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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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PanAm Airbus A310-222
PanAm Airbus A310-222
Pan American World Airways, most commonly known as "Pan Am", was the principal international airline of the United States from the 1930s until its collapse in 1991. Originally founded as a seaplane service out of Key West, Florida, the airline became a major company; it was credited with many innovations that shaped the international airline industry, including the widespread use of jet aircraft, jumbo jets, and computerized reservation systems. Identified by its blue globe logo and the use of "Clipper" in aircraft names and call signs, the airline was a cultural icon of the 20th century, and the unofficial flag carrier of the United States. Pan Am went through two incarnations after 1991. The second Pan Am operated from 1996 to 1998 with a focus on low-cost, long-distance flights between the U.S. and the Caribbean. The current incarnation, based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and known as the Pan Am "Clipper Connection", is operated by Boston-Maine Airways. The airline currently flies to destinations in the northeastern United States, Florida, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. (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 the Ryan X-13 Vertijet aircraft landed by using a hook on its nose to hang itself on a wire? ... that Arthur Hartley developed the Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation which is credited with safely landing 2,500 aircraft during World War Two?

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Selected biography

Amy Johnson (1 July 1903 – 5 January 1941) C.B.E. was a pioneering British aviatrix.

Born in Kingston upon Hull, Johnson graduated from University of Sheffield with a Bachelor of Arts in economics. She was introduced to flying as a hobby, gaining a pilot's A Licence No. 1979 on 6 July 1929 at the London Aeroplane Club. In that same year, she became the first British woman to gain a ground engineer's C License.

Johnson achieved worldwide recognition when, in 1930, she became the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia. She left Croydon on 5 May of that year and landed in Darwin, Australia on 24 May after flying 11,000 miles. Her aircraft for this flight, a De Havilland Gipsy Moth (registration G-AAAH) named Jason, can still be seen in the Science Museum in London. She received the Harmon Trophy as well as a CBE in homage to this achievement, and was also honoured with the No. 1 civil pilot's licence under Australia's 1921 Air Navigation Regulations.

In July 1931, Johnson and her co-pilot Jack Humphreys became the first pilots to fly from London to Moscow in one day, completing the 1,760-mile journey in approximately 21 hours. From there, they continued across Siberia and on to Tokyo, setting a record time for flying from England to Japan. The flight was completed in a De Havilland Puss Moth.

Selected Aircraft

[[File:|right|250px|The two YC-130 prototypes; the blunt nose was replaced with radar on later production models.]] The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop cargo aircraft and the main tactical airlifter for many military forces worldwide. Over 40 models and variants of the Hercules serve with more than 50 nations. On December 2006 the C-130 was the third aircraft (after the English Electric Canberra in May 2001 and the B-52 Stratofortress in January 2005) to mark 50 years of continuous use with its original primary customer (in this case the United States Air Force).

Capable of short takeoffs and landings from unprepared runways, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation and cargo transport aircraft. The versatile airframe has found uses in a variety of other roles, including as a gunship, and for airborne assault, search and rescue, scientific research support, weather reconnaissance, aerial refuelling and aerial firefighting. The Hercules family has the longest continuous production run of any military aircraft in history. During more than 50 years of service the family has participated in military, civilian and humanitarian aid operations.

