August 12, 1882 Vincent Hugo Bendix, an inventor who became a pioneer in both the automotive and aviation industries, was born in Moline, Illinois. His first major effort in the transportation world involved establishing the short-lived Bendix Company of Chicago in 1907 and creating an automobile called the Bendix Buggy. In 1910, he invented the Bendix […]
1882: The Birth of a Leading Entrepreneur in the Automotive and Aviation Industries
August 11, 1950 The Fairchild XC-120 Packplane, one of the more unconventional types of aircraft created in the United States in the post-World War II era, first took to the skies. The XC-120 was built for the U.S. Air Force by the aircraft and aerospace manufacturer Fairchild, and that transport plane made its maiden flight […]
1950: The Maiden Flight of the Unconventional XC-120 Packplane
Spectators viewing Italian seaplane from Balbo flight. Victoria 1933 In 2016 I posted an entry concerning the landing of an Italian seaplane piloted by Captain Umberto Rovis on the harbour at Victoria. The aeroplane was part of a group of Italian seaplanes that flew from Rome to Chicago and return. That posting, which contains background […]
An Update on the Italian Airmada of 1933
July 6, 1926 The first test flight of the racing seaplane Macchi M.39 took place in Italy. This seaplane had been designed by engineer Mario Castoldi, and it was built by the aircraft company Aeronautica Macchi (based in the city and comune of Varese in northwestern Italy). The first M.39 to take to the skies […]
1926: The First Flight of an Italian Seaplane
September 24, 1929 U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC) Lieutenant James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle, who would achieve lasting fame as commander of the Doolittle Raid during World War II, made his most significant contribution to aeronautical technology when he guided a Consolidated N-Y-2 Husky training biplane over Mitchel Field in New York in what was the […]
An Aviation Legend Makes His Most Pivotal Contribution to Flight Technology — Transportation History
Jimmy Doolittle figures in Chet’s aviation story too as a competitor in the first Washington Air Derby (later Langley Day) held in 1932. Chet was the first president of the Washington Air Derby Association.
