Feliksas Vaitkus
Feliksas Vaitkus (1907–1956), also known as Felix Waitkus, was an American-born Lithuanian pilot and the sixth pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic. Biography His parents came from Lithuania in 1904, settling in the old "Lithuanian Downtown" in Chicago's Bridgeport neighborhood where Vaitkus was born three years later. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1928, and after graduating from advanced pilot’s training school, was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Corps. In 1931, he was placed in the reserves with the rank of first lieutenant and returned to civilian life to work with his father-in-law who operated a flying school in Kohler, Wisconsin. Lituanica II A few months after the ''Lituanica'' tragedy, some prominent members of the Chicago Lithuanian community discussed the possibility of financing another transatlantic flight. This idea was greeted with much enthusiasm, and enough funds were raised during this difficult period, the Great Depression. A much fas ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of United States cities by population, third-most populous city in the United States after New York City and Los Angeles. As the county seat, seat of Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, the List of the most populous counties in the United States, second-most populous county in the U.S., Chicago is the center of the Chicago metropolitan area, often colloquially called "Chicagoland" and home to 9.6 million residents. Located on the shore of Lake Michigan, Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837 near a Chicago Portage, portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, Mississippi River watershed. It grew rapidly in the mid-19th century. In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed several square miles and left more than 100,000 homeless, but ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Lithuanian Air Post Stamp Mi-405 (1936)
Lithuanian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Lithuania, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe ** Lithuanian language ** Lithuanians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to Lithuania and the immediate geographical region ** Lithuanian cuisine ** Lithuanian culture Other uses * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jews, sometimes used to mean Mitnagdim * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth See also * List of Lithuanians This is a list of Lithuanians, both people of Lithuanian descent and people with the birthplace or citizenship of Lithuania. In a case when a person was born in the territory of former Grand Duchy of Lithuania and not in the territory of moder ... {{disambig Language and nationality disambiguation pages ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Steponas Darius
Steponas Darius (known as Stephen Darius in the US; born Steponas Jucevičius-Darašius; January 8, 1896 – July 17, 1933) was a Lithuanian American aviator, pilot, who died in a non-stop flight attempt in the ''Lituanica'' from New York City to Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1933. Biography Born in :lt:Dariaus kaimas, Rubiškės, in the Kovno Governorate of the Russian Empire, Darius immigrated to the US with his family in 1907. In 1917 he joined the United States Army, after the United States entered World War I, and changed his name to Darius. He served as a telephone operator in the 149th Field Artillery Regiment, fought in France, was wounded and received the Purple Heart medal. In 1920, he returned to Lithuania and joined the Lithuanian Army, graduating from War School of Kaunas in 1921. He participated in the Klaipėda Revolt of 1923. While living in Lithuania he completed pilot training. In 1927 he returned to the United States and started working in civil aviation. He initiall ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Floyd Bennett Field
Floyd Bennett Field is an airfield in the Marine Park, Brooklyn, Marine Park neighborhood of southeast Brooklyn in New York City, along the shore of Jamaica Bay. The airport originally hosted commercial and general aviation traffic before being used as a naval air station. Floyd Bennett Field is currently part of the Gateway National Recreation Area's Jamaica Bay Unit, and is managed by the National Park Service (NPS). While no longer used as an operational commercial, military, or general aviation airfield, a section is still used as a helicopter base by the New York City Police Department (NYPD), and one runway is reserved for hobbyists flying radio-controlled aircraft. Floyd Bennett Field was created by connecting Barren Island, Brooklyn, Barren Island and several smaller islands to the rest of Brooklyn by filling the Channel (geography), channels between them with sand pumped from the bottom of Jamaica Bay. The airport was named after Floyd Bennett, a noted aviator who pilo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart ( ; July 24, 1897 – January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer. On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her life, Earhart embraced celebrity culture and women's rights, and since her disappearance has become a global cultural figure. She was the first female pilot to fly solo non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean and set many other records. She was one of the first aviators to promote commercial air travel, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences, and was instrumental in the formation of Ninety-Nines, The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots. Earhart was born and raised in Atchison, Kansas, and developed a passion for adventure at a young age, steadily gaining flying experience from her twenties. In 1928, she became a celebrity after becoming the first female passenger to cross the Atlantic by airplane. In 1932, she became th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Wiley Post
Wiley Hardeman Post (November 22, 1898 – August 15, 1935) was an American aviator during the Aviation between the World Wars, interwar period and the first aviator, pilot to fly solo around the world. Known for his work in high-altitude flying, he helped develop one of the first pressure suits and discovered the jet stream. On August 15, 1935, he and American humorist Will Rogers were killed when his aircraft Rogers-Post Site, crashed on takeoff from a lagoon near Point Barrow in the Territory of Alaska. Post's modified Lockheed Vega aircraft, the ''Winnie Mae'', was on display at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center from 2003 to 2011. It is now featured in the "Time and Navigation" gallery on the second floor of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Early life Post was born to parents who cultivated cotton on a farm near Grand Saline, Texas. His father was William Francis and his mother was Mae Quinlan Post, a person of mixed Chero ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Lockheed Vega