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Today in Aviation

June 13

  • 2013 – The French air traffic controller strike ends, having forced the cancellation of over 2,000 flights, without resolution of the issues which prompted it. Industrial actions in other countries related to the French strike also end.[2]
  • 2012 – A Colombian Army Mil Mi-17-1V crashed following a post-maintenance flight test in north eastern Colombia, pilot killed and two passengers injured.
  • 2012 – A United States Air Force Bell-Boeing CV-22 Osprey of the 8th Special Operations Squadron, 1st Special Operations Wing, crashed on the Eglin AFB reservation north of Navarre, Florida, during a routine training mission, injuring all five crew. Three of the airmen were flown to local hospitals and two were taken by ambulance.
  • 2011 – The second test launch of the Boeing X-51 Waverider ends in failure off the Southern California coast when the vehicle fails to separate from its booster rocket after an air launch from an Edwards AFB, California-based B-52 Stratofortress. Following the drop, the X-51 fell for about four seconds before its booster successfully ignited. The vehicle fell into the Pacific Ocean after the booster did not separate as intended.
  • 2008 – Two United States Navy jets collided over the NAS Fallon, Nevada high desert training range, killing a pilot of the McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18C Hornet, based at NAS Oceana, Virginia. Two crew aboard the F-5 Tiger ejected safely and were rescued.
  • 2007 – A Mongolian military Mil Mi-8 helicopter crashes in Selenge Province, Mongolia while en route to a forest fire killing 15 of the 22 people on board.
  • 1996 – Garuda Indonesia Flight 865, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, aborts takeoff due to an engine failure and crashes into a threshold at Fukuoka Airport, killing three of 275 on board.
  • 1990 – Boeing 767 sets nonstop commercial flight record, Seattle to Narobi Kenya.
  • 1983 – Pioneer 10 is first man-made object to leave the Solar System.
  • 1971 – A USAF Boeing EC-135N, 61-0331, c/n 18238, of the 4950th Test Wing, Space and Missile Systems Organization (SAMSO), Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, en route from Pago Pago, American Samoa to Hickam AFB, Hawaii, after monitoring the French Encelade atmospheric nuclear test, conducted 12 June 1971, disappears over the Pacific Ocean ~70 miles S of Hawaii near Palmyra Island. Twelve military personnel and twelve civilians are lost. Only small bits of wreckage found.
  • 1962 – Capt. Richard H. Coan, USAF, sets a new closed-circuit distance record for helicopters when he flies a Kaman H-43 B Huskie a distance of 656.258 mi. This beats the previous record of 625.464 mi. set by a Soviet Mil Mi-1.
  • 1961 – A USN Grumman S-2 Tracker lost complete power in one engine and partial power in the other. Flying instructor Lt. J.G Loren Vern Page, 24, died 6 hours later at Iberia Parish Hospital, in New Iberia, Louisiana. He intentionally attempted ditching the aircraft in Spanish Lake, near the Naval Auxiliary Air Station New Iberia, after losing power. Students Lt. J.G. Donald L. Miller and a second unnamed student were both hospitalized with treatable injuries. Lt. J.G. Page was posthumously promoted to full Lieutenant status by the Secretary of the Navy, John B. Connally, for courage and valor. Also named for courage during the rescue of the pilot and the 2 students were LCDR Alvin E. Henke, who commanded the rescue mission, Dr. Lt. Donald E. Hines (MC), and hospital corpsman 3rd class Arthur J. Hoeny. Lt. J.G. Miller was also credited with assisting in the rescue. Lt. Page was survived by his wife Elsa and a daughter, Deborah Anne.
  • 1958 – A USAF Lockheed T-33A-1-LO Shooting Star, 56-1604, from RAF Alconbury and a RAF English Electric Canberra T.4, WT477, letting down into RAF Wyton, Huntingdonshire, collide in mid-air and come down ~5 miles from Alconbury, killing all crew of both aircraft. The T-33 had just overshot at Alconbury when the collision occurred at ~1,400 feet. The Canberra impacted in a cornfield near the village of Bishop Norton, near Brigg, Lincolnshire. In a separate accident ~10 minutes later, an airmen 2nd class mechanic, Vernon L. Morgan, with no flight training, makes an unauthorized take-off from RAF Alconbury in a B-45A-5-NA Tornado bomber, 47-046, of the 86th Bomb Squadron, 47th Bomb Wing, crashes three minutes later, the wreckage blocking the British Railways Eastern Division Edinburgh - King's Cross mainline at Abbots Ripton.
  • 1953 – An McDonnell F2H-2 Banshee, BuNo 123333, suffers an engine fire while parked on the deck of the USS Lake Champlain CVA-39 off the coast of Korea, but is doused quickly.
  • 1952 – (13-16) Soviet Air Force MiG-15 s shoot down a Swedish Air Force C-47 Dakota on an intelligence gathering mission over the Baltic Sea, and the PBY Catalina that is sent to search for survivors.
