AVSIM Special Feature Screenshot Tribute to FS2002 Part 2

In the years between the wars, advancements in aviation established its place in history and to many, this era also marked aviation's most romantic period or as it is more commonly referred to "The Golden Age of Aviation". From wire and cloth biplanes in the 1920s, to all metal multi-engined airliners, flying passengers on scheduled flights around the world by the mid to late 1930s, aviation had, like nothing before, dramatically changed how we perceived the world and the people living in it.

Following the end of the World War I, the aircraft was being seen by more and more people every day and because of the high number of available surplus military aircraft, specifically the Curtiss Jenny and others, former military pilots were able to buy their own aircraft. Barnstorming and airshows became a very regular summer event across America and to those lucky and daring few, that had a couple of extra dollars in their pockets, would have an opportunity to experience flight for the first time by getting a ride (most likely in a Curtiss Jenny) with one of these barnstormers.

Though most people saw the airplane as just a passing phase, many others saw the broad potential that airplanes presented. Most importantly it was the US Mail Service that realized airplanes were the key to the future, an in the mid-1920s, the US Postal Service began releasing contract bids for Air Mail Routes. The first routes to open up were up and down the Eastern Seaboard and the Midwestern states of the USA, but by the end of the decade, the air mail routes covered all of the Western Hemisphere. One of these early airmail pilots was a tall lanky young man from Detriot, that decided he would attempt to go after the $25,000 Ortieg Prize (Ortieg was a prominent New York Hotel owner), for being the first to fly direct between New York and Paris and with the backing of several St. Louis, Missouri business men, Charles Lindbergh became the first to make the flight in his Ryan NYP single-engined monoplane in July of 1927.

During the time between the wars (WWI and WWII) aviation went from being a novelty to becoming a legitimate transportation source. In what seemed to be an every day occurrence, a new speed, altitude, or endurance record was set. Here we have a set of early 1920s aircraft where one even makes use of a lantern as its landing light (top).	In 1927, Charles Lindbergh completed the first solo non-stop flight from New York to Paris in just over 33 hours, which made "Lucky Lindy" just about the most famous person from the first half of the 20th Century. For FS2002 there were 3 very good designs of the Ryan NYP, one payware version from LAGO and a pair of freeware versions from Flight1 and Al Kaiser.	There were the record breakers, speed and distance, of the era, but the one aircraft that would change history and would become the generic name for all small single-engined aircraft for decades was the little Piper Cub J-3. Built in many different versions over the years, including the SuperCub, the Cub is still being manufactured by an aircraft restorer in Washington State and is being sold as the "TopCub" some 70 years later.
It also seemed that everyone was getting into the act of aircraft design; here we have aircraft from Felixstowe, Douglas, de Havilland, and Grumman.	As the decade of the '30s started, new aircraft of new designs were popping up everywhere and it was becoming obvious that aviation would open the final frontiers of the world.	Monowings and float-sea planes were everywhere, but there was always the Curtis JN4 Jenny (center left) that was more often than not, the source of a young person's first experience at flight during this time. Also shown are the two Sikorsky amphibians (a S-38 and S-39) owned by Martin and Osa Johnson. Martin and Osa were husband and wife film maker adventurers that flew their Sikorskys out of their home base in Nairobi (Africa). Their documentary-like films were shown as "newsreels" in movie theatres around the world during the 1930s.
One of the most enduring of the 1930s trainers was the Boeing Stearman, sold not only to the military, but to civilian pilot as well. This FS2002 model of the Stearman (by David Eckert) is one of the best 3rd party Flight Simulator aircraft designs available as freeware.	From civilians to the military, aircraft was now becoming less a passing fad and had firmly established the airplane its place in history. There also seems to be no end to the available FS aircraft depicting this important era of aviation history.	Because of the very few airports available, land-based passenger aircraft were kept rugged yet small and manufacturers like Douglas, Junkers, and Ford all had successful designs.

An Era of Air Racing

With the end of World War I aviation also moved in other directions, with air racing beginning almost immediately. During the 1920s and 1930s, air racing was the biggest thing going, bigger than auto racing, maybe even baseball—and the heros of air racing were often more famous than any movie star of that period. At the time, Jimmy Doolittle, Wylie Post, and Roscoe Turner were household names and their piloting skills were stories of legend.

Several initial races were established, both in America and on the European Continent, with the early races being cross-country style events. By 1921, head-to-head racing on closed circuit courses were all the rage and the Thompson and Pulitizer Trophy races were the best known, but it was the Cleveland (Mitchell Trophy) races that were the most popular with spectators. For the National Championship races in 1929 (held at Cleveland) there were 500,000 tickets sold; but after the New York Stock Market crash in October, America and the world fell into the Great Depression and tickets sales, for many popular air races, dwindled throughout the early part of the 1930s!

