WINGS #3

4. How did the science of meteorology relate to aviation?

Before meteorology was used in aviation, pilots had no idea what to expect from the weather. Meteorology helped advance flight. The development of meteorology started with Carl-Gustaf Rossby. He was a Swedish student attending Vilhelm Bjerknes who was “the founder of modern meteorology” (p 251). Rossby had moved to the United States to try to show the benefits of using the Bjerknes air-mass system, but the U.S. Weather Bureau Officials were not convinced. He was hired by the officials of the Guggenheim Fund with the purpose of hopefully creating a meteorology system for the Western Air Express. After being hired on, Rossby put meteorologists at every airport and some important transitional points for the Western Air Express. The meteorologists would use the radio to report the forecasts to the airplanes in flight and, also, to the separate radio stations.

The army and navy liked this idea of having forecasts during flight. The commander of the Army Air Corps base at Crissy Field in San Fransisco said, “Formerly, a pilot did not know what was ahead; now he knows and is prepared” (p 252). They gave equipment to help with the project and used the meteorology system.

Eventually, the United States Weather Bureau adopted Rossby’s system. They spread the use of this system across the nation. Rossby went to join the MIT faculty following this accomplishment of joining meteorology with aviation. It began with sending the forecasts to the Western Air Express mail service, then moved to the military aviation, and then to modern airlines.

5. Describe the role of the U.S. Postal Service in the development of aviation as a business.

Once the task of delivering mail was taken to flight, the aviation business started to prosper. The Air Mail Act was passed in 1925. Two thousand inquiries from future airlines were sent to the Post Master General in the two months after the Air Mail Act was passed. Before the act was passed, the Post Office asked for bids from about six regional airlines. The act really helped to get the air mail business going. The first company to fly mail was the Ford Air Transport on February 25, 1926. The Ford Air Transport had two routes that linked Cleveland, Chicago, and Detroit. Other airline businesses also successfully bid for the feeder routes, like Colonial Airlines, National Air Transport, Western Air Express, and several others.  Each of these airline companies were supported by business leaders, bankers, and newspapermen. Colonial Air Lines was one of the biggest airlines supported by national leaders; powerful men held the higher positions in the company. It flew mail between Boston and New York. The chair of the board for Colonial Air Lines was the ex-governor of Connecticut, John H. Trumbull. The company president was W. Irving Bullard; Bullard was the vice president of the Boston Chamber of Commerce. Other important men that helped run the business was Sherman M. Fairchild, Juan Terry Trippe, and Harris Whitmore.

Western Air Express started to carry not only mail, but also passengers. Harry Chandler and William May Garland helped fund this idea created by Harris M. “Pop” Hanshue. The “WAE began carrying the mail in April 1926, and a month later became the first contractor under the Air Mail Act to offer regularly scheduled passenger service” (p 251). The WAE was one of the first airmail contractors that were able to earn a small profit. The U.S. Postal Service helped turn the use of airplanes into business models.

6. What influence did Charles Lindbergh have on aviation during his career?

Charles Lindbergh joined the Army and excelled in aviation. Lindbergh “used his fame to boost commercial aviation” (p262). The two airlines he helped start were the Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) and Pan American World Airways (Pan Am). Lindbergh did not just use his name to promote these airlines; he also surveyed the routes for Pan Am, helped with launching the air-ground transcontinental passenger service for the Transcontinental Air Transport, and worked as a technical consultant for both Pan Am and TAT. Lindbergh not only promoted the airline companies, but also contributed to them.

Charles Lindbergh had earned a respectful position in aeronautical society, but also seen as flawed in the public’s eyes. According to aviator Margery Brown, “It isn’t Lindbergh the person who inspires them, so much as it is Lindbergh as an ideal” (p 254). He spoke out about issues concerning politics, international affairs, the environment, and aviation. He became the spokesperson for America First. America First was a strong voice against having the U.S. intervene in the European War. Lindbergh spoke about his opinions and never apologized for what he said. However, there were times when he changed his mind. His opinions from when he was young had changed when he grew older. When he was young, he was highly supportive of the airplane because it was “a tool for defending Western Civilization against the black, brown, and yellow peoples of the world” (p264). Towards the end of his life, he was interested in the destruction aviation was causing in the upper atmosphere. He even said “he had ‘seen the science [he] worshipped, and the airplane [he] loved, destroying the civilization [he] expected them to serve’” (p264). His opinions changed drastically from his younger aviation years to the end of his life. His words were filled with his opinions, but people listened to what he said and changed their views all because he was successful in aviation.