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The Aviation Portal

A Boeing 747

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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Mirabel Satellite photo
Mirabel Satellite photo
Montréal-Mirabel International Airport is a large airport located in Mirabel, Quebec, near Montreal and was opened 4 October 1975. The airport serves mainly cargo flights, and is a manufacturing base of Bombardier Aerospace, where final assembly of regional jets (CRJ700 and CRJ900) aircraft is conducted. It is part of the National Airports System. It is the second largest airport in the world in terms of area, covering more land area than the five New York City boroughs.

The airport's location and lack of transport links, as well as Montreal's economic decline relative to Toronto, made it unpopular with airlines. Eventually relegated to the simple role of a cargo airport, Mirabel became an embarrassment widely regarded in Canada as being a boondoggle, or a "white elephant," and one of the best examples of a failed megaproject. (Full article...)

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Did you know

...that the pioneer American airman Lowell Smith participated in the first mid-air refueling, the first aerial circumnavigation and held 16 records for military aircraft in speed, endurance and distance? ...that Wing Commander Stanley Goble and Flying Officer Ivor McIntyre, piloting a single-engined seaplane (pictured), became the first men to circumnavigate Australia by air in 1924? ...that the Silver Centenary biplane, built in Beverley, Western Australia in 1930, received its airworthiness certificate 77 years after its first flight?

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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

A spitfire in flight
A spitfire in flight

The Supermarine Spitfire was a single-seat fighter used by the RAF and many Allied countries in World War II.

Produced by Supermarine, the Spitfire was designed by R.J. Mitchell, who continued to refine it until his death from cancer in 1937. The elliptical wing had a thin cross-section, allowing a faster top speed than the Hurricane and other contemporary designs; it also resulted in a distinctive appearance. Much loved by its pilots, the Spitfire saw service during the whole of World War II, in all theatres of war, and in many different variants.

More than 20,300 examples of all variants were built, including two-seat trainers, with some Spitfires remaining in service well into the 1950s. It was the only fighter aircraft to be in continual production before, during and after the war.

The aircraft was dubbed Spitfire by Sir Robert MacLean, director of Vickers (the parent company of Supermarine) at the time, and on hearing this, Mitchell is reported to have said, "...sort of bloody silly name they would give it." The word dates from Elizabethan times and refers to a particularly fiery, ferocious type of person, usually a woman. The name had previously been used unofficially for Mitchell's earlier F.7/30 Type 224 design.

The prototype (K5054) first flew on March 5, 1936, from Eastleigh Aerodrome (later Southampton Airport). Testing continued until May 26, 1936, when Mutt Summers (Chief Test Pilot for Vickers (Aviation) Ltd.) flew K5054 to Martlesham and handed the aircraft over to Squadron Leader Anderson of the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE).

  • Length: 29 ft 11 in (9.12 m)
  • Wingspan: 36 ft 10 in (11.23 m)
  • Height: 12 ft 8 in (3.86 m)
  • Number Built: 20,351 (excluding Seafires)
  • Maximum speed: 330 knots (378 mph, 605 km/h)
  • Maiden flight: March 5, 1936
  • Powerplant: 1× Rolls-Royce Merlin 45 supercharged V12 engine, 1470 hp at 9250 ft (1096 kW at 2820 m)

