Portal:Aviation
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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/40/Pan_Am_Boeing_747-121_N732PA_Bidini.jpg/220px-Pan_Am_Boeing_747-121_N732PA_Bidini.jpg)
Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. Aircraft includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air balloons and airships.
Aviation began in the 18th century with the development of the hot air balloon, an apparatus capable of atmospheric displacement through buoyancy. Some of the most significant advancements in aviation technology came with the controlled gliding flying of Otto Lilienthal in 1896; then a large step in significance came with the construction of the first powered airplane by the Wright brothers in the early 1900s. Since that time, aviation has been technologically revolutionized by the introduction of the jet which permitted a major form of transport throughout the world. (Full article...)
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![The Luftwaffe Balkenkreuz (balk cross) was carried on the upper and lower wings and the fuselages of practically all German military aircraft between 1935 and 1945. It was essentially the national marking used by the German Air Service in the last year of World War I.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/Balkenkreuz.svg/140px-Balkenkreuz.svg.png)
The Luftwaffe became an essential component in the "Blitzkrieg" battle plan. Operating as a tactical close support air force, it helped the German armies to conquer the bulk of the European continent in a series of short and decisive campaigns in the first nine months of the war, experiencing its first defeat during the Battle of Britain in 1940 as it could not adapt into a strategic role, lacking heavy bombers with which to conduct a strategic bombing campaign against the British Isles.
Despite this setback the Luftwaffe remained formidable and in June 1941 embarked on Adolf Hitler's quest for an empire in eastern Europe by invading the USSR, with much initial success. However, the Luftwaffe's striking victories in the Soviet Union were brought to a halt in the Russian winter of 1942-1943. From then on, it was forced onto the strategic defensive contesting the ever increasing numbers of Soviet aircraft, whilst defending the German homeland and German occupied Europe from the growing Allied air forces pounding all aspects of German industry.
Having failed to achieve victory in the Soviet Union in 1941 or 1942, the Luftwaffe was drawn into a war of attrition which extended to North Africa and the Channel Front. The entry of the United States into the war and the resurgence of the Royal Air Force's (RAF) offensive power created the Home Front, known as Defense of the Reich operations. The Luftwaffe's strength was slowly eroded and by mid 1944 had virtually disappeared from the skies of Western Europe leaving the German Army to fight without air support. It continued to fight into the last days of the war with revolutionary new aircraft, such as the Messerschmitt Me 262, Messerschmitt Me 163 and the Heinkel He 162, even though the war was already hopelessly lost. (Full article...)
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Did you know
...that BŻ-1 GIL was the first Polish experimental helicopter? ...that the Aerocar Coot was a two-seat amphibious aircraft designed for home-building by Moulton Taylor? ... that Wing Commander John Lerew, ordered to defend Rabaul against Japanese invasion in 1942, signaled headquarters the legendary gladiatorial phrase "We who are about to die salute you"?
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In the news
- May 29: Austrian Airlines cancels Moscow-bound flight after Russia refuses a reroute outside Belarusian airspace
- August 8: Passenger flight crashes upon landing at Calicut airport in India
- June 4: Power firm helicopter strikes cables, crashes near Fairfield, California
- January 29: Former basketball player Kobe Bryant dies in helicopter crash, aged 41
- January 13: Iran admits downing Ukrainian jet, cites 'human error'
- January 10: Fire erupts in parking structure at Sola Airport, Norway
- October 27: US announces restrictions on flying to Cuba
- October 3: World War II era plane crashes in Connecticut, US, killing at least seven
- September 10: Nevada prop plane crash near Las Vegas leaves two dead, three injured
- August 6: French inventor Franky Zapata successfully crosses English Channel on jet-powered hoverboard
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Selected biography
Born in Earlsdon, Coventry, England on June 1, 1907, Whittle left Leamington College in 1923 to join the Royal Air Force (RAF). Through his early days as an Aircraft apprentice he maintained his interest in the Model Aircraft Society where he built replicas, the quality of which attracted the eye of his commanding officer, who was so impressed that he recommended Whittle for the Officer Training College at Cranwell in Lincolnshire in 1926, a rarity for a "commoner" in what was still a very class-based military structure. A requirement of the course was that each student had to produce a thesis for graduation. Whittle decided to write his thesis on future developments in aircraft design, in which he described what is today referred to as a motorjet.
Whittle and Hans von Ohain met after the war and initially Whittle was angry with him as he felt Ohain had stolen his ideas. Ohain eventually convinced him that his work was independent and after that point the two became good friends.
Selected Aircraft
![F-4E from 81st Tactical Fighter Squadron dropping 500 lb (230 kg) Mark 82 bombs](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7c/F-4E-81st-tfs.jpg/250px-F-4E-81st-tfs.jpg)
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is a two-seat, twin-engined, all-weather, long-range supersonic fighter-bomber originally developed for the U.S. Navy by McDonnell Aircraft. Proving highly adaptable, it became a major part of the air wings of the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Air Force. It was used extensively by all three of these services during the Vietnam War, serving as the principal air superiority fighter for both the Navy and Air Force, as well as being important in the ground-attack and reconnaissance roles by the close of U.S. involvement in the war.
First entering service in 1960, the Phantom continued to form a major part of U.S. military air power throughout the 1970s and 1980s, being gradually replaced by more modern aircraft such as the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon in the U.S. Air Force; the F-14 Tomcat and F/A-18 Hornet in the U.S. Navy; and the F/A-18 in the U.S. Marine Corps. It remained in use by the U.S. in the reconnaissance and Wild Weasel roles in the 1991 Gulf War, finally leaving service in 1996. The Phantom was also operated by the armed forces of 11 other nations. Israeli Phantoms saw extensive combat in several Arab–Israeli conflicts, while Iran used its large fleet of Phantoms in the Iran–Iraq War. Phantoms remain in front line service with seven countries, and in use as an unmanned target in the U.S. Air Force.
Phantom production ran from 1958 to 1981, with a total of 5,195 built. This extensive run makes it the second most-produced Western jet fighter, behind the F-86 Sabre at just under 10,000 examples.
- Span: 38 ft 4.5 in (11.7 m)
- Length: 63 ft 0 in (19.2 m)
- Height: 16 ft 6 in (5.0 m)
- Engines: 2× General Electric J79-GE-17A axial compressor turbojets, 17,845 lbf (79.6 kN) each
- Cruising Speed: 506 kn (585 mph, 940 km/h)
- First Flight: 27 May 1958
- Number built: 5,195
Today in Aviation
- 2012 – Belarus fires its chiefs of air defense and of the border guards because of the illegal 4 July flight into the country by a Jodel biplane.[1]
- 2012 – Due to confusion among air traffic controllers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, two USAirways commuter jets take off into the path of a third USAirways commuter jet flying in the opposite direction and cleared to land on the same runway. Realizing their error, controllers order the inbound aircraft to take evasive action 12 seconds before it would have collided with the leading outbound jet. There are no injuries among the 192 people on the three aircraft.[2]
- 2009 – An Indian Air Force HAL HPT-32 Deepak, a propeller-driven primary military trainer, crashes in the Medak district of the Andhra Pradesh state killing the 2 crew.
- 2007 – An AH-64 Apache goes down after coming under fire in eastern Baghdad. The two crew members were safely extracted.[3][4]
- 1997 – First flight of the Boeing 737-800
- 1997 – FedEx Express Flight 14, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11, crashes upon landing at Newark Liberty International Airport; the two crewmembers and three passengers escape uninjured.
- 1992 – China General Aviation Flight 7552, a Yakovlev 42D, loses control just after takeoff from Nanjing Airport and crashes into a pond; 108 of 126 on board die.
- 1992 – Launch: Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-46 at 9:56:48 am EDT. Mission highlights: EURECA (European Retrievable Carrier) and the joint NASA/Italian Space Agency Tethered Satellite System (TSS).
- 1992 – Thai Airways International Flight 311, an Airbus A310, crashes on approach into Kathmandu, Nepal, killing all 14 crew and 99 passengers on board.
- 1992 – A US Navy Grumman E-2C Hawkeye of VAW-126 on a training flight crashes in the Atlantic Ocean ~75 miles N of Puerto Rico while returning to the USS John F. Kennedy, killing all five crew. The Navy reported on 1 August that the aircraft radioed that it was in trouble before coming down ~4 miles from the carrier, the second plane loss of that air wing in less than a fortnight. The aviators killed Friday were identified as Lt. Cmdr. Alan M. McLachlen, 33, of Virginia Beach, Virginia; Lt. Michael F. Horowitz, 27, of Atlanta, Georgia; Lt. Tristram E. Farmer, 26, of Trevett, Maine; Lt. j.g. Thomas D. Plautz, 28, of Norfolk, Virginia; and Lt. j.g. Richard Siter Jr., 24, of Latham, New York.
- 1991 – Senate votes to allow women to fly combat aircraft.
- 1984 – Venz commandos terminate hijacking of an aircraft, 2 killed.
- 1981 – Panamanian Air Force FAP-205 crash: The leader of Panama, Omar Torrijos, is killed in the crash of a DeHavilland Twin Otter at Amador near Panama City, Panama.
- 1981 – A Belgian Air Force Dassault Mirage VBR hits a radio mast at Dudelange, Luxembourg.
- 1979 – Dan-Air Flight 0034, a Hawker Siddeley HS 748 failed to become airborne at Sumburgh Airport, Scotland. Of the 47 on board, 15 passengers and two crew die.
- 1974 – A USN Grumman E-2 Hawkeye based at NAS Norfolk, Virginia, crashed on take-off from CGAS Elizabeth City, North Carolina during a touch-and-go, striking a maintenance facility, triggering a fire in a fibreglass and upholstery shop. Instructor pilot, three civilians killed, student pilot, and 12–18 others injured.
- 1973 – Delta Air Lines Flight 723, a Douglas DC-9, descends prematurely and crashes on final approach to Boston Logan International Airport, killing all 89 on board; probable cause is unstabilized final approach by the flight crew.
- 1972 – After 41 years in operation, Northeast Airlines completes its final day of service before being merged into Delta Air Lines the following day.
- 1972 – Delta Air Lines Flight 841 was an aircraft hijacking that took place beginning on Monday, on a flight originally from Detroit to Miami. Members of the Black Liberation Army took over the airplane in flight using weapons smuggled on board, including a bible cut out to hold a handgun. The DC-8 held 7 crew and 94 passengers, none of whom were killed during the hijacking. Five hijackers who had boarded with three children took over the plane. The plane flew to Miami where the 86 hostage-held passengers (i. e. 94 minus 8) were released in exchange for $1 million in ransom. The plane was then flown on to Boston where it refueled before flying to Algeria. Algerian authorities seized the plane and ransom which they returned to the U. S. but the hijackers were released after a few days.
- 1964 – Ranger 7 sends back the first ever close-up photographs of the moon, with images 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from earth-bound telescopes.
- 1964 – A/M CR Dunlap retired as Chief of the Air Staff and became Deputy Commander of NORAD.
- 1964 – Country music star Jim Reeves and his manager die in the crash of a Beechcraft Debonair Reeves is piloting near Brentwood, Tennessee.
- 1957 – The Distant Early Warning Line, a system of radar stations designed to detect Soviet bombers approaching North America, went into operation.
- 1956 – In a high-speed flight, prototype Folland Gnat, G-39-2, suffers tailplane flutter which breaks away. Folland test pilot bails out and descends safely, becoming first person to use the Folland/Saab ejection seat in action.
- 1952 – First flight of the SNCASE SE.3120 Alouette
- 1948 – President Harry Truman helped dedicate New York International Airport (later John F. Kennedy International Airport) at Idlewild Field.
- 1945 – Since beginning the strategic bombing campaign against Japan in June 1944, B-29 s of the U. S. Army’s Twentieth Air Force have destroyed 90 Japanese cities, leaving only four major cities – Kyoto, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Sapporo – undamaged. During July 1945, the B-29 s have carried an average bombload of 7.4 tons (6,713 kg) per plane – An increase of 4.8 tons (4,355 kg) since November 1944 – dropped more than 75 percent of their bombs by radar, and suffered a loss rate of only 0.4 percent of aircraft raiding Japan (down from 5.7 percvent in January 1945).
- 1944 – Noted aviation pioneer and author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry vanishes without a trace while flying a Free French Forces Lockheed F-5B-1-LO, 42-68223, c/n 2734, of II/33 Squadron, out of Borgo-Porreta, Bastia, Corsica, a reconnaissance variant of the P-38 Lightning, over the Mediterranean; his fate remains a mystery until 2004 when the wreckage of his plane is discovered. While the cause of the crash is unknown, analysis of the wreckage and enemy wartime records suggests that the crash was an accident unrelated to enemy action. A former Luftwaffe pilot has published a volume in which he claims to have shot down a French-marked Lightning, but his claim is largely discounted.
- 1943 – German aircraft attack U. S. Navy warships bombarding coastal artillery batteries near San Stéfano di Camastra, Sicily, but score no hits.
- 1943 – The U. S. Army Forces’ Eleventh Air Force has carried out even more combat sorties against Japanese forces on Kiska in the Aleutian Islands in July than it had in June.
