Portal:Aviation
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The Aviation Portal
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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Did you know
...that a Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar was used in the 2004 film Flight of the Phoenix? ...that the Cessna 165 aircraft was instrumental in the recovery of the Cessna Aircraft Company in the years following the Great Depression? ... that the collection of the Prague Aviation Museum, Kbely includes 275 aircraft, of which approximately 110 are on public display?
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- Image 1"Map of Air Routes and Landing Places in Great Britain, as temporarily arranged by the Air Ministry for civilian flying", published in 1919, showing Hounslow, near London, as the hub (from History of aviation)
- Image 2Clément Ader Avion III (1897 photograph) (from History of aviation)
- Image 6Alberto Santos-Dumont flying the Demoiselle over Paris (from History of aviation)
- Image 7Early Voisin biplane (from History of aviation)
- Image 10First failure of Langley's manned Aerodrome on the Potomac River, 7 October 1903 (from History of aviation)
- Image 11Map of record breaking flights of the 1920s (from History of aviation)
- Image 12One of Leonardo's sketches (from History of aviation)
- Image 16French reconnaissance balloon L'Intrépide of 1796, the oldest existing flying device, in the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna (from History of aviation)
- Image 171843 artist's impression of John Stringfellow's plane Ariel flying over the Nile (from History of aviation)
- Image 19Woodcut print of a kite from John Bate's 1635 book The Mysteryes of Nature and Art (from History of aviation)
- Image 201928 issue of Popular Aviation (now Flying magazine), which became the largest aviation magazine with a circulation of 100,000. (from History of aviation)
- Image 21Concorde, G-BOAB, in storage at London Heathrow Airport following the end of all Concorde flying. This aircraft flew for 22,296 hours between its first flight in 1976 and final flight in 2000 (from History of aviation)
- Image 23D.H. Comet, the world's first jet airliner. As in this picture, it also saw RAF service (from History of aviation)
- Image 25La France flying in 1885 (from History of aviation)
- Image 26The Biot-Massia glider, restored and on display in the Musee de l'Air (from History of aviation)
- Image 27Nieuport IV, operated by most of the world's air forces before WW1 for reconnaissance and bombing, including during the Italian-Turkish war (from History of aviation)
- Image 28Planophore model aeroplane by Alphonse Pénaud, 1871 (from History of aviation)
- Image 29The Wright Flyer: the first sustained flight with a powered, controlled aircraft (from History of aviation)
- Image 31"Governable parachute" design of 1852 (from History of aviation)
- Image 33Santos-Dumont's "Number 6" rounding the Eiffel Tower in the process of winning the Deutsch de la Meurthe Prize, October 1901 (from History of aviation)
- Image 38Experimental helicopter by Enrico Forlanini (1877), exposed at the Museo nazionale della scienza e della tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci of Milan, Italy (from History of aviation)
- Image 40Maxim's flying machine (from History of aviation)
- Image 41Flagg biplane from 1933 (from History of aviation)
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 Mannheim, Wick joined the Luftwaffe in 1936 and was trained as a fighter pilot. He was assigned to Jagdgeschwader 2 "Richthofen" (JG 2—2nd Fighter Wing), and saw combat in the Battles of France and Britain. Promoted to Major in October 1940, he was given the position of Geschwaderkommodore (wing commander) of JG 2—the youngest in the Luftwaffe to hold this rank and position. He was shot down in the vicinity of the Isle of Wight on 28 November 1940 and posted as missing in action, presumed dead. By then he had been credited with destroying 56 enemy aircraft in aerial combat, making him the leading German fighter pilot at the time. Flying the Messerschmitt Bf 109, he claimed all of his victories against the Western Allies.
Selected Aircraft
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engine heavy bomber aircraft developed for the U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC). Competing against Douglas and Martin for a contract to build 200 planes, the airplane outperformed both the other entries and the Air Corps' expectations. Although losing the contract due to an accident, the Air Corps was so in favor of the B-17 that they ordered 13 B-17s regardless. Evolving through numerous design stages, from B-17A to G, the Flying Fortress is considered the first truly mass-produced large aircraft. From its pre-war inception, the USAAC touted the aircraft as a strategic weapon; it was a high-flying, long-ranging potent bomber capable of defending itself. With the ability to return home despite extensive battle damage, its durability, especially in belly-landings and ditchings, quickly took on mythical proportions.
