Frontiers of Flight

Born 4 years apart in 1867 and 1871 respectively, the Wright Brothers grew up primarily in Dayton, Ohio. As young adults they published a weekly newspaper and pursued an interest in bicycles. 

An early interest in aeronautics coupled with mechanical and engineering abilities led to experiments with wing types and movable rudders. 

The Wright brothers began their experiments at Kitty Hawk in 1900. They set up their shop in an existing wooden work shed. A corner of the shop has been reconstructed at the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas, Texas.

They headed to the coast at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, where winds were more suitable for their experiments with gliders. They made their first successful flights in a powered airplane on December 17, 1903.

The sketch of a bicycle above the workbench reflects Orville and Wilbur’s early interest in bicycles. Still in Dayton, they opened a bicycle shop in 1892, and by 1896 they were manufacturing and selling a bicycle they themselves designed.

The Frontiers of Flight Museum features over 30 historic aircraft, including the V-173 “Flying Pancake,” along with artifacts and archival materials related to the history of aviation, all part of its permanent collection. 

It also presents temporary exhibits, including loaned aircraft such as the Jenny, which belongs to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

The V-173 Flying Pancake was designed by Charles H. Zimmerman in 1939 for the Vaugh aerospace company. The moniker “Flying Pancake” derives from the aircraft’s unusual discoidal shape. 

Zimmerman experimented with this shape, which he hoped would allow for near-vertical take-offs and landings. Test flights of the Flying Pancake resulted in numerous reports of flying saucers.

Curtiss JN-4D series, known as the “Jenny,” was originally produced as a training aircraft for the U.S. Army. In the decade following the war it continued to play an important role in civil life as a mail carrier. The“Jenny”also became the vehicle of choice in the barnstorming.

Barnstorming, or stunt flying, was a popular entertainment throughout the ‘20s. It brought attention to and spurred interest in developments in aviation. Charles Lindbergh started his career in aviation as a barnstormer.

A powered aircraft needs an engine. The 4-cylinder, 12 horsepower engine in the plane that famously took off at Kitty Hawk on December 17, 1903, was built by the Wright Brothers themselves.

Aeronautical engineers went on from that point to develop new engine types and new engines at an amazing pace—from V-type piston engines in the early 1900s to the first turbojet jet engines in the early 1940s. 

The development of new lighter, more powerful aircraft engines has been driven in large part by the broader evolution of military aircraft. In recent years, the need for greater fuel efficiency has driven developments in commercial aircraft engines.

During World War II, Merlins were used in over 40 different aircraft, including Mustang, Spitfire, and Hurricane fighter planes. 

Originally made at factories in Crewe and Derby in England and Glasgow in Scotland, as World War II progressed, the manufacture of Merlins was moved offshore to safeguard the plants.

Although we can’t put a name to this engine, it’s clearly identifiable by its shape as a radial engine. 

In this type of engine, the piston-bearing cylinders are arranged like the spokes of a bicycle wheel—they radiate out from a central point. Radial engines were developed in the early 1900s.

They were used in some of the earliest powered aircraft and were the most common type of engines in airplanes before the invention of the turbine engine. They are still commonly used on small airplanes. 

Radial engines are easier to maintain than inline engines, and they are generally cheaper to produce.

As long as there have been flying machines, flying machines have had a role in military operations. Before airplanes, balloons and dirigibles were both used primarily for reconnaissance purposes. 

Orville and Wilbur Wright imagined that reconnaissance would be the main military use of powered aircraft as well. The U.S. Government was certainly not slow to see the possibilities. The Wright Brother’s first successful powered flight took place in 1903.

Just 6 years later in 1909, they delivered, on contract, the first airplane for military use to the government. The greatest spur to the development of aeronautical technology has been the demand of governments around the globe for aircraft for every sort of military purpose.

Designed for the Navy by Chance Vought Aircraft, the Regulus could be launched from either ship or submarine. 

It came into service in 1955, but was soon replaced with the SSM-N-9 Regulus II, a supersonic version that could deliver a 2 megaton warhead to a target 1,800km away. Vought built 20 missiles before the Regulus program was cancelled in 1958.

The RF-8G “Crusader” Aircraft was the first supersonic Navy fighter plane. The RF-8G was a refurbished version of an earlier Crusader model. Throughout the 1960’s, the period of the Vietnam War, Crusaders commonly flew off of U.S. Navy aircraft carriers. 

The RF-8G “Crusader” Aircraft was the first supersonic Navy fighter plane. The RF-8G was a refurbished version of an earlier Crusader model. Throughout the 1960’s, the period of the Vietnam War, Crusaders commonly flew off of U.S. Navy aircraft carriers. 

The first manned space flight took place on April 12, 1961, when the Soviet spacecraft Vostok 1 carried Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin out beyond Earth’s atmosphere to orbit the planet for 108 minutes. 

The United States followed the Soviets into space less than a month later with the flight of the Mercury Program. There were 5 more Mercury flights over the next 2 years. 

NASA’s Apollo program, which operated from 1961 to 1972, had several goals: to developed of aeronautical technology; to reach and explore the moon; to develop the ability of humans to live and work in space; and to establish the US as the unquestioned leader in the “space race.”

For those excursions onto the moon’s surface, astronauts also wore protective gloves and boots, and filters in their helmets could be deployed to protect against harsh sunlight.

The spacecrafts used in the 12 Apollo missions had three main parts: the command module (CM), where the crew lived and from which the rocket was controlled; the service module (SM), with propulsion and support systems;

and the lunar module (LM), in which crew members travelled back and forth to the moon’s surface from the CM in orbit above.

The flight, commanded by Walter Schirra with crew members R. Walter Cunningham and Donn F. Eisele, launched on Oct. 11, 1968 from the Cape Kennedy Air Force Station in Florida and touched down in the Atlantic Ocean 10 days, 20 hours, and 163 Earth orbits later.

Braniff International Airways, founded by brothers Thomas and Paul Braniff, operated from 1930 to 1982 with domestic American flights and flights to and from Panama, South America, Europe, and Asia.

The company is remembered for its innovative marketing approach and colorful airplanes and for the Concorde supersonic jet service from Washington, D.C. to London and Paris they offered briefly in 1979.

In 1965, Braniff was bought by the Great America Corporation, who appointed new President Harding L. Lawrence. Lawrence brought in the marketing agency Jack Tinker Associates to modernize the company’s image. Braniff airport lounges were refurbished in exotic color schemes.

The Calder 727 was built by Boeing Aircraft in 1968 and started its commercial life in the Frontier Airlines fleet. It was among a lot of 727s bought by Braniff in 1972. 

In 1975 the plane was painted with a design created by artist Alexander Calder to celebrate the upcoming United States bicentennial. 

The Concorde supersonic jet was the result of collaboration between British and French engineers. In its developmental phase, many airlines showed an interest in what would be the fastest jetliner around, but in the end only British Airways and Air France bought in. 

Although Braniff operated Concorde flights from 1979 to 1980, the company never actually owned any of the supersonic jets—the planes that flew the Braniff route between Washington, D.C and London and Paris were “borrowed” from British Airways and Air France.