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Planning Document: Revolutions in the Sky‐Early Flight

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Planning Document: Revolutions in the Sky‐Early Flight Planning Document: Revolutions in the Sky‐Early Flight ‐Theme Statement: In one short decade the airplane grew from an ancient dream into the reality of a machine that would shape the future. Between the first flights at Kitty Hawk and the opening guns of WWI, the design and construction of aircraft and engines, once the work of a handful of individuals laboring in garages and home workshops, became a global industrial enterprise, supported by the world’s governments, which promised to exercise enormous impact on society, politics and culture in war and peace. Fueled by the excitement of the first air races, meets and exhibitions, a wave of public enthusiasm for aviation circled the globe. The men and women who flew ever higher, faster and farther emerged as the great heroes of the era. The stage was set for a new age shaped by the fact that human beings can fly ‐Big Ideas: Innovation – How did we learn to fly? What people and ideas contributed to the invention of the airplane? Industrialization: How did technical change and improvement occur, 1903‐1914? What factors led to technological advance? How did aviation grow to become an important industry? Globalization: A technology without borders ‐‐ What role did government play in fostering aeronautical progress? What impact did varying levels of government support have on aeronautical progress in different nations? Was early aviation a global technology? What elements promoted technology transfer? Flights of the Imagination: How did public perceptions of the potential of the airplane change attitudes toward science, technology and the future? What sort of individuals emerged as representatives of the new air age? Consequences: What were the social, cultural and political impacts of flight? ‐‐Scope Unit Topics and discussion of major elements in each unit Unit 1: The Dream – From Icarus and Daedalus to Leonardo Flight in mythology, religion and literature – small Greek sculpture, Saqqara bird, reproductions of ancient art Unit 2: Navigating the Air: The Airship Comes of Age The airship from Santos‐Dumont to Zeppelin – Santos‐Dumont engine, airship models (Personal focus on Alberto Santos‐Dumont and Graf Ferdinand von Zeppelin; will perhaps include Aida de Acosta and Clarkson Potter) Unit 3: Learning to fly ‐‐ Sir George Cayley to the Wright brothers Cayley‐models, graphics Penaud and other flying toys 3 NASM PPC Proposal Revised February 7, 2015 Lilienthal – Standard glider now on display in EF Langley – Aerodrome No.5, 1903 engine – now on display Chanute – model gliders in case, now on display The Wright brothers, 1899‐1909, a quick survey to set the stage for the core unit Unit 4: 1909: Dawn of the Air Age—The focus is on the birth and impact of a new industry as seen through the experience of the Wright, Curtiss and Blériot companies. Major artifacts: 1909 Wright Military Flyer, Curtiss Headless D, Blériot XI, and Ecker Flying Boat. In 1909 the Wrights sold the world’s first military airplane to the U.S. Army, Louis Bleriot flew the English Channel and Glenn Curtiss won the first Gordon Bennett speed classic at the great air meet at Reims, France. This unit will suggest how the events of that year set the stage for industrial growth and forecast the extent to which the airplane would change the world. Topics will include: Building airplanes – the birth of an industry Great flights with international significance ‐‐ from Ft. Myer to the English channel Government and industry International rivalry and the factors supporting industrial growth The role of competition on technological advance Personal focus on the Katharine Wright, Benjamin Foulois, Glenn Curtiss and Louis Blériot Unit 5: Power and Control: engines, propellers, flight control Some of the engines and propellers now on display—the operation and design of in ‐line and rotary engines The propeller as sculpture – an assembly of variously shaped propellers Aircraft control systems What was it like to fly early aircraft Unit 6: The Roar of the Crowd – competitions, air meets, clubs Art – Rudy Dirks, Fledglings; Dean Mosher, Lady Liberty; James Dietz, Breakthrough Over Kiev Posters and programs Trophies and awards Personal focus on Lincoln Beachey and Harriet Quimby – two exhibition pilots Georgia “Tiny” Broadwick, parachuting pioneer Unit 7: The World Takes Wing: American aviators, European aviators, women in flight An interactive unit invites visitors to see images and learn a bit about fliers from every part of the nation and around the world. New types of aircraft—flying boats and multiengine machine 4 NASM PPC Proposal Revised February 7, 2015 Visitors have an opportunity to “try on” early flight clothing Herman Ecker and the home‐building tradition Unit 8: The Gathering Storm Lead in to WW I ‐Walkthrough‐The Visitor Experience A