Category Archives: Aviation history

1950 Aircraft Radio Technician

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Screenshot 2025-06-05 1.04.58 PMShown here 75 years ago, on the cover of Radio-Electronics, June 1950, is Margaret Latham, of Beane Radio Service, Newark, New Jersey. She is shown engaged in a typical aircraft servicing operation at the Newark airport.

She penned an article for the magazine in which she noted that the “service technician must have a genuine interest in aircraft and the people who fly them, as well as a thorough knowledge of the principles of radio, because as often as not he is called upon to cancel his own personal plans to complete repairs on an aircraft radio.”



2025 New York As Envisioned in 1925

SciInvMar2025Shown here, in the March 1925 issue of Science and Invention is “a good idea of the probable appearance of New York’s skyscrapers in the year 2025.” It was to include triple and even quadruple-decker streets. The lower level would be occupied by trucks, with lighter vehicles on the upper levels. Sidewalks would be moving. The subways, both long distance and local, would be in multiple layers underground, with daily commutes of a hundred miles, such as to and from Philadelphia, commonplace. The skies being filled with aircraft would be almost quaint, as they were to be there by 1950.

While the image above is not recognizable, the image below doesn’t miss the mark by very much.  You can see a modern view from a similar angle at this link.

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V-2 Rocket, 1945

1945JanPracMech3Eighty years ago this month, the war was still raging, but the January 1945 issue of the British magazine Practical Mechanics takes an interesting look at one of the German’s instruments of war, namely the V-2, rocket that was terrorizing London. The article begins, “forgetting for a moment its sinister purpose, let us admit directly that “V-2″ is an engineering achievement of indisputable brilliance. It is an achievement, too, that will have great bearing on scientific progress in the years of peace to come, by penetration to great altitudes to return with data of conditions existent in the so far uncharted reaches of the atmosphere, and later, by excursions into space itself.”

The article notes that the rocket on a ballistic trajectory toward London achieved an altitude of about 60 miles. That number exceeded by far the prior altitude record of a mere 98,000 feet.
But if it was instead pointed straight up, it could achieve an altitude of 750 to 800 miles. Indeed, it could escape the gravity of the Earth entirely, never to return.

The article concludes, quite correctly, “V-2 is without doubt a first practical step toward the conquest of space.”

1945JanPracMech2



Santa Claus Trapped in Power Lines, 1949

1949Dec19LifeSeventy-five years ago, Santa Claus decided to visit Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but apparently decided to leave his reindeer at the North Pole. Instead, he decided to parachute into the area, but hit these power lines. While awaiting rescue, he waved at waiting children. This picture appeared in Life Magazine, December 19, 1949, which reported that he should stick to old-fashioned reindeer.



Gonset Communicator: 1954

1954MayRadioNews

No family picnic is complete without getting on the air and making some 2 meter QSOs, as shown 70 years ago this month on the cover of Radio News, May 1944. While mom gets lunch ready and junior looks on, dad is making some contacts with his Gonset Communicator, which can operate on either 117 volts AC or 6 volts DC.

The magazine contained an article describing the then-new offering. It noted that it was considerably more sophisticated than prewar rigs. While the target market for the rig was hams, the magazine noted that it was also suitable for CAP use, or even as the UNICOM frequency of a small airport.



Learning Code By Sleep Learning, 1923

Screenshot 2023-12-12 10.36.16 AMA hundred years ago, these naval aviators look like they’re sleeping on duty, but sleeping was their duty. They are busy learning Morse code, and the Navy discovered that they could do so by sleep learning. While they were asleep, messages were sent to them at increasingly higher speeds. It was found that when they woke up, they were able to copy that speed. In fact, some of the trainees were able to recite the messages that had been sent to them while they slumbered.

The photo appeared in the December, 1923, issue of Popular Mechanics.



UFOs and IFOs by Gardner Soule

UFOsAndIFOsI recall checking out the book shown here, UFOs and IFOs: A Factual Report on Flying Saucers, by Gardner Soule, from the library in my elementary school. Looking at the reviews on Amazon, it looks like this particular tome made its way into a lot of elementary school libraries. In any event, it was a scholarly look at the UFO phenomenon, and since it was presumably vetted by the school librarian, it must have been real science.

The author was a fairly prolific writer about topics that we might today call the paranormal. He specialized in cryptozoology, and according to Wikipedia, his most famous work was Maybe Monsters.  (But in my opinion, UFOs and IFOs was the most popular.)  He specialized in books for young readers, and his works appeared in Boys’ Life and Popular Science.

The main thing I remember from this book, though, was his advice as to preparing for encountering a UFO. If you happened to be in a position to observe a UFO, then it was more or less an obligation that you would use the opportunity to gather data for use by the scientific community. I believe that one item he recommended that you carry with you at all times was a small compass, so that you could report back to the scientists any magnetic activity from the UFO. But the specific recommendation that I remember was that you carry with you at all times a diffraction grating. Armed with this, you would be able to determine the spectrum of light from the craft. Scientists would then be able to use this information to ascertain the materials used in the craft.

I forget whether I took to carrying a compass with me, but I never did figure out how to get my hands on a diffraction grating for my everyday carry. Thankfully, they’re easy to find these days.

If you see a UFO, and don’t have a diffraction grating in your pocket, you’re going to feel embarrassed, especially since we gave you this reminder. The scientists won’t be happy. Therefore, we recommend that you order one immediately. Fortunately, they are now available at our sister site, MyEclipseGlasses.com, for only $3.99, which includes free shipping anywhere in the world.



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First Airplane Landing in Grand Canyon: 1922

1922DecPMIf you tried this today, the National Park Service and the FAA would probably seize your airplane and haul you off to jail. But a hundred years ago this month, the cover of the December 1922 issue of Popular Mechanics showed the first ever landing of an airplane in the Grand Canyon.

Aviator Royal D. Thomas, accompanied by photographer Anthony Ugren, successfully landed the plane at Plateau Point, despite the treacherous air currents that were known to exist there. “To the Indians who had assembled in their best paint and feathers, it must have been an awe-inspiring sight, similar to that of earlier generations of red men who saw the centaurlike cavaliers of the Spaniards and the steam train for the first time.”

The landing of the 180 horsepower plane took place on the morning of August 18. The next morning, the upward flight out of the canyon took 4-1/2 minutes, although Thomas estimated that it would have taken a minute longer if he hadn’t caught an upward air current that lifted him nearly 1500 feet.



1922 Drone Delivery

Popular-Wireless-1922-11-S-OCR-1Amazon might be starting drone delivery any day now, but as we can see here, it’s not a new idea. A hundred years ago this month, the cover of the November 1922 issue of Popular Wireless showed Major Raymond Phillips’ “famous” method for wireless controlled aerial mail.  The issue included part of a series written by Major Phillips with some of the technical details of his system.



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1922 Skywriting

1922OctSciInvThis artist’s conception of skywriting appeared a hundred years ago this month, in the October 1922 issue of Science and Invention.

While this advertisement never appeared in the skies of New York, the magazine did report that London residents, startled by the sound of an airplane, found the words “Daily Mail” written in the sky.

The magazine reported that the plane’s exhaust was routed through a tank containing oils and chemicals to produce the writing, described as dense black smoke.

The term “skywriting” had apparently not yet been coined, and the magazine’s title for the article was simply “Airplane Writes Words in Smoke.”