Early Aviation History

Vintage photographs of early aircraft and aviation pioneers, showcasing historical aviation development and aircraft designs.

Thomas Selfridge and Wright Brothers Prepare for Takeoff

March 1919. Malaga. Air Travelers. 1.-the French aviator lieutenant M. Lemaitre (A) and the builder of the airplane, M. Latecoele (B), who accompanied him as a passenger on the trip from Toulouse to Rabat. 2.-the airplane shortly after landing in Malaga.

Flight school. transportation of an airplane. 1939. .

These photos date to the early 1920s. The caption reads: Transatlantic Fliers. Top: American Navy Seaplane NC-4 which crossed the ocean with one stop at the Azores, reaching Portugal, May 27, 1919. Center: The British Vickers-Vimy bombing plane, which made the first non-stop flight across the atlantic, June 16, 1919. Bottom: The British Dirigible R-34 which flew across the Atlantic, July 6, 1919.

Skiopticone image with motifs of aircraft.

Nils Rodéhn in front of FVM S 18 on Malmen, 1919 . Flight drivers Nils Rodéhn in front of aircraft FVM S 18 number 980 on Malmen, winter time.

Original caption: "Plows". 1936 - 1942. Pacific Region (Riverside, CA). Photographic Print. Department of the Interior. Office of Indian Affairs. Mission Agency. 11/15/1920-6/17/1946. Photographs

This photograph shows a three-quarters rear view of a seaplane at Langley Field in Hampton, Virginia. The image is part of the collection titled "Photographs of American Military Activities during World War One." The seaplane is one of the depicted types in the collection. Identification number: 111-SC-3368. Photographer recommendation: REC 3368. (Note: The information provided in the user's comment was used to generate a factual caption consistent with the style requested. The original description contains some typos that were preserved in the generated caption.)

Captain Eddie Rickenbacker with his Spad aircraft.

Comparative figures. Airplane (MaaTappy K-L-M), maybe at the airport of Amsterdam

Cederströms Bleriot Monoplan 1912. Nordic Star.

Saint Sebastian. April 1912. The aviators Paulhan (1) and Garnier (2) upon the former's arrival in San Sebastián.

Pioneers of the air. 1910-20.

Aviation in Britain Before the First World War The gondola of the Beta airship being inspected by Queen Mary, Lord Kitchener and a large party of army officers. This group largely obscures the gondola.

The Royal Navy during the Second World War A Fairey Swordfish aircraft of 816 Squadron taking-off from the flight deck of HMS TRACKER for an anti-submarine sweep in the North Atlantic.

Labor-Piquèr machine's fate after TORD steam stream's last flight in Uppsala Sunday on August 11, 1910. The case took place from 25á 30 meters height. Published in Hvar 8 day.

Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, 1911Rear view of glider in flight over beach at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

Africa. aeronautics. interest for the plain. 1919.

Zeppelin landing in presence of Count Zeppelin and Crown Prince

A plane after an accident, is transported in workshops camp in Libya, 1912

Sea aircraft of type Breguet at Schneider-Cupe Competely 1914. Motor: Salmson 150 hp.

1929. Around the world of "Graf Zeppelin" -.

Curtiss-Herring flying machine, on ground, Mineola, L.I.

Aircraft TP 47, Catalina in the water on the tip mountains under Sepit Aircraft TP 47, Catalina in the water on the tip mountains during Expedition 1957. Two people are on the aircraft.

Aviation in Britain Before the First World War An unmanned Clarke glider in flight, note the ropes attached to the wing tips being held by men on the ground. The image is rather blurred.

Aviation in Britain Before the First World War The car of the Willows airship beneath the gasbag.

