Aviation History, Economy, Ecology:
    Balloon to Jet | Economy Global | Ecology + Energy



Balloon, Prop to Jet

Dedicated to Flight Captain Walter Stadler of pre-war Sindicato Condor, Brasil



Junkers W 34 at Rio Branco, Brazil, an unpublished photo by Walter Stadler (collection WS)

Construction design of the plane of Albrecht Berblinger, the ‘Tailor from Ulm’ (Johannes Hans, via Wikimedia)


“Civilization means transport”, said world traveler Rudyard Kipling more than hundred years ago. Transport was dependent until the 19th century on sailing vessels, caravans and stage coaches. With the ocean steamers and railways’ grand expresses, for the first time in history a global network of regular communications had been built up in the 19th century. That progress culminated in the development of the airplane.


Start of a Montgolfiere on Oct19, 1873 (drawing by Claude-Louis Desrais, via Wikimedia)

The first steam-powered navigable balloon by Henri Giffard, 1852 (19th century print, via Wikimedia)

Otto Lilienthal at Berlin-Lichterfelde on 29 June 1895 (R. Neuhauss? Otto-Lilienthal-Museum, via Wikimedia)

A vision of the steam-powered plane by Samuel Henson crossing Vienna (L.T. Neumann, Deutsches Museum Munich)

Replica of a George Cayley glider, Yorkshire Air Museum (Nigel Coates, via Wikimedia)

The Wright flight (historic post card)

Alberto Santos Dumont rounding the Eiffel Tower on Oct19, 1901 (Smithsonian Institution)

Graf Zeppelin near Caravellas, Brazil 1934 (an unpublished photo by Walter Stadler)

Balloon, Airship, Prop
Man’s flight had been predicted by Leonardo da Vinci in the 15th century and it was striven for by courageous visionaries. In the 17th century Francesco Lana di Terzi presented the idea of flying by balloon. In 1754 the Russian scientist Mikhail V. Lomonosov built a full-scale model of a helicopter. Man’s flight has become a reality on November21, 1783 in France, when Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier and his co-pilot Marquis d’Arlandes undertook the first manned flight successfully over 12 kilometers, using a hot-air balloon, built by the brothers Montgolfier. Jacques Charles realized the hydrogen balloon, flying in the same year. They symbolized the “mode au ballon” and a few years later, in 1789, the French revolution broke out. “At that time the policy of anti-gravity has changed the epoch and began to create its own media and engines…”, as the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk expressed it.

In 1847 a French pioneer, Petin, had proposed to couple four balloons and to drive them with a steam engine. On September24, 1852, the first test with a steam-powered prop-driven airship took place, built by Henri Giffard (for airship pioneering see ‘Das grosse Luftschiffbuch’ by Peter Meyer and other books). The flight with planes “heavier than air” was successfully realized in the 19th century, too. “Albrecht Ludwig Berblinger, ‘The Tailor of Ulm’, is famous for having constructed a working flying machine, presumably a hang glider (…). He tried to demonstrate the glider on the evening of May30, 1811 in presence of the king”, reported Wikipedia. With the test next day he suffered an accident, he fell in the Danube, or was pushed in the river, but in 1979 he was recognized as a hero in the German drama film “Der Schneider von Ulm”. The renowned historian R.E.G. Davies wrote in ‘A History of the World’s Airlines’: “Sir George Cayley is now generally credited with establishing the basic principles of heavier-than air flight during a lifetime of experiment until his death in 1857.” In 1809/10 his fundamental theories had been published. In 1853 John Appleby piloted a Cayley glider plane successfully near Brompton Hall in England. German pioneer Otto Lilienthal had his first glider flight in 1891, based on thorough researches of the birds’ flight aerodynamics. In 1896 he was killed by an accident. Research tests in glider flying were continued, e.g. by Octave Chanute, Percy Pilcher and by the Wright brothers.

