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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 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...)

Selected article

The feathered propellers of an RAF Hercules C.4
The feathered propellers of an RAF Hercules C.4
A propeller is essentially a type of fan which transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust for propulsion of an aircraft through the air, by rotating two or more twisted blades about a central shaft, in a manner analogous to rotating a screw through a solid. The blades of a propeller act as rotating wings (the blades of a propeller are in fact wings or airfoils), and produce force through application of both Bernoulli's principle and Newton's third law, generating a difference in pressure between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blades and by accelerating a mass of air rearward. (Full article...)

Selected image

Credit: Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Jonathan Chandler, U.S. Navy
An F/A-18C Hornet, assigned to the "Golden Dragons" of Strike Fighter Squadron One Nine Two (VFA-192), launches from the flight deck of the conventionally powered aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63). Kitty Hawk and embarked Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW-5) are currently returning to their homeport after a scheduled deployment in the 7th Fleet area of responsibility.

Did you know

...that the mysterious objects known as Black Triangles may actually be hybrid airships? ...that the airfields captured in the battle of Tinian were used for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? ...that the asymmetrical monoplane BV 141 is one of many military aircraft designed by Richard Vogt?

More Did you know facts

General images - load new batch

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

In the news

Wikinews Aviation portal
Read and edit Wikinews

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Selected biography

Amelia Earhart, c. 1928
Amelia Mary Earhart (July 24, 1897 – missing as of July 2, 1937), daughter of Edwin and Amy Earhart, was an American aviator and noted early female pilot who mysteriously disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during a circumnavigational flight in 1937.

By 1919 Earhart had enrolled at Columbia University to study pre-med but quit a year later to be with her parents in California. Later in Long Beach she and her father went to a stunt-flying exhibition and the next day she went on a ten minute flight.

Earhart had her first flying lesson at Kinner Field near Long Beach. Her teacher was Anita Snook, a pioneer female aviator. Six months later Earhart purchased a yellow Kinner Airster biplane which she named "Canary". On October 22, 1922, she flew it to an altitude of 14,000 feet, setting a women's world record.

After Charles Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927, Amy Guest, a wealthy American living in London, England expressed interest in being the first woman to fly (or be flown) across the Atlantic Ocean, but after deciding the trip was too dangerous to make herself, she offered to sponsor the project, suggesting they find "another girl with the right image." While at work one afternoon in April 1928 Earhart got a phone call from a man who asked her, "Would you like to fly the Atlantic?"

