Vega Aircraft Corporation

Transcription

(Curator) Amelia Earhart is probably the most well-known woman pilot in the United States and in the world. She began flying in the early nineteen twenties. She became the first woman to solo across the Atlantic Ocean and only the second person to do so. During the late nineteen twenties and into the early thirties aviation is growing and becoming a form of transportation, but it was also a lot of fun. People were really testing aircraft and seeing how far they could fly them, how high they could fly them which is all really demonstrating the technology of the airplane and improving it. In the end, of course, the idea was to make them into modes of transportation. (Aircraft Restorer) The reason to restore them is to see the whole span of the history. Each individual airplane has its own merit. (In background: the door near three thirty five) but having the whole historical spread, I think is what's most important. We collect them either for a specific flight, a specific bit of history, or we collect them for technological advancement in aviation. In the Lockheed Vega, you have both. We have Amelia Earhart becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean solo. and becoming really the first well-known, highly successful woman aviator of the era. and you also have a technologically advanced aircraft. The Lockheed Vega was first designed in the late twenties. If you look at the clean lines of the aircraft you can see that it's built for speed. It was originally also built as an airliner for small short routes that were being developed at the time. Earlier planes had a lot of bracing wires the engines are out in the open and there's a lot of drag if you looked at earlier aircraft. (Restorer) For all the thrust that the engine is producing, the drag of the air frame is holding it down. So, if you can eliminate the drag, you get higher speeds and better fuel economy, therefore, longer range. (Curator) If you look at the Lockheed Vega, it's very smooth it's very clean the wing is not braced. It's a cantilever wing, so there's no drag against any braces along there. The engine has a beautiful cowling on a which is something that added about eighteen miles per hour to the speed of the aircraft. Anything that covers and streamlines the air flow around different parts of the aircraft will make the aircraft faster, for both racing and for passenger flight. (Restorer) Each individual airplane kind of stands alone as a representative of this time period and the Vegas and those types of airplanes were an advance in technology. (Curator) The pilots who flew aircraft in the late nineteen twenties certainly did not have the advantages that we have today. Flying the Vega, she had no radio. So, once she took off from Newfoundland she was out of communication with anyone until she arrived in Europe. And, as she’s flying across the ocean, she finds that a storm that’s predicted is actually, further north. Then, her altimeter fades, which is one of the critical instruments that she needs. Then, she also had flames coming out of the engine manifold through a crack. She also had a slight fuel leak just above her and it was dripping down her neck. She was uncertain as to how much fuel she actually had. Even though this is one of the top notch planes in the era, it's very rudimentary. So what you find in these pilots is that they had a huge amount of courage. (Restorer) We really need to look at the incredible impact that aircraft and air travel have had on the world today. You can get anywhere in the world in a day today, when it used to take weeks, months, or you don't even bother going. The evolution of flight, changed the world so dramatically in such a short period of time. (Curator) The great inspiration with Amelia was her courage in facing a lot of difficulties. For a woman in aviation at that time period, there were not a lot of opportunities. She could bring aviation to the general public, make them feel as though they were part of it. They could feel the excitement. When she came to town, they could join in and listen to her stories and begin to understand what aviation was all about. She became a role model for many people. It makes her an enduring figure both in history and in aviation as a result.