Shehan :Good Morning sir vinoy and fellow class mates.

We the group of
Irfan,Murtaza and myself have gathered here to tell you all about how the 1920s were the
pioneering years of commercial aviation.

Murtaza : According to the aviation historian Roger Bilstein, it is uncertain when the first
scheduled passenger service in the United States began. After the war ended, Alfred W.
Lawson built the first multiengine airplane designed exclusively for passengers—the
Lawson C-2 in 1919. But surplus military aircraft were a lot cheaper to buy than the C-2,
and his plane did not sell. Next, Lawson built a “jumbo” airliner, the L-4, that carried 34
passengers and 6,000 pounds (2,722 kilograms) of mail. This giant plane, however, crashed
on its first test flight, ending further development.

Irfan : In 1920, a Florida entrepreneur, Inglis Uppercu, began to offer international

passenger flights from Key West, Florida, to Havana, Cuba. He later added other routes
including flights between Miami and the Bahamas and soon between New York and
Havana, picking up passengers at stops along the way. He even extended his service to the
Midwest, flying between Cleveland, Ohio, and Detroit, Michigan. His Aeromarine Airways'
15 flying boats, dubbed “airborne limousines,” made more than 2,000 scheduled flights
and carried nearly 10,000 passengers. But one of their planes crashed off the coast of
Florida, four passengers drowned, and Aeromarine Airways went out of business in 1924.

Shehan : It was the Post Office and airmail delivery that gave the commercial airlines their
true start. In the early part of the 20th century, the Post Office had used mostly railroads
to transport mail between cities. By 1925, only seven years after the first official airmail
flight, U.S. Post Office airplanes were delivering 14 million letters and packages a year
and were maintaining regular flight schedules.

Murtaza : Once airmail became accepted, the government transferred airmail service to
private companies. Representative Clyde Kelly of Pennsylvania sponsored the Contract Air
Mail Act of 1925, commonly referred to as the Kelly Act. This was the first major step
toward the creation of a private and profitable U.S. airline industry.

Irfan : Air Travel was Used in Various Ways.

Passenger Planes
• The U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission explains that while the first air passengers likely took off in 1913, the first plane designed
specifically for travelers was the Lawson C-2. Aeromarine Airways, according to the Commission, operated 15 "airborne limousines"
throughout the early 1920s. The planes ran more than 2,000 flights and carried 10,000 passengers over the years.

Airmail
• September 2008 marked 90 years of the U.S. Post Office transporting mail via planes. According to Air & Space magazine, in the
early 1920s it took "dogged effort and experimentation, marred by dozens of crashes and 16 fatalities, for the service to fly the mail all
the way across the country."

Murtaza :

Lindbergh
• Charles Lindbergh made the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic in May 1927. The Lindbergh Foundation website says that he
only packed "five sandwiches, water, maps and charts, and a limited number of other items deemed absolutely necessary" for the
New York to Paris flight.

Earhart
• In June 1928, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly with a team across the Atlantic. According to the official Amelia Earhart
website, her flight "made headlines worldwide because three women had died within the year trying to be that first woman."
Arctic Expedition
• Floyd Bennett and Richard Byrd are known as the first people to circle the North Pole. However, the U.S. Flight Commission says
there is still controversy over their 1926 flight and whether they ever reached the "top of the world" at all.

Irfan : Later, after Henry Ford had purchased the Stout Metal Airplane Company in 1925
and formed the Ford Air Transport Service, he was awarded the Chicago-Detroit and
Cleveland-Detroit routes. He also produced the all-metal Ford Trimotor, called the “Tin
Goose.” After three years carrying the mail, Ford returned to manufacturing.

Shehan : The 1920s also saw advancements in research and training. Harry Guggenheim,
the son of a multimillionaire, an ex-navy pilot, and an aviation enthusiast, established a
foundation in the late 1920s to teach aeronautical engineers at universities and develop
flight instruments.

Murtaza : Guggenheim also funded Western Air Express with $180,000 in an experiment to
see if airlines could profit from passenger fares alone. Western flew 5,000 passengers from
Los Angeles to San Francisco in its first year with a flawless time and safety record. Yet,
the company could not make enough money to survive without airmail subsidies.

Irfan : By the end of the 1920s, travelers could still cross the country faster by train than
by air. Airplanes had to fly around mountains, could not fly safely at night, and had to
land frequently to refuel. Flying by air was uncomfortable and some passengers wore
overalls, helmets, and goggles. The airplanes were uninsulated thin sheets of metal,
rattling in the wind, and passengers stuck cotton in their ears to stop the noise.

Murtaza : Cabins were unpressurized—passengers chewed gum to equalize the air

pressure. Nevertheless, more and more people were flying. he number of airline
passengers in the United States grew from less than 6,000 in 1926 to approximately
173,000 (SCREAM this out) in 1929. Businessmen comprised most of the passengers, and
more and more companies would pay for their employees to travel by air.

Shehan : Our chart shows more information and provides statistics about various aircrafts
that existed in the 1920s era .

This concludes our presentation of aircrafts in 1920 . thankyou 