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AIR RACING HAS AIDED AVIATION DEVELOPMENT

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...and proved an accelerating force in its less than 50-year progress

By Herbert E. Prentke

A half century ago, a balloon ascension attracted great crowds. People who went up in them were considered extremely courageous. Heavier-than-air devices had not been proved practicable up to that time. But at Kitty Hawk in 1903 the Wright brothers successfully demonstrated the ability of man to fly aided by some such ingenious contraption as they had conceived and built.

For centuries man had strived to become airborne, so this final mastery of the air was inevitable. Interest gained rapidly and it was only 6 years after the Wright brothers' historical flight when there were already sufficient airplanes in existence to stage the first air meet. This was an international affair at Rheims, France in 1909 when Glenn Curtiss established the first closed course record for airplanes at the fabulous speed of 47 mph. Then as now it had a magnetic attraction.
In the 42 year span since this first competitive event air racing and wars have continued to be the accelerating forces behind the expansion in air progress. Today-man has flown faster than sound. All the oceans have been crossed. Both of the poles have been flown over. Vast undreamed of areas have been surveyed from the air. Men have flown around the globe without stopping. Every nook and cranny of the earth has been traveled. Men have remained aloft for weeks at a time. Whole armies have been moved by air. Millions of tons of freight have travelled tremendous distances by plane. In short, almost everything within the ken of man and motor has been accomplished, until today nothing remains for the aviator except a voyage to the planets, the setting of more phenomenal speed records, and the testing of new and better equipment.

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