Flying High in Iowa. Again.

 

The first aviators were very brave.
Their flying machines were still experimental
so every flight was a test of control for the pilot
and a gauge of engine performance for the mechanic.
They learned that getting up
was not so hard as coming down.

  In the second decade of the 20th century,
for some unknown reason,
Iowa, the Hawkeye State,
became a bustling center
for aviation.

Enterprising publishers in Des Moines
sent photographers out onto Iowa's great prairies
to capture the magic of human flight.
Their postcards showed aeroplanes,
and sometimes airships, too,
flying all over the state.

This is part two of a series
that I started last year in
Flying High in Iowa.
 Today I offer
four more postcards
of flying high in Iowa.
Again.

In this postcard a biplane similar to the Wright brother's flyer takes a close pass near the Adair County Courthouse in Greenfield, Iowa. Construction on the courthouse started on July 4, 1891 and finished the following year. It was the third courthouse for the county and was built of brick and limestone in a Romanesque Revival style for a cost of $26,768. Greenfield is the county seat and is located about 60 miles southwest of Des Moines. In 1910 it boasted of 1,379 residents.  

At some point in around 1949, the courthouse tower was removed. Some say it was a structural safety hazard because of its weight on the foundation. Others think it was because it attracted too many crazy pilots. Tornadoes, supposedly, had nothing to do with its removal. Today the Adair County Courthouse is proudly preserved in Greenfield, though its square no longer has a bandstand. 

Adair County Courthouse, Greenfield, Iowa
Source: Google Maps 2024

* * *

Here another biplane passes over the roof of the public school in Williamsburg, Iowa. It must have happened on a weekend as no children are evident. Williamsburg is a small town in between Davenport and Des Moines. In 1910 it had a population of around 1,000 residents. The school building was demolished many years ago but I could not find any evidence of where it once was. 

* * *

Aeroplanes were not the only thing flying around Iowa. In this photo of the C. N. W. Depot in Lisbon, Iowa two small airships float above the railroad yard. The airships are Semi-rigid Dirigibles that used a keel structure to hold the engine and pilot. It was attached by ropes or cables to a sausage shaped envelope which was filled with hydrogen gas, used because of it had a high lifting capacity and a ready availability. At the time an airship was capable of reaching a higher altitude than any aeroplane, but moved much slower and was difficult to steer in even moderate winds.

Lisbon, Iowa is about 36 miles northeast of Williamsburg as the crow flies. It is a small town that had 846 citizens in 1910. Today the Chicago and North Western Railroad which served Lisbon is no longer in operation having been restructured many times. The remainder of its railway line was acquired in 1995 by the Union Pacific Corporation. This next image is the modern railroad crossing in Lisbon where I expect the old depot was likely situated on the north side of the town.   

North Washington St., Lisbon, Iowa 
Source: Google Maps 2022

* * *

This photo is one of the more dramatic postcards. An aeroplane flies low over the Main St. of Washington, Iowa, up the east side of the town's square. The street is broad and made of packed dirt. The commercial block facing the square has a wide concrete sidewalk where an open-top automobile is parked. Opposite are horse-drawn wagons and in the center of the street a man is leading two horses or maybe mules. No one seems to take any notice of the aeroplane above them.    

Washington, Iowa, the county seat of Washington County, is situated southwest of Davenport, only 32 miles west of the Mississippi River. In 1910 its population was 4,380 so this was a pretty large city by Iowa standards. Maybe enough to support an airfield? Wikipedia doesn't say.

Unlike the other postcards which were never mailed, this one was sent inside a letter on 15 March 1912 to Mr. & Mrs. R. H. Lemon of Los Angeles, California. No doubt the writer hoped to impress them that Iowa had aviators just like the big cities on the West Coast.

Washington Iowa

March 15, 1912

Dear Friends        

I thought I would send you

    this card & let you know that

  our City has improved since

you have left & if  you dont

return you will not know    

Washington  You will think

you have family in Chicago

   I am feeling fairly well  I am

some **?  yet have a fine      

          appetite & can eat anything again

      Remember me to Mrs Burrgess

    How is Mrs Young  by this time

I hope she is improving      

 Your friend  Bessie & Ira Generton(?)

answered Mar 28 - 1912

Today that corner of Washington's town square is still broad but now properly paved. Horses and wagons are rare and airplanes likely don't fly so close to the store buildings anymore.  

