition.” (295)  These large flying boats, or clipper ships, were another means of trying to link continents when land-based aircraft was not able to yet.  Ultimately it was much more successful than the airships.  It served as a peaceful aviation goal during the interwar years that the U.S., Britain, and France could focus on. Sadly, with the ease and practicality of modern air travel, the “sense of adventure offered by an aerial voyage aboard a Clipper is gone forever.” (355)