But where did all this crazy flying start? Once we were airborne it seemed like the limits of flying were being pushed and prior to World War I there were a couple of notable events;
September 1, 1913, Frenchman Adolphe Peegoud demonstrated the ability to fly an aircraft inverted.
September 9, 1913, Russian Petr Nesterov was able to perform a loop.
November 25, 1913, Lincoln Beachey was the first American to perform the loop. He became known as "The man who owns the Sky." He became wealthy for the aviation endeavors; exhibitions, stunt flying and helped lay the foundations for aerobatics. Beachey was killed doing aerobatics (just a few days after his 28th birthday) when he tried to recover from a badly executed aerobatic maneuver; both wings snapped off, the plane and pilot plunged into the San Francisco Bay and were embedded in the mud. The plane was recovered later with Beachey still strapped in his seat.
But, as you would expect, development of these antics was well connected with military aviation and yes you would be right, aerial combat was taking place a mere 11 years after the Wright Brothers took flight. But, the first military pilots were actually prohibited from doing any kind of aerobatics. Their role was to simply observe and report. However, as the offensive capabilities of the airplane developed that soon changed. It was around 1915 that the dogfight in the skies was born. Pilots needed to gain the skills and dexterity to push their airplanes to the limits, sometimes beyond, in order to get that much needed edge. There were no manuals, nor dogfighting schools; everything was self-taught and learned hands on.
The term dogfighting was used prior to aviation to describe a fast-paced battle between two adversaries. The term was adopted in the later part of World War I for aerial combat and has become synonymous with aviation ever since. It was truly made world famous by Top Gun at Miramar, which was established to hone the dogfighting skills of pilots who had become too reliant on avionics.
In 1917, the worst month for the entire war for the Royal Flying Corps, the average life expectancy of a British pilot on the Western Front was 69 hours. There was also the 20-Minute Club for new pilots; their life expectancy in 1916-17 was a mere 20 minutes in combat.
In World War II the Royal Air Force faced terrible odds, a mere 640 aircraft facing the German Luftwaffe comprising 2600 fleet. During the Battle of Britain, life expectancy of the pilot was a mere four weeks. The pilots average age was just 20.
After World War I, former combat pilots helped promote flying in America by barnstorming (touring rural areas performing stunt-flying exhibitions and providing rides for the locals).
The first and only World Cup of aerobatics was held in Paris in June 1934.
In aviation history, one of the female pioneers of aerobatics was that of Betty Skelton who became known as "The First Lady of Firsts.". Born in 1926, she took an early interest in flying, watching the airplanes of Pensacola Naval Air Station from her back yard. Still very young she (and her family) received instruction from a Navy ensign, Kenneth Wright and soloed for the first time at the age of 12 in a 40hp Taylor craft - not sure even then how legal that was. At 16 she held her private pilot license. At 18 she received her commercial pilot license and the following year was certified as an instructor. Aerobatic training started for her in 1945 so that she could perform for an amateur airshow that her father was organizing. As she found it was hard to be accepted as a female pilot, she pursued the aerobatic field. In 1946 she purchased - yes, you guessed it - a 1929 Great Lakes sport trainer biplane. In fact, during my search for a Great Lakes, I was offered this very plane; unfortunately it was well beyond my means to buy.
Her most daring show piece was ribbon cutting with the propeller. The ribbon would be held just 10 feet above the ground, and if that was not enough, she did it inverted!
In 1948 she bought a Pitts Special after winning the championship. This airplane had been designed and built by Curtis Pitts and became known as Little Stinker. Skelton became the US Female Aerobatic Champion in 1948, 1949, and 1950. After this though there was little challenge left, so she retired from aerobatics in 1951 and sold her plane. In 1985 she reacquired the plane and donated it to the National Air and Space Museum in 1985.
Betty Skelton's achievements went far beyond what is listed here, including setting the world record in 1949 for her flight in a Piper Cub to 25,763 feet, only for her to break that shortly after (again in a Piper Cub) by reaching an altitude of 29,050 feet.
Britain held the international Lockheed Trophy contest from 1955 to 1965.
It would not be until 1960 that aerobatics became more globally organized with the formation of the International Aerobatics Commission and the first World Championship was held in Czechoslovakia.
So, where do I fit into all of this. Well I certainly am not ready for competition yet, having only completed four lessons.
My personal advice is to train with a very experienced pilot. I am fortunate to have Pawel Miko instructing me, and he is very committed to the aerobatics and flying community.
Here is what can happen in a very basic move, the aileron roll. I ended up putting way too much forward stick into the maneuver and my plane simply did not like it. Miko recovered to level inverted flight and then flipped us right side up. So very, very glad to have Miko there at that moment.
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