Where does the time go? This year marked the 25th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger tragedy. Few of us who were around at the time can forget the TV image of the conflagration and spiralling clouds of smoke lingering silently in the sky. The shocked faces looking skyward and the stilted commentary drowned in disbelief.
Yet sacrifice has always walked close beside the pursuit of new frontiers. Over the centuries, countless explorers and seaborne vessels failed to return as they sought the edge of the earth in search of new lands. Similarly, as the new realms of sky and space availed themselves, a new generation of pioneer put their lives on the line.
Otto Lilienthal, the great German aviation pioneer of the late 19th century set new benchmarks in the pursuit of manned flight with his gliders. Credited by the Wright brothers for his research, Lilienthal paid the ultimate price in 1896 when one of his gliders fell to earth. He was not the first and ultimately proved to be far from the last.
The early aviators were faced with huge adversity. Their machines were frail and the understanding of aerodynamics was in its infancy. Even as the technology of their machines developed over the decades, they still stretched their fledgling machines to the absolute limits of their performance and endurance. Shrinking the globe was a mammoth task and aviation seemingly wanted to accelerate the process. Air races, prize money, Government grants and celebrity were just some of the incentives, but the driving force ultimately came from within. Very few individuals would put their life on the line solely for material gain; the challenge was undoubtedly a prime motivator.
Yet time and again they perished trying. And these were not purely first time novices that history never even knew to forget, these were names established in the halls of aviation fame; Charles Kingsford Smith, Wiley Post, Amelia Earhart, Bert Hinkler, Bill Lancaster and Amy Johnson, to name but a handful. In one way or another, they perished in the very style in which they had lived their lives.
Their sacrifices have not been forgotten, nor did their losses answer all of the questions that aerospace was to ask of its people. As man sought to go higher, farther and faster, the boundaries were often pushed to breaking point and the human link was often the first to fold first. Swept wings, jet engines, supersonic flight, pressurised hulls and the frontier of space continued to ask questions of the engineers, physicists and test pilots. Too often, it claimed many lives before an answer was ultimately found.
The great British aviation pioneer and designer, Sir Geoffrey DeHavilland, lost one of his sons while test flying a new generation jet aircraft, the DH108 Swallow. Another son died in a mid-air collision. The home of flight research in the United States, Edwards Air Force Base, has seen more than its share of triumph and tragedy. It was home to the ‘X-planes’ and saw Chuck Yeager break the sound barrier in 1947. Neil Armstrong cut his teeth at Edwards on the likes of the X-15 before fate would ultimately determine that space was his destiny. Yet in the shadow of the advances loiter the losses and its streets bear the names of many of those heroes. Even the base is named after USAF test pilot, Glen Edwards, who perished with his crew testing the YB-49 ‘Flying Wing’.
The sky was not the limit and soon space became the new frontier. As the Mercury astronauts were launched into orbit with increasing frequency, the Soviet Union was doing so with equal success in the ‘space race’. Both sides encountered losses throughout this period of rapid technological advancement, including the horrific fireball of Apollo 1 on the launch pad during testing at Cape Canaveral. And while the brilliant failure of Apollo 13 was a very close call, the loss of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986 reminded us that flight exploration is still a very dangerous business. The loss of Columbia on re-entry in 2003 re-affirmed the fact.
But for all the losses, ultimately the cause has advanced. In fact it has advanced at a pace that only the imagination would have dared to conjure a century ago. Within the span of an average human life, aviation developed from flimsy frames limping a few hundred feet to man kicking up moon dust with his feet. It is an achievement that all humanity can be proud of and has made the world a smaller place. Its applications have been varied, from powerful war machines to vehicles of tremendous humanitarian aid and from craft of leisure to a means of rescue on cold, dark nights.
But as aviation continues forth, it is vital to remember those who have paid the ultimate price along the way, for it is their courage that has allowed this field of human endeavour to grow like no other. Their willingness to strap into confined cockpits and push the envelope has allowed the rest of the world to reap the benefits of air travel and aerospace in a far more relaxed and safer manner. In aviation, the safety of the masses has often been the achieved at a high cost to an individual.
Furthermore, the price of human life should serve to ward off complacency about forging new frontiers in the sky. It is not our natural realm; we are guests in the air above the earth. We should always pay due respect to our host, for the moment we don’t, the skies have the potential to remind us of our true status in the most brutal manner.
So as we consider the loss of ‘Challenger’, we should offer thanks to her crew and to all of those who have paid the ultimate price in pushing those boundaries in the sky. In tragedy we must always seek to find a greater purpose and learn from the past, so as to avoid history repeating itself. However, despite the lessons learnt, no loss will be the last as we move forward; unfortunately it is the price those heroes pay on our behalf. This cold reality has been with us since the beginning. As he lay on his death-bed the day after his fall to earth, the great Otto Lilienthal uttered, "Kleine Opfer müssen gebracht werden".................. "Small sacrifices must be made.”
(c) Owen Zupp 2011.
