A fan from the Golden Age! I doff my cap to you, KlondikeGeoff.
From the indispensable Superman Through The Ages comes this lowdown on Supie’s gradual evolution to true flight:
"In the early years of his super-heroic career, Superman was not endowed with the power of flight. Although he possessed superhuman speed, he moved from place to place by running or by executing gigantic leaps. Month by month, however, Superman’s running speed increased, along with the length of his leaps and the complexity of the aerial maneuvers he was able to perform once he had left the ground. The transition from leaping to actual flying was extraordinarily gradual and was punctuated with a great deal of inconsistency. Not until May 1943 is Superman explicitly referred to as a “being who can fly like a bird” and not until later that same year can it be said, without qualification, that Superman actually possesses the power of flight.
By 1945, Superman is able to fly from Metropolis to Burma in the wink of an eye. “Light travels 186,000 miles a second, but has nothing on Superman,” notes the text, “who finds himself hovering over the jungles of Burma in the wink of an eye!”
In November 1946, Superman demonstrates the ability to stand invisibly on one spot by oscillating his body so fast that the human eye cannot see him. During this same period, Superman protects bystanders at a navy yard from the effects of a devastating explosion by spinning around the blast area at super-speed. With the speed of light, Superman makes a wall of his revolving body, through which the expanding gases of the explosive cannot penetrate. Then, funneling upward, Superman directs the blast toward the sky.
In August 1947, Superman successfully photographs a series of past events by flying into outer space faster than the speed of light and overtaking the light waves leaving Earth which contain the images of the events he wants to record on film.
Later in 1947, Superman single-handedly constructs an entire underground city in a matter of seconds. (Superman #48) During this same period, Superman uses his command of super-speed to travel through the time barrier into the past.
Virtually all texts agree that to penetrate the time barrier, Superman must move at a speed exceeding that of light."
