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The Aviation Portal

A Boeing 747 in 1978 operated by Pan Am

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 aircraft 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. Clément Ader built the "Ader Éole" in France and made an uncontrolled, powered hop in 1890. This is the first powered aircraft, although it did not achieve controlled flight. 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...)

Selected article

Hot air balloon
Hot air balloon
The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air balloon created by the Montgolfier brothers.

A hot air balloon consists of a bag called the envelope that is capable of containing heated air. Suspended beneath is the gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule) which carries the passengers and a source of heat. The heated air inside the envelope makes it buoyant since it has a lower density than the relatively cold air outside the envelope. Unlike gas balloons, the envelope does not have to be sealed at the bottom since the air near the bottom of the envelope is at the same pressure as the surrounding air. In today's sport balloons the envelope is generally made from nylon fabric and the mouth of the balloon (closest to the burner flame) is made from fire resistant material such as Nomex.

Recently, balloon envelopes have been made in all kinds of shapes, such as hot dogs, rocket ships, and the shapes of commercial products. Hot air balloons that can be propelled through the air rather than just being pushed along by the wind are known as airships or, more specifically, thermal airships. (Full article...)

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Ejector seat
Ejector seat
The first ejector seats were developed during the war by Heinkel. Early models were powered by compressed air and the first aircraft to be fitted with such a system was the Heinkel He 280 prototype jet fighter in 1941. One of the He 280 test pilots, Dipl.-Ing. Rudolf Schenk, flying for Argus, became the first person to escape from a stricken aircraft with an ejector seat on January 13, 1942. During a flight with the still engine-less V-1 towed by a Heinkel He 111 he had to leave his airplane because he could not release the towing cable due to icing of the coupling. By December 2003, Martin-Baker ejector seats had saved 7028 lives. The total figure for all types of seat is unknown but must be considerably higher.

Did you know

Fokker Spin
Fokker Spin

...that the Fokker Spin (pictured) was the first aircraft built by Anthony Fokker, in which he taught himself to fly and earned his pilot license? ...that PWS-10 designed in late 1920s was the first Polish fighter to enter serial production? ...that Royal Brunei Catering, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Royal Brunei Airlines, was named as Best Regional Caterer 1995/1996 by Singapore Airlines?

More Did you know facts

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The following are images from various aviation-related articles on Wikipedia.

In the news

Wikinews Aviation portal
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Selected biography

Erich Alfred "Bubi" Hartmann (19 April 1922 – 20 September 1993), also nicknamed "The Blond Knight of Germany" by friends and "The Black Devil" by his enemies, was a German fighter pilot and still is the highest scoring fighter ace in the history of aerial combat. He scored 352 aerial victories (of which 345 were won against the Soviet Air Force, and 260 of which were fighters) in 1,404 combat missions and engaging in aerial combat 825 times while serving with the Luftwaffe in World War II. During the course of his career Hartmann was forced to crash land his damaged fighter 14 times. This was due to damage received from parts of enemy aircraft he had just shot down, or mechanical failure. Hartmann was never shot down or forced to land due to enemy fire.[1]

Hartmann, a pre-war glider pilot, joined the Luftwaffe in 1940 and completed his fighter pilot training in 1942. He was posted to Jagdgeschwader 52 (JG 52) on the Eastern front and was fortunate to be placed under the supervision of some of the Luftwaffe's most experienced fighter pilots. Under their guidance Hartmann steadily developed his tactics which would earn him the coveted Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds on 25 August 1944 for claiming 301 aerial victories.

He scored his 352nd and last aerial victory on 8 May 1945. He and the remainder of JG 52 surrendered to United States Army forces and were turned over to the Red Army. Convicted of false "War Crimes" and sentenced to 25 years of hard labour, Hartmann would spend 10 years in various Soviet prison camps and gulags until he was released in 1955. In 1956, Hartmann joined the newly established West German Luftwaffe and became the first Geschwaderkommodore of Jagdgeschwader 71 "Richthofen". Hartmann resigned early from the Bundeswehr in 1970, largely due to his opposition of the F-104 Starfighter deployment in the Bundesluftwaffe and the resulting clashes with his superiors over this issue. Erich Hartmann died in 1993.

