NEWS FLASH ! ! !
622 1/2 Feet in 26 Seconds

1902 Glider flown by Wright brothers from Kill Devil, West and Little Hills, North Carolina.

Wright brothers now know how to design wings, control surfaces, and control a flying machine.

The Engine:

4 Horizontal Cylinders
 - 4 Inch Bore
 - 4 Inch Stroke
 - Aluminum Crank Case
 - Water Jacket
 - Fuel Tank Maximum 4/10
   Gallon
 - Weight Around 625 Pounds

Airplane Specifications:

 - Wing Span: 40 Feet 4 Inch
 - Chamber: 1 In 20
 - Wing Area: 510 Square Feet
 - Length: 21 Feet 1 Inch
 - Weight: 605 Pounds

The Propellers:

 - Each propeller was 8 1/2 feet
   Long and canvas covered

 - Each propeller consisted of 3
    laminations of spruce, each was
    1 1/8 Inches thick, and were
    glued together.

The Control System

 - Fore and aft operated by a
   hand lever in front.
 - Twin moveable rudders from
   the 1902 Glider linked by
   wires, to a cradle in which the
   pilot laid.
 - Landing gear was 2 runners
   lengthened in front of airplane
   to prevent flipping.

Charles Lindberg

Jenny - 1916

Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker and plane

P-40 in the markings of Tex Hill

B-52

Carnauba

Billy Mitchell

128th Air Refueling Wing
Wisconsin National Guard

B-17 "Alumunum Overcast"

PIONEER PROFILE
General Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold

Born on June 25, 1886, in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, Henry "Hap" Arnold graduated from West Point in 1907 and was commissioned in the infantry. He served two years in the Philippines and two more at Governors Island, New York. In April 1911
he transferred to the aeronautical division of the Signal Corps. In June, of that year he. received his pilot's certificate after taking instruction from Orville Wright In Dayton, Ohio.

For nearly a year he was an instructor at the Army's first aviation school at College Park, Maryland. In September 1911 he flew the first U.S. airmail; on June 1, 1912, he won the first Mackay trophy for aviation. In February 1917 he was ordered to the Panama Canal Zone to organize and command an air service there.

By the time the United States entered World War II in December 1941, the productive capacity of the aircraft industry had increased sixfold from 1939 and pilot training capacity had kept pace. He was
designated Commanding General, Army Air Forces (AAF). During the war he served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Allied Combined Chiefs of Staff, helping to plan overall strategy for the war and, in 
particular contributing to the strategies and organization that early established Allied control of the air In all theaters.

"Hap" Arnold turned over command of the AAF to Gen. Carl Spaatz in March 1946 and formally retired in June to a farm near Sonoma, California. In May 1949 he was named General of the Air Force, the first such commission ever made.

History of Flight 1940-1943

May 1940  President Roosevelt calls for 50,000 military airplanes a year to be built.

May 1941  Company test pilot Lowery Brabham makes the first flight of the Republic XP -47B Thunderbolt at Farmingdale, NY

June 1941  The Army Air Forces, with Lt. Gen. H.H. "Hap" Arnold as Chief, is established and comprises the Office of the Chief of Air Corps and the Air Force Combat Command.

August 1941  Pilot Officer William R. "Wild Bill" Dunn, an American volunteer Pilot flying a Hawker Hurricane with the Royal Air Force, is the first US citizen to become an ace.

February 1942  First American air headquarters in Europe in World War II, US Army Bomber Command, is established in England, with Brig. Gen. Ira C. Eaker:

October 1942  The Bell XP- 59A lifts off from Rogers Dry Lake, Calif., with Bell test pilot Robert Stanley at the controls. It is the first flight of a jet airplane in the United States.

May 1943  The crew of the Memphis Belle, a 91st Bomb Group Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress, becomes the first heavy bomber crew in the European Theater to complete a full tour of 25 missions.

June 1943  The world's first operational jet bomber, the German Arado Ar-234V-l Blitz, makes its first flight.

July 1943  AAF Lt. Charles Hall shoots down a German FW-190 over Sicily, becoming the first black US flier to down an Axis airplane.

August 1943  The Women's Auxiliary Ferry Squadron (WAFS), composed of women flyers with commercial licenses, is merged with the Women's Flying Training Detachment, which had been formed to recruit and train women pilots for ferrying duties. The new organization, the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), is led by famed aviatrix Jacqueline Cochran.