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Flying High: Aviation History Month
November 18, 2024
While Aviation has a much longer history than many consider (think balloons, gliders, and other ‘flying machines’), the most common vehicle in aviation history is probably the airplane. I could certainly look at the IHS collections and pull up images of some of those other forms, but in looking at the digital collection, planes, planes, and more planes stand out in the searches. I will take you on a journey with me looking at just a handful of these images in celebration of Aviation History Month.
Johnson Brothers Monoplane, first monoplane to take flight in the U.S., Terre Haute, ca. 1911. Martin Collection, IHS.
According to the online Encyclopedia of Aircraft in Australia and New Zealand, which is a collection of the aviation enthusiast and historian David C. Eyre, Terre Haute’s Johnson brothers were the first in the United States to fly a monoplane. They designed the machine and gave it flight. The Wright Brothers design had been that of a biplane configuration. The Johnson brothers managed their feat for the first time in 1911. Not surprisingly, they continued in the engineering realm and later opened the Johnson Motor Company.
Howard Casterline crashed into a tree, Blackford County, 1928; Bernard ‘Doc’ Allen and Arthur Foulkes suffered a mid-air collision during a race, Vigo County, 1930. IHS, P0114; Martin Collection, IHS.
When aviation was still somewhat in its infancy, there was still much to be learned and navigated through when considering handling of the equipment and training of pilots. The above images show the aftermath of two crashes that happened in Indiana in the relatively early years of aviation. The first shows the plane of Howard Casterline of Blackford County, who crashed into a tree while attempting a night landing on October 15, 1928. Casterline lived to tell the tale and continue flying. The other two pictures show the crashed planes of Bernard ‘Doc’ Allen and Arthur Foulkes on August 10, 1930. The two men were participating in a small plane race outside the city of Terre Haute when the mid-air crash occurred. Unfortunately, neither of the men survived the incident.
Amelia Earhart, location unknown, 1928; Phoebe Omlie, Vigo County, 1929; African American aviators, Chicago, IL, 1935; Maxine Musselman, Marion County, ca. 1930s. IHS, P0476; Martin Collection, IHS; Madam C.J. Walker Collection, IHS; IHS, M1080 (cropped).
As with many other twentieth-century exploits, automobile driving, gainful employment, etc., women were a minority in the pilot seat. A few female pilots included in our digital collection are noted above. One of the most recognizable pilots of all time, Amelia Earhart, is shown in front of a plane in 1928. She came to Indiana and worked at Purdue a couple of years before her ill-fated final flight. In August 1929, Phoebe Omlie was participating in a derby from California to Ohio when she stopped in Terre Haute. Next, in 1935, this group of African American flyers, including the five women in the second row were gathered in Chicago as part of a group in ‘the spirit of Bessie Coleman’ an early African American female aviator, pictured in the upper right-hand corner. Finally, we see Maxine Musselman next to her plane at the Indianapolis Municipal Airport in the 1930s.
There is so much more aviation history I could share from our digital collection alone, not to mention other collections that we have that have not yet been digitized. Hopefully, with just the handful of images shared above you will take the time to explore most of the IHS collections yourself. Don’t forget to follow all of the great blog content on the IHS blogsite!