  • 1951 – RAF English Electric Canberra B.1, VN850, bailed to Rolls-Royce for Avon engine tests. Crashed on approach to Hucknall with engine fire, coming down just outside field perimeter, killing Rolls-Royce test pilot R.B. Leach. This was the first loss of a Canberra.
  • 1950 – AFirst of two RAF Cierva W.11 Air Horse helicopters, VZ724, G-ALCV, (at the time, the largest helicopter type flown), breaks up in flight and crashes due to fatigue failure of a swashplate carrier driving link in the front rotor hub, killing all three crew: Ministry of Supply chief helicopter test pilot Squadron Leader F. J. "Jeep" Cable, Cierva's Chief Test Pilot Alan Marsh and flight test engineer Joseph K. Unsworth.
  • 1943 – The Pointblank Directive modifies the priorities established by the February Casablanca directive, elevating attacks on German fighter strength to the highest priority for the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Force
  • 1946 – First transcontinental round-trip flight 1-day, California-Maryland.
  • 1945 – A USAAF Consolidated B-24H Liberator bomber, 42-95095, of the 66th Bomb Squadron, 44th Bomb Group, returning home to the USA from Prestwick Airfield crashed at Shieldaig, in the remote Fairy Lochs in Wester Ross, Scotland, killing its entire crew of nine from 66th Bombardment Squadron; also on board were six crewmen from Air Transport Command. Pilot was Jack B. Ketcham.
  • 1945 – Although small and remote, the Fairy Lochs are notable as the crash site of an American World War II bomber. On 13 June 1945, a USAAF B-24 Liberator bomber (serial 42-95095, based at the Warton Aerodrome) was returning home to the USA from Prestwick Airfield at the end of World War II. The crew of nine was from 66th Bomber Squadron; also on board were six crewmen from Air Transport Command. Its route via Keflavík (Meeks Field) in Iceland should have taken it over Stornoway in the Western Isles, but for an unknown reason the aircraft instead flew over the Scottish mainland. Over Wester Ross the aircraft began to lose height, and struck the summit of Slioch, a 980 m mountain overlooking Loch Maree, losing parts of its bomb bay doors, before flying on towards Gairloch. An attempted crash-landing resulted in the B-24 colliding with rocks and crashing into the Fairy Lochs, scattering wreckage over a wide area. All 15 crew and passengers on board perished in the accident.
  • 1944 – W/C CGW Chapman and crew in a Consolidated Canso of No. 162 Squadron sank the German submarine U-715 north of the Shetland Isles.
  • 1944 – Germany began launching flying-bomb attacks against Britain during World War II.
  • 1943 – Blohm & Voss BV 138C-1, WNr.0310158, K6+AK, of 2.Staffel KüstenFlieger Gruppe 406, capsizes upon landing at Drontheim See Ilsvika in Trondheim harbour, Norway. Crew has to swim underwater to escape. Oblt. Ludwig Schönherr, wounded; Ltn. Günther Behr, wounded; Uffz. Heinz Kitzmann, unhurt; Uffz. Reinhold Zwanzig, unhurt; Ofw. Ernst Neumann, drowned. His body is recovered from inside the flying boat when it is recovered the following day.
  • 1942 – The U. S. Navy makes its first operational test with Loran (long-range navigation) equipment with a receiver mounted in a K-2 airship on a flight from the Lakehurst, N. J. Naval Air Station.
  • 1940 – Fifteen Fleet Air Arm Blackburn Skuas of No. 800 and No. 803 squadrons from HMS Ark Royal join Royal Air Force Bristol Beaufort torpedo bombers escorted by Bristol Blenheim fighters in attacking Scharnhorst and other German warships anchored in Trondheimsfjord, Norway. After the Beauforts attack earlier than planned, the Skuas encounter heavy antiaircraft fire during their attack, and eight are shot down.
  • 1929 – The United States Coast Guard establishes an “air traffic flight-following” capability along the coast of the continental United States employing a network of Coast Guard radio stations.
  • 1927 – Charles Lindbergh honored in New York City for his trans-Atlantic flight. 750,000 lbs of ticker-tape shower down.
  • 1921 – The US Army and Navy begin trials in Chesapeake Bay to test the effectiveness of aircraft in attacking ships. The captured German destroyer German destroyer G-102, light cruiser Frankfurt and battleship Ostfriesland will all be successfully sunk by aerial bombing.
  • 1917 – 14 Gotha bombers make the most destructive air-raid on London of the First World War. Attacking in daylight, 162 people are killed and 432 wounded.
  • 1916 – The Zeppelin-Lindau Dornier Rs II hydroplane, piloted by Schröter and Schulte, succeeds in taking off from Lake Constance, Germany, and makes a four-minute flight.
  • 1914 – W. M. Stark flew his float-equipped Curtiss pusher biplane from Burrard Inlet to English Bay, Vancouver, BC.
  • 1912 – Capt Albert Berry made the first parachute jump from an airplane.

References

  1. ^ AHS International Human-Powered Helicopter 12 July 2013
  2. ^ Beardsley, Eleanor, "Strike By French Air Traffic Controllers Ends," NPR, June 13, 2013, 4:00 a.m.
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