Flying Ocean Liners: Sikorsky's Ocean-Crossing Futurama, 1941

JF Ptak Science Books LLC  Post 643  Blog Bookstore

 Theodore Wright (aviation engineer, 1895-1970) wrote a lovely short piece (“Wings for Transportation:”)  in the Smithsonian Institution Report for 1941 on the future of aviation and its importance in transportation.  Wright begins the article with a difficult paragraph on the good fortune of America‘s aviation industry to still be more concentrated on commerce than on military might, referring to World War II as the affair “starting with
Munich”.  This is unfortunate.  But he does graduate from this myopic iconoclast’s future view to discuss the history of American aviation and its future as an essential element of the overall commercial transport grid.  Here he gets a lot correct. 

At the end of the article though comes a fantastic bit of futurology by an engineer and designer whose importance in aviation is unquestionable—Igor Sikorsky.  Sikorsky (1889-1972) designed the first multi-engine fixed wing aircraft and the great flying boats used by Pan Am to cross the oceans, though he is best remembered though for his enormous contributions in the development of the helicopter—a man of tremendous accomplishment.  He got an awful lot right.  He was also correct in the assumption that there would be enormous aircraft flying around the world in the near future—aircraft far larger than those being flown by Pan American Airways.  What he got wrong was the shape and style of this aircraft, which seems to be a further development of the flying boat.  Wright referred to these planes as “Ocean Airliners”, and that is what they certainly seemed to be:  behemoths that were ocean loners with wings.  They were wonderful things, and who wouldn’t want to be able to walk around the in-flight dining room, trying to pass some time on a long flight to New Zealand?  But it was not to be, of course, though Boeing’s superb 747 did for a while have a cocktail lounge for first class.  Still, these wishes die hard, especially when you’ve traveled with such accommodation.  (My own experiences with this is taking a electric tram in Helsinki and discovering that there was a bar in the back of the car. The open windows, the blue skies, the civility--it felt like the only way to travel: refreshed, thoughtful, and going 20 mph.)

Comments

[Lizzie]

This isn't a science book, but it's a great read, and provides lots of details about the world of flying in the post WWII era. It's "His Edge," by Wayne Harding, and it's semi-autobiographical. Flight buffs will like all the information about flying and design and manufacturing of the planes (and the great scenes from the cockpit), and those interested in simply a good story get that as well.

[Lizzie]

I can't tell that the link worked, that I tried to provide for the "His Edge" flying book. Here's the website, if it didn't: http://www.hisedgethebook.com/