The B-17 was primarily involved in the daylight precision strategic bombing campaign of World War II against German industrial targets. The United States Eighth Air Force based in England and the Fifteenth Air Force based in Italy complemented the RAF Bomber Command's night-time area bombing in Operation Pointblank, which helped secure air superiority over the cities, factories and battlefields of Western Europe in preparation for Operation Overlord. The B-17 also participated, to a lesser extent, in the War in the Pacific.
Today in Aviation
- 2011 – The first Solar Impulse aircraft, HB-SIA, the first solar-powered aircraft capable of both day and night flight thanks to its batteries charged by solar power, makes its first international flight, flying 630 km (391 miles) from Payerne Airport outside Payerne, Switzerland, to Brussels Airport in Belgium, in 12 hours 59 minutes at an average speed of 50 km/hr (31 mph).[1][2]
- 2011 – A North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) airstrike targeting a Libyan government command and control bunker in Brega hits a building, killing 11 civilians and wounding 45.[3][4]
- 1992 – A U.S. Navy instructor pilot is killed after two Navy Beechcraft T-34C Turbo Mentors collide over a densely wooded field 6 miles SW of NAS Whiting Field, Florida.
- 1989 – The Antonov An-225 Mriya, Soviet strategic airlift cargo aircraft, makes its first carrying flight of the Buran space shuttle.
- 1985 – Death of Alexander Alexandrovich Mikulin, Soviet aircraft engine designer.
- 1982 – Launch of Soyuz T-5, Russian manned spaceflight into Earth orbit to the then new Salyut 7 space station.
- 1982 – A United States Navy HH-46 crashed into the Gulf of Mexico, one killed.
- 1982 – Braniff International Airways' president Howard D. Putnam announces the airline has filed for protection under bankruptcy laws, and the airline's fleet of 71 aircraft is grounded.
- 1980 – First flight of the Antonov An-3.
- 1975 – (13 – 14) U. S. Navy P-3 Orion patrol aircraft discover Mayaguez off Cambodia’s Puolo Wai island. For two days, U. S. Navy and U. S. Air Force aircraft exchange fire with Khmer Rouge ground and sea forces in the vicinity of Mayaguez.
- 1975 – Sikorsky CH-53C, 68-10933, c/n 65-231, Knife 13, of the 21st Special Operations Squadron, departs from Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base with a crew of five and 18 USAF Security Police onboard to assist in the recovery operation of the SS Mayaguez. The helicopter disappears from the airfield's departure radar 40 miles W of the airfield. All on board are KWF. The Air Force issues a "temporary flight restriction" order, service parlance for a grounding order, on 22 May 1975, for 40 HH-53 and 12 CH-53, following an inspection crew reaching the jungle crash site. A main rotor blade separated from the head in flight.
- 1965 – The United States suspends Operation Rolling Thunder strikes against North Vietnam.
- 1957 – Three USAF North American F-100 Super Sabres set a new world distance record for single-engine aircraft by covering the 6,710 mi (5,835 nmi, 10,805 km) distance from London to Los Angeles in 14 hours and 4 min. The flight was accomplished using in-flight refueling.
- 1957 – Birth of Claudie Haigneré, French doctor, politician, and astronaut.
- 1956 – Birth of Aleksandr Yuriyevich "Sasha" Kaleri, Russian cosmonaut and veteran of extended stays on the Mir Space Station and the International Space Station(ISS).
- 1955 – On seventh and final flight of Northrop N-69A test vehicle for the Northrop XSM-62 Snark, only two of which were successful, mission was cut short when the missile collided with its T-33A photo plane.
- 1954 – First flight of the Kellett KH-15 "Stable Mable". This helicopter was designed to test the new gyro-stabilizing system, a kind of small rotor mounted concentrically and intended to stabilize the main rotor.
