Not all of today's skywriters are intent on keeping the lost art's secrets. Some pilots and contractors seem to share pretty openly. Still, there appears to be something to Steve Oliver's comments about secrecy. I had a hard time finding detailed information on the smoke-producing "machinery" and the exact composition of the "paraffin-based fluid." And it's worth noting that Oliver gave a warning about the information that is out there: In the past, he said, skywriting pilots were known to provide false information to throw off their competitors. I believe I got it right. But if Oliver is to be believed, who knows. Or maybe Oliver is providing false information about providing false information ...
Almendrala, Anna. "'How Do I Land' Skywriting Prank Brought To You By Kurt Braunohler, Kickstarter." The Huffington Post. May 15, 2013. (Aug. 29, 2014) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/15/how-do-i-land-skywriting_n_3276795.html
Clark, Patrick. "#Skywriting: A Small Firm's Pitch to Put Hashtags in the Sky." Bloomberg Business Week. July 28, 2014. (Aug. 16, 2014) http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-28/no-skywriting-a-small-firm-s-pitch-to-put-hashtags-in-the-sky
Domi, Cristina (TheSkyWriters.com). Email interview. Aug. 22, 2014.
Ellen TV. "Ellen and Portia's Anniversary Skywriting Through the Years." Oct. 19, 2012. (Aug. 25, 2014) http://www.ellentv.com/2012/09/11/ellen-and-portias-anniversary-skywriting-through-the-years/
Encyclopedia.com. "skywriting." From: The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed. 2013. (Aug. 3, 2014) http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/skywriting.aspx
Grimes, Stephanie. "Skywriting urges Las Vegas to 'Forgive your enemies.'" Las Vegas Review-Journal. March 8, 2014. (Aug. 16, 2014) http://www.reviewjournal.com/life/skywriting-urges-las-vegas-forgive-your-enemies
Hartill, Lane. "Sky Writer." The Christian Science Monitor. Jan. 25, 2000. (Aug. 14, 2014) http://www.csmonitor.com/2000/0125/p22s1.html
Kelly, Robert A. "Skytyping." Popular Mechanics. February 1962. Vol. 117, No. 2, p. 100-1. (Aug. 20, 2014) Available from: http://books.google.com/books?id=reEDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA100&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false
LaFrance, Adrienne. "What Happened to Skywriting?" The Atlantic. April 16, 2014. (Aug. 5, 2014) http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/04/what-happened-to-skywriting/360764/
Library of Congress: Everyday Mysteries. "How does skywriting and skytyping work?" Aug. 23, 2010. (Aug. 5, 2014) http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/skywriting.html
The New York Times. "...Repeats His 'Sky Writing': Flier Again Attracts Crowds by 'Smoke Casting' From Plane." Nov. 30, 1922. (Aug. 26, 2014) http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F03EEDA1E39E133A25753C3A9679D946395D6CF
Olivers Flying Circus. "The Pepsi Skywriter." (Aug. 3, 2014)
Olivers, Steve and Suzanne Asbury-Oliver (Olivers Flying Circus). Email interview. Aug. 22, 2014.
Popular Mechanics. "Skywriting." April 1925. Vol. 43, No. 4, p. 641-3. (Aug. 21, 2014) Available from: http://books.google.com/books?id=wNoDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA641&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. "Travel Air D4D." (Aug. 26, 2014) http://airandspace.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?object=nasm_A20010091000
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. "Women in Aviation and Space History: Suzanne Asbury Oliver." (Aug. 29, 2014) http://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/women-in-aviation/oliver.cfm
Spitznagel, Eric. "Odd Jobs: Skywriting is Just as Hard as You Think It Is." BusinessWeek. Aug. 14, 2012. (Aug. 29, 2014) http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-08-14/odd-jobs-sky-writing-is-just-as-hard-as-you-think-it-is
Things We Speak About. "Relevant and contextual advertising... at its worst." Sept. 6, 2009. (Aug. 29, 2014) http://thingswespeakabout.blogspot.com/2009/09/relevant-and-contextual-advertising-at.html
Vosough, Monika. "The High-Tech Magic Behind Skywriting." The Wall Street Journal. July 27, 2011. (Aug. 5, 2014) http://live.wsj.com/video/the-high-tech-magic-behind-skywriting/6E3B1371-B49D-4886-AF89-2C94018CC879.html#!6E3B1371-B49D-4886-AF89-2C94018CC879 (VIDEO)
Wilson, Tom. "Artist displays digits of 'Pi' in skywriting over NYC." The New York Post. July 13, 2014. (Aug. 16, 2014) http://nypost.com/2014/07/13/artist-displays-digits-of-pi-in-skywriting-over-ny
Cite This!
Please copy/paste the following text to properly cite this HowStuffWorks.com article: