Portal:Aviation

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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...)

Selected article

British Airways Boeing 747-400 taking off at Heathrow Airport in October 2007
British Airways Boeing 747-400 taking off at Heathrow Airport in October 2007
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom and its largest airline based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations. When measured by passengers carried it is second-largest, behind easyJet. The airline is based in Waterside near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. A British Airways Board was established by the United Kingdom government in 1972 to manage the two nationalised airline corporations, British Overseas Airways Corporation and British European Airways, and two smaller, regional airlines, Cambrian Airways, from Cardiff, and Northeast Airlines, from Newcastle upon Tyne. On 31 March 1974, all four companies were merged to form British Airways. After almost 13 years as a state company, British Airways was privatised in February 1987 as part of a wider privatisation plan by the Conservative government. The carrier soon expanded with the acquisition of British Caledonian in 1987, Dan-Air in 1992 and British Midland International in 2012. British Airways is a founding member of the Oneworld airline alliance, along with American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, and the now defunct Canadian Airlines. The alliance has since grown to become the third-largest, after SkyTeam and Star Alliance. British Airways merged with Iberia on 21 January 2011, formally creating the International Airlines Group (IAG), the world's third-largest airline group in terms of annual revenue and the second-largest in Europe. (Full article...)

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Did you know

...that in 1943 British Overseas Airways Corporation Flight 777 was shot down by German Junkers Ju 88s, killing actor Leslie Howard and leading to speculation that it was an attempt to assassinate Winston Churchill? ...that the Alexander Aircraft Company, which produced Eaglerock biplanes in Colorado, was the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world for a brief period between 1928 and 1929? .. that five UH-1 Iroquois helicopters of the Experimental Military Unit were shot down by a single Viet Cong soldier armed with an AK-47 rifle?

More Did you know facts

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

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Wikinews Aviation portal
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Selected biography

Frank Whittle speaking to employees of the Flight Propulsion Research Laboratory (now known as the NASA Glenn Research Center), USA, in 1946
Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle (1 June 1907 – 9 August 1996) was a Royal Air Force officer and was one of the inventors of jet propulsion. By the end of the war, Whittle's efforts resulted in engines that would lead the world in performance through the end of the decade.

Born in Earlsdon, Coventry, England on June 1, 1907, Whittle left Leamington College in 1923 to join the Royal Air Force (RAF). Through his early days as an Aircraft apprentice he maintained his interest in the Model Aircraft Society where he built replicas, the quality of which attracted the eye of his commanding officer, who was so impressed that he recommended Whittle for the Officer Training College at Cranwell in Lincolnshire in 1926, a rarity for a "commoner" in what was still a very class-based military structure. A requirement of the course was that each student had to produce a thesis for graduation. Whittle decided to write his thesis on future developments in aircraft design, in which he described what is today referred to as a motorjet.

Whittle and Hans von Ohain met after the war and initially Whittle was angry with him as he felt Ohain had stolen his ideas. Ohain eventually convinced him that his work was independent and after that point the two became good friends.

