The Journey of Flight.pdf - Valkyrie Cadet

The DeHavilland Comet 1
restrictions. By 1950, however, it had increased 600 percent to 17 million. By 1958, the year the first
commercial jets were introduced, this figure had grown to about 30 million.
Thousands of military veterans found work in the commercial airline industry and many did very
well in their new line of work. Discrimination, however, held many of the black aviators back. The
established airlines did not hire any blacks, despite the fact that hundreds of ex-World War II military
black pilots were very good pilots and eager to fly commercial planes. Refused employment in the
airlines, these black pilots had to turn to other occupations and fly in their spare time.
In 1948, however, James O. Plinton broke the trend and established an inter-island air service,
flying the Boeing 247-Ds. This air service linked the islands of Jamaica, Port-au-Prince (Haiti), Grand
Turk and Caicos. It was probably the first commercial air service begun and operated by a black pilot.
In summary, the commercial aviation business boomed after World War II and did not decrease
during the Korean War as it had during World War II. This occurred because the national war effort was
not as intense during the Korean
War, and because we had enough
large transport planes to serve both
the military and civilian needs.
This was true worldwide as well.
Airline traffic increased from 3
million in 1938 to 18 million in
1946, and then to 24 million in
1948. The “Aviation Age” had
arrived.
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General General General General General Aviation Aviation Aviation Aviation Aviation
Meanwhile, general aviation
The Boeing 707 was America’s first operational jet airliner. (Boeing photo) also fared well after World War II.
There were thousands of pilots in America who had flown during World War II. Thousands more
earned their pilot licenses using the GI Bill after the war. The Civil Aeronautics Administration
(forerunner of FAA) predicted there would be 500,000 aircraft in service by 1950. This prediction
failed to materialize, but there was a great demand for general aviation aircraft after the war. Surplus