But who has made the first power-driven airplane flight? Samuel Henson envisioned from 1841 a steam-powered plane, based on the experiences of George Cayley and steam engine development by John Stringfellow, but his “Ariel” was too heavy. In 1874 Felix du Temple’s steam plane made a very short flight in France. In 1890 the French engineer Clement Ader had a 55-meter flight with his steam-powered plane (see Pierre Lissarague: ‘Clement Ader inventeur d’ avions’). Also in Russia studies were carried out and in 1885 Aleksandr Fedorovich Mozhaisky tested his plane on the Krasnoselsky military field near St. Petersburg. However, he had to realize that the power of the steam engines fitted was insufficient.

Jean J. Etienne Lenoir “developed the internal combustion engine in 1858” (so confirmed via Wikipedia), a two-stroke engine burning gas. Lenoir’s gas-powered engine was lighter than a steam engine and in 1872 Paul Haenlein demonstrated its superiority with an airship flying at Brno in the Habsburg Empire, but the ruling dynasty had not understood future. The motor, burning liquid fuel, was realized by Nikolaus August Otto, developed further by Gottlieb Daimler – and it had the decisive success. An airship, created by David Schwarz, crashed in 1897 during its first test at Berlin Tempelhof, nevertheless it proved weight-saving by the Daimler engine and a light metal structure. Finally the motor pushed forward the airplane development. In 1901 the Sunday Herald and the New York Herald (Aug19) reported a motor flight by Gustave Whitehead (born in Germany in 1874) near Bridgeport, Connecticut. Karl Jatho had on August18, 1903 a motor flight of 18 meters at Vahrenwalder Heide in Germany (so reported by Rudolf Metzler in SZ 1978). An attempt by pioneer Samuel Pierpoint Langley and Charles Manly with a 53hp plane ended on October08, 1903 in the Potomac River. On 17th December 1903 Orville Wright made a flight of 12 seconds at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina. The plane with 12hp was built by Orville and Wilbur Wright, the two brothers “…who successfully developed the means of controlling the flight of their aeroplanes”, as R.E.G. Davies pointed out their performance, which finally changed history.

Before however, the airship seemed to play that part. On July02, 1900, the full-size LZ1, developed under the leadership of Graf Ferdinand A.H. von Zeppelin together with the engineers Kobler and Duerr, had its first test on Lake Constance. On Oct17, 1900 it achieved a flying time of 80 minutes, until it ran out of fuel and had an emergency landing on the lake (so reported by Peter Meyer). Alberto Santos-Dumont, born in Brazil, designed, built and flew his airship, rounding the Tour d’Eiffel in 1901 though being only 15 meters long. In 1909 Zeppelin founded DELAG, under participation of the famous HAPAG shipping company. Until World War I, DELAG under Dr. Hugo Eckener carried with 4 airships 37,250 passengers and covered c.150,000 kilometers (according to Peter Meyer).

Santos-Dumont changed to aircraft and in 1906 he flew his first plane. On 25 July 1909 Louis Bleriot, injured by accidents, crossed with his Bleriot XI the Channel between Calais and Dover. Starling Burgess built in 1914 the Burgess-Dunne hydro-aeroplane with swept-back wing (see Air&Space, June 2014). On January01, 1914, Percy E. Fansler’s St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line in Florida inaugurated flights with a Benoist-XIV flying boat, piloted by Tony Jannus, described (by R.E.G. Davies) being “the first attempt to operate a regular passenger service.” Experimental mail flights were undertaken by European and American pioneers already before. About the Russian airplane and helicopter constructor Igor I. Sikorsky, the book ‘Russian Aircraft’ (by A.G. Bratukhin and other authors) informed: “In late 1914 a new Sikorsky’s four-engined plane named ‘Ilya Muromets’ started its regular flights (…). On February12, 1914 this airplane made a flight carrying 14 passengers (…).” Still during World War I, on March11, 1918, the first scheduled international mail route was opened by the Austrian military, connecting Vienna with Ukraine, without passenger transport. In 1919 it was followed by a French military mail service from Athens northbound. The Compagnie Franco-Roumaine of 1920 connected Paris with Warsaw in 1921 and reached Istanbul via Bucharest in 1922 with the Bleriot Spad 46 (compare the author’s book ‘Orient-Express’). The first all-metal cabin airliner Junkers F.13 of 1919 changed technology. With the twin-engined 247 of 1933, “Boeing had produced what aviation historians agree was the first ‘modern’ airliner” (R.E.G. Davies). In 1916 William E. Boeing, son of a German immigrant, had founded in Seattle the Pacific Aero Products Co., from 1917 registered as the Boeing Airplane Company (so reported by Figgen/ Plath/ Rothfischer: Verkehrsflugzeuge). The 247 was surpassed by the Douglas DC-2 of 1934, based on the prototype DC-1 of 1933, initiated with help of TWA. From 1935 America attained undisputed leadership with the Douglas DC-3, marking also the near end of the flying boats and the airship. Germany dropped back, pioneer Hugo Junkers was expropriated by the Nazis and the industry had to concentrate on war planes, ordered by Hitler for his intended great war. Then at least one of Junkers’ engineers (the father of adored schoolmate Astrid Hansen) was almost sentenced to death. World’s first pressurized airliner was the four-engined Boeing 307 ‘Stratoliner’, introduced in 1940, raising the comfort more than non-pressurized flying boats.

