A film about the history of aviation in the United States. Retired Air Force Brigadier General, Frank Lahm talks about his first flight, as an Army Lieutenant, with Orville Wright on the Wright Flyer airplane, in July, 1909.Then, Retired Major GeneralBenjamin Foulois recalls how, as an Army Lieutenant, he flew the final cross-country and speed test flight from Fort Myer to Alexandria , Virginia, and back, again, with Orville Wright on 30th July, 1909. Film then shows that event, on July 30, 1909. Lt. Benjamin D. Foulois is seen climbing aboard the Wright Flyer airplane to accompany Orville Wright on the final cross-country and speed test required by the U.S. Army before it would purchase any aircraft. View of the Wright Flyer taking off with Wright and Foulois. Spectators watch in the background. View from another perspective of the aircraft taking off from Fort Myer, Virginia. View of the Wright Flyer being moved by several soldiers after landing back on the Fort Myer drill ground. (In his comments about this, Foulois notes that the flight set three world records: flying ten miles cross-country; attaining altitude of 600 feet, and speed of 42.5 miles per hour.)
French aviator Louis Blériot flies his aircraft in France in 1909. Bleriot sitting at the controls of his aircraft. A mechanic pulls propeller through. The aircraft takes off and flies low.
American aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss in Rheims, France in 1909. Curtiss sitting at the controls of his aircraft. Men assist in starting the engine of the aircraft. The aircraft taxis on a field.
Glenn Hammond Curtiss at the controls his Pusher airplane, the "Rheims Rider", which he flew to win the Gordon Bennett trophy, on August 28, 1909, in the Grande Semaine d'Aviation, at Rheims, France. Ground crew turns propeller and engine starts. Glenn Curtiss taxis out for takeoff.
Film opens showing Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, seated in a carriage outside a building covered with scaffolding. He is wearing a fur-collared great coat and a plumed hat. Several flags are decorated poles behind the carriage. His uncle, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, steps into the carriage. King Edward VI is wearing an overcoat and top hat. As Edward VI settles into his seat, an attendant cover both men with a carriage robe. As the carriage pulls away, an honor guard in formation at attention is seen in the background. The carriage carrying the Kaiser and the King is seen ahead of another one in which a woman is riding, accompanied by a man in top hat and a military officer in uniform. Local spectators stand at the side of road and on hills overlooking the roadway. A third carriage, drawn by a pair of white horses, carries a woman accompanied by a man in a top hat and a military officer in an elaborate plumed hat. A fourth carriage follows with a military officer and two statesmen in top hats. Film ends as horses pulling another carriage.
Various endurance flights and their comparison. A map of the United States as it depicts the comparison of various endurance flights from 1909 to 1921. Map compares various flights like the 1910 flight by Glenn Curtis, trans continental flight in 1919 by O.C. Read, non stop trans Atlantic flight by Captain John Olcock. 1st transcontinental flight by R.C. Towler in 1912.