The Martin MB-2 was used by General Mitchell in the 1921 tests which indicated the destructive ability of big bombing planes. Liberty engines supplied the power.
Two years later, when General “Billy” Mitchell conducted his historic and dramatic demonstration of the potency of air power, Liberty-powered planes were called upon to do the job. The big bombers, as Mitchell had predicted, sank a 22,000-ton German battleship in only twenty-five minutes.
In April, 1923, the Liberty was again in the headlines. Two Army pilots, Lieutenants Oakley Kelly and John Macready, flying a Fokker airplane powered with a Liberty engine, stayed aloft for thirty-six consecutive hours, shattering all previous endurance marks. Later the same year they completed the first non-stop transcontinental flight, again using the Liberty-powered Fokker.
The following year still another achievement was added to the Liberty’s long series of successes. Two Douglas Cruisers, powered with Liberty engines and prepared for the flight at Dayton’s old McCook Field, became the first planes to circle the globe, covering 26,345 miles in 363 hours of actual flying time.
The famous De Haviland 4, British-designed observation plane of World War I. The ship shown here is an American version, built by the Dayton Wright Airplane Company in 1918 and powered with a Liberty engine. At left is Orville Wright, consultant for the company, shown with Howard Rinehart, a test pilot.
The first planes to complete a trip around the world were two Douglas Cruisers, one of which is shown above. There again, the Liberty engine helped establish a memorable record in aviation history.
Besides holding at one time the world’s speed and altitude records, the Liberty also was the engine that first made the concept of air-mail service more than just a dream. Charles A. Lindbergh was among the pioneer pilots of the early 1920’s who flew Liberty-powered De Haviland mail planes along relatively uncharted air lanes through all types of weather.
Thus, the war-born Liberty became the cornerstone of American commercial aviation and the forerunner of today’s vast and complex network of aerial transit. Years ahead of its time, the Liberty engine stands today as an outstanding example of American productive genius. Born in time of war, it played an important role in time of peace. In aviation’s hall of fame, the Liberty engine is assured a place of honor for decades to come.
Lieutenants Kelly and Macready, dwarfed by the giant Fokker T-2 in which they established a new endurance record in 1923, are shown here with the fuel required for the famous flight.
This is a model of the “Lotosland,” the yacht formerly owned by Colonel Deeds. It was placed in the exhibit as an example of maritime transportation.
The “Lotosland” was for a number of years the second home of Colonel and Mrs. Deeds. It was a trim vessel of 206 feet, built to Colonel Deeds’ specifications. While it was never used for long ocean voyages, it was fully capable of making them. The “Lotosland” included many innovations, one of the most important of which was the amphibian airplane which it carried. She was the first ship, other than a naval vessel, to be so equipped. When the United States entered World War II, the Navy requisitioned the “Lotosland” and converted her into a combat ship for anti-submarine patrol. She made a distinguished war record and accounted for at least one submarine. After the war the “Lotosland” was disposed of to private shipping interests and, at last reports, was plying between Miami, Florida, and South America.
This picture of the “Lotosland” was taken by Porter B. Chase, who knew her in prewar days and recognized her in port at Miami on January 10, 1950. She is loaded with five busses, destined for delivery to South America.
Replica in miniature of the “Cincinnati,” first locomotive to pull a passenger train into Dayton on the old Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad, which later became part of the Baltimore & Ohio system.
The “Cincinnati,” prototype of the replica in miniature on display in Deeds Barn, was typical of the locomotives that in the 1850’s were beginning to establish a new transportation network across Ohio and the Middle West.
These locomotives and their successors were to doom the canal system which played such an important role in development of the West. Although the Miami and Erie Canal—which linked Dayton to Cincinnati and Toledo—had its peak year in 1851 when the “Cincinnati” first steamed into Dayton, canal operating expenses outran revenue only five years later. In 1877, official operation of the canal ended. In the march of progress, the railroad had won.
The “Cincinnati” was built by the Harkness firm of Cincinnati, and was one of the most advanced locomotives of its day. Its honest functionalism, as evidenced by the businesslike cow-catcher and the monstrous stack designed to trap dangerous wood sparks, makes this type of locomotive, called an “American,” a favorite with railroad fans.
How long the “Cincinnati” remained in service with the C.H.H.&H.D. Railroad, and its ultimate fate are not known, but the colorful locomotive and others of its kind made possible significant gains in man’s never-ending quest for better transportation.
Display of the 20,000 parts which make up a modern National Accounting Machine, outgrowth of the early cash register.
Inasmuch as C. F. Kettering and E. A. Deeds began their careers with The National Cash Register Company, it seemed fitting that some representation of that company’s products should be included in the barn display. The display includes early models of National cash registers and an impressive exhibit of the 20,000 parts which go to make up a modern National accounting machine.
The cycle of events moves in unpredictable and often unexpected ways. When E. A. Deeds left NCR to help develop the self-starter business, he probably never expected to be a part of that organization again. Yet in 1931 he was named Chairman of the Board of that company and subsequently played an important part in its very considerable development.
When Deeds and Kettering first went with NCR, the line of machines which made up the company’s products was limited indeed. It was they who took the first steps toward an electrically operated cash register. The possible entrance of the company into the accounting machine field had not even been considered. Employment at the local plant was about 2,400 people.
Today The National Cash Register Company derives almost as much of its business from the sale of accounting machines as from the sale of cash registers. Through continuous research and advanced engineering, it has created machines which meet the needs of business wherever money is handled or records are kept.
The Company now employs 13,000 people at the Dayton plant. With complete accuracy, the cash register bell is often referred to as “The Bell Heard ’Round the World.”
Patterson Boulevard, on which Carillon Park is located, is one of Dayton’s busiest arteries of traffic. There are two reasons why it is fitting to include this picture of teeming traffic with the story of the self-starter. If the self-starter had not been invented, the automobile would never have reached the place that it has in the lives of the people of this country. Continued dependence on the old hand crank as a means of starting would have been an almost unsurmountable handicap. It is also interesting to know that many of the cars which contribute to the stream of traffic on Patterson Boulevard are those of employees of NCR and of General Motors. Deeds and Kettering started their business careers with NCR and were responsible for bringing the first unit of General Motors to Dayton.
CARILLON PARK
DAYTON, OHIO
One of a series of Carillon Park booklets.
Price ten cents.
AS 121
E1XX
PRINTED IN U.S.A.