Wings Assignment #3- Taylor McKinley

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

Meteorology greatly related to aviation in terms of safety.  Public concern for air safety was on the rise in the 1930s, where in 1932, the air passenger fatality rate was 4.8 per hundred million miles flown.  Four years later, that number more than doubled to 10.1 deaths per hundred million passenger miles.

Meteorology, founded by Vilhelm Bjerknes, played a huge part in the safety of passengers.  The US Weather Bureau was convinced by Carl-Gustaf Rossby, student of Bjerknes, that the machines made by his teacher were critical to helping the safety of airplanes.  The models had the ability to show the pilot what was ahead of him in the skies and warn him of any inclement weather. 

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

Charles Lindbergh was the first person to make a transatlantic flight, which occurred on May 21, 1927.  He flew his plane from New York to France.  As a young boy, he was a child of privilege, yet a lonely boy in a dysfunctional family who used the new, fascinating technology of airplanes and other vehicles to give him solace and control.  Lindbergh returned home from Paris with his plane by boat, and his fame began.  He spent three months on a national tour to promote aviation, stopping in every state at least once in the Spirit of St. Louis.  He used his fame to influence commercial aviation by promoting it everywhere he went.  He helped to create two airlines, Transcontinental Air Transport and Pan American World Airways.  Looking to the future, he also introduced American rocket pioneer Robert H. Goddard to Harry Guggenheim.

9. What opportunities existed for women and African Americans in aviation during this period?

According to a remark from William J. Powell in 1934, “Negroes will never ride as free men and women below the Mason-Dixon Line until they ride in airplanes owned and operated by Negroes.”  In 1927, he had an “encounter with the future” when he visited Le Bourget and took his first airplane ride.  He believed aviation was a field in which African Americans should have a part in, because “the automobile, the radio, the motion pictures…have produced thousands of millionaires and millions of good paying jobs, all of which have passed the Negro by.”  He learned how to fly, organized an aero club and sponsored an all-black air meet in 1931.  He also published a book and produced a film encouraging young blacks to participate in aviation.  This is just one example of African American opportunity in aviation that was presented during this period.

As far as women, Amelia Earhart is a classic example.  She set a series of women’s records in 1930, and became the first woman and second human to fly across the Atlantic in 1932.  She was also the first woman to fly coast-to-coast nonstop.  She was a classic example of a ruthless, diligent worker for the right of women to pursue their dreams no matter the criticism.