Aviation in Britain Before the First World War Cody aircraft mark IC (Cathedral - so named because of its size and the size of the hangar it required and the katahedral (lower at the wing tips) arrangement of the wings) on the ground, the aircraft shows some signs of damage possibly resulting from too heavy a landing (note the buckled wing wheel and bent elevator spars). Cody is stood in the background with three other men. The most important change made with this mark was moving the pilots seat to in front of the engine. The aircraft was altered several more times, here the additional elevators at the side of the central one (which has now been split in two down the centre) are missing, the rudder is in the original position above the elevator, a tail skid and balancing planes have been added between the wings on the rear outer struts. Particularly with his earlier aircraft Cody made constant adjustments to the arrangement of the flying surfaces, often after crashes, in order to obtai

Elsevier photo collection. London-Manchester Air Mail Express plane crashed ivinghoe (Buckinghamshire). September 1923. Britain, ivinghoe

Information office radio broadcaster Dutch Guinea. Beaver Reason Seroon. August 1957. Guinea

Aircraft and Balloons USED by Some of the Air Pioneers Who Were Contemporary With Samuel Franklin Cody. Medium close up of the gondola of Beta II with soldiers inside it and stood next to it.

Arctic Expedition - Lincoln Ellsworth Expedition - 1933, 34, 35. February 24, 1936.

Aviation: 992C - "The City Of Los Angels". September 22, 1949. (Photo by Trans World Airline).;Aviation: 992C - "The City Of Los Angels".

Sea plane - Byrd Antarctic Expedition II gelatin dry plate negatives, black-and-white negatives

Intrepid Airman Sets Out On A Flight From N.Z To Australia.Chichester's plane being launched at the Hobsonville air base early on Saturday morning last. April 22, 1931. (Photo by The Auckland Daily News).

Wilbur Wright Gliding at Kitty Hawk

Thaw Aeroplane in Central Park, 3/6/16

Airplane. Fédèle Azari (Italian, 1895 - 1930)

Manufacturer Nybergs model 1902 with his own construction of boiler and steam engine.

Latham, Brookins and two others

Aircraft TP 78, lifted with crane to quay from water aircraft TP 78, lifted with crane to quay out of water.

Illustration of a Wright biplane of the pusher type with elevators at the front. The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, were two American aviators, engineers, inventors, and aviation pioneers who are generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful airplane. Dated 20th century

Propellers at rear of Cooley dirigible

Louis Bleriot (1872-1936) lands at Dover after his cross-channel flight on 25th July 1909. Date: 1909

Aircraft, Burma, India & INDIA,Transportation War

Naval Airship, Parseval

Command output to the plane 28.6.18. .

U.S.S. New York Setting Rudder. Glass Plate Negatives of the Construction and Repair of Buildings, Facilities, and Vessels at the New York Navy Yard.

Aviation in Britain Before the First World War Cody aircraft mark IB with its nose stuck into the ground after a crash, several soldiers are stood around looking at the wreckage. Cody escaped from this crash unhurt apart from a cut on his face. It was caused by the front elevator and rudder spars snapping due to excessive force being placed on them when Cody attempted to make a turn in the aircraft. This version of the mark IB does not have the additional elevators fitted next to the main central elevator instead balancing planes have been added between the wings on the rear outer struts. It is still fitted with the rear undercarriage wheel as opposed to the skid used in later marks. Particularly with his earlier aircraft Cody made constant adjustments to the arrangement of the flying surfaces, often after crashes, in order to obtain better performance and handling. These changes mean that identifying specific sub-marks of Cody aircraft can at times be very difficult, it should also be

Capt. T.S. Baldwin flying

Harmon in aeroplane

Moissant flying

1 Ton Torpedoes from The Air World's Fastest Plane -- The world's greatest warplane was demonstrated yesterday at Brough Aerodrome, Yorks. Torpedoes carrying nearly one ton of high explosives were dropped into the water from this Blackburn Napier Ripon II which can carry this immense missile beneath the fuselage when going through the air at a speed of over 3 miles per minute.Picture taken during the demonstration shows -- Dropping the torpedo into the river Humber. June 29, 1928.

