Flying High in Iowa

 

At first glance people might have
mistaken it for a giant box kite.
But this contraption could change direction
and move as easily into the wind as with it.

It also soared up and down 
almost like a bird
though it wings did not flap
and its engine was noisier than a flock of geese.

It was the new era of flying machines.
Some zipped across the sky like a hawk.
Others drifted along as sedately as a cloud.

Aeroplanes and airships
seemed to be everywhere now.
Not just in France, or Germany, or England,

but even in Iowa. 

A biplane flying above State Street in Blakesburg, Iowa did not seem to attract much attention from its townsfolk. You'd think people would wave or point. Maybe they were concerned about distracting the pilot as takeoff and landing an aeroplane on such a muddy unpaved road must have been pretty challenging. He appears to be sharply ascending perhaps to avoid the telephone and electric wires. 

Blakesburg is a town in Wapello County in southeast Iowa. In 1910 it had 344 citizens while its current population was 274 at the 2020 census. 

This dramatic picture of an aeroplane was published as a "Real Photo" by the Des Moines Post Card Co. of Des Moines, Iowa. In the 1910s the company's photographer documented quite an impressive number of flying machines over other parts of the state. 

By coincidence, just north of Blakesburg is the Airpower Museum, a 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m2) aviation museum founded in 1965 by Robert L. Taylor and the Antique Airplane Association. It has approximately 25 vintage aircraft on display and features a collection of aviation models, engines, propellers, photos and original art including some fighter planes from World War II.

In this next postcard another aeroplane very similar to the one over Blakesburg is making a dive over the entrance to the U. S. Fish Hatchery at Manchester, Iowa. You'd think this would startle the fish to jump out of the ponds. But unless that pilot pulls up quickly he will be startled too and  find himself hung in the trees around the hatchery.

Manchester is a city about 150 miles northeast of Blakesburg and 45 miles west of Dubuque, Iowa. In 1910 its population was 2,758 and 110 years later can boast of 5,065 residents. The Manchester Fish Hatchery is situated 4 miles southeast of Manchester and was first stocked with fish in the 1890s when it was operated by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In 1976 the hatchery was turned over to the State of Iowa as part of a land trade. Every year it produces 600,000 fish stock, primarily trout, that are then dispersed in Iowa waters.

The aeroplane is similar to the Wright brother's Wright Flyer Model A which was first flown at public demonstrations in Le Mans, France in August 1908. This was also the same model that the brothers contracted to build for the United States War Department in February 1908. The Wright brother's Model A design was licensed for production in Europe with the largest number produced in Germany. 

Evidently one enterprising fellow in Iowa found the means to buy one too. On 10 February 1913 he wrote a message on the back of this postcard to explain his new wings to his sister, Miss Olive Des Antels of Northville, Michigan. 

Sunday

Hello Sis,                                     

                  How are you all?

I'm fine.  This picture shows

me just coming back from   

town in my aeroplane.        

What do you know about   

       that?  No news out here.  Write

        me Sis.  Have subscribed for the

    Record.  So you won't have to

       trouble sending them any more.

            Love to all, Your loving Bro. Gene.

            Write soon.                          

Seventy miles northwest of Manchester is the town of Shell Rock, Iowa. It's much smaller than Manchester and in 1910 it had only 741 citizens. But amazingly the little town of Shell Rock could brag that flying over its sky were two aeroplanes and a sizeable airship too. Presumably the airfield was not on the main street. Those utility poles look very prickly. I wonder how they produced hydrogen for the airship.

It seems Shell Rock must have been the site for one of the first international airports as this postcard was addressed to a someone in Eibergen, Netherlands. It has a postmark of 6 October 1910, 4 PM from Shell Rock and a second postmark from Eibergen of 18 October. That's a very impressive delivery time considering that the maximum speed for Count Ferdinand Zeppelin's airships was around 48 km/h (30 mph). His dirigibles were designed to carry mail and passengers though I don't know how successful his competitors in Iowa were. Even the Wright Flyer could only manage 42 mph and still lacked sufficient power and fuel capacity for trans-Atlantic flight. I suppose the postcard more likely went by train. I believe there was once a railway bridge from Boston to Amsterdam.

Uit verre vorde
zend ik u ga me
er hartelghe goet
Shellrock Iowa
2 Oct 1910
            U** behende (?)
H. G.

From far away I
send you my
best wishes
Shellrock Iowa

During the 1910 decade of the first era of flying machines the people of Iowa were not going to be left behind. It seems nearly every town in the state had a visit from an airship or an airplane. I suppose it is part of that Iowan tradition of taking pride in what their state can produce.  Photo postcards of their gigantic Iowa corn cobs were very popular as well as pictures of 10 foot long Iowa carrots, rabbits the size of hippopotamus, and monstrous long pike fish (presumably well-fed on trout). I don't believe many people today know how important Iowa was to the development of airships and aeroplanes, but I have enough "Real Photos" to prove it. This is only the beginning of a series of stories I plan to tell about the early aviation craze in Iowa. So readers can expect to see more. No joke. It's all true, I'm sure.  

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where combing the seashore can get pretty messy.