Aces & Adventurers

This concludes an insight into a century of man's quest to master the astral elements. Orville and Wilbur Wright's experiments virtually paralleled the horse-and- buggy era, while Chuck Yeager's exploits belonged to a vastly different universe. A sobering aspect of aviation progress was the intervention of two world wars.This was forcibly demonstrated with the onset of World War 1 where the rickety types that bravely staggered into Western Front skies were developed into such iconic types as the Fokker D7 and Sopwith Snipe. It also saw the beginnings of aerial bombardment, as demonstrated by the multi-engine Handley Page and Vickers Vimy, versatile designs that were amenable to conversion as air liners in more peaceful skies.After twenty years of uneasy peace and rising international tensions, once more the nations were plunged into another world war. In this holocaust aviation advancement proceeded at a relentless pace, in particular with the advent of the gas turbine. In less than a decade the piston-engine fighter had been relegated to the pages of history; so too in air travel with Britain's DH Comet of the early 1950s, which initially led the way to a new era in commercial aviation. Perhaps the ultimate dream that became a reality was the supersonic Concorde of recent memory. One wonders what Wilbur and Orville Wright would have thought of Concorde? At least Orville was given an insight into the future when he became a visitor to the flight deck of the new Lockheed Constellation shortly before his death in January 1948. It was reported that he took the controls briefly; surely this was the most satisfying moment for the pioneer of Kitty Hawk?