The Business Aviation Quiz: The History of Aviation

March 26, 2020

With aviation having been around for over 100 years, there has been plenty of milestones and groundbreaking revolutions to note. From the first powered flight and the introduction to airmail to business jets, wide-bodies and supersonics, how good is your aviation history knowledge? 

Test your knowledge in this week’s quiz.

Question 1 - What year did Clyde Cessna, Walter Beech and Lloyd Stearman team up to form their own company? 

  • 1917
  • 1921
  • 1925

Scroll across to the next picture to discover the correct answer.

The correct answer was 1925.

 

In 1925, Lloyd Stearman, Walter Beech and Clyde Cessna formed a new business, Travel Air Manufacturing, initially building a series of sporting and training open cockpit bi-planes.

Question 2 - What was the Swallow and how did it get its name?  

  • A glider whose designer used the endearment for his wife
  • A (failed) tri-plane by Herbert Swallow
  • A biplane that got its name after an observer noted “it flies like a swallow.” 

Scroll across to the next picture to discover the correct answer.

The correct answer was it was a biplane.

 

The Laird Swallow was the first commercial aircraft offered for sale in the U.S. It got its name after an observer noted “it flies like a swallow.”

Question 3 - Which general aviation company designed a car?

  • Beech Aircraft
  • Piper Aircraft
  • Learjet

Scroll across to the next picture to discover the correct answer.

The correct answer was Beech Aircraft.

 

Beech Aircraft designed a post-WWII automobile called the Beechcraft Plainsman. The design only reached prototype stage before it was canceled.

Question 4 - From which company did Piper Aircraft get its roots?

  • Wright-Martin Aircraft Co.
  • Taylor Brothers Aircraft
  • Thomas Brothers Co.

Scroll across to the next picture to discover the correct answer.

The correct answer was Taylor Brothers Aircraft.

 

W.T. Piper, who took his first airplane ride at the age of 45, was an investor and president of Taylor Brothers. Piper bought out Taylor’s share in 1936. The name changed to Piper Aircraft in 1937.

Question 5 - Barnstorming created early interest in aviation. Charles Foster Willard was the first U.S. barnstormer, taught to fly in 1909 by Glenn Curtiss. What is he credited with doing?  

  • The first to perform a loop
  • The first U.S. pilot to be shot down in an airplane when an annoyed farmer broke his propeller firing a squirrel gun.
  • He discovered Angel Falls in Venezuela, the tallest waterfall in the world, when he flew over it.

Scroll across to the next picture to discover the correct answer.

The correct answer was that he was shot down in an airplane when an annoyed farmer broke his propeller firing a squirrel gun.

 

He is credited as being the first pilot to be shot down.

How did you get on?

Test your industry knowledge more in the previous Business Aviation weekly quizzes.

The Business Aviation Quiz Library

With aviation having been around for over 100 years, there has been plenty of milestones and groundbreaking revolutions to note. From the first powered flight and the introduction to airmail to business jets, widebodies and supersonics, how good is your aviation history knowledge? 

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