Happy Birthday to Aviation

[Guest MonkeySee]

Today is the 105th anniversary of Orville and Wilbur's historic flight, the start of aviation. We have really come a long way.

[Guest fountainhall]

I wonder if aviation is the greatest 'invention' of the 20th century? The world would certainly be a very different place if we were still travelling by sea.

[KhorTose]

I wonder if aviation is the greatest 'invention' of the 20th century? The world would certainly be a very different place if we were still travelling by sea.

 

Without aviation my home town, Seattle, would just be a small spot on the map. Thanks to Aviation and Boeing we are one the West Coast's biggest cities. I only wish the old sense of adventure and comfortable travel would come back to flying. I remember when there where no bad seats on a plane, but then I am old.

 

[dapitt]

I remember when there where no bad seats on a plane, but then I am old.

Yes, I remember too. It used to be quite a nice way to travel....quite a 'style'.

 

[Guest fountainhall]

It used to be quite a nice way to travel....quite a 'style'

 

It always seemed quite an adventure - even on a full overnight flight. And economy class had a lot more room. I remember when Northwest's trans-Pacific 747's only had 9 seats across instead of 10. But then I'm no spring chicken either!

[Guest MonkeySee]

Yes, I remember too. It used to be quite a nice way to travel....quite a 'style'.

I flew on a Convair 440, a while back. That is the 52 seater, piston-engine that were popular back in the 50's and 60's. The seats were roomy and comfortable, but no luggage space overhead. It was like a bus, in that it had a space for your coat and hat. Each seat had its own ashtray. That was certainly a bygone era.

 

[Guest fountainhall]

My first flight was a 15 minute hop in a most unglamorous DC3 - and I loved every second of it.

[Guest MonkeySee]

My first flight was a 15 minute hop in a most unglamorous DC3 - and I loved every second of it.

The first time in a DC-3 was in the 80's on a short trip from Puerto Rico to the Virgin Islands. I remember how odd it was walking up hill to my seat. The old "puddle jumper" was vibrating so much, they could have charged extra for the massage value.

[Guest fountainhall]

I remember how odd it was walking up hill to my seat.

 

That's exactly what I recall. My flight was in the mid-60's - when I was a spring chicken!

[Guest MonkeySee]

That's exactly what I recall. My flight was in the mid-60's - when I was a spring chicken!

Did you need earplugs, as well. I seem to remember the roar of the engines?

 

[Bob]

Yea, we've come a long way. When I was 13 and 14, I flew four times away to school aboard flights that would make The Shining movie seem like a soothing new-age experience. Don't remember whether those planes were DC-10's or whatever but, to go 340 miles, the planes made 4 stops along the way. Flying those planes through thunderstorms and heavy winds scared the bejeebees out of me and the 2-3 bounce landings weren't much fun either.

[Guest fountainhall]

Don't remember whether those planes were DC-10's

 

The DC10s wings used to flap quite wildly - much more so than other aircraft. Quite scary sometimes, especially after the DC10 was grounded for a long time after a string of ghastly crashes - Turkish Airlines outside Paris, American Airlines on take-off from Chicago, Air New Zealand into a mountain in Antarctica - and those are only the ones I remember!

[Guest MonkeySee]

I wonder if aviation is the greatest 'invention' of the 20th century? The world would certainly be a very different place if we were still travelling by sea.

Aviation would certainly be in the top three of the greatest inventions of the 20th century, in my book.

 

[Guest fountainhall]

Aviation would certainly be in the top three of the greatest inventions of the 20th century, in my book.

 

So what would be the other two, I wonder? The computer, obviously. The silicon chip? Communication in all its forms, including the internet, radio, television and advances in the telephone? The motor car - but that was invented in the 1890's I think - so perhaps the assembly line is the more important invention of the 20th century.

 

I would like add in the discovery of human DNA and other medical advances, but they can not really be classed as "inventions".