Edward Robert Armstrong (1876–1955) was a

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engineer and inventor who in 1927 proposed a series of "seadrome" floating airport platforms for airplanes to land on and refuel for transatlantic flights. While his original concept was made obsolete by long-range aircraft that did not need such refueling points, the idea of an anchored deep-sea platform was later applied to use for floating oil rigs.

Biography

* Armstrong was born in 1876 in

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. * He moved to the

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and worked in

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in the early 1900s, developing oil-well-drilling machinery. * In 1909 he went to

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as an automotive and aviation engineer. * In 1916 he went to

DuPont Dupont, DuPont, Du Pont, duPont, or du Pont may refer to: People * Dupont (surname) Dupont, also spelled as DuPont, duPont, Du Pont, or du Pont is a French surname meaning "of the bridge", historically indicating that the holder of the surname re ...

to work on the construction of their

nitrocellulose Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...

plant in

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. He was then promoted to chief of the plant's mechanical research department. * In 1924 he quit

to work full-time on his "seadrome" project. In 1926 he incorporated the "Armstrong Seadrome Development Company", of

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

. * He died in 1955.

Seadrome

A seadrome was to be a floating steel landing strip, the size of an

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

, anchored to the ocean floor by steel cables. The runway platform would provide a runway by wide with extended midsides to allow for a hotel, restaurant, and other facilities. The plan was to position a series of seadromes across the Atlantic Ocean about apart to allow for refueling of airplanes. He had been thinking of the idea as early as 1913. In 1927 when the

Lindbergh Charles Lindbergh (1902–1974) was first pilot to fly solo non-stop across the Atlantic. Lindbergh, a Swedish surname, may also refer to: People *Anne Lindbergh (1940-1993), U.S. children's author, daughter of the famous pilot Charles Lindbergh ...

and other

transatlantic flight A transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe, Africa, South Asia, or the Middle East to North America, South America, or ''vice versa''. Such flights have been made by fixed-wing aircraft, airships, bal ...

s were made, newspapers started running stories of his concept. He had financial backing until

The Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

of the 1930s. The last time he made the proposal was in 1943, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. By that time long-range aircraft had already been designed for the war effort, and

aircraft carriers An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the capital ship of a fl ...

were already in use. During the years following the depression, Armstrong made a number of rebids for the program and eventually the project was downsized from eight to five seadromes as planes had become more advanced. By WWII, the advent of long-range passenger flight made the concept obsolete. Armstrong's efforts with DuPont and Sun Ship Building, owned by Sun Oil, led to his ideas and basic designs being used by the oil industry to create the

Semi-submersible Semi-submersible may refer to a self-propelled vessel, such as: *Heavy-lift ship, which partially submerge to allow their cargo (another ship) to float into place for transport *Narco-submarine, some of which remained partially on the surface *S ...

off shore oil rig.History Detectives
Seadrome
/ref>

Publications

* Edward Robert Armstrong; America-Europe via North Atlantic airways over the Armstrong seadrome system of commercial ocean transit by airplane (1927) * Edward Robert Armstrong; The seadrome project for transatlantic airways (1943) * Leonard H. Quick; Seadrome: phase 1 report

References

External links

Armstrong's Floating Airports: Innovation in History

''American Heritage'': Edward Armstrong
*

''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'', November 27, 1933
Seadrome
''

History Detectives ''History Detectives'' was a documentary television series on PBS. It featured investigations made by members of a small team of researchers to identify and/or authenticate items which may have historical significance or connections to important h ...

'', season 7, episode 10, 30 August 2009
"Floating Airports"
''

Modern Mechanix ''Mechanix Illustrated'' is an American printed magazine that was originally published by Fawcett Publications. Its title was founded in 1928 to compete against the older ''Popular Science'' and ''Popular Mechanics''. Billed as "The How-To-Do M ...

'', February 1934
"Uncle Sam asked to build Floating Ocean Airports"
''

Popular Science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

'', February 1934 (archived at modernmechanix.com) {{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Edward 1876 births 1955 deaths Members of the Early Birds of Aviation People from Guelph Canadian emigrants to the United States

Biography

Seadrome

Publications

See also

References

External links