Other key names of this era were individuals like Howard Hughes, who would start several airlines (including TWA) and would be very public with his advanced aircraft designs. In 1935, using his Hughes H1 racer, Howard would set a new world speed record of just over 352 mph and then with a modified version of the H1 Howard flew from Los Angeles, CA to New York in just under 7 hours and 30 minutes, another record that would stand for 7 years (only to be broken by Howard himself). Despite all the great aviation technology advances from the mind of Howard Hughes, it would be his one great failure that everyone would remember, the "Spruce Goose"! The Spruce Goose was a giant flying boat that only flew (with Howard at the controls) for a distance of just over one mile and never gained more than 100 feet of altitude. Howard realized immediately that the Goose was too impractical to be produced in numbers and with World War II just around the corner, his prophecy would be correct.

Despite the depression, air race pilots like Jimmy Doolittle, Jackie Cochran, Doug Davis, Wylie Post, and certainly one of the most colorful from the period, Roscoe Turner were literally household names! Between 1939 and 1947, the Cleveland Races were canceled because of the War, though in 1948 they started up again; but when Bill Odom crashed his modified P-51 (1949) into a family's home near the race course, air racing was over. Air racing would not start up again until a group of warbird owners, after a couple of years of club racing out at a private Nevada ranch, started the annual Reno National Championship Air Races, so beginning in 1964 and racing every year since (except for 2001 when the races were canceled due to the events surrounding 9/11), the annual Reno Air Races have become very popular among aviation enthusiasts.

While winning the 1933 Thompson Trophy race, Jimmy Doolittle broke the 300 mph barrier with his 600 horsepower GeeBee R-2, which made that aircraft from the Granville Brothers very popular. The GeeBee was very fast, but its unruly handling and its habit of breaking up in flight, lead the Granville Brothers to have all copies of their aircraft destroyed along with the blueprints. Doolittle's GeeBee R-2 was painted a distinctive red and white with the number 7-11 adorning its fuselage.

In 1935, Howard Hughes set a new world speed record (352 mph) with his Hughes H1 air racer and in 1937 flew this same aircraft from Los Angeles to New York in just over 7 hours, setting another cross-country speed record. As with the Wright Flyer and Charles Lindbergh's Ryan NYP, the Hughes H1 is currently housed at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum.

The Advent of Air Travel

Lucky Lindy's flight not only made him just possibly the world's first superstar hero, he proved the practicability of air travel. As the aircraft designed for flying the US Air Mail became larger and faster and the carrying of passengers became their primary role, the delivering of the mail being secondary to their profitability. There are several airlines claiming to be the very first in service, but it is most likely that either Chalk's (Florida) and/or United Airlines (Washington State) that started it all, as they both began regular scheduled passenger carrying airline service at about the same time. Within weeks or months, other airlines popped up all over the world and by the turn of the decade, air travel was beginning to pressure the steamship lines and trains for the ticket buying passenger.

As the decade of the 1930s opened up, air travel was in its earliest stages, but the demand for faster and bigger airplanes was driving many aircraft manufacturers into building airplanes to fit the bill. Because of the lack of adequate airfields, the flying boat would be the design of choice, as water covered 2/3rds of the planet, so any city that had a harbor was a source that could expect a scheduled flying boat to use and to provide a new, yet fast mode of transportation. It would be one individual, Juan Trippe, that would convert his Caribbean and South American air mail service into one of the most important airlines in the world, Pan-American Airways.

Using custom designed flying boats, each called a "Clipper," Pan American Airways would, by the end of the 1930s, be flying passengers across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, then around the world on a regular schedule. Though having 10 of the Sikorsky S-42s, and 2 of the Martin 130s, it was the Boeing company that would build the giant Boeing 314 Clipper that would set all the world traveling marks of that era. The Boeing 314 Clippers featured sleeping compartments, library, smoking lounges, and observation decks; they truly were aircraft that defined this "Golden Age" of aviation. [Editor's Note: see also Steve's May 2002 feature, "The Romance of the Pan-American Clippers!" and his companion review, Boeing B314 Clipper! for more on this fascinating aircraft.]

From 1920 until 1939, all of the world's oceans had been flown across, every continent had heard the sound of an airplane overhead, and the airplane had gone from small wood an cloth contraption barely capable of 100 mph, to a giant flying boat that could carry a large number of passengers in complete luxury. In 1939, the most romantic period of the airplane was coming to an end and so ended the true "Golden Age" of aviation. As the winds of war approached, aviation would advance, in the first half of the next decade, more than an in any period during the short 100 years of the powered aircraft!

Due to the lack of available large land airports, flying boats were the only means of high capacity aircraft for world travel. Though the huge German Zeppelin Airships appeared briefly, it was the flying boats of Donier, Late, Sikorsky, Martin, and Boeing that set the pace for the future and the Pan American Clippers were the first to fly regularly scheduled flights across both the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans right up to and past the beginning of World War II in 1939. It was during this time period that the giant seagoing steamships began disappearing, as the seasoned world traveler choose the swifter flying boats (specifically Pan American Clippers) over the aging and slow steam ships.

"Screenshot Tribute to FS2002" continues here:
Part 3: FS2002 Screenshots for 1940-1946