Machine Guns San Francisco Essay - 1,473 words

The 1920 s were a time of changes in many areas of the American lifestyle. Examples include the changing roles of women, the African American struggle for equality, the changing sound of music, new forms of literature, growth of cities, and the development of airplanes and their uses. Major aircraft development started during World War I because America was striving to be stronger than any other country. War brought about the development of fighter and bomber airplanes; machine guns were mounted onto planes because of their rapid firepower.


The U. S. had put a lot of money into such aircraft during the war, so after the war was over and we had won, people saw no need to develop aircraft any further since WWI was supposed to be the war to end all wars. Around 1920, however, people realized that WWI really hadnt put an end to all wars, so the government saw a reason to put money into the development of aircraft again. During the 1920 s, airplane design became more advanced and planes were used to fly mail and In the early 1920 s, the Air Force was equipped with outdated WWI aircraft and any replacements they got adhered to the same basic design. The only improvements were ones similar to better radio equipment, better instrumentation, and oxygen for high altitude flying.


Much later on, planes were being made out of metal instead of the former fabric stretched over a wood frame design to increase service years of a plane and to reduce reliance on imported wood and fabric coverings. There had been numerous attempts beforehand to make metal planes, but the first successful all metal plane was called Short Silver Streak. Earlier, most planes were a biplane layout with fixed tail wheel landing gear and two fixed machine guns. In 1920 the Wright R. B. higgling monoplane racer was developed with retractable landing gear.


It wasnt until the 1930 s, however, that retractable landing gear appeared on anything but experimental or racing aircraft. The greatest spurs of technological advancement were racing and record breaking. Races such as the Pulitzer Trophy land place races (U. S.


only) and the Schneider Trophy Seaplance races (international, but most heavily involved were Italy, the U. K. and the U. S. A. ) caused the development of high-output engines, advanced aerodynamics, and public enthusiasm and awareness in aviation matters. (Batchelor, p 42 - 56) Record breaking got airplanes flying faster, farther, and higher. Aircraft built specifically for record-breaking were no good for other things because they were a small, optimized plane, but transferring specific features onto the bodies of airplanes as a whole allowed for the steady improvement of aircraft.


The military sponsored many aircraft to try to break records in expectation of technical spin-offs that would improve service aircraft. These planes usually set many of the records. Civil aviation excelled in the areas of around the world flying with stops and nonstop flights across the ocean. The most vital exploit of the time was the first solo, nonstop crossing of the North Atlantic by Charles Lindbergh. In May of 1927 he flew from New York to Paris in 33 hours and 39 minutes. The plane he flew, The Ryan NYP, was built specifically for this flight.


This plane had the unusual feature of forward vision by periscope because the fuel tank occupied the complete depth of the fuselage forward of the cockpit. Then in 1928 Charles Kingsford-Smith crossed the Pacific for the first time: he went from California to Australia. If a plane could make it across the ocean, it could certainly make it across the country; then why not find a good use for it? (Batchelor, p 56 - 62) Many people thought a good use for airplanes would be to have them carry mail. Congress had the money as early as 1917 for a trial airmail run. In 1918 a service between New York and Washington Got under way. Flights were made by army planes and pilots until about half a year later wen the Post Office began putting its own fleet to work.


Despite the hazards-three airmail pilots killed in 1919, nine the next year-the Post Office extended its routes. In 1921, fearing that incoming president Warren Harding would do away with the airmail service, the Post Office put ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Essay Tags: machine guns, post office, airline industry, san francisco, long time

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