Name/Title
StereographEntry/Object ID
2023.055.3.0217Description
A black and white stereograph. Image is the interior of an airplane construction factory. Above the image "T135 (Star)" is printed, below the image "32318T Primary Assembling of Planes in an Airplane Factory at Wichita, Kansas." is printed, to the left of the image "Keystone View Company COPYRIGHTED Manufacturers MADE IN U.S.A. Publishers" is printed, to the right of the image "Meadville, Pa., New York, N. Y., Chicago, Ill., London, England." is printed. On the reverse the following is printed:
32318
ASSEMBLING FUSILAGES OF AIRPLANES IN A WICHITA, KANSAS, FACTORY
The rapid development of aviation in less than three decades has been one of the marvels of the modern world. The first flight of a machine actually carrying a man from the ground was made by Orville Wright at Kitty Hawk, N. C., December 17,1903. His flight lasted 59 seconds and carried him 852 feet. Since then, progress in the science of flight has been little less than miraculous. Airplanes have circled the world repeatedly. They have flown over both the North Pole and the South. By refueling form another machine the plane, St. Louis Robin, in July, 1929, stayed in the air more than 17 1/2days and covered 25,000 miles. On October 21, 1929, a German hydroplane, the DO-X, unparalleled for size and power, made a successful flight at Friedrichshafen carrying a load exceeding 50 tons, incluidng 169 passengers.
Air mail service was inaugurated in the Untied States about the times of the close of the World War. By July, 1928, it had grown until 24 regular air mail routes were being served by planes flying 23,673 miles and carrying over 6,000 pounds of mail daily. From May, 1918, to June, 1927, mail planes had flown nearly 12,000,000 miles and had carried 300,000,000 letters. In the same period 32 of these planes had crasehd, killing 41 pilots and employees, but the planes had, nevertheless, flown 382,000 miles for each employee killed.
The value of aircraft and parts manufactured in teh United States in 1927 was over $21,000,000. Wichita, Kansas, is the greatest single center of airplane manufacture, with seven distinct factories. Here we see a part of the interior of one of them, the room in the plant of the Travel Air Manufacturing Company in which the fusilages are assembled.
Copyright by The Keystone View Company.Collection
Photograph Collection