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Early Aviation Art


Cranston Military Prints By Subject Aviation Art Early Aviation

[UP] - Early Aviation - World War One - World War Two - Inter-War Period - Modern Era
Early Aviation Art. Aviation art prints of the aircraft prior to the First World War.

Miracle in the Sand Dunes by Stan Stokes.


Miracle in the Sand Dunes by Stan Stokes.
2 of 5 editions available.
£35.00 - £130.00

The Navy Earns its Wings by Stan Stokes.


The Navy Earns its Wings by Stan Stokes.
One edition.
£35.00




Text for the above items :

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 launched from a boat on the Potomac River. Langley received $50,000 from the War Department in 1897 to build a man-carrying aircraft. By October of 1903 Langleys Aerodrome was completed and prepared for a catapult launching on the Potomac. Despite careful preparations a line snagged during take off and the craft immediately crashed. Two months later on December 8, 1903 Langley made a final try with a rebuilt Aerodrome. This time the aircraft split into two upon launching. The Wright brothers developed a rudimentary wind tunnel to test their glider designs. This also helped the Wrights understand how to control an aircraft during flight, a small detail often overlooked by other early pioneers - sometimes with fatal consequences. On December 17, 1903 the Wright Brothers took their latest aircraft powered with a small petrol engine to the Kill Devil Hills sand dunes at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Winning the coin toss Wilbur won the honors for the first flight. On a cold and windy December morning the small engine was started and the aircraft was launched down a short wooden monorail track. The machine lifted into the air and remained airborne for about 12 seconds. Covering a mere 120 feet. Three more flights occurred that day, the last lasting nearly one minute and covering more than 850 feet. History would mark this as the beginning of the aviation age, as the advent of controlled powered flight in heavier than air aircraft. By 1908 the Wright Brothers had received an Army contract for more than $30,000 to build Wright Flyers. Unfortunately, the Wrights would spend most of their latter years in legal patent fights with aviation pioneer Glen Curtiss. Curtiss went on to build a successful aviation company, whereas the Wright Brothers were relegated to a lesser role.


The Navy Earns its Wings by Stan Stokes.

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 couldn't 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 of his fragile aircraft, strapped himself aboard, and signaled for his plane to be released. The Curtiss pusher rumpled down the short ramp, which was unfortunately downward sloping. The observers gasped as the small airplane dropped over the bow, and skimmed over the waves, and finally made it into the air. A few months later in January of 1911 Ely was determined to make the first landing of an aircraft on a ship. This time the event would take place in San Francisco harbor, and the landing would take place on the USS Pennsylvania. The date was January 18, 1911 and the exact time was 10:00 AM. A platform of about 120 feet in length was build on the stern of the Navy cruiser. A series of ropes connected to sand bags on either end were run across this ramp. Ely took off in his Curtiss pusher from a local Army airfield in San Bruno. He was bundled in heavy clothing, and because he could not swim, Ely had fashioned a bicycle inner tube into a self-made life preserver. The pilot made his way out into the Bay in his fragile craft. Spotting the Pennsylvania surrounded by dozens of spectator ships, Ely lined-up his fragile craft with the stern of the vessel, which was crowded with seamen anxious to see a first. About fifty feet short of the deck, Ely cut his throttle, but a gust of wind ballooned his flying machine. Not losing his cool, Ely held his landing altitude and snagged the 26th rope with his simple landing hook. The Curtiss stopped in about thirty feet. The sailors and onlookers cheered the event, which was declared a milestone in flight by both the ships Captain and later that day by the San Francisco press. After a nice lunch with the Captain, Ely fired up his engine and took off from the Pennsylvania, having become Americas first naval aviator.

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