Taking a Ride in a Flying Machine

 

Imagination is a powerful force of nature.
It drives ambition, enterprise,
passion and love.

In the early 20th century
a new mechanical marvel inspired people
to imagine themselves doing something
that previously had seemed impossible.

This invention opened up a new dimension
to human experience that was no longer limited
to just traveling on the flat plane of Earth.
For the first time people could visualize themselves
sweeping along with the clouds
and defying the laws of gravity. 

It was called an aeroplane,
a flying machine not unlike a carriage with wings.
Once people had seen this fantastic vehicle in action
everyone began to dream of taking to the air
and soaring through the sky like bird.

Today I present a few postcard examples
of how this romantic wonder once captivated people
to picture themselves flying. 

Safety was not a big concern.

Yet.

My first card shows a happy couple "seated" in a ridiculously tiny single-wing aeroplane flying high through a bank of clouds. The young woman wears a very large hat tied securely on her head by a long scarf and waves a handkerchief in salute. Her husband, who presumably has both hands on the controls, wears a stylish bowler hat and a three piece suit. The aircraft has a fabric covering, a single prop, and a pair of wings stoutly reinforced with diagonal rigging. Obviously the couple are posed behind a fanciful painted backdrop for this novelty photo. 

It's a charming portrait but what's more intriguing is on the back of the postcard. It was sent to Herren J. Haas in Berlin but can you identify where it was sent from? 

The postage paid was a Russian 4 kopeck carmine-red stamp displaying the Tsar's imperial emblem of a black double-headed eagle in the center. The postmark is dated "–8 1 12" which I interpret as 08 January 1912, but the letters around the circular mark are in the Cyrillic alphabet. It took some effort to decipher this, but the letters are Гапсаль, a Russian placename which translates to Gapsal in Latin letters. This place is now known as Haapsalu, a seaside resort town on the west coast of Estonia which was once part of the Russian Empire. 

The name translates as "Aspen grove", though it was the local sea mud that transformed this small town into a popular spa in the early 19th century. The supposed "curative" powers of Haapsalu's mud attracted many wealthy visitors from Russia's major cities, including members of the imperial Romanov family, who sought relief from a variety of ailments. Apparently several of Haapsalu's mud spas are still in operation today.

Not surprisingly, the message is written in Estonian. The first line translates as:

Thank you very much for
Raarseit(?) and I wish you
a happy New Year
and that all your wishes
come true this year.
The side of Kaaroli(?) is dark.
Is it fat? (?) Wishing you all the best 

In January 1908 the first Russian Aeroclub was established in St. Petersburg and by 1910 the Imperial Russian Army sent several officers to France for pilot training. Their instructors were French pilots who had trained under Wilbur and Orville Wright, the two American brothers who first introduced a functional airplane to Europeans in August 1908. The Russian military soon joined the international race to develop its own air force, initially under army command. 

The Sikorsky Russky Vityaz, 1913
Source: Wikipedia

By May 1913 Russians successfully flew the Russky Vityaz, the first four-engine passenger biplane designed by the Russian-American aviation pioneer, Igor Sikorsky (1898–1972). It was 20 m (65 ft 7 in) long with an upper wingspan of 28 m (91 ft 10 in). It required a crew of three but could carry seven passengers in its surprising large fuselage shaped like a tram car. The Russky Vityaz was capable of reaching a maximum speed of 90 km/h (56 mph) for a range of 170 km (110 mi) and a service ceiling of 600m (2,000 ft). However, I don't think it ever achieved these limits more than once, if at all, as this airplane had a very short life.

A month after its first flight in June 1913 it was severely damaged when another airplane lost an engine in a landing accident that struck the Russky Vityaz while it was parked next to the airstrip. Sikorsky built several other notable airplanes for the Imperial Russian army but in 1919, following the Russian Revolution and the end of WW1, he immigrated to America. There he would go on to develop flying boats and the first successful American helicopters.

* * *

My second image of a happy couple in the air comes from this postcard which shows an improbable flying boat that appears to be powered by a steam engine. The young couple seem unperturbed that their Jules Verne water/air vehicle is thousands of feet above the ground, higher than the birds. The machine has no propeller so perhaps it is made airborne by the flapping of its "wings" which strangely resemble fish fins. It even comes with an anchor.

This card was sent from Lausanne, Switzerland on 6 February 1905. That is four months before the Wright brothers made their first successful powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina and 3½ years before they debuted their Wright Flyer in France. Notice that the word "Post Card" is translated for 17 languages. Since Lausanne is situated on Lake Geneva, the notion of a flying boat probably seemed a practical and low-risk vessel.

 Ernest Failloubaz and his Blériot aircraft,
René Grandjean to the right, at the first flight meeting in Avenches, Switzerland
Source: Wikipedia

Switzerland has a list of its own aviation pioneers and Ernest Failloubaz (1892–1919) and René Grandjean (1884–1965) were the first. In early 1909 Failloubaz, at age 17 a motorcyclist and sel-trained mechanic met Grandjean, age 24, a former chauffer. Grandjean had a wild dream to build his own aircraft, "copying" a design from a single photograph of the French aviator Louis Blériot's single-wing aeroplane. The two young men collaborated in its construction which they completed in October 1909 and then started ground tests in February 1910 at a field in Avenches, Switzerland. As the plane's engine was not very powerful they decided that Failloubaz, who was the lightest in weight, should make the first flight. So on 10 May 1910 with Failloubaz at the controls their little aeroplane took off, flew straight for 150 meters, and then landed smoothly. A few days later Grandjean flew the aeroplane himself but crashed the plane. Nonetheless their accomplishment established their place in Swiss aviation history.

Ernest Failloubaz went on to participate in the first Swiss airplane events held later in 1910, using an airplane built by another aviator and set several Swiss records. He established the first flight school in Switzerland which opened in May 1911 and also helped start the Swiss Army Flying Corps. Sadly Failloubaz died of tuberculosis in May 1919 at age 26.

René Grandjean also became involved in air shows and in the early development of aircraft innovations. It was his idea to replace the wheels of an aeroplane with skis in order to land on snow, and he became the first pilot to land on glaciers. He then exchanged the skis for floats and made the first successful Swiss hydroplane or seaplane, winning several prizes. During the war he moved to Paris where he made a career in aircraft engineering with over 200 patents in his name. He did not return to Switzerland until 1956. Both Failloubaz and Grandjean were honored by their nation with monuments in Switzerland for their important achievements in aviation.

* * *

My third postcard depicts two young women and a gentleman flying high above a town in a biplane. It is not unlike the Wright Flyer as it has a pair of smaller elevators in front and a pusher prop in back. It's snowing and the trio are dressed warmly as a layer of frosty white snow has coated the wings and struts. They don't seem too bothered as they are enjoying the onboard drink service offering us a toast of some bubbly.  At the bottom of the illustration is a caption in Hungarian:

Boldog új évet! ~ Happy New Year!

The card has a postmark of (1)911 DEC 31 over a green Hungarian 5 fillér stamp which coincidently has an eagle soaring over the Hungarian crown, which at the time was held by the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph. It was sent to someone in Budapest with a short message that was another alphabet puzzle to decipher.  I believe the Hungarian translates to "Please accept my wishes on the occasion of the wedding. Kiss me countless times." or something like that.

Hungary, which prior to the end of World War One was part of the larger Austrian-Hungarian Empire, had its own aviator pioneers. One of the first to fly was Guido Prodam (1882–1948) who flew a monoplane over the City of Budapest in 1911. Prodam originally trained as a pharmacist in Torontál County but tragically his wife died in 1910 after three years of marriage. He  quit his profession and moved to Budapest where he partnered with Ernő Horváth, a high school mathematics and physics teacher who was building a single-wing aeroplane. Horváth's eyesight was so poor that he had abandoned trying to be a pilot after a crash, so Prodam took over learning to operate his flying machine. 