Aviation in Britain Before the First World War Cody aircraft mark V outside the shed on Laffan's Plain. Cody is at the controls, others are in the open shed. Note the horse shoe above the entrance to the shed. Cody was a superstitious person, for instance he would never fly on a Sunday or start projects on a Friday, he avoided the use of the number thirteen, had a black cat as a mascot and most importantly of all avoided anything green on his aircraft, either being worn by a passenger or on the aircraft itself. Rumours suggest that this superstition may have been well founded, supposedly after one crash he found that the newly installed seat had a green label and according to some accounts his passenger in the fatal accident was wearing green socks. Interestingly the horseshoe only appears on the shed after the destruction of his original entrants for the Military trials. With the help of his family and friends Cody built the mark V mainly from the remains of the mark III in just four

Flying airplane above Washington D.C; Fédèle Azari (Italian, 1895 - 1930); Washington, District of Columbia, United States; 1914 - 1929; Gelatin silver print; 11.3 x 16 cm (4 7,16 x 6 5,16 in.)

Motorcycle SOK with side wagon. 1925-1928.

N.Y.C. auto wrecked in Central Park

NC-1 under way

Mr. Paul King S.E.5 close up

Caproni 600 HP triplane, departure of the second squadron, Rome-Tokyo Raid, from L'Illustrazione Italiana, Year XVLII, No 3, January 18, 1920.

Vintage plane silhouette on white background; vector illustration

Luxor. Plane ready to take off. Captain mounting his craft. 1936, Egypt, Luxor

Anefo photo collection. "Nose hangar" KLM Schiphol. October 28, 1947. Amsterdam, Noord-Holland

Aviation in Britain Before the First World War A Bleriot monoplane in flight over Farnborough.

Silver Dart - Aeroplane at Hammondsport

Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos Dumont.

Aviation in Britain Before the First World War The Cody aircraft mark VIA being demonstrated as an ambulance plane. In the foreground is the first aid outfit in a case sat on the ground in front of the aircraft. This was both the last and the largest of Cody's aircraft and was intended to take part in the Daily Mail Coastal Circuit of Britain contest. This competition was to begin in August 1913 from Calshot near Southampton following the south and east coast to Inverness down the Caledonian canal to the west coast, across the Irish sea to Dublin, round Land's End to Falmouth and then returning to Southampton all to be done within 72 hours. The aircraft was again a biplane with a single frontal elevator and a single triangular rudder with horizontal appendage held on two spars so as to accommodate the large four bladed propeller in a pusher configuration. Cody made numerous flights in the aircraft fitted with the conventional undercarriage. Despite the aircraft's size the 100 hp Green

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 01/22/1926. Arrival of the "Plus Ultra". The aviators Franco (center), Ruiz de Aldo (left) and Durán (right) disembark from the seaplane inside the port.

Crashed Ital.Caproni in Cepovanertal. 25.x.17. .

Estampe sur le premier kilomètre bouclé par Henri Farman, par E. Montaut.. Montaut, Ernest (1879-1936). La Vaulx, Henry de, 1870-1930. Manuscripts, Portraits, Drawings, Prints. 1922. Science, Industry and Business Library: General Collection. Biplanes, Farman, Henri, 1874-1958

Cody sets the world's cross- country flying record and explains to the Empress Eugenie (of France) about the construction of his aeroplane. Date: 1909

Poll photo collection. Anthony Fokker. Airplane builder Anthony Fokker standing next to a Chrysler airflow automobile with a breeder f xxxvi passenger plane in the background at Schiphol airport. August 27, 1934. Noord-Holland, Schiphol

Aviation- Aircraft. This image depicts a U.S. Coast Guard plane in water.

Fokker Spider, 1912, Biplanes

Dr. Fenton (Flying Doctor's) Plane. November 24, 1937.

Design for the 'Flyer 1' by the Wright Brothers. Also pictured is Orville Wright (1871-1948) and Wilbur Wright (1867-1912). Dated 20th Century

Aviation in Britain Before the First World War A good almost full length portrait shot of Cody wearing a suit and tie standing alongside the cockpit of Cody aircraft mark III. The mark III was smaller and lighter than Cody's previous aircraft with this compensating for the relatively low power output of the Green engine. It followed a similar design and was fitted with twin rear rudders. There were 32 entrants for the race from Britain and Europe with 21 actually starting the race. Cody was the only pilot / designer / constructor in the race with many of the other entrants being internationally known, professional pilots backed up by factory teams of mechanics, engineers, riggers and the like. The circular route was around 1000 miles in length beginning on the 22nd July 1911 at Brookland's with pilots stopping off at places such as Hendon, Harrogate, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Carlisle, Manchester, Worcester, Bristol, Weston-super-Mare, Exeter and Salisbury Plain, and staying overn

Ruth Law racing Chevrolet, 1920

Hanriot monoplane

Corporal Luva Hetty Amade in the cockpit of a glider.

The State Railways, SJ CC 672 in the turntable.

Fernando Rein's Madrid Manila Flight - April-July 1932 - Approximate date.

An Imperial Airways Armstrong Whitworth Argosy flies over the air-station at Croydon, which cost 260,000 ! Date: 1927

Victor Garaix, French aviator in cockpit of plane with dog

Ice uptake. Seven men take up ice, a man on the horse -drawn sled in the background. Isupptagning. Sju män tar upp is, en man på hästdragen släde i bakgrunden.

Airplane donnet-lévêque on the ground at the beach edge. Techniques in the aircraft donnet-lévêque on the ground at the beach. Techniques in work with the aircraft.

Historic glider SG38, wooden construction with an open seat, glider to train beginners from 1938, Glider Airport, Aero Club Duesseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, Europe

Capt. E.C. Bass in British "Curtiss" Flying Boat

In cockpit of ice boat

Lieut. Porte & Cabin of Transatlantic flyer

Cederström at Malmen Baron Carl Cederströms at Malmen. Flyplan Bleriot XI "North Star". Time period 1911. Reproduced 1943-08-09.

Alaskan Aviators, Aviation

Anefo photo collection. DC 8 continued from the runway at Landing at Schiphol. September 18, 1963. Noord-Holland, Schiphol

M. Le Blanc

The Royal Navy during the Second World War The observer entering the Vought-Sikorsky Kingfisher aircraft on board USS SOUTH DAKOTA before a flight at Scapa Flow whilst the ship is operating with elements of the Home Fleet. The Kingfisher can operate from their ship while underway and be retrieved by the ship's crane without stopping the ship. The aircraft is mounted on a catapult.

Orville Wright in Flight, Templehof Field, Berlin, Germany, September 4, 1909

Aircraft and Balloons Used by Some of the Air Pioneers Who Were Contemporary With Samuel Franklin Cody. Close up of Major Hereward de Havilland sat in the cockpit of an aircraft.

AB Aerotransports Tremotor's airliner. Line Malmö - Amsterdam.

The aircraft carrier HMS 'Eagle' and a Fairey Flycatcher aircraft, (1937). Artist: Unknown

Launch of plane on N.Y. Naval militia, 1916

Aviation in Britain Before the First World War Cody aircraft mark IB on the ground with a group of soldiers. With this mark additional elevator surfaces were added either side of the original elevator's and the biplane lifting tail was removed. Particularly with his earlier aircraft Cody made constant adjustments to the arrangement of the flying surfaces, often after crashes, in order to obtain better performance and handling. These changes mean that identifying specific sub-marks of Cody aircraft can at times be very difficult, it should also be remembered that because of this constant evolution of his aircraft Cody would probably not have classified them in such a detailed manner.

Plane Flies Under 11 London Bridges(Left) the plane skies the river thames en route from Westminster bridge to Lambeth bridge.(Right) The pilot (left) and the photographer on April 30 at the Berkshire Airfield from which they take off today.Major Christopher Draper, veteran flier ***** that 20 year ago flew a plane Beneath London's tower bridge. Today May 5 flew a Tiny Auster Plane Beneath 11 London Bridges, starting at waterloo bridge in the center of London and working his way upstream along the river themes to Barnes bridge. He missed out at least one bridge because the Pier supports were too close together to admit the wings of his plane.He is said to have made the flight for which he could lose his pilots licence and be fined £100. June 12, 1953. (Photo by Associated Press Photo).

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