U3A member Peter Day examines the safety of flight in the 1930s:
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| Air Ship Hindenberg burning |
In the 1930s flight in heavier-than-air
aeroplanes was still in its infancy. The Wright brothers had made the
first such flight only in 1903. Aeroplanes were flimsy with some
parts of the fuselage still covered with cloth, to save weight.
Engines were underpowered and unreliable. Planes flew slowly and
could not climb to a great height because of lack of oxygen, they
weren't pressurised like modern planes, so flights were subject to
turbulence. So were those early passengers risking their lives?
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