Today in Aviation

June 3

  • 2012 – On approach to a landing at Lagos, Nigeria, the crew of Dana Air Flight 992, a McDonnell Douglas MD-83, reports engine trouble and declares an emergency. Shortly thereafter, the aircraft crashes into a furniture works and printing press building in the Iju-Ishaga neighborhood of Lagos, killing all 153 people aboard and ten people on the ground. Additional people on the ground are injured. This is the second-deadliest plane crash in Nigeria and the deadliest-ever involving an MD-83.
  • 2007 – Paramount Airlines helicopter crash: A Mil Mi-8 helicopter operated by Paramount Airlines crashed near Lungi International Airport in Sierra Leone, killing approximately 20 to 22 people.
  • 2006 – A People's Liberation Army Air Force converted KJ-200 (converted from Shaanxi Y-8), Y-8F-600, AWACS crashes in Guangde County in the People's Republic of China. All 40 people on board died.
  • 1977 – During an aerial demonstration at the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Airport, Fairchild-Republic chief test pilot Howard W. "Sam" Nelson fails to recover from a loop in Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, 75-0294, c/n A10-0043, '97', from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, tail strikes runway with airframe in nose-high attitude, aircraft tumbles and disintegrates. Pilot dies en route to hospital.
  • 1967 – Air Ferry Douglas DC-4 G-APYK on a charter flight from Manston Airport to Perpignan crashes into Mount Canigou, France, killing all 88 passengers and crew.
  • 1966 – Gemini 9 launched; 7th US 2-man flight (Astronauts Stafford & Cernan aboard).
  • 1966 – The Felthorpe Trident crash occurred when Hawker Siddeley Trident 1 C G-ARPY entered a deep stall from which the crew were unable to recover. The aircraft crashed at Felthorpe, Norfolk killing all four crew. This was the first loss of a Trident aircraft.
  • 1965 – Gemini 4 launched; 2nd US 2-man flight (Astronauts McDivitt & White aboard). Astronaut Edward White became the first American to “walk” in space, during the flight.
  • 1963 – Northwest Airlines Flight 293, a Douglas DC-7C, crashes into the Pacific Ocean, 182.5 miles (293.7 km) WSW of Annette Island, Alaska, killing all 101 on board.
  • 1962 – Air France Flight 007, a chartered Boeing 707, skids and burns after the pilot rejects takeoff, killing many of Atlanta, Georgia 's civic and cultural leaders; two flight attendants are the only survivors, as 130 die in the worst one-aircraft accident to that date.
  • 1962 – Bluegill, the first planned test of Operation Fishbowl, under Operation Dominic, to fly a nuclear warhead on Douglas SM-75 Thor IRBM, 58-2310, vehicle number 199, from Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean, fails. Launched just after midnight, the missile appears to be on a normal trajectory, but the radar tracking system loses track of the vehicle. Because of the large number of ships and aircraft in the area, there is no way to predict if the missile is on a safe trajectory, so the range safety officers order the missile with its warhead to be destroyed. No nuclear detonation occurs, but no data is obtained either. Although, by definition, this qualifies as a Broken Arrow incident, this test is rarely included in lists of such mishaps.
  • 1959 – First class graduates from Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
  • 1959 – RAF de Havilland DH-106 Comet 2R, XK663, is destroyed in a hangar fire at RAF Watton. No fatalities.
  • 1959 – Second prototype North American XA3J-1 Vigilante, BuNo 154158, c/n NA247-2, crashes at Columbus, Ohio when hydraulic and electrical failures cause loss of control. Pilot was named Hopkins.
  • 1954 – Cape Canaveral, Florida Missile Test Range, supports the first attempted recovery of a winged missile that flew a programmed pattern and then returned to the Cape for refurbishing and reuse. A Northrop N-69A Snark missile, GM-3394, was successfully guided for landing on the Cape Canaveral Skid Strip, but the missile's rear skid was not locked and the vehicle crashed and exploded upon contact.
  • 1949 – Sole Sukhoi Su-15 (Aircraft P) twin-engined jet all-weather interceptor develops severe vibration during 39th test flight, breaks up in mid-air forcing pilot S. N. Anokhin to eject. Project abandoned, second prototype never finished.
  • 1945 – (3-7) The ninth Kikusui attack off Okinawa involves only 50 kamikazes and causes no significant damage.
  • 1944 – Air attacks in support of the upcoming U. S. amphibious landings in the Mariana Islands begin with a raid by Southwest Pacific land-based planes against Palau.
  • 1944 – 41 Japanese planes attack U. S. landing forces off Biak, losing 11 of their number without inflicting any serious damage.
  • 1944 – F/L RE McBride and crew in a Consolidated Canso of No. 162 Squadron sank the German submarine U-477 north of the Shetland Isles.
  • 1943 – A Boeing B-17F-55-DL Flying Fortress, 42-3399, "Scharazad", of the Plummer Provisional Group, 318th Bomb Squadron, flying to Grand Island, Nebraska from Pendleton Army Air Base in Oregon crashes on Bomber Mountain in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming. 10 crew members were killed. Wreckage finally discovered on 12 August 1945.
