Air Yacht
An air yacht is a private aircraft, usually a :en:flying boat, flying boat. They developed :en:interwar period, between the wars as a recreation and status symbol for rich businessmen. The first aviation of this form developed immediately before World War I, when 'sporting' gentlemen, i.e. those both rich and with ample leisure time, could indulge in private flying. For the first time this regarded flight as a means of safe and reliable transport, not merely an achievement in itself. Right from the outset, the speed of flight and its ability to make long distances manageable was recognised as an advantage. The idea of seasonal commuting between New York City, New York and Florida, previously done by train, was one goal. All aspects of aviation were spurred by World War I and there were many technical developments, particularly for aircraft engine, engine reliability and the construction of larger, more robust aircraft, including seaplanes. Despite this, the time immediately after W ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Loening S-1
The Loening S-1 Flying Yacht, also called the Loening Model 23, was an early light monoplane flying boat designed in the United States by Grover Loening in the early 1920s.Taylor 1989, 609 The aircraft won the 1921 Collier Trophy. Design and development The S-1 Flying Yacht was a high-wing, strut-braced monoplane with the engine mounted pusher-fashion in a nacelle atop the wing. The cabin was semi-enclosed, featuring side windows but no roof, and was located immediately ahead of the wing. Twin tails were fitted, carrying a common stabiliser in a high position. The construction was unusual, in that rather than the flying boat hull being integral with the fuselage, the Model 23's hull was a large, separate pontoon mounted directly underneath a fuselage that was a separate structure."The Loening Model 23 Flying Boat" This was intended to combine the safety of a floatplane design with the low parasitic drag of a conventional flying boat Grover Loening was awarded the 1921 Aero Cl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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:en:amphibious Aircraft
An amphibious aircraft, or amphibian, is an aircraft that can take off and land on both solid ground and water. These aircraft are typically fixed-wing, though amphibious helicopters do exist as well. Fixed-wing amphibious aircraft are seaplanes ( flying boats and floatplanes) which are equipped with retractable wheels, at the expense of extra weight and complexity, plus diminished range and fuel economy compared with planes designed specifically for land-only or water-only operation. Design Floatplanes often have floats that are interchangeable with wheeled landing gear (thereby producing a conventional land-based aircraft). However, in cases where this is not practical, amphibious floatplanes, such as the amphibious version of the DHC Otter, incorporate retractable wheels within their floats. Some amphibians are fitted with reinforced keels which act as skis, allowing them to land on snow or ice with their wheels up. Many amphibian aircraft are of the flying boat type. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gar Wood
Garfield Arthur "Gar" Wood (December 4, 1880 – June 19, 1971) was an American inventor, entrepreneur, and championship motorboat builder and racer who held the world water speed record on several occasions. He was the first man to travel over 100 miles per hour on water. Early life Gar Wood was born on December 4, 1880 in Mapleton, Iowa, into a family of 13 children. His father was a ferryboat operator on Lake Osakis, Minnesota, and Gar worked on boats from an early age. In 1911, at age 31, he invented a hydraulic lift for unloading coal from rail trucks. Garwood Industries He established the Wood Hoist Co. in Detroit, Michigan, and soon became a successful businessman. Later, he changed the company's name to Garwood Industries, which built racing and pleasure boats under the ''Gar Wood'' brand. Wood also capitalized on experience with coal unloaders to successfully produce and market ''GarWood'' truck, bus and coach bodies. He had a home in Algonac, Michigan. Garw ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fokker F
Fokker was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. The company operated under several different names. It was founded in 1912 in Berlin, Germany, and became famous for its fighter aircraft in World War I. In 1919 the company moved its operations to the Netherlands. During its most successful period in the 1920s and 1930s, it dominated the civil aviation market. Fokker went into bankruptcy in 1996, and its operations were sold to competitors. History Fokker in Germany At age 20, while studying in Germany, Anthony Fokker built his initial aircraft, the ''Spin'' (Spider)—the first Dutch-built plane to fly in his home country. Taking advantage of better opportunities in Germany, he moved to Berlin, where in 1912, he founded his first company, Fokker Aeroplanbau, later moving to the Görries suburb just southwest of Schwerin (at ), where the current company was founded, as Fokker Aviatik GmbH, on 12 February 1912. World War I Fokker capitalized o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ernest Guinness
Arthur Ernest Guinness (2 November 1876 – 22 March 1949) was an Irish engineer and a senior member of the Guinness family. He usually went by the name of Ernest. Family Ernest was the second son of brewing magnate Edward Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh and his wife Adelaide. On 15 July 1903 he married Marie Clothilde Russell, the daughter of Sir George Russell, 4th Baronet, and his wife Charlotte. Ernest and Marie Clothilde had: * Aileen (1904–99), who married the Hon. Brinsley Plunket; * Maureen (1907–98), the wife of Basil Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 4th Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, whose children included the author Caroline Blackwood; * Oonagh (1910–95), the wife of the Hon. Philip Kindersley, and then of Dominick Browne, 4th Baron Oranmore and Browne, whose children included Garech Browne and Tara Browne. Career Ernest was seen as the modernising technical expert among the Guinness family directors at Guinness from 1900 to the 1930s, until he was seriously inj ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Supermarine Solent
Supermarine was a British aircraft manufacturer that is most famous for producing the Spitfire fighter plane during World War II as well as a range of seaplanes and flying boats, and a series of jet-powered fighter aircraft after World War II. The company had successes in the Schneider Trophy for seaplanes, with three wins in a row of 1927, 1929 and 1931. The company was founded in 1913 as Pemberton-Billing Ltd on the River Itchen close to Woolston, Southampton, on ground previously purchased by Noel Pemberton Billing to construct motor launches. It produced a couple of prototypes using quadruplane designs to shoot down zeppelins, the Supermarine P.B.29 and the Supermarine Nighthawk. The aircraft were fitted with the recoilless Davis gun and the Nighthawk had a separate powerplant to power a searchlight.The World's Worst Aircraft James Gilbert Upon election as a Member of Parliament (MP) in 1916, Pemberton-Billing sold the company to his factory manager and longtime associate ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Harold Stirling Vanderbilt