- 1943 – The first prototype Focke-Wulf Ta 154 V1, TE+FE, powered by Jumo 211R engines, first flown 1 July 1943, tested at Rechlin, is written off in a landing accident this date when the undercarriage collapsed. This was a recurrent problem that accounted for the loss of several of the type.
- 1942 – The vast, 800 km (500 mi) searchlight belt Germany has developed to guide night fighters to British bombers along their routes into and out of Germany is ordered disbanded so that the searchlights may be reallocated to the point defense of individual German cities. The searchlight belt is replaced by an even deeper belt of ground radars, allowing far more radar-controlled interception of enemy aircraft by German night fighters.
- 1941 – A chartered Philippine Airlines Douglas DC-4 ferries 40 American servicemen to Oakland, California, from Nielson Airport in Makati City, Manila, in the Philippine Islands with stops at Guam, Wake Island, Johnston Atoll, and Honolulu in the Territory of Hawaii. The flight makes Philippine Airlines, Asia’s first airline, the first Asian airline to cross the Pacific Ocean. Philippine Airlines will begin a scheduled transpacific service in December 1941.
- 1941 – First flight of the Lockheed Ventura
- 1936 – (July 31-August 8) France becomes the first country to supply aircraft to the Republican faction in Spain, delivering 70 planes, including Bloch MB.200 s, Potez 54 s, and Dewoitine D.371 s.
- 1936 – The Jersey Airways Saro A.19 Cloud amphibian airliner Cloud of Iona (tail number G-ABXW) disappears during a stormy evening on a flight from Guernsey to Jersey in the Channel Islands with the loss of all eight people on board. An investigation determines that the plane had lost engine power, landed on the sea, and been swamped by waves.
- 1930 – First dirigible takeoff and landing on an oceangoing vessel.
- 1923 – RAF Bristol F.2B, E2431, crashes at RAF (Cadet) College, Cranwell, when it stalls during landing. Aircraft was marked incorrectly 1342E.
- 1918 – Lt Frank Linke-Crawford, Austrian 4th highest scoring ace, is shot down in combat. He had scored 27 victories.
- 1918 – An aircraft takes off from platform installed on a towed lighter for the first time, when Royal Air Force Lieutenant Stewart Culley takes off in a Sopwith Camel from a lighter towed behind a British warship.
- 1918 – A Royal Air Force bombing raid over Germany by 12 Airco DH.9 s suffers the loss of 10 aircraft shot down.
- 1913 – Alys McKey Bryant becomes the first woman pilot to fly in Canada, over Vancouver, in a Curtiss-type pusher biplane.
- 1912 – An attempt by the U.S. Navy to catapult launch the Navy's first seaplane, a Curtiss A-3 (AH-3) pusher, at the Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C., fails when a crosswind catches the plane halfway along the catapult and tosses it into the Anacostia River. Pilot uninjured. A different source lists the location of the launch attempt as Annapolis, Maryland, the aircraft as the Curtiss A-1 (AH-1), and the pilot as Lt. Theodore G. Ellyson, noting that the catapult was powered by compressed air, was fabricated by the Naval Gun Factory at the Washington Navy Yard from a design by Capt. Washington I. Chambers, and that the aircraft, not being secured to the catapult, reared up at mid-stroke where it was caught by the crosswind. This account, from an official U.S. Navy history, may be the more credible of the two versions. An accompanying photo (No. 650864) dated July 1912 showing the A-1 on the catapult at Annapolis supports the latter description. The first successful launch was accomplished on 12 November 1912 at the Washington Navy Yard by Ellyson in the A-3, according to this source, possibly accounting for the confusion.
- 1901 – German meteorologists Berson and Süring climb to 10,800 m in a free balloon.
- 1894 – Hiram Maxim launches an enormous biplane test rig (wingspan 32 m, 105 ft) propelled by two steam engines. It makes a short captive hop after running down a length of railway track. After that he stopped his experiments, which had already cost him around thirty thousands pounds.
- 1879 – Richard Cowen and Charles Page flew the Canadian, the first balloon to be built in Canada.
References
- ^ "Firing Offenses: Ways You Don't Expect Your Military Career to End," The Washington Post Express, August 2, 2012, p. 2.
- ^ Ashley Halsey III (August 1, 2012). "Two planes taking off from National put on collision course with plane trying to land". Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved December 2, 2012.
- ^ Kim Gamel (2007-08-10). "U.S. helicopter forced down in Iraq". Associated Press. Retrieved 2007-08-10.
- ^ "Second Predator crashes in Iraq in two days". Air Force Print News. 2007-07-31. Retrieved 2009-02-04.
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