W. Main St. & S. Iowa Ave., Washington, Iowa
Source: Google Maps 2024 

* * *

Sharp-eyed readers may have noticed a similarity in the biplanes pictured on these postcards. In fact the aeroplane is identical in every one. If you look closely you can see a faint line outlining the aircraft which shows how its image was pasted onto the photos of the courthouse, the school, and the town square. All of these postcards were sold as novelty fantasy picture postcards of Iowa towns. The airships over Lisbon, and the postcards in my previous story, Flying High in Iowa, were all fakes, yet still produced by genuine human intelligence using only photographic alchemy and, of course, without the aid of computers. Some, like the last image of Washington, Iowa, were published by the "Real Photo" Des Moines Postcard Company (notice the "quote marks"). Others were created by the National Photograph Company of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The "photos" all date from around 1910-1915 and clearly were just good-natured fun, perhaps aimed at promoting civic pride and boosting trade and regional recognition. 

But the biplane pictured on these postcards was not a Wright brothers' flyer. In fact the only connection that Orville and Wilburn Wright had to Iowa was that their family once lived in Cedar Rapids. In 1878 their father, a traveling church minster, brought home a toy helicopter for his sons that was made of bamboo, cork, and a rubber band for power. The two brothers became so captivated in playing with it that it broke. So they built a new one. In later years, they credited this childhood experience with the toy as the spark for their interest in making a flying machine. However the Wright brothers never returned to Iowa and never flew their machine there. 

Nonetheless when they traveled to France in 1908 to present their new invention to the French government and its people, the newspapers in Iowa were quick to report on it. 

Des Moines Tribune
2 June 1908

Somehow the Des Moines Tribune "at great expense secured the exclusive right to publish the working drawings of the Wright Brothers Aeroplane as improved up-to-date." In June 1908 the newspaper printed the detailed plans along with photos of Orville and Wilburn with their flying machine. 

Two years later in 1910, human flight was no long a fantasy or even just a theory. Iowa's newspapers regularly reported on not just the Wright brothers but on aviators from around the world, giving precise numbers for distance flown and altitude reached. Every new advance in aviation engineering was covered, both for lighter-than-air dirigibles and the heavier-than-air powerd aeroplanes. Many articles described the great potential of flight, offering an imaginative future for aeroplanes in commercial air travel or as powerful military aircraft.

1910 Los Angeles International Air Meet poster
Source: Wikipedia

In January 1910 Los Angeles hosted the first international aviation meet in North America. Aviators from around the world brought their flying machines to Dominguez Field in Los Angeles County, California for an eleven day event. Though the Wright brothers had presented their flyer at several events in Europe in the previous two years, they did not participate in this one. Instead they were there in LA to protect their invention's patents from infringements by other aviators. One of them who they accused of stealing their design for ailerons was Glenn Curtiss (1878–1930). 

Glenn Curtiss (1878–1930)
Source: Wikimedia

Curtis was one of the new stars at the Los Angeles Aviation Meet. His first career, like the Wright brothers, started with bicycles, both building and racing them. He then moved over to racing motorcycles, manufacturing his own engines. In January 1907 Curtiss set an unofficial world speed record with his motorcycle powered by a V8 engine. Later that year he joined an aviation research group in Nova Scotia, the Aerial Experiment Association, founded by Alexander Graham Bell. On July 4, 1908, Curtiss flew the biplane AEA June Bug for nearly a mile, making it the first aircraft flight witnessed by the public in North America. The feat won him the Scientific American prize, and also a lawsuit from the Wright Brothers, who had declined previously declined to fly the June Bug. They waited until 3 September 1908 to demonstrate their flyer to the public at Fort Myer in Arlington, Virginia. 

In 1909 Glenn Curtiss took his next biplane, the Curtiss No. 2, to an aviation contest, the Gordon Bennett Cup, in Reims, France. His nimble aircraft completed the two 10-km (12.5-mile) circuits in 15 minutes 50.4 seconds, reaching a speed of 46.5 mph (74.8 km/h). He beat the runner-up, Louis Blériot, by just 5.8 seconds. 

After Reims, in September 1909, Curtiss took his aircraft to an airshow in Brescia, Italy, where he won the grand prize, flying five 10 km circuits in 49 minutes 24 seconds. He also won the quick starting prize, firing up his engine in 8.2 seconds. But he made only second place in the altitude prize, climbing to just 165 ft (51 m). 

Glenn Curtiss carrying Jerome Fancuilli as passenger
at the Dominguez Air Show, January 1910
Source: Wikimedia

It was this same Curtiss No. 2 aeroplane that Glenn Curtiss brought to Los Angeles in January 1910. This was the first major exhibition of powered aeroplanes in the United States. It proved a huge success with an estimated 254,000 tickets sold, roughly 20,000+ spectators each day. Gate receipts for the eleven-day event made around $137,500 which returned $1.25 for every dollar that subscribers invested in the aviation event's fund. 

