Early Aviation Art. Aviation art prints of the aircraft prior to the First World War.
Miracle in the Sand Dunes by Stan Stokes.
Orville and Wilbur Wright were two enterprising Americans from the Midwest who made a living operating a bicycle shop. They were fascinated with the possibility of flight and they built their first glider in 1900. They were inspired by the work of a German, Otto Lilienthal, who had studied the wing and had built effective gliders that had reached more than 1000 feet in altitude. Following Lilienthals death the torch of aeronautical progress was passed to an American civil engineer named Octave Chanute. The French-born Chanute had come to America in 1838, and only became interested in flight in 1889. In 1894 he published a book entitled Progress in Flying Machines, which became the reference manual for all potential future aeronautical pioneers. Another early pioneer was Samuel P. Langley. He was a professor who became Secretary of the Smithsonian in 1887. In 1891 he began to experiment in aeronautics, and by 1896 he had developed a number of large powered flying models that he launche.........
Stunt pilot Eugene B. Ely, a former race car driver, worked for the Curtiss Aircraft Company as a demonstration pilot in 1910, only seven years after the Wright Brothers first flight. Ely, a tall, lantern-jawed, individual was excited about the possibility of flying an aircraft off a ship. Glen Curtiss believed that such an attempt wood be fool hearty, and the Secretary of the Navy refused to allocate any funds for such a stunt. Although Ely couldnt swim, the pilot exuded the cocky self-confidence typical of early flyers. Ely persisted in his quest and finally got the Navys first Director of Aviation to allow Ely to utilize the USS Birmingham for one day. On November 14, 1910 an 83-foot ramp was constructed over the ships forecastle. Ely readied his Curtiss pusher biplane for the momentous attempt. As bad weather began to close in the impatient flyer decided that he could not wait for the Birmingham to get underway. Ely, appropriately suited in a football helmet, fired up the engine o.........