Selected Aircraft

Avro Arrow replica at CASM Arrow rollout in 2006
Avro Arrow replica at CASM Arrow rollout in 2006

The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow was a delta-winged interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Aircraft Limited (Canada) in Malton, Ontario, Canada, as the culmination of a design study that began in 1953. Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry, the CF-105 held the promise of Mach 2 speeds at altitudes exceeding 50,000 ft (15,000 m), and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond. Not long after the 1958 start of its flight test program, the development of the Arrow (including its Orenda Iroquois jet engines) was abruptly and controversially halted before the project review had taken place, sparking a long and bitter political debate. The controversy engendered by the cancellation and subsequent destruction of the aircraft in production, remains a topic for debate among historians, political observers and industry pundits. "This action effectively put Avro out of business and its highly skilled engineering and production personnel scattered... The incident was a traumatic one... and to this day, many mourn the loss of the Arrow."

  • Span: 50 ft 0 in (15.24 m)
  • Length: 77 ft 9 in (23.71 m)
  • Height: 20 ft 6 in (6.25 m)
  • Engines: 2×Pratt & Whitney J75-P-3
  • Cruising Speed: Mach 0.91 (607 mph, 977 km/h) at 36,000 ft (11,000 m)
  • First Flight: 25 March 1958
  • Number built: 5
More selected aircraft Read more...