Hungarian aviator Guido Prodam
with Hungarian aeroplane designer Ernő Horváth, circa 1911
Source: PestBuda

At noon on 4 November 1911 Prodam's aeroplane set off from a field near central Budapest. The aircraft was powered by a 35-horsepower engine and flew a circuitous route over the city to the Danube River and back, mostly at an altitude of 100m. The flight was successful but only lasted 12 minutes. Even so, many people in the city considered it a reckless stunt that rashly put the public in danger should there have been an accident. 

Yet Prodam did not stop with this feat. A few days later he set a new record for distance by flying 20 kilometers out from Budapest. This flight took 16 minutes, despite getting lost in fog and not landing at his original destination, Pécel, but in Maglód.

Then on 10 November, Guido Prodam attempted to fly over the Adriatic Sea in Rijeka. The flight went well but during the landing he lost control of the plane and crashed into the water.  Though he fortunately survived with only minor injuries, his aeroplane sank and was not recovered until several months later.  Finally in January 1912 Prodam passed the pilot's exam and received the country's third pilot's license.

During the First World War, Prodam served in the army but initially was deemed unfit to be a pilot as he was recovering from serious injuries sustained in a crash. However by 1917 he was able to join the Austrian-Hungarian flying corps. In February 1918 his plane was shot down over the Italian frontlines at an altitude of 4,800 meters. He survive but was taken prisoner. The injury was so severe that he became an invalid after the war and later lost his right arm. He died in 1948 but his exploits are still remembered in Hungary. 

I've added the extra aeronautical histories of these early aviation pioneers in order to show that the fascination of human flight was a universal dream. Orville and Wilbur Wright were certainly not the only inventors tinkering with making a flying machine as there were hundreds more from dozens of countries around the globe. Their Wright Flyer merely demonstrated the first practical possibility of powered flight. But more important was how it released a sudden torrent of  imaginative and creative energy that quickly inspired competition and collaboration from many other aviators. 

It also inspired song writers, too.

Come Josephine In My Flying Machine, published 1910
music by Fred Fisher and lyrics by Alfred Bryan
Source: Wikipedia

The illustration on this sheet music cover shows another young couple flying a Wright Flyer through the clouds. It's titled: Come Josephine In My Flying Machine (Up She Goes) and was composed by Fred Fisher with lyrics by Alfred Bryan. It was first published in 1910 and released as a gramophone recording by Blanche Ring who made it her signature song. The song was supposedly written about Josephine Sarah Magner (1883–1966), who in 1905 became the first American woman to make a parachute jump from a balloon. She married Leslie Burt Haddock (1878–1919), another early aviation pioneer, and became a fairground entertainer making hundreds of jumps. She also assisted Haddock in the design and construction of the first U.S. Army dirigible.

Here is a recording of "Come Josephine In My Flying Machine"
performed by Ada Jones and Billy Murray & Chorus.
It was recorded on November 1910, and released in 1911
on an Edison Blue Amberol cylinder.
The video includes lots of similar illustrations
of early airplanes and aviation pictures.

But for the best fun here is
"A Dash Through the Clouds"
a short silent comedy film produced
and directed by Mack Sennett.
It was written by Dell Henderson 
and starred Mabel Normand. 
Mabel gets to ride in a flying machine
at markers 1:25 and 8:30.
Not surprisingly the piano accompanist quotes
"Come Josephine In My Flying Machine" several times.  

The film maker used the services of a true aviation pioneer, Philip Parmelee, as Slim the pilot. Parmelee was a former pilot for the Wright Brothers and by 1912 held many aviation records. He is credited with making the first commercial flight of an airplane carrying a cargo of silk fabric; establishing a cross-country speed record in an airplane; setting a flying endurance record; piloting the first aircraft to drop a bomb; conducting the first military reconnaissance flight; and piloting the airplane used in the world's first parachute jump. I'm not sure if that was with Josephine Magner. Probably not.

Tragically Philip Parmelee died in an airplane crash at an air show in Yakima, Washington, on 1 June, 1912 shortly after working on this film. 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where some people prefer to keep their feet
firmly on the ground.