  • 1942 – The Akutan Zero - During a Japanese raid on Dutch Harbor, eastern Aleutians, Alaska, the Mitsubishi A6M Model 21, 4593, 'D1-108', flown by Flying Petty Officer 1st Class Tadayoshi Koga (10 September 1922 - 3 June 1942) takes hit to oil line in a brush with a U.S. Navy PBY Catalina. Pilot realizes he cannot make return flight to carrier Ryujo so he attempts emergency landing on what appears to be grassy terrain on Akutan Island but turns out to be soft muskeg, fighter overturning as undercarriage makes contact, pilot killed by a broken neck. Attempt by Japanese submarine crew to rescue pilot is unsuccessful. U.S. Navy search team discovers nearly undamaged Zero with dead pilot still under the canopy, retrieves it and in August 1942 ships it to the Assembly and Repair Department at NAS North Island, San Diego, California for repair and evaluation, the second intact example to fall into American hands. Airframe had been built by Mitsubishi at Nagoya in February 1942.
  • 1942 – In an effort to decoy U. S. forces away from planned Japanese landings on Midway Atoll and to cover planned Japanese landings on Attu and Kiska, aircraft from the carriers Junyo and Ryūjō strike Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands. Although only 12 planes, all from Ryūjō, manage to reach Dutch Harbor, they inflict considerable damage.
  • 1941 – RCAF 405 Squadron Wellington bombers made the first raid on Germany.
  • 1941 – Emilio Mola y Vidal, first Duke of Mola, Grandee of Spain (June 9, 1887 – 1937) was a Spanish Nationalist commander during the Spanish Civil War. He is best known for having coined the term “fifth column“. Mola died when the aircraft in which he was traveling crashed in bad weather while returning to Vitoria.
  • 1937 – Heinkel He 112, outfitted with a Kummersdorf weapons range-designed 4B rocket motor, piloted by Captain Erich Warsitz, on flight from out-of-way Markwalde airfield at Neuhardenberg, ~70&nbspkm E of Berlin, after normal takeoff, pilot engages rocket at half power to avoid overheating. Shutting down after ten seconds of mild acceleration, and gliding "the pilot noticed a strong acrid odor of burning rubber and paint clearly perceptible hot gases flowed under the pilot's seat. The pilot looked to the rear and noticed a strong flickering in the tail area. The airplane at this time was still at an altitude of about a hundred meters. Because the pilot had to fear that the mobility of the control surfaces would be compromised by the fire in the tail section, and because the nitrogen for fire extinguishing was completely exhausted, he decided on an immediate landing. Sufficient altitude to extend the landing gear was no longer available. The aircraft landed with fully extended flaps on its belly and skidded about 45m along the ground. Damage was significant. An unanticipated region of low aerodynamic pressure around the tail had caused alcohol fumes to be sucked back into the fuselage, where they were ignited by heating or the ignition flame." Repaired, the aircraft flies a few more times over the summer but as the safety of the system is doubtful, a redesign is ordered.
  • 1937 – The Spanish Nationalist commander General Emilio Mola dies when his plane crashes on the hill of Alcocero de Mola, near Burgos.
  • 1936 – In a crash that closely parallels the loss of the Boeing 299, General Walther Wever, Chief of Staff of the Luftwaffe, is killed at Dresden, Germany on take-off in a Heinkel He 70 when he fails to activate a lever in the cockpit that unlocks the control services. Wever, a supporter of four-engine long-range bomber design, had been developing a strategic bombing capability for the Luftwaffe, but following his death, Hermann Göring cancels these projects and the German Air Force never fields a viable strategic bomber — despite the RLM selecting this day to ironically announce the Bomber A aircraft design competition for such an aircraft.
  • 1936 – The British Air Ministry awarded a contract to Hawker for 600 Hurricane Mk. 1 fighters, the first of a new breed of high-speed, eight-gun interceptors for the RAF. This was the biggest peacetime order placed in Britain to date.
  • 1925 – Goodyear airship "Pilgrim" makes first flight (first with enclosed cabin).
  • 1918 – One Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI, a four-engined German biplane strategic bomber, modified as a float-equipped seaplane for the Marine-Fliegerabteilung (Imperial German Naval Air Service), with the designation Type L, serial 1432, using Maybach engines, first flown on 5 September 1917, crashes during testing on this date.
  • 1795 – Jean-Pierre Blanchard experiments with a parachute, releasing a silk parachute 20 feet in diameter, loaded with weight over England. Later he drops dogs attached to parachutes from his balloon.

References

  1. ^ Toliver & Constable 1986, p. 12.
  2. ^ Miller, Greg, "U.S. Set to Keep Kill Lists For Years,' The Washington Post, October 24, 2012, p. A8.
  3. ^ "Libya: UK Apache Helicopters Used in NATO Attacks". BBC News. 4 June 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
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