Today is day one of ‘Sun ‘N Fun’, a huge civil aeronautics festival held every year in Florida. (It;s not the largest though–that would be ‘Air Venture’ in Osh Kosh, Wisconsin which I’m planning on attending this July). To mark the beginning of this week’s air fest I’m posting a very fun short film about a very different era in civil aviation. ‘Sporting Wings’ is a mini-doc from the early 1940s showing flight clubs in Long Island, women flyers, Sea Planes and the like. The planes look to me to mostly be Piper Cubs but I’m sure any true AvGeeks out there would be quick to identify some long-forgotten brands as well. (I consider myself an apprentice AvGeek having only become obsessed with all things aviation less than a year ago). Remember that this comes from an era where you could pretty much land anywhere you felt like–beaches, parks, the water etc. Air Traffic Control for commercial flights had only been introduced a few years before this film was made. Prior to the ATC controlling the skies, most commercial flights communicated with other planes by flashing their lights. And there were passengers aboard! Mention is made of flying not necessarily being a ‘rich mans sport’, which it certainly is today (‘well off’ might be more accurate) with small planes selling for a thousand to two thousand dollars. My guess is that’s about forty to fifty thousand dollars in today’s world. Which you can actually buy some nice fifty to sixty thousand dollar ‘tin cans’ for. So maybe flying hasn’t changed that much–except for having to communicate with ‘Tower’ now, a truly harrowing experience…