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

April 30

  • 2011 – The Syrian government deploys helicopters to Daraa in response to antiregime protests there as violence increases in the Syrian Civil War.[2]
  • 2009 – An Indian Air Force Sukhoi Su-30MKI crashes in the Pokhran region of Rajasthan after it took off from Pune during its routine sortie, killing one of its two pilots. This was the first crash of the Su-30MKI since its induction in the IAF.
  • 2002 – A McDonnell-Douglas F-15C Eagle of the 46th Test Wing, based at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, crashes in the Gulf of Mexico ~60 miles (97 km) S of Panama City, Florida, killing the test pilot. An Accident Investigation Board determines that the crash was caused by the structural failure of the honeycomb material supporting the leading edge of the port vertical stabilizer during a high-speed test dive. A section of the leading edge, approximately 6 X 3 feet (0.91 m), broke away.
  • 1983 – Shortly after take-off from NAS Jacksonville, Florida, around noon, for a flight to Leeward Point Field at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba, the port engine of a Navy Convair C-131F Samaritan, BuNo 141010, c/n 293, caught fire. The pilot radioed that he was returning to the base. As the aircraft was over the St. Johns River, ~1/4 mile from the runway and at ~200 feet altitude, the port wing separated from the aircraft. When the fuselage hit the water, the plane exploded, killing 14 of 15 on board. The sole survivor grabbed onto the first floating object she could reach: her own suitcase.
  • 1982 – Iran begins a major ground offensive to recapture Khorramshar from Iraq. In fighting that lasts until May 24, Iraqi aircraft fly up to 100 sorties per day, but usually attack Iranian forces in groups that are too small and arrive too late to be effective.[4]
  • 1969 – The first woman airline pilot in the West, Turi Widerose of Norway, makes her first scheduled flight as a first officer for Scandinavian Airlines.
  • 1962 – Lou Schalk pilots the 1st official flight of the A-12 Article 131
  • 1945 – Just before midnight, first production Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer, BuNo 59359, was being prepared on the ramp at Lindbergh Field, San Diego, California, for a flight to NAS Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota, a mechanic attempts to remove the port battery solenoid, located 14 inches below the cockpit floor, but does so without disconnecting the battery. Ratchet wrench accidentally punctures hydraulic line three inches above the battery and fluid ignites, setting entire aircraft alight, mechanic suffered severe burns. Only number four (starboard outer) engine deemed salvageable. Cause was unqualified mechanic attempting task that only a qualified electrician should undertake.
  • 1945 – (April 30-May 7) To divert Japanese attention from Operation Dracula and suppress Japanese airpower in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, aircraft from the British aircraft carriers HMS Empress and HMS Shah fly 400 sorties over eight days against Japanese airfields and shipping in the islands, losing one aircraft.
  • 1945 – Michael Smith, American astronaut, was born (d. 1986). Smith was the pilot of the Space Shuttle Challenger when it was destroyed during the STS-51-L mission. All seven crew members died.
  • 1943 – In preparation for the upcoming American invasion of Attu, the U. S. Army Air Forces‘ Eleventh Air Force has flown 1,175 combat sorties against Japanese bases in the Aleutian Islands during April, including a two-week period in which 60 aircraft per day attack Kiska.
  • 1942 – Since April 1, the Luftwaffe's Fliegerkorps II and Fliegerkorps X have flown 9,599 sorties against Malta, dropping over 6,700 tons (6,078,200 kg) of bombs on or around the island, and the British have lost 30 aircraft on the ground. Royal Air Force fighters on Malta have flown 350 sorties, destroying about half of the aircraft the Axis has lost over the island during April. Since 15 April, Malta has undergone 115 air raids, with a daily average of 170 German bombers attacking.
  • 1939 – Vladimir Kokkinaki and Mikhail Godienko attempt a non-stop flight from the Soviet Union to New York but are forced down on Miscou Island in bad weather the next day.
  • 1937 – Nationalist Spanish battleship España sunk by air attack by Republican forces.
  • 1935 – The Douglas DC-1 breaks its own transcontinental record, flying from Burbank, Calif., to New York in 11 hours 5 min.
  • 1933 – The first air service internal to Scotland, Renfrew – Campbeltown, begins, operated by Midland and Scottish Air Ferries Ltd.
  • 1932 – An international code of air traffic communication is formally established, following the decision to do so at a 1927 conference in Washington,DC. The new code is based on a series of three-letter code starting with the letter “Q”.
  • 1928 – British pilot Lady Mary Bailey lands to complete a flight from England to Cape Town, South Africa. She took off on March 9th.
  • 1926 – Bessie Coleman, at the age of thirty-four, was in Jacksonville, Florida. She had recently purchased a Curtiss JN-4 (Jenny) in Dallas, Texas and had it flown to Jacksonville in preparation for an airshow. Her friends and family did not consider the aircraft safe and implored her not to fly it. Her mechanic and publicity agent, William Wills, was flying the plane with Coleman in the other seat. Coleman did not put on her seatbelt because she was planning a parachute jump for the next day and wanted to look over the cockpit sill to examine the terrain. About ten minutes into the flight, the plane did not pull out of a dive; instead it spun. Coleman was thrown from the plane at 500 ft (150 m)) and died instantly when she hit the ground. William Wills was unable to gain control of the plane and it plummeted to the ground. Wills died upon impact and the plane burst into flames. Although the wreckage of the plane was badly burned, it was later discovered that a wrench used to service the engine had slid into the gearbox and jammed it.
  • 1924 – One of the four Douglas World Cruiser aircraft, the "Seattle", 23-1229, c/n 145, attempting an around-the-globe flight in stages, crashes into a mountain in Alaska on this date. The crew, Major Frederick L. Martin and Staff Sergeant Alva L. Harvey, survive and make their way through the wilderness to safety. The wreckage of the "Seattle" is later recovered and is now on display in the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum.
  • 1919 – Laying down rules for aircraft registration and pilot licensing, the Air Navigation Directions are published in London.
  • 1909 – Casey Baldwin and JAD McCurdy formed the first Canadian aviation company, the Canadian Aerodrome Company, at Baddeck NS with the assistance of Alexander Graham Bell.
  • 1904 – The St. Louis exposition opens. Octave Chanute exhibits a replica of his biplane glider of 1896, which he launches by using an electric winch.

References

  1. ^ Barzak, Ibrahim, "Israeli Aorstrike in Gaza Kills 1 Palestinian," Associated Press, April 30, 2013, 12:00 noon EDT.
  2. ^ "Fresh violence hits Syrian town". Al Jazeera. 30 April 2011. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  3. ^ " الأخبار – عربي – مقتل نجل للقذافي بغارة للناتو". (in Arabic).Al Jazeera. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
  4. ^ Cordesman, Anthony H., and Abraham R. Wagner, The Lessons of Modern War, Volume II: The Iran-Iraq War, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1990, ISBN 0-8133-1330-9, p. 139.
  5. ^ Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, ISBN 0-87021-295-8, p. 258.
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