- 1953 – 59 U. S. Air Force F-84G Thunderjet fighter-bombers attack the Toksan dike in Korea.
- 1949 – First flight of the English Electric Canberra, British first-generation jet-powered light bomber.
- 1944 – (13 – 17) U. S. Army Air Forces Fifth Air Force bombers carry out heavy strikes against Japanese forces at Wakde Airfield and Sawar Airfield, Western New Guinea.
- 1943 – 20 Japanese Mitsubishi G4 M (Allied reporting name “Betty”) torpedo bombers fly from Paramushiro to attack American ships, but bad weather forces them to turn back without launching an attack.
- 1942 – Birth of Vladimir Aleksandrovich Dzhanibekov, soviet cosmonaut who made 5 flights.
- 1942 – Construction of the German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin resumes after a two-year hiatus.
- 1940 – First flight of the General Aircraft Fleet Shadower G. A. L.38, British long-range four-engine patrol prototype aircraft.
- 1940 – First flight of the Bell XFL Airabonita, United States experimental shipboard interceptor aircraft developed for the United States Navy by Bell Aircraft. It was similar to and a parallel development of the land-based P-39 Airacobra, differing mainly in the use of a tailwheel undercarriage in place of the P-39's tricycle gear.
- 1940 – The Sikorsky VS-300, which made its first flight the previous year, makes its first untethered flight.
- 1938 – (13-15) A Japanese Gasuden Koken aircraft breaks the closed-circuit world distance record of 11,651 km (7,240 mi).
- 1934 – US airmail pilot William John "Jack" Frye sets a new United States coast-to-coast record, carrying mail from Los Angeles to Newark. The journey is completed in 11 hours 31 min with a Douglas DC-1.
- 1933 – Lowe Wylde, designer and managing director of British Aircraft Company dies in the crash of a British Aircraft Company Drone during a demonstration at west Malling.
- 1930 – With the Latécoère 28 "Comte-de-la-Vaulx", Jean Mermoz complete the first south Transatlatic Postal flight from Saint-Louis, Senegal, to Natal, Brazil.
- 1927 – Colonial Air Transport offers a sightseeing trip from Teterboro, New Jersey, around New York City for just $8, less than the price of a similar trip in a taxi.
- 1923 – Birth of Donald Milton Sorlie, American test pilot who conducted test flights of the Northdrop M2-F2 lifting body.
- 1917 – Death of Julius Busa, Austro Hungarian WWI flying ace, shot down by Italian ace Francesco Baracca in a SPAD VII.
- 1913 – Sikorsky Russky Vityaz, the world’s first four-engined aircraft and the first aeroplane with a lavatory.
- 1912 – Birth of Felix Kracht, German aviation engineer.
- 1912 – King George V of the United Kingdom approves the formation of the Royal Flying Corps.
- 1912 – A Flanders Monoplane crashed at Brooklands, Surrey, United Kingdom, killing the pilot and his passenger. The accident was investigated by the Royal Aero Club, which issued the first-ever report into an aviation accident and established the science of aviation accident investigation.
- 1911 – Jan Kašpar, Czech aviator, aircraft constructor, designer and engineer, flies from Pardubice to Velká Chuchle (121 km) in 92 min. At the time, it was the longest flight in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
- 1896 – Birth of Louis Marcel Germain Doret, (Marcel Doret), French raid Aviator, Test Pilot and Aerobatic pilot.
- 1894 – Birth of Elwyn Roy "Bo" King, Australian WWI fighter ace and instructor during WWII.
- 1890 – Birth of Charles John Biddle, American WWI flying ace and lawyer.
- 1883 – Birth of Charles Alexander Holcombe Longcroft, Britsh WWI pilot and squadron commander in the Royal Flying Corps who went on to become a senior commander in the Royal Air Force.
References
- "NATO Strike Kills at Least 16 in Brega: Report". Reuters. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
- "NATO Says Brega Strike Directed at Command Bunker". Reuters. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
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