Global routing was pioneered by heroes, crossing oceans, deserts and mountains. Charles Lindbergh absolved the first North Atlantic crossing in 1927, flying from New York to Paris. In 1939 Pan American opened regular North Atlantic services. French pioneer Mermoz was the first pioneer to cross the South Atlantic and Saint-Exupery glorified pioneering the South Atlantic route by Aeropostale, which opened also a way from Europe to Africa. Sabena, formed in 1923, became remarkable for its services to Belgian Congo. In December 1926 Imperial Airways started Cairo – Basra services and in 1929 passengers could fly from England to Karachi with 7 ½ days traveling time. In that year 1929 KLM connected Netherlands India, in 1931 Air Orient did fly to Saigon, in Dec 1934 Imperial Airways opened the service to Australia and in the same year it participated in creating Qantas Empire Airways. Aeropostale and Air Orient were predecessors of Air France. Imperial Airways was a predecessor of BOAC and British Airways. After WWI Germany had started Deruluft for flights to Russia, and also Dobrolet had emerged with German help. In 1932 Aeroflot became the monopoly carrier for flights over Russia. Pan American was the pioneer on the Pacific and in 1932 it founded daughter Pacific Alaska Airways.

The global network was made operative by the leading airlines of the prop age, started or at least supported by the governments, accessible only to the rich and the privileged. They paid up to three times an average worker’s yearly wage e.g. for a stylish trip aboard a flying boat or a Zeppelin. With the “Graf Zeppelin” of 1928 the first regular trans-Atlantic services were opened, but the uneconomic Zeppelin was out at latest with the “Hindenburg” catastrophe on May06, 1937. When the Nazis started World War II, they ordered to scrap the remaining passenger airship “Graf Zeppelin” and the new “Graf Zeppelin II”. After WWII, the four-engined Douglas DC-4, DC-6, DC-7, Lockheed Constellations and Super Constellations and a few Boeing Stratocruisers dominated the global routes. The gigantic six-engined flying-boats Latecoere 631 and Saunders-Roe “Princess” had come too late, as well as the highly exaggerated Bristol 167 “Brabazon” turboprop of 1949, not to speak of the “Spruce Goose”, the 8-engined flying boat H-4 Hercules, conceived by Howard Hughes as a military transporter for 750 troops, which had its first and only test flight in 1947, then being stored in the Evergreen Aviation Museum.

More realistic were the economic turboprops, starting with the Vickers Viscount in 1950. Indeed, a flight aboard a Viscount was an experience as it did fly more quietly than the conventional props. Four-engined turboprops, mainly the Bristol Britannia, entered service in 1957, followed by the Lockheed Electra and the Ilyushin IL-18 in 1959, the Vickers Vanguard and the 200-seat Tupolev Tu-114 in 1961, the latter with 4 engines driving 8 propellers. They shortened traveling time on long-haul routes, but they could not withstand the jetliners’ superiority.


