Aviation becomes a Phenomenon…..

In 1903, bicycle shop owners, Wilbur and Orville Wright successfully launched the world’s first flight of 12 seconds and 37m, in their heavier than air contraption. Little did they know that, at the time, they were also launching a phenomena and obsession with aviation that circumnavigated the world….. 

Aviation interest and development exploded in leaps and bounds, that lasted for decades.

24 years later, in 1927, Lindberg landed in Paris. He had just made the first solo transatlantic flight. It is said that 150,000 spectators turned up to the airfield to greet him.  150,000! There was a ticker tape parade and he was hailed as a hero.

Aviation was glamourous, dangerous and sensational and caught the public’s attention. Being an aviator was a way to fame and fortune.

It was at a time when the mechanics of media had the power to launch people into the public eye. Early aviators had more then celebrity status. They had hero status.

When returned to New York City after completing the first ever solo flight across the Atlantic an estimated crowd of 4 million turned out for the ticker tape parade. It has been quoted that the crowd behaved as though he had ‘walked’ on water – rather than flown over it.

It was the ‘thing of the decade’. World records were being set on an almost weekly basis. Almost anything done was new… Aviator’s feats and records dominated news headlines around the world. Air-shows were popular with big prize money available. It was certainly the golden days of aviation. It offered thrills, excitement, fame and fortune - as well as, all too often -  an early death. Crashing and deaths in aviation were a weekly occurrence. But the numerous fatalities only added to the glamour of aviation.

And it wasn’t limited to men. Women too were falling in love with flying…. but their desire to become part of this sport was met with considerable resistance and females had quite a few additional hurdles to cross then did their male counterparts, and the way they inserted themselves in the industry was very different. Even today, only 6% of pilots are female.

 At the turn of the 20th Century women still didn’t have the right to vote and most occupations remained closed to them - men simply didn’t want them there. Then of course corsets restricted movement and wearing an ankle length skirt was scandalous. 

The first battle women had to endure in obtaining their pilot’s license was not money, resources or courage, or capability. It was the men. Women were expected to have permission of their father’s, husbands or brothers – and more often than not, it wasn’t granted. Even Amelia Earhart, in 1920’s had to ask her father’s permission. And then they had to find a pilot who would actually teach them and accept them. Blanche Scott, credited as being the second female pilot in the world, was taught by Glenn Curtiss …. after the Wright brothers downright refused. The conservative Wright brothers wanted no part in the emancipation of women.

Please follow my blogs, read more and see how women clever in their use of their femininity, beauty, style and fashion to establish their place in a world dominated by men, oil and engines……….