Since Leonardo da Vinci’s helical air screw, the Wright Brothers’ flyer, and the modern Boeing 737, humankind has been studying and creating ways to defy gravity and explore the sky. This exhibit aims to highlight, showcase, and explore humankind’s journey with flight, and celebrate those at Schreiner University who are on their path to becoming the next generation of aviation pioneers.
Whether you are an aviation enthusiast or simply curious about the history of flight, we invite you to visit Logan Library to enjoy the exhibit, which will be on display Feb. 1- Apr. 4, 2025.
Image credit: Photo of Charles Lindbergh via Getty Images
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. At the age of 25 in 1927, he went from obscurity as a U.S. Air Mail pilot to instantaneous world fame by winning the Orteig Prize for making the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris on May 20–21. Lindbergh covered the 33+1⁄2-hour, 3,600-statute-mile flight alone in a purpose-built, single-engine Ryan monoplane, the Spirit of St. Louis. Though the first non-stop transatlantic flight had been completed eight years earlier, this was the first solo transatlantic flight, the first transatlantic flight between two major city hubs, and the longest transatlantic flight by almost 2,000 miles. Thus it is widely considered one of the most consequential flights in world history and a turning point for the development and advancement of aviation, ushering in a new era of transportation between parts of the globe.
The Wright Brothers’ first flight. Lindbergh flying across the Atlantic. Armstrong’s first steps on the moon. These great feats changed the world and aviation expert Andrew Shepherd has an idea for the next great challenge.
Group photo of aviation students with Prof. Davis at aviation ribbon cutting, November 2023
-Schreiner University
Moody Aircraft; engineering class built airplane from surplus, 1970s
-Schreiner Archives and Special Collections,
Image credit: Unknown artist (left) / Molynk, A. (right),
-Wikimedia Commons
This quirky looking flying machine came from Italian Jesuit priest Francesco Lana de Terzi. His design had a central mast to which a sail was attached, and four masts which had thin copper foil spheres attached to them: the air would be pumped out of the spheres, leaving a vacuum inside.
The idea was that because of the vacuum, the balloons would be lighter than the surrounding air, which would provide the aircraft with the necessary lift. In practice, de Terzi’s spheres would have collapsed under air pressure, and further developments had to wait for more practicable lifting gases.
Click the image above to virtually explore the worlds largest collection of aviation archives, art, and memorabilia at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.
Click the image above to check out the Google Arts & Culture digital exhibit, created by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
