Victory Through Air Power Page #2

against insurmountable odds...

bucking strong winds

and treacherous air currents...

losing precious moments...

with indomitable courage

and the will to win...

the daring flyer

crashed on and on.

Forty-nine days later

at Pasadena...

Rodgers arrived

with only one strut...

and part of the taiI intact

from the originaI plane.

Just barely missing

the prize by 19 days...

this modest hero confidently

predicted that someday...

somebody would fly

across the country in 30 days.

And so,

for the next few years...

the flying machine continued

to thrill the public...

but was regarded as a novelty

with no practicaI uses.

The airplane,

at the tender age of ten...

went off to war.

At first,

aircraft was considered...

to have very little

military value...

except for

observation purposes.

A spirit of

sportsmanship existed...

between the rivaI pilots.

As they would pass

each other...

on their daily flights

over the lines...

they would wave

a friendly greeting...

and sometimes take pictures

of one another...

which led to

an unusuaI development.

Sacr bleu!

This is outrage!

And so, the next day...

Oof!

The following day...

being a hothead

as well as a squarehead...

Fritz took a potshot at Pierre.

Oh!

Duels with pistols,

shotguns, and rifles...

led to the installation

of the machine gun...

successfuI

but for one small detaiI-

The propeller got in the way.

Then science developed

the synchronizing device...

to allow the bullets

to pass between...

the rapidly revolving blades

of the propeller.

The airplane became

a formidable weapon of war.

The merciless pressure

of warfare...

developed highly specialized

types of planes.

The dropping of grenades

and hand bombs...

led to a new and terrible

instrument of war-the bomber.

The terrific competition

of aeriaI combat...

compelled the rapid improvement

of aircraft.

More than 20,000 conflicts

were fought in the air.

The forced development

of aircraft...

in these four years of war...

would have taken 20 years

to accomplish in peacetime.

Yet the war ended before

the world fully realized...

the military potentiaI

of air power.

As a war-weary public

transferred its interest...

to peacetime activities...

the airplane again

had to struggle for existence.

The "Fly with Me"

gypsy flyer...

barnstormed

all over the country.

While people still regarded

the airplane...

as an exciting novelty...

farsighted airmen

were compelling the public...

to look upon aviation

with a new respect.

The U.S. Navy NC-4 flew

from Newfoundland to England...

via the Azores.

The first nonstop

transatlantic flight...

was made by Alcock and Brown

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