Avionics News May 2013 - 60

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T H E H I S T O RY O F

AVIONICS
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S T O R Y

B Y

T H O M A S

I N M A N

he term avionics, a blending of aviation and electronics, was coined by Philip J. Klass (1919-2005) during his 34-year career
as a senior editor with Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine. The following examines the early days of what is now
known as the avionics industry.

The Earliest Systems
Radio became usable not too many years prior to the first heavier-than-air flight. Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) made the first successful trans-Atlantic radiotelegraph message in 1902. Of course, the Wright brothers made their historic flight in 1903, the same year the
first Marconi station was constructed in Wellfleet, Mass.
During these early years, both radio and aeronautic theories were not quite as well understood as they are today. Although radio communication with an aircraft was possible in theory, it had yet to be proven. Lee de Forest’s 1906 invention of the triode and his later
development of detectors and the AM radio helped.
In August 1910, Fredrick Baldwin (1882-1948) and John Alexander Douglas McCurdy (1886-1961) both demonstrated successful
air-to-ground transmissions via radio telegraph from a Curtiss aircraft at an altitude of slightly under 700 feet.
Less than six months later, Philip Parmalee (1887-1912), piloting a Wright Model B flyer, carried a career U.S.
infantry officer, Lt. Paul W. Beck (1876-1922), who in turn carried a 29-pound radio transmitter.
From an altitude of 500 feet, Beck made the first military air-to-ground communication.
By the end of January 1911, radio transmission from an airplane was proven possible. Six more years would pass before anything developed that could truly be
EDITOR’S NOTE:
considered avionics. The pressure from World War I caused the U.S. Army
As part of a year-long celebration
Signal Corps to develop two-way communications between aircraft and
to commemorate 50 years of publishing
ground stations, and between aircraft, in the form of the first useable
excellence by Avionics News magazine, this is the
avionics system.
first in a series of articles that explores the fascinating
On July 2, 1917, at Langley Field, the U.S. Army Signal Corps
history of avionics. This grand history stretches back
used a Western Electric radio system to make voice transmissions
more than 40 years prior to the Aircraft Electronics
2 miles from air to ground. Two days later, they accomplished a
Association’s founding in 1957. While a comprehensive
transmission in the other direction over a similar distance. By the
history of such a dynamic subject is challenging within the
end of the month, the Signal Corps had demonstrated air-to-air
confines of a magazine, this first article merely denotes
transmissions. Since these Western Electric communication
some of the historical highlights pre-dating the AEA. The
radios were built specifically for airplanes, perhaps it is safe
author, Thomas Inman, is an aviation associate professor in
to say avionics was born the first week of July 1917 – some
the School of Transportation Technology at the Pennsylvania
College of Technology in Williamsport, Penn.
60 avionics news • may 2013

Avionics News May 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News May 2013