An Aerial Pulitzer Prize

Dean Sigler Announcements, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Win a Pulitzer Without Writing a Word There hasn’t been a Pulitzer Air Race or Prize (Trophy) for 100 years, the last competition taking place in 1925.  The revived Pulitzer Trophy Races will differ considerably from the original events.  Those races were all flown with military aircraft flown by experienced military pilots.  Differing greatly in engines, the earlier contestants all burned fossil fuels: the current competitors will fly on electricity. The Original Pulitzer Air Races The Pulitzer Trophy Races ran only five years, and were also knonw as the National Air Races.  Winners during those five years included: 1920: Corliss Champion Moseley, flying a Verville-Packard 600, 156.54 mph, Nov. 25, Mitchel Field, N.Y. 1921: Bert Acosta, flying a Curtiss, 176.76 mph, Nov. 3, Omaha, Neb. 1922: Russell L. Maughan, flying a Curtiss, 205.80 mph, Oct. 14, Detroit, Mich. 1923: Alford J. Williams, flying a Curtiss R2C1, 243.68 mph, Oct. 6, St. Louis, Mo. 1924: H.H. Mills, flying a Verville-Sperry, 216.55 mph, Oct. 4, Dayton, Ohio …

A Pulitzer Written in the Sky

Dean Sigler Announcements, Batteries, Electric Powerplants, Fuel Cells, GFC, Hydrogen Fuel, Solar Power, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Itching to test your electric airplane’s cross-country capabilities?  A new Pulitzer Electric Air Race of over 1,000 nautical miles (1,150.78 statute miles to be exact) between Nebraska and North Carolina will show who has the fastest electric flying machine. Jim Moore, reporting for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), shows the connection between the original Pulitzer Trophy and today’s electric competition.  “Five of the first six pilots to have their names engraved on the Pulitzer Trophy were military airmen clocked around a closed course at speeds starting at 157 mph in 1920, up to a blistering 248 mph by 1925. The trophy was created to inspire innovation, and particularly faster airplanes. That vintage trophy housed at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum will be engraved with its first new name in 97 years in 2022, following completion of a 1,000-nautical-mile cross-country race by up to 25 electric aircraft.” Ralph Pulitzer was son of Joseph Pulitzer, whose prizes for …