Harold Stirling Vanderbilt CBE (July 6, 1884 – July 4, 1970) was an American railroad executive, a champion yachtsman, an innovator and champion player of contract bridge, and a member of the Vanderbilt family. Early life He was born in Oakdale, New York, the third child of William Kissam Vanderbilt and Alva Erskine Smith. To family and friends he was known as "Mike". His siblings were William Kissam Vanderbilt II and Consuelo Vanderbilt. His maternal grandfather was Murray Forbes Smith. As the great-grandson of the shipping and railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt, he was born to great wealth and privilege; as a child he was raised in Vanderbilt mansions, traveled frequently to Europe, and sailed the world on yachts owned by his father. His nephew, Barclay Harding Warburton III, founded the American Sail Training Association. Vanderbilt was educated by tutors and at private schools in Massachusetts, including St. Mark's School, Harvard College (AB 1907), and Harvard Law Sc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vincent Astor
William Vincent Astor (November 15, 1891 – February 3, 1959) was an American businessman, philanthropist, and member of the prominent Astor family. Early life Called Vincent, he was born in New York City on November 15, 1891. Astor was the elder child of John Jacob Astor IV, a wealthy businessman and inventor, and his first wife, Ava Lowle Willing, an heiress from Philadelphia. He graduated in 1910 from St. George's School in Middletown, Rhode Island, and attended Harvard College from 1911 to 1912, leaving school without graduating. In 1912 Vincent Astor's father, John Jacob Astor IV died on the Titanic and left him the biggest fortune at that time and made Vincent Astor one of the richest people in the world. Interests Like his father, Astor belonged to the New York Society of Colonial Wars. He served as commodore of the New York Yacht Club from 1928 to 1930. Astor was interested in trains. In the early 1930s, he established an estate in Bermuda which included a priva ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Supermarine Air-Yacht
Supermarine was a British aircraft manufacturer that is most famous for producing the Spitfire fighter plane during World War II as well as a range of seaplanes and flying boats, and a series of jet-powered fighter aircraft after World War II. The company had successes in the Schneider Trophy for seaplanes, with three wins in a row of 1927, 1929 and 1931. The company was founded in 1913 as Pemberton-Billing Ltd on the River Itchen close to Woolston, Southampton, on ground previously purchased by Noel Pemberton Billing to construct motor launches. It produced a couple of prototypes using quadruplane designs to shoot down zeppelins, the Supermarine P.B.29 and the Supermarine Nighthawk. The aircraft were fitted with the recoilless Davis gun and the Nighthawk had a separate powerplant to power a searchlight.The World's Worst Aircraft James Gilbert Upon election as a Member of Parliament (MP) in 1916, Pemberton-Billing sold the company to his factory manager and longtime associat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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:en:executive Aircraft
Business aircraft are aircraft typically used by companies and corporations to transport people or goods related to the needs of said businesses. Most business aircraft are general aviation aircraft variants of piston or turboprop or business jets. General aviation Piston With the growth of general aviation in the 1930s companies started to purchase single and twin-engined aircraft for business use. A need to move goods and equipment made use of different general aviation aircraft and surplus military transports. In 1963 in the United Kingdom the Maidenhead Organ Studios purchased a twin-engined Beagle B.206 to allow them to delivery electronic organs.Jackson 1974, p. 199 Turboprop For the first half of 2018, while business jets deliveries were relatively flat, new turboprops were up 10%, pressurized ones were up 12%, and King Airs were up 30%. Charter membership Wheels Up, operated by Gama Aviation, saw its flight hours surge by % and expanded its fleet from 99 to 117 wi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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:en:Alfred Loewenstein
Alfred Léonard Loewenstein (11 March 1877 – 4 July 1928) was a Belgian financier. At his peak in the 1920s, Loewenstein was worth around £12 million in the currency of the time (equivalent to £ million in ), making him the third-richest person in the world at the time. His wealth came from investments in electric power and artificial silk businesses when those industries were in their infancy. Loewenstein is remembered today for his mysterious disappearance and death in 1928. Early life and business career Alfred Loewenstein was born in Brussels, Belgium, to Bernard Loewenstein, a German-Jewish banker who converted to Catholicism, and the daughter of Brussels stockbroker Chrétien Dansaert, a Catholic. Alfred established his own banking concern, and was a wealthy man by 1914. In World War I, Loewenstein offered the Belgian government at Sainte-Adresse US$50 million, interest-free, to stabilize the Belgian currency in return for the right to print Belgian francs. The off ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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:en:Fokker F
Fokker (; ) was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer that operated from 1912 to 1996. The company was founded by the Dutch aviator Anthony Fokker and became famous during World War I for its fighter aircraft. During its most successful period in the 1920s and 1930s, Fokker dominated the civil aviation market. The company's fortunes declined over the course of the late 20th century. It declared bankruptcy in 1996, and its operations were sold to competitors. History Fokker in Germany At age 20, while studying in Germany, Anthony Fokker built his initial aircraft, the ''Spin'' (Spider)—the first Dutch-built plane to fly in his home country. Taking advantage of better opportunities in Germany, he moved to Berlin, where in 1912, he founded his first company, Fokker Aeroplanbau, later moving to the Görries suburb just southwest of Schwerin (at ), where the current company was founded, as Fokker Aviatik GmbH, on 12 February 1912. World War I Fokker capitalized on having sold several ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |