| Video Tools | |
 Email |
 Comments (3) |
 RSS |
 |
Wright B Over Manhattan
In the winter of 1912, Frank Coffyn filmed the first silent motion pictures of New York ever taken from an airplane.
Coffyn, a member of the Wright Exhibition Team, equipped the Wright Model B with the first-ever airplane pontoons, and barely missed the ice floes bobbing in New York Harbor as he lifted off. He mounted a camera rigidly between the seats, its view changing as the nose of the airplane moved. Coffyn began with an overflight of the Statue of Liberty and produced the first aerial motion pictures of the monument and Ellis Island. He then passed over the round structure of Fort Jay, a military prison on Governor's Island, and circled to Battery Park at the tip of New York, coordinating his banks and turns by watching the flutter of a length of string tied to the cross wire of his Wright B. For his dramatic final demonstration, Coffyn flew under both the Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridges before landing with the wind at his back for speed and coasting to the dock at Battery Park. The clip ends with footage of Coffyn some 31 years later, as he reminisced about the golden days of the Wright team.
(09:08)
Video: National Air and Space Museum
Related Article
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Aeroplane!
In 1910, showmen flew death-defying stunts in Wright airplanes. Sometimes, death won.
By Paul Glenshaw
Premier Performer
For their first airshows, the Wright exhibition team relied on the Model B.
By Paul Glenshaw
1908: The Year the Airplane Went Public
Five years after Kitty Hawk, the Wrights finally showed the world their invention.
By Tom D. Crouch
| Tweet | Digg |
Advertisement
|
A Mosquito in Flight(00:45) |
|
Flightseeing on Mount McKinley(01:46) |
|
A New Way to Navigate(02:01) |
|
X-47B Carrier Launch(01:25) |
Comments (3)
I realize the Coffyn film is old and not of the best quality.
All the more reason to provide higher quality video.
Posted by Gene DuBey on October 15,2010 | 01:54 PM
they go way the heck up there. that is super sketchy
Posted by the man on April 19,2011 | 05:02 PM
Remarkable footage... my hat is off to the aviators of that
era,not to mention the photographer... I would not have believed those engines could have
generated enough power to lift a SEA PLANE!
Wow... well done
Posted by Len Leone on January 23,2012 | 09:01 PM