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

November 15

  • 2012 – Israeli aircraft strike 70 underground rocket-launching sites in the Gaza Strip in 60 minutes.[1]
  • 2009 – Introduction: Mil Mi-28 (Mi-28 N)
  • 2008 –An OH-58 Kiowa Warrior strikes a tower near Mosul, killing the two pilots.[2][3]
  • 2007 – China Southern Airlines officially joins the SkyTeam alliance on November 15. Because of this, SkyTeam is the first airline alliance with a mainland china carrier. It is also a major push into the global network for mainland China.
  • 2005 – Boeing formally launches the stretched Boeing 747-8 variant with orders from Cargolux and Nippon Cargo Airlines.
  • 2003 – Two UH-60L Black Hawks from 4–101st Aviation Regiment(93-26531) and 9–101st Aviation Regiment(94-26548) collide and crash after one aircraft coming under fire; 6 and 11 soldiers (crew and passengers) on board are killed, respectively, and 5 others on board the first AC are injured in Mosul.[4][5]
  • 2003 – Two United States Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters collide near Mosul, Iraq. Twenty-two soldiers were on both aircraft and 17 were killed.
  • 2000 – A chartered Antonov AN-24 crashes after takeoff from Luanda, Angola, killing more than 40 people.
  • 1999 – The U. S. Postal Service unveils the new 33-cent “Jumbo Jet” postage stamp honoring the Boeing 747.
  • 1992 – An Aerocaribbean Ilyushin IL-18 flying from Santo Domingo to Puerto Plata in Dominican Republic, crashes into a mountain, killing all 34 occupants.
  • 1990 – Launch: Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-126 at 18:48:13 EST. Mission highlights: Seventh classified DoD mission. Likely SDS2-2 deployed.
  • 1987 – Continental Airlines Flight 1713, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, crashes on take-off during a snowstorm at Denver's Stapleton International Airport, killing 25 passengers and 3 crew.
  • 1985 – A United States Navy turboprop Convair C-131H Samaritan, BuNo 542817, of VR-48, Naval Air Facility, Washington, D.C., crashes shortly after take-off from Napier Field, Dothan, Alabama, killing two pilots of the Navy's Fleet Logistic Support Squadron, Andrews AFB, Maryland, and a flight engineer, also of Andrews AFB.
  • 1979 – American Airlines Flight 444 was a Boeing 727 flying from Chicago to Washington DC, which was attacked by the Unabomber. The bomb planted in the cargo hold failed to detonate, but gave off large quantities of smoke, and twelve passengers had to be treated afterwards for smoke inhalation. It was later determined that the bomb was powerful enough to have destroyed the aircraft had it worked correctly.
  • 1978 – Icelandic Airlines Flight LL 001, a Douglas DC-8 on a charter flight, crashes into a coconut plantation while on approach to Katunayake, Sri Lanka for a refueling stop; 183 out of 262 people on board are killed.
  • 1972 – Ansett Airlines Flight 232 was an attempted hijacking of a Fokker Friendship bound for Alice Springs from Adelaide on Wednesday, 15 November 1972. It was the first aircraft hijacking in Australia. The would-be hijacker died in the incident.
  • 1971 – A U.S. Navy Grumman A-6A Intruder, BuNo. 151563, of VA-42, on a maintenance test flight out of NAS Oceana, Virginia, suffers failure of the drogue chute gun in the pilot's ejection seat, pulling the two ejection seat cables and ejecting Lt. Dalton C. Wright. The bombardier-navigator, Lt. John W. Adair, with no pilot in the aircraft, is forced to eject. Jet comes down 15 miles from Oceana. The Navy investigation later determines that five or six flight accidents and one hangar accident may have been caused by the same problem. One source cites date of 15 October 1971.
  • 1970 – US Navy Grumman S-2 Tracker crashes at Fort Dix, New Jersey killing four. Wreckage found on 16 November in wooded area off Range Road. Killed were pilot Navy Lt. J.G. James K. Larson, 24, of Milltown, New Jersey, co-pilot 1st Lt. (USMC) Carleton C. Perine, 25, of Orange, New Jersey, and passengers Navy Airman Apprentice Robert Suttle, 20, of Bricktown, New Jersey, and Navy Airman Apprentice Gary B. Warner, 19, of Central Bridge, New York.
  • 1968 – The last official maintenance test flight of the RCAF sabre at the STU, Chatham.
  • 1967 – On the 191st flight of the North American X-15 program out of Edwards AFB, California, the third X-15 of three, S/N 56-6672, suffers problems during reentry from the 266,000-foot altitude, 3,750 mph mission. Airframe has massive structural failure, killing pilot Michael J. Adams, the only fatality in X-15s.
  • 1966 – Pan Am Flight 708, a Boeing 727, crashes near Berlin, Germany; all three crew members are killed.
  • 1965 – A Boeing 707 makes the first polar circumnavigation of the world.
  • 1964 – Bonanza Air Lines Flight 114, a Fairchild F27, slams into a mountain in poor weather while on a nighttime approach to Las Vegas, Nevada; all 29 aboard perish when the plane crashes only 10 feet (3 m) below a ridge; initially blamed on a pilot's misreading his approach chart, years later the chart maker agrees to pay a settlement of US$490,000 to some of the victims' heirs after it is shown the chart had incorrect markings.
  • 1957 – In the 1957 Aquila Airways Solent crash, a flying boat crashes near Chessell, Isle of Wight, UK, due to engine failure, killing 45 out of the 58 on board.
  • 1957 – First flight of the Tupolev Tu-114
  • 1957 – USAF Boeing TB-29-75-BW Superfortress, 44-70039, c/n 10871, of the 5040th Radar Evaluation Flight, 5040th Consolidation Maintenance Group, Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, crashed 39 miles (63 km) SE of Talkeetna, Alaska at ~1822 hrs. Mission departed Elmendorf on a ground radar calibration mission at 0954 under instrument flight rules on flight path to the Aircraft Control and Warning radar stations at Campion near Galena and then Murphy Dome, N of Fairbanks. Flight covered 1,800 nmi (3,300 km). with ~ten hours in the air. Superfortress had fourteen hours' fuel and a crew of eight plus an instructor pilot. On final leg of approach to Elmendorf, bomber came down on glacier now known as "Bomber Glacier", three crew with major injuries and one with a minor injury later upgraded to major, others KWF. Due to remoteness of crashsite, wreckage is still there.
  • 1956 – A Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) Douglas DC-7 C sets a new distance record for commercial airlines by flying 6,005 miles nonstop from Los Angeles to Stockholm, Sweden, following the Great Arctic Circle route.
  • 1954 – No. 433 Squadron was reformed at Cold Lake, Alberta and equipped with Avro Canada CF-100 fighters
  • 1952 – A United States Air Force Fairchild C-119C-23-FA Flying Boxcar, 51-2570, c/n 10528, disappears on a flight from Elmendorf AFB to Kodiak Naval Air Station with 20 on board.
  • 1945 – First flight of the PZL S-1.
  • 1943 – First of three prototypes of the Curtiss XP-55 Ascender, 42-78845, on test flight out of Lambert Field, St. Louis, Missouri, crashes when pilot is unable to recover from a stall, engine then quits, Curtiss test pilot J. Harvey Gray divorces airframe after 16,000-foot (4,900 m) plummet, landing safely, fighter impacts inverted in an open field.
  • 1942 – The German submarine U-155 torpedoes and sinks the British aircraft carrier HMS Avenger off Gibraltar with the loss of all but 12 of her crew.
  • 1941 – No. 418 (Intruder) Squadron was formed in England.
  • 1941 – (November 15-December 5) The Luftwaffe carries out 41 raids on Moscow. Soviet air defenses claim an average of 30 to 40 German aircraft shot down per day during the attacks.
  • 1937 – Squadrons of the NPAAF were renumbered by adding 100 to their number, e. g. No. 10 Squadron became No. 110 Squadron.
  • 1936 – (15-17) The German Condor Legion sees its first action of the Spanish Civil War, supporting Nationalist forces fighting to take Madrid.
  • 1932 – On first flight of United States Navy Hall XP2H-1 four-engine flying boat, BuNo A-8729, it noses straight up on take-off due to incorrectly rigged stabilizer, test pilot Bill McAvoy and aircraft's designer Charles Ward Hall, Sr., manage to chop throttles, plane settles back, suffering only minor damage. Incident occurred at NAS Anacostia, Washington, D.C.. This sole prototype was the largest four-engine biplane the U.S. Navy ever procured, with a wingspan of 112 feet.
  • 1929 – The McDonnell Doodlebug makes its first flight. The Doodlebug was a two-seat, low-wing monoplane and was the first airplane James McDonnell both designed and built.
  • 1926 – T. Neville Stack and B. S. Leete leave England in an attempt to reach India by air in a de Havilland DH.60. They will arrive in Karachi on January 8 1927.
  • 1919 – Alameda officials make an announcement stating that suspected criminals will be subjected to perilous flight to make them confess their crimes.
  • 1916 – The Model C two-place training seaplane, the first “all-Boeing” designed aircraft, makes its first flight.
  • 1906 – Curtis LeMay, U. S. Air Force general, is born (d. 1990). Lemay took over a B-17 Flying Fortress unit in England in October 1942, as part of the Eighth Air Force and led it in combat until May 1943, notably helping to develop the combat box formation. He was a general in the United States Air Force and the vice presidential running mate of independent candidate George C. Wallace 1968.

References

  1. ^ Brulliard, Karin, "Attacks Intensify Along Gaza Border," The Washington Post, November 16, 2012, Page A1.
  2. ^ "US military in Iraq says helicopter down". International Herald Tribune. 2005-11-15. Retrieved 2005-11-15.
  3. ^ Ernesto Londoño (2008-08-05). "2 U.S. Copters Crash in Iraq; 1 Iraqi Is Killed". Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-02-17.
  4. ^ "US helicopters crash over N Iraq". BBC News. 2003-11-16. Retrieved 2010-04-17. Seventeen coalition soldiers have been killed and five wounded in a mid-air collision between two US helicopters.
  5. ^ "US probes Iraq helicopter crash". BBC News. 2003-11-16. Retrieved 2010-04-18. The US army in Iraq is examining the wreckage of two Black Hawk helicopters which crashed in the northern city of Mosul, killing at least 17 soldiers.
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