Today in Aviation

February 21

  • 2011 – Two senior Libyan Air Force pilots fly their Dassault Mirage F1 fighters to Malta and request political asylum after defying orders to bomb protesters.[4][5] Two civilian helicopters also land in Malta after a flight from Libya, carrying seven passengers who claim to be French oil workers.[5]
  • 2011 – A Royal Canadian Air Force Lockheed CC-130H Hercules is badly damaged by fire at Key West Naval Air Station in the United States.
  • 2010 – A Thomas Cook Airlines Boeing 757 begins gushing fuel out of its right wing after takeoff from Turin, Italy.
  • 2008 – Santa Bárbara Airlines Flight 518, an ATR 42-300, crashes shortly after taking off from Mérida, Venezuela, killing all 46 on board in the worst ever accident involving the ATR 42.
  • 2008 – Continental adds 27 aircraft to its firm order positions at Boeing, including eight new 777 s and 19 new 737NGs.
  • 2007 – Adam Air Flight 172, a Boeing 737-300 (PK-KKV), experiences a hard landing that results in a bent and cracked fuselage in Surabaya, Indonesia. This led to the grounding of all Adam Air 737 s, especially after the fatal crash of Flight 574 the previous month. All aboard survived with minor injuries.
  • 2007 – A UH-60 Black Hawk is hit by RPG and small arms fire north of Baghdad and makes a hard landing; all nine military personnel on board were rescued.[10][11]
  • 2002 – A Russian Navy Antonov An-26, 07 Red, crashes one mile (1.5 km.) short of runway at Lakhta Airfield, near Archangelsk, northern Russia, during an emergency landing. Of the 20 people on board, 17 were killed.
  • 2001 – A General Atomics RQ1 Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) test fires a laser guided AGM114 Hellfire missile.
  • 1999 – Death of Eino Ilmari Juutilainen, fighter pilot of the Ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force), and the top scoring non-German fighter pilot of all time. This makes him the top flying ace of the Finnish Air Force, leading all Finnish pilots in score against Soviet aircraft in WWII.
  • 1998 – A Sudan Air Force Antonov An-32 overshoots the runway and crashes into a river near Nasir, Sudan killing 27 of the 57 people on board.
  • 1995 – Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada, after taking off from South Korea, becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.
  • 1994 – Death of Johannes “Macky” Steinhoff, German Luftwaffe fighter ace of WWII, and later a senior West German air force officer and military commander of NATO.
  • 1991 – Iraqi forces shoot down a U. S. Army Bell OH-58 Kiowa helicopter as it returns from a border reconnaissance mission, and U. S. military forces lose three other helicopters and an F-16 fighter in non-combat crashes. In five weeks of air strikes against Iraq and Iraqi forces in Kuwait, Coalition aircraft have flown over 88,000 sorties, with the loss of 22 American and nine other aircraft, all to enemy ground fire.
  • 1986 – USAir Flight 499, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 with 23 people on board, slides off a snow-covered runway while landing at Erie International Airport in Erie County, Pennsylvania, injuring one person.
  • 1980 – Rockwell’s Sabreliner Model 80 sets a long-range flight record for its class, flying 2,653 miles from Boston, Mass., to Paris at 528 mph.
  • 1979 – Former astronaut Neil Armstrong climbs to 50,000 feet in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in just over 12 min in a Gates Learjet Longhorn 28, breaking five world records for business jets.
  • 1972 – The Soviet unmanned spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon.
  • 1971 – Death of James Knowles, Jr., American WWI flying ace.
  • 1971 – All Nippon Airways operates their first international flight, a 727 charter from Tokyo to Hong Kong.
  • 1970 – A bomb in the cargo hold of Swissair Flight 330, a Convair CV-990, detonates nine minutes after takeoff from Zurich International Airport, Switzerland; all 38 passengers and nine crew perish.
  • 1967 – McDonnell Aircraft completes the 2,000th F-4 Phantom II.
  • 1967 – A U.S. Navy Douglas A-4 Skyhawk from the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, newly returned from a tour off Vietnam, crashes into the home of Mr. and Mrs. Truxton Basnight near Virginia Beach, Virginia after the pilot ejects. The delta-winged attack jet cut a swath through trees and impacted the frame house, cartwheeled over the structure, throwing burning fuel into the home. Five civilians are injured, two critically.
  • 1964 – Birth of Twin Brothers Scott Joseph Kelly, American astronaut, and Mark Edward Kelly, American astronaut, U. S. Navy captain and naval aviator. First twin brothers in space.
  • 1964 – A Philippine Airlines Douglas DC-3 crashes on approach to Marawi City. The accident is blamed on pilot error.
  • 1962 – First flight of the Piasecki 16H, a US Experimental high-speed helicopter.
  • 1960 – Death of Edwin Arnold Clear, British WWI flying ace.
  • 1953 – First flight of the Brantly B-2, an American two-seat light helicopter.
  • 1952 – First flight of the Saab 210, a Swedish called-down testbed for the double-delta concept in the development of the Saab 35 Draken fighter.
  • 1947 – United States Army Air Force Boeing B-29-95-BW Superfortress, 45-21768, "Kee Bird", modified to F-13 reconnaissance role, of the 46th/72d Reconnaissance Squadrons, on mission out of Ladd Field, Alaska, runs out of fuel due to a navigational error and is forced to land in a remote area of northern Greenland. The aircrew is rescued unharmed 3 days later, but the plane is abandoned in place. The accident achieves continuing notability for the exceptionally fortuitous rescue and later for a well-publicized and ultimately disastrous 1994 recovery attempt.
  • 1945 – Birth of Matiur Rahman, Flight Lieutenant in the Pakistan Air Force.
  • 1945 – First flight of the Hawker Sea Fury, a British fighter aircraft developed for the Royal Navy by Hawker, last propeller-driven fighter to serve with the Royal Navy, it was also one of the fastest production single piston-engined aircraft ever built.
  • 1944 – The British aircraft carrier HMS Chaser joins the escort of the Arctic convoy JW 57 bound from Loch Ewe, Scotland, to the Kola Inlet in the Soviet Union. It is the first time an aircraft carrier has escorted an Arctic convoy since February 1943. By the time Chaser returns to Scapa Flow on March 9 after escorting the returning Convoy RA 57, her aircraft have sunk or assisted in the sinking of three German submarines, with only one merchant ship lost.
  • 1942 – Air Marshal Arthur T. Harris assumes command of Royal Air Force Bomber Command. Known to the press as “Bomber” Harris, he will command Bomber Command for the remainder of World War II.
  • 1941 – The co-inventor of insulin, Canadian Nobel laureate Sir Fredrick Banting was killed in a war-mission flight in Newfoundland.
  • 1938 – First flight of the Miles Monarch, a British, light, touring aeroplane, Single-engine, three-seat, cabin monoplane with a fixed, tail-wheel undercarriage.
  • 1938 – Death of Carlos de Haya González de Ubieta, his Fiat CR-32 crashing in mid air with a Republican Spanish Polikarpov I-15 during the Spanish war.
  • 1935 – Sisters Jane and Elizabeth Du Bois, daughters of the American consul at Naples, Italy, Coert du Bois, force open the door of a Hillman Airways de Havilland Dragon Rapide airliner in flight and jump to their deaths. Both women had been engaged to be married to pilots killed in the crash of a Royal Air Force flying boat off Sicily on February 15.
  • 1933 – Death of Alférez Alfredo Rodríguez Ballón, Peruvian raid pilot, crashing his Douglas O-38-P during Peruvian-Colombia war.
  • 1930 – Death of Henrich Claudius Kroll, German WWI fighter ace.
  • 1922 – U.S. Army semi-rigid (blimp with a keel) Roma, bought from Italy, formerly T34, suffers control box failure at stern in flight, nosed into the ground, struck power lines at Army supply base, Norfolk, Virginia, and burst into flames, killing 34 of 45 on board, including Capt. Dale Mabry, its commander. This would remain the worst American aviation accident until the loss of the USS Akron in 1933. Accident spurs American lighter-than-air operations to switch to helium, less buoyant than hydrogen, but non-inflammable. Dale Mabry Municipal Airport in Tallahassee, Florida, that city's first airport, was named after Mabry, a Tallahassee native.
  • 1921 – Birth of Franz Schiess, WWII German fighter ace.
  • 1920 – Birth of Robert Samuel Johnson, American WWII flying ace.
  • 1920 – Death of Croye Rothes Pithey, South African WWI flying ace, Bomber pilot and Balloon buster, killed in a crash, flying a Bristol Fighter.
  • 1919 – The prototype of the first US-designed fighter to enter large-scale production, the Thomas-Morse MB-3 (to be made by Boeing), makes its maiden flight.
  • 1917 – Birth of Otto “Bruno” Kittel, WWII German Luftwaffe flying ace.
  • 1916 – Zeppelin LZ47 (LZ77) is attacked and destroyed during a raid in the Battle of Verdun.
  • 1916 – Birth of Fritz Wendel, German Messerschmitt test pilot during WWII.
  • 1914 – Birth of Eino Ilmari Juutilainen, fighter pilot of the Ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force), and the top scoring non-German fighter pilot of all time. This makes him the top flying ace of the Finnish Air Force, leading all Finnish pilots in score against Soviet aircraft in WWII.
  • 1911 – A new 1910 Wright Type B Flyer owned by Collier’s magazine publisher Robert F. Collier, arrives at San Antonio, Texas on rent to the U. S. Army for $1.00 per month to supplement the aging Wright biplane first accepted on August 2, 1909.
  • 1910 – Birth of Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart ‘Dogsbody’ Bader, WWII Royal Air Force legless fighter ace.
  • 1906 – Birth of Moye Wicks Stephens, American aviation pioneer, businessman and co-founder of Northrop Aircraft, Inc.
  • 1895 – Birth of Leslie Jacob “Rummy” Rummell, American WWI flying ace.
  • 1895 – Birth of Friedrich “Fritz” Friedrichs, German WWI fighter ace.
  • 1893 – Birth of Owen Morgan Baldwin, British WWI fighter ace.
  • 1893 – Birth of Friedrich Manschott, German WWI flying ace.
  • 1892 – Birth of Edmund Leonard Zink, British WWI flying ace.
  • 1889 – Birth of Victor François Marie Alexis Regnier, French WWI flying ace who served in WWII.

