The Impact Of The Aviation Industry In The Jazz Age

The aviation industry in the 1920s took flight because of men and women like Charles Lindbergh, William Boing, Betty Coleman, William J. Powell, Richard Evelyn Byrd, and Raymond Orteig. Their efforts and risks helped shape the industry as well as the Jazz Age. Both Lindbergh and Amundsen are both famous for their daring feats that helped push the limits of their planes at the time and brought attention to the new industry. Boing and Orteig are also both well recognized for investing in the industry so that it had monetary backup to make it profitable to continuously improve and advance new airplane designs.

Charles Lindbergh helped shape the Jazz Age by his iconic solo flight from New York to Paris in May of 1927 (Gill 3) . In part due to the rapid growth of wealth and technology in the United State during the Jazz Age, when Lindbergh was born the airplane had not been invented by Wilbur and Orville Wright (Gill 13) . A typical example of the Jazz Age comes in the form of a wealthy man named Raymond Orteig. He found himself suddenly go from rags to riches and chose to spend some of his newfound wealth by offering a 25,000 dollar prize for the first person fly solo nonstop from New York to Paris (Gill 49). Lindbergh working as a mail pilot at the time saw the prize and decided to gather a team to build what would be known as The Spirit of St. Lois. When Lindbergh landed in Paris he instantly became famous and created an enormous interest in aviation (Gill 14). This helped contribute to the overall sense of growth, wealth, and new possibilities during the Jazz Age.

William Boing helped contribute to the spirit of the Jazz Age by investing in the risky new business of aviation. He had made his money in the lumber business...

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... they were able to see these new machines that could fly in the air and do tricks and amazing feats that were all new at the time. Remember that automobiles were still a rare sight for much of the public at the time. Therefore the pilots and investors contributed to new sense of change and wealth of the Jazz Age.

In conclusion men and women like Charles Lindbergh, William Boing, Betty Coleman, William J. Powell, Richard Evelyn Byrd, and Raymond Orteig. impacted the Jazz Age by attracting attention to the new industry of aviation by taking large risks in hope of large returns. By doing this they helped contribute to the overall sense of growth and wealth during the time. These men also showed some typical characteristics associated with the Jazz Age like taking risks, accumulating large amounts of wealth, as well as some deceitfulness as shown by Amundsen.