It didn't take long before other cities got into the action. Even as the Los Angeles meet was going on, announcements were released of major aviation meets in New York, Montreal, Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Minneapolis. 

And even in Sioux City, Iowa. 

Sioux City IA Journal
21 June 1910 

Sioux City is in western Iowa on the Missouri River bordering Nebraska. In 1910 its population was 47,828. After hearing about the airshow in Los Angeles meet, a local Sioux City businessmen's club raised $10,000 to host their own aviation meet. Sioux City's newspaper had been a big promoter of aviation for several years, publishing many articles on aircraft development and reports on new flights. 

The Sioux City Aviation Meet was set for three days at the end of June. The Journal ran a full page spread on the event at Woodland Park with grand banner leads: "Greatest Attraction The World Has Ever Known / Man's Conquest of the Air / A Realization of the Dream and Quest of Ages / A New Hazard for Those Who Seek Fresh Thrills in Sport / The One Important and Distinctive Achievement of the 20th Century." 

The featured aviators would be Charles E. Willard and James C. 'Bud' Mars flying the famous Herring-Curtiss Aeroplane. The park would also have band concerts and league baseball games every afternoon. Later, motorcycle racing was added to the events. Admission was 50¢ for adults, 25¢ for children.

Sioux City IA Journal
30 June 1910 

A RUNNING START IS MADE
ON THE GROUND BEFORE ASCENDING.

The Curtiss biplane which is shown in the picture was set up Tuesday afternoon at Woodland park by the mechanics who travel with the aviators.   Aviator "Bud" Mars is seated at the wheel, with Eugene Ely, who is to take the place of Aviator Willard, standing in front of the machine.  The men in the rear are the mechanics who piece the bird cars together.  The machine is equipped with one front and two rear wheels, on which it is rolled for a distance of 100 yards or more before rising into the air.  It is this feature which makes the Curtiss machines superior to those of the Wright brothers, as the latter are not equipped with ground wheels. 

A week later when the event started, the newspaper ran a picture of one of the two Curtiss aeroplanes brought to the show. Its open frame construction owed more to bicycle than automobile fabrication with a cage of thin supports and cables connecting the two main wings and ailerons, a pusher prop engine, and a single bench seat for the pilot.

Besides flying his own aeroplanes Glen Curtiss was also training other aviators to fly his machines, so for this event his company contracted to send Willard and Mars, who were already known for their "barnstorming" flights. However a day before the event Willard unexpectedly cancelled. He was replaced by Eugene Burton Ely (1886–1911) a native Iowan, born in Williamsburg, and raised in Davenport.

Sioux City IA Journal
30 June 1910 

"BUD" MARS AND EUGENE ELY. 

With the disappearance of Aviator Charles Willard the brunt of flying during the three days' aviation meet will fall on Aviators "Bud" Mars and Eugene Ely.  Mars, who appears at the left of the picture, has been here since Monday, superintending the work of setting up his machine, and Ely, at the right, arrived Tuesday afternoon from Chicago, where he was preparing for the flights which will be made by himself and Mars in that city July 2, 3 and 4. 

Unfortunately the weather conditions in Sioux City that week were not ideal for the small aircraft. Around 4,000 people showed up on the first day but were disappointed when after a long delay the few flights attempted were aloft for only a minute or two, and never reached more than 10 to 20 ft in the air. The aviators blamed the wind. 

The next day was no better. Mars made one flight late in the evening going around the race track, making a "pretty picture...with green trees for a background." But he "narrowly  missed dashing into the judge's stand and one of the grandstands." Most of the crowd had already left the ground.

On the final day of the exhibition, July 1st, the Sioux City businessmen's aviation committee was so dissatisfied by the poor performance of Mars and Ely that they threatened to withhold the final $6,000 payment of the contract with the Curtiss Company. Fortunately on the evening of the final day, both J. C. Mars and Eugene Ely not only got into the air but reached altitudes above the tree line that offered the thrills promised by promotors. The few spectators present cheered and applauded as the two aeroplanes flew around the darkening sky. 

The following week the aviators and their machines were off to Chicago for another aviation meet. The Ringling Bros Circus arrived to take over Sioux City's Woodland park. 