References

  1. ^ Toliver & Constable 1986, p. 12.
  2. ^ "Report: Libya Air Force Bombs Protesters Heading for Army Base". Haaretz. 21 February 2011. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  3. ^ Ryan, Yasmine (21 February 2011). "Report: Libyan Protesters Fired On". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  4. ^ Peregin, Christian (22 February 2011). "Two Libyan Fighter Pilots Defect to Malta". The Times of Malta. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  5. ^ a b Hooper, John; Black, Ian (21 February 2011). "Libya Defectors: Pilots Told To Bomb Protesters, Flee to Malta". The Guardian. Rome. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  6. ^ "US military: 2 US helicopter pilots killed in Iraq". Times of India. 2010-02-21. Retrieved 2010-02-21. [dead link‍]
  7. ^ "2 U.S. Army pilots killed in Iraq helicopter accident". CNN.com. 2010-02-21. Retrieved 2010-02-21.
  8. ^ "Two US Pilots Killed In Helicopter Crash In Iraq – Their helicopter "experienced a hard landing" at a base in Salahuddin Province". Retrieved 2010-02-22.
  9. ^ Mona Nair (2010-02-23). "Knoxville Army pilot killed in helicopter crash in Iraq". wate.com. Retrieved 2012-12-03. Knoxville Army pilot was one of two killed Sunday in Iraq in an accidental helicopter crash, according to military officials.
  10. ^ "U.S. helicopter shot down in Iraq – Troops aboard all rescued". Toronto: The Star.com. 2007-02-21. Retrieved 2007-05-31.
  11. ^ Han Lin (2007-02-22). "8th U.S. helicopter, Black Hawk, shot down north of Baghdad". Xinhua. Retrieved 2010-02-17.
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