Visit to the Early Flight Gallery: Unit 1: The Dream Visitors will enter the gallery through a unit on the pre‐history of flight, where they will be introduced to the people, ideas and machines that provided the foundation for the invention of the airplane. Through objects, images, labels and interactives they will be invited to consider some basic questions, such as: How did we learn to fly? What people and ideas contributed to the invention of the airplane? The only original Otto Lilienthal glider in the western hemisphere hangs overhead at the entrance. A relatively small opening section will introduce visitors to the ancient dream of flight. A case housing a large sculptural piece based on Etienne Robertson’s fanciful navigable balloon La Minerve will set the tone. A small statue of Mercury, the wing‐footed god, and representations of flight in myth, religion and literature will underscore the deep‐seated desire to take to the air. The unit will conclude with a large image of Darius Green, the comic hero of the J.T.T Trowbridge’s 1887 comic poem, sitting amid the ruins of the flying machine in which he has just leaped from the barn roof, the personification of centuries of disappointed would‐be aviators. A potential interactive will allow visitors to select illustrations and short texts describing myths of flight and flying from around the world via a touch screen. Unit 2: Navigating the Air A second relatively small unit tells the story of the early development of the airship, buoyant powered flight, with a focus on Alberto Santos‐Dumont and Count von Zeppelin. The display will include several airship models and a silent audio‐visual presentation showing early dirigibles in the air. In addition, visitors will have an opportunity to interact with a digital Santos‐Dumont in some fashion. Ideally, you will be invited to pose several suggested questions to this colorful and eccentric pioneer airman, presented as a full‐size digital image on a screen, or perhaps as a “ghost” image on scrim. The figure might initially appear to be a figure in a full size painting that comes to life when a visitor approaches. A sensor will “wake up” the image, which will then introduce himself and ask if the visitor has any questions for him. The “navigators” in Time and Navigation are our model for this and later figures. Unit 3: Leaning to Fly A final introductory unit will establish the foundation for the birth of powered flight. Major objects include the world’s first purpose‐built aeronautical power plant, a light‐weight steam engine that won first prize at the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain’s first exhibition at London’s Crystal Palace in 1868; Australian Lawrence Hargrave’s wing‐ flapping model aircraft; Samuel Langley’s Aerodrome No. 5; the engine of Langley’s Great Aerodrome; and a case filled with models of gliders designed by Octave Chanute. The story of German aeronautical pioneer Otto Lilienthal 5 NASM PPC Proposal Revised February 7, 2015 will be linked to his glider, hanging at the entrance to the gallery. A short treatment carrying the story of the Wright brothers from 1899‐1908 will set the stage for entry into the core of the exhibition. It is possible that full scale digital images of the brothers, and/or their sister Katharine (as with Santos‐Dumont, above), will play a role in the transition. Visitors may overhear a conversation among them. Alternatively, Katharine may offer visitors an account of their time in Europe in 1908 and early 1909. As she speaks, a monitor will play still photos showing Katharine and her brothers in the air and meeting kings, queens and world leaders. Unit 4: 1909 – Dawn of the Air Age The core units of the Gallery will focus on the events of 1909 as the year in which the potential of the airplane to shape the future became fully apparent. A short film presented somewhere close to the entrance to this central portion of the gallery will provide a narrative frame helping visitors to understand why this year was so important and tying the individual sections together. Three major aircraft will serve as the focal points. The 1909 Wright Military Flyer, the world’s first military airplane, will describe the early recognition of the military potential of the airplane, the importance of an international market for military aircraft, and the rise of the aircraft and engine industry. A series of photos taken in the Wright factory give a sense of the process of building airplanes during this period between the craft era, and the dawn of industrial production. The display will include models of various Wright types, 1909‐1915. Images and labels will describe the activities of both the Wright exhibition team and the Wright flying school, both core operations of the Wright Company. Extended silent footage of the Wrights flying in Europe and America, 1908‐1909, will give visitors a notion of what it was like to the 1909 Military Flyer hanging overhead in flight.
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