 

The city's commercial club reported that gate receipts for their aviation event took in $3,355 leaving a shortage of $800 from what had been expected. Organizers were not consoled by reports that Charles Williard, the star aviator who had  abruptly dropped Sioux City, had taken his aeroplane to an airshow in Kansas City where he failed to get his plane into the air, first because of a punctured wheel, and then, once it was repaired, only managing a very brief  straight flight that barely reached a height of 25 feet. The Sioux City club's contract with the Curtiss Co. was for $2,000 each day for at least two successful flights each day. In the end the motorcycle races and baseball games turned out to be more exciting for the spectators who came to Sioux City's first Aviation Meet. Iowans were less than impressed with the reliability of aeroplanes or their future utility to mankind. 

I am certain that the little biplane pictured in my collection of Iowa postcards was one of the two Curtiss aeroplanes brought to the 1910 air show in Sioux City. If you look closely you can see the plane has only three wheels with a pusher prop just like the Curtiss. It's a small but significant detail that proves it was not a Wright brothers aeroplane. A newspaper photographer managed to point their camera at either J. C. Mars or Eugene Ely at just the right angle and with a clear sky behind them. The Des Moines "Real Photo" Company then decided that Iowans would get a kick out seeing an aeroplane over familiar places in their home towns. It marked the beginning of the age of aviation, when folks could pretend that they had seen a real aeroplane fly. In a few more years just about everyone could say they had seen an actual aeroplane. But it would be a few decades before people could book a ticket to ride in one.

Later in December 1910, James C. Mars (1875–1944) appeared at an aviation meet in Fresno, California where on a flight at 4,000 feet (1,200 m) his engine's carburetor froze. He was forced to make the longest plane glide then on record, putting it into a half-mile spiral glide to land safely. Less than 2 weeks later Mars demonstrated the first aircraft flight in Hawaii. On this same 1911 tour he is also  credited with bringing aviation to Asia with demonstration flights in Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Korea. While in Japan, he even took along as a passenger Crown Prince Hirohito, the future Emperor of Japan.

Eugene Burton Ely (1886–1911) was surely frustrated by the strong winds in Sioux City that summer but he persevered and in September 1910 found good weather at an airshow in Davenport, Iowa. There he and his Curtiss aeroplane set a new record, flying five miles in ten minutes and reaching an altitude of 2,100 ft. He was praised for the deftness of his landing too. 

A month later on 24 November 1910 Ely made the first shipboard aircraft takeoff in Hampton Roads, Virginia where he launched off the USS Birmingham. The aircraft nearly crashed into the water before rising up, but rather than continue flying over the harbor Ely wisely chose to land on a nearby sandy beach. 

Eugene Ely takes off from the USS Birmingham,
Hampton Roads, Virginia, November 14, 1910.
Source: Wikipedia

Two months later on 18 January 1911, Ely reversed the maneuver to make the first successful shipboard landing of an aircraft. He tool off from a racetrack in San Bruno, California and landed his Curtiss aeroplane on the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania anchored in San Francisco Bay. This used a tailhook system to stop the plane, another first in aviation. 

Tragically on 19 October 1911, Eugene Ely was killed in an accident at an airshow in Macon, Georgia. His plane went into a steep dive that he was unable to pull out of. After he crashed Ely was able to jump clear of the wreckage, but his neck was broke and he died soon after. He was two days short of his 25 birthday.

Sioux City IA Journal
28 August 1910 

Despite the disappointment of the airshow the Sioux City Journal continued publishing articles on the future of aviation. In August 1910 they ran a lengthy piece entitled "Commercial Possibilities of the Aeroplane". It was illustrated with a fantastic drawing of a cityscape with a sky filled with monoplanes, biplanes, and like something out of a Jules Verne story, a monstrous winged airship which presumably carried hundreds of people. The prophetic caption read: "The Whirr of their motors will be as the droning of bees, so numerous will they be."

Sioux City IA Journal
28 August 1910 

On the same page was another article entitled "Aeroplane vs. Battleship" with another illustration showing biplanes dropping bombs onto a navy warship. The caption reads: "The Aeroplane has come like the torpedo and the submarine, but the battle ship remains and will continue to remain King."

Four years later the world would put aeroplanes and airships (not to mention submarines and battleships) to a real test of military power at the start of the Great War.  

The Cradle of Aviation Museum in Long Island, New York
made a short video on the 1910 International Aviation Meet
held at Belmont Park in Elmont, NY in  October 1910.
The film presents some history  of the airshow
and pictures of this event which were likely
very similar to what people saw at the meet in Sioux City. 

To finish I offer this terrific video,
courtesy of RDJunc YouTube channel,
of a replica 1910 Curtiss Hudson Flier
built for the Glenn Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport, NY.
I recommend watching how the engine and prop
is started at the 2:00 minute point.
Takeoff is at 4:00 minutes.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where the airways can get crowded on the weekend.