Dornier Do X 1, New York 1930 (Deutsches Museum Munich)

Dornier Do X of 1929 (coll. Deutsches Museum Munich)

Junkers Ju 52/3m of VFMF with new Swiss colors at Warngau 1986 (WS)

Douglas DC-3 of JAT and (left) of Swiss Air Lines, Munich Riem 1958 (Gretl Ott)

Boeing 247 of Deutsche Lufthansa at Amsterdam before WWII (courtesy Lufthansa)

Focke-Wulf Fw 200 V3 of Deutsche Lufthansa (official photo, courtesy Lufthansa)

Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor (Deutsches Museum Munich)

Boeing 307 Stratoliner (via Wikipedia)


Lockheed Super Constellation of Trans World Airlines (TWA photo)


Boeing 377 Stratocruiser of British Overseas Airways Corp. (BOAC advertisement)


Boeing Stratocruiser of United Airlines (photo courtesy Boeing Co.)

The Spruce Goose which had her only test flight on Nov02, 1947 (author unknown, via Wikipedia)

Saunders-Roe SR.45 Princess (Deutsches Museum Munich)

Bristol 167 Brabazon (Deutsches Museum Munich)

Bristol 175 Britannia of Monarch, Munich Riem 1974 (WS)

Ilyushin IL-18 of Tarom, Munich Riem 1973 (WS)

Jetliners’ Victory
Still in the 1950s the ocean liners and railways’ grand expresses, cheaper than air travel even in wealthy countries, had their clientele. Then the jet aircraft created a new age, but not yet the ’Golden Age’ of air transport, for the working people were still excluded. In 1952 the British Comet 1 provided the first jet passenger service and in 1956 the Russian Tupolev Tu-104 followed. In 1958 the USA achieved the decisive success of the jetliner with the Boeing 707 crossing the Atlantic regularly. In 1969 the supersonic Concorde had its maiden test flight, but supersonic was only an interlude – nevertheless fascinating. Route fragmentation dampened also the optimism for the Boeing 747 ‘Jumbo’ and the Airbus A380 giants – and the beauty of nowadays’ jetliner is the result. Against a hard-lined opposition, flying finally was opened up to the people of the working class in the industrialized countries. The jet aircraft reduced not only traveling time substantially, but also cost. In 1960, still the beginning of the jet age, IATA member airlines carried for the first time more than 100 million passengers. In the year 2000 the ICAO registered 1,647 million (1.6 billion) passengers.

During the prop age and now, passenger traffic beyond the local region has always been the main commercial purpose of the airline industry. Pan American as a typical long-haul airline had carried in 1971 some 11 million passengers on an average trip length of 3,252 km or 1,755 nautical miles. In 2000 the leader United Airlines carried 85 million passengers on an average trip of 2,400km. The average for Singapore Airlines as a typical long-haul carrier was 4,700km. The world scheduled traffic record by revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) has registered (according to Davies resp. ICAO) 142 billion in the year 1960, 3,017 billion in 2000 and 4,652 billion or 4.65 trillion RPK in 2010 with c.2.5 billion passengers. The Current Market Outlook of Boeing estimated an annual growth of 5% for the next two decades. The traffic record of course is showing differences between the continents and regions. But it proves also that the gap shrank drastically. While providing ocean steamer services in the past was confined to the leading powers, the airline business became joined by formerly discriminated nations.

For the year 2000, Airline Business registered the revenue of the top 150 airline groups with almost $350 billion, but net profit was barely 1 percent at 3.5 billion. Total revenues of course are higher. For 2007 ICAO reported for its registered scheduled airlines an operating profit of 3.9%, for 2009 however a loss of 1.6%, though the revenues had attained $563.6 billion. In 2010 IATA recorded for its member airlines net profits of $16 billion. The ICAO’s Annual Report of the Council 2011 stated: “In terms of passenger kilometers performed, international traffic grew by 7.1% in 2011.” Cleansky.eu informed in 2014 that air transport’s global impact was estimated at $3,560 billion (3.56 trillion), representing c.7.5% of world GDP (the annual gross domestic product), creating a total of 32 million jobs. IATA has expected (in 2014) a “4% annual average growth in global air passenger journeys over the next 20 years”. The development must be considered alongside the re-distribution of economic power from a global perspective – see the next chapter Economy Global.


Boeing 747-200 of Lufthansa, Munich Riem 1973 (WS)