The Lockheed Vega is an American five- to seven-seat high-wing monoplane airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation starting in 1927. It became famous for its use by a number of record-breaking pilots who were attracted to its high speed and long range. Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in one, and Wiley Post used his to prove the existence of the jet stream after flying around the world twice. Design and development Designed by Jack Northrop, John Knudsen Northrop and Vultee Aircraft, Gerald Vultee, both of whom would later form their own companies, the aircraft was originally intended to serve with Lockheed's own airline routes. They set out to build a four-passenger (plus pilot) aircraft that was not only rugged, but also one of the fastest aircraft of its era. Using a wooden monocoque fuselage, plywood-covered cantilever wings and the best engine available, the Vega delivered on the promise of speed. The fuselage was built from she ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Great 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 business failures around the world. The economic contagion began in 1929 in the United States, the largest economy in the world, with the devastating Wall Street stock market crash of October 1929 often considered the beginning of the Depression. Among the countries with the most unemployed were the U.S., the United Kingdom, and Weimar Republic, Germany. The Depression was preceded by a period of industrial growth and social development known as the "Roaring Twenties". Much of the profit generated by the boom was invested in speculation, such as on the stock market, contributing to growing Wealth inequality in the United States, wealth inequality. Banks were subject to laissez-faire, minimal regulation, resulting in loose lending and wides ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Chicago Lithuanian Community
Lithuanians in Chicago and the nearby metropolitan area are a prominent group within the " Windy City" whose presence goes back over a hundred years. Today the Chicago area possesses the largest Lithuanian community outside Lithuania,Čikagos aidasThe Lithuanian Market Retrieved on 2008-09-04 who have dubbed the city as Little Lithuania, and many Lithuanian Americans refer to it as the second capital of Lithuania. Lithuanian Americans from Chicago have had a significant impact on politics in both the United States and Lithuania. Census estimates as of 2023 number the Lithuanian population in the Chicago metropolitan area at 59,359. The population is currently declining, influenced partially by Lithuania's 2004 entry into the EU, which has led a decrease in new arrivals to the United States. History Lithuanians have been documented as arriving in the US since 1918, when Lithuania re-established its independence from Imperial Russia. Although this is the first official record, L ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Lituanica
''Lituanica'' was a Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker airplane flown from the United States across the Atlantic Ocean by Lithuanian pilots Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas in 1933. After successfully flying 6,411 km (4,043 miles), it crashed, due to undetermined circumstances, 650 km (404 miles) from its destination, Kaunas, Lithuania. The aircraft On June 18, 1932, the pilots purchased the Pacemaker airplane, serial no. 137, registered as NC-688E, from the Pal-Waukee Company for $3,200. First produced and flown in 1929, forty units of the CH-300 Pacemaker were eventually built. It was a single-engine, six-seat, high-wing monoplane. The fuselage was welded chromoly steel tubing covered with fabric. The cabin interior was covered with a sound-absorbing material. The fuselage had side and top windows, with doors on both sides. The wings were of wooden construction, with two spars, also fabric-covered. The spars and ribs were made of spruce strips and plywood. The ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Kohler, Wisconsin
Kohler is a village in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, United States, along the Sheboygan River. The population was 2,195 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is included in the Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Sheboygan metropolitan statistical area. History Originally called Riverside within the rural Sheboygan (town), Wisconsin, Town of Sheboygan, the village was founded as a planned community, model company town in 1900 when the Kohler Company built a new plant at the location. The village was incorporated in 1912 as the List of villages in Wisconsin, Village of Kohler. Of the original homes, most built between 1917 and 1931, approximately 95% are owner occupied. The Kohler Company continues to retain final authority over the design of home and business additions, outbuildings and fences in the village to keep them within a certain aesthetic standard. In 1900, Kohler Company moved four miles westward from Sheboygan to its present location, then known as Riverside. Chief exec ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Bridgeport, Chicago
Bridgeport is one of the 77 community areas in Chicago, on the city's South Side (Chicago), South Side, bounded on the north by the Chicago River#South Branch, South Branch of the Chicago River, on the west by Ashland Avenue, on the south by Pershing Road (Chicago), Pershing Road, on the east by the Union Pacific Railroad tracks, and on the northeast by the Dan Ryan Expressway. Neighboring communities are Lower West Side, Chicago, Pilsen across the river to the north, McKinley Park, Chicago, McKinley Park to the west, Canaryville to the south, and Armour Square, Chicago, Armour Square to the east. Bridgeport has been the home of five Chicago Mayor, Chicago mayors. Once known for its Racism in the United States, racial intolerance, Bridgeport today ranks as one of the city's most diverse neighborhoods. History Bridgeport was initially called the "Chicago portage, Portage de Checagou" (or Portage des Chenes), and Fr. Jacques Marquette and trader Louis Joliet traveled through in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |