History of Aviation
Ethan Keyser
ME 350X History of Technology
10 October, 2014
The topic of this week’s class was a video made in 1961 called The Big Picture: History of aviation. The film was produced by the Department of Defense and traced the rapidly changing field of aviation from its start with the Wright brothers to “modern times” (The 60’s).
The video focused most of its attention on the American side of the invention of flight, and included lots of footage from early flying experiments. The video also contained interviews with many important pilots and inventers including Lockheed, Doolittle, Rickhenbaker and many others. The video provided a unique look into the young world of aviation and many of the intellectual giants who made it possible.
It was very helpful to see the evolution of aircraft presented in the video. The first planes were incredibly flimsy and made from cloth and wood. Even the planes used by armies in WWI were very delicate compared to those that would come shortly after in WWII. In many ways WWI and II jump started aviation and drove it to the place where it is now. Because of the race for air dominance that took place during the wars, the technology was pushed to its limits with and almost reckless ambition. The men of yesterday who were crazy enough to fly has made our world a better place today.