Aerobatics
began with people having fun and occasionally having exhibitions before it
became a competitive. The name comes from aerobatics comes from the words aerial
acrobatics, but in the beginning the sport was called stunt flying. Although
aerobatics had been around before World War I, the war developed it more and the
pilots often showed off their skill in and out of combat.
After
the war, and into the late 1920s air shows become popular throughout North
America and Europe. In Germany a mathematical method of judging was developed
first and the first aerobatic competition began. Another system started to be
developed in France and a degree of difficulty was being applied to each figure.
In
Paris on June 9 and 10, 1934 the French Aero Club conducted the first world
championship. Over 150,000 people watched the nine competitors, who came from
six countries, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and
Portugal.
On
the first day the competitors performed an eight-minute compulsory program where
they had to fly a set program. And then on the second day they flew a ten-minute
free program where they got to fly there own routine. During the competition two
of the nine pilots were killed and a third one survived a serious crash. Gerhard
Fieseler of Germany won the first prize of 100,000 francs.
In
1936 a major international competition was held in Berlin it was the Olympic
Games. The winner was a German pilot, Otto von Hagenburg.
The
World Aerobatic Championships ended when World War Two and after it was
considered to be the transition into the modern World Aerobatic Championship.
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