The first three decades of powered flight were to see mankind's wobbly attempts to leave the ground, make war in a new realm, deliver mail, form a new sport, and start regular airline service to commute the general public in a faster, and somewhat safer style than any time in history.
The 30 years, roughly from 1910 to 1940, really fall into distinct eras of aviation. The first decade, up to World War I was marked mostly by individuals building and trying new concepts for stability and processes to produce their product for others to buy. Such early aircraft factories gave us names like Wright, Curtiss, and Voisin.
WWI saw a quantum leap in innovation; a production of aircraft. At the beginning of the war in 1914, there were only 1,720 licensed pilots worldwide, and certainly less than 700 flyable aircraft in all of Europe. By the end of the war, in 1918, over 200,000 aircraft had been produced in over 100 factories.
The 1920s saw government regulations of newly built aircraft. A whole new industry was developing aircraft to transport passengers and mail; first on a small scale and then on a worldwide scale as larger aircraft were built. By the end of the 1920s the new sports of barnstorming, flying circuses, and air racing were coming into their own. These "sporting events" were about taking risks and thrilling crowds by pushing the limits of both the planes and pilots who dared to fly them. The racers demanded faster and faster aircraft by the early 1930s and so the builders and designers were continually refining their product to maximize efficiency and style, to slice through the air with more powerful engines. A French designer, Antoine de Saint Exupery, stated the goal of great design this way: "A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away". This was surely true of the sleek racers of the Golden Age of Air Racing in the 1930s.
The 1920s saw the common man or woman being able to purchase a war-surplus aircraft and start a business for themselves, instead of having to hand-build their own plane. The 1930s saw aircraft being built on assembly lines. These aircraft were now made of light-weight metals instead of wood and fabric. They were generally larger, more powerful, and more complex to maintain. And they cost much more than the average flyer could afford, hence the need to find wealthy sponsorship for any new adventure or record setting attempts
These three decades do not fit nicely into ten-year frameworks, but overlap to some degree. By-and-large, there are distinct characteristic in both machines and those who flew them from one decade to another. We mention 1910, and the names Wright, Curtiss, Farman, and Santo Dumont, may come to mind. 1920s may bring memories of Lindbergh and Doolittle, and for the 1930s the names Earhart and Post may well flood your mind. But in those time periods, there were many more flyers we should know about and honor.
This book is an effort to highlight some of those long-forgotten aviators, designers, and industry captains of the three decades, because they were unusual people, often with unusual planes!
