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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...)

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C-17 Globemaster III
Photo credit: SSgt. Jacob N. Bailey, USAF
A squadron of C-17 Globemaster III airlifter aircraft on a low level tactical training mission over the Blue Ridge Mountains. The C-17 Globemaster III is used for rapid strategic airlift of troops and cargo to main operating bases or forward bases anywhere in the world. The aircraft carries on the name of two previous United States cargo aircraft, the C-74 Globemaster and the C-124 Globemaster II.
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Did you know

...that George H. W. Bush flew a TBF Avenger while he was in the U.S. Navy? ...that Roy Marlin "Butch" Voris, founder of the United States Navy's Blue Angels flight demonstration team, chose the name based on a nightclub advertisement in The New Yorker magazine? ...that Washington Senators outfielder Elmer Gedeon, who pulled a crew member from a burning wreck, died while piloting a B-26 bomber over France?

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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Associated Wikimedia

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

Selected biography

Charles Yeager
Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager (born February 13, 1923) is a retired Brigadier-General in the United States Air Force and a noted test pilot. In 1947, he became the first pilot (at age 24) to travel faster than sound in level flight and ascent.

His career began in World War II as a private in the U.S. Army Air Forces. After serving as an aircraft mechanic, in September 1942 he entered enlisted pilot training and upon graduation was promoted to the rank of Flight Officer (WW 2 U.S. Army Air Forces rank equivalent to Warrant Officer) and became a P-51 Mustang fighter pilot. After the war he became a test pilot of many kinds of aircraft and rocket planes. Yeager was the first man to break the sound barrier on October 14, 1947, flying the experimental Bell X-1 at Mach 1 at an altitude of 45,000 ft (13,700 m). Although Scott Crossfield was the first man to fly faster than Mach 2 in 1953, Yeager shortly thereafter exceeded Mach 2.4.[1] He later commanded fighter squadrons and wings in Germany and in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, and in recognition of the outstanding performance ratings of those units he then was promoted to Brigadier-General. Yeager's flying career spans more than sixty years and has taken him to every corner of the globe, even into the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War.

Selected Aircraft

An A400M flying
An A400M flying

The Airbus A400M Atlas is a four-engine turboprop aircraft, designed by Airbus Military (now Airbus Defence and Space) to meet the demand of European nations for military airlift. Since its formal launch, the aircraft has also been ordered by Malaysia, Kazakhstan and Indonesia.

The A400M is assembled at the Seville plant of Airbus Military. The first test flight occurred in December 2009.

  • Span: 42.4 m (139 ft 1 in)
  • Length: 45.1 m (148 ft)
  • Height: 14.7 m (48 ft 3 in)
  • Engines: 4 EPI TP400-D6 (8,250 kW power)
  • Cruising Speed: 780 km/h (480 mph, 420 knots)
  • First Flight: 11 December 2009
  • Number built: 119 as of 31 August 2023
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Today in Aviation

November 2

  • 2003 – near Fallujah, CH-47D Chinook 91-0230 of Detachment 1/F Company/106th Aviation Brigade shot down with an SA-7 missile; 16 soldiers killed, 26 wounded.[6][7][8]
  • 1992 – A Grumman EA-6B Prowler (United States Navy) crashes in field near NAS El Centro. The three crewmen ejected at a very low altitude while inverted, and all were killed. Crew included Lt. Charles Robert Gurley (USN), Lt. Peter Limoge (USMC), and Ltjg. Dave Roberts (USN)
  • 1988 – LOT Flight 703, an Antonov An-24, crashes on approach to Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport, killing one passenger, all others survive.
  • 1982 – The last CF-104 course was started by 417 Squadron at CFB Cold Lake, Alberta.
  • 1981 – McDonnell-Douglas F-15A-14-MC Eagle. 75-0051, of the 59th TFS, 33d TFW, based at Eglin AFB, crashes near Panama City, Florida after mid-air collision with McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle, 76-0048, during night refueling. Pilot killed. Second F-15 lands okay.
  • 1964 – A U. S. Air Force HH-43 F helicopter based at Bien Hoa Air Base, South Vietnam, conducts the first night rescue by the Air Force’s Air-Sea Rescue Service in Southeast Asia.
  • 1956 – After aerial reconnaissance reveals the destruction of the Egyptian Air Force, the British invasion force commander, General Sir Charles Keightley, orders British and French aircraft to begin a wide-ranging interdiction campaign against Egypt’s military bases, infrastructure, and economy.
  • 1955 – Air Force Douglas B-26C-45-DT Invader, 44-35737, crashed into houses on Barbara Drive in East Meadow, Long Island, New York. An aerial photograph of the crash scene was awarded the 1956 Pulitzer Prize.
  • 1953 – First prototype Convair YF-102 Delta Dagger, 52-7994, suffers engine failure during test flight, lands wheels up, severely injuring the pilot, airframe written off.
  • 1952 – Marine Corps Maj. William Stratton and Master Sgt. Hans Hoagland, in a Douglas F3D Skyknight, down a North Korean Yak-15, marking the first victory in a jet-versus-jet night action.
  • 1947 – With Howard Hughes at the controls, the Hughes H-4 Hercules, also known as the “Spruce Goose, ” makes its first flight, traveling at 135 mph (217 km/hr) for about a mile (1.6 km) at an altitude of 70 feet (21 m) over Long Beach Harbor in California with 32 people on board. Both the largest flying boat and the aircraft with the largest wingspan (319 feet 11 inches; 97.54 m) ever built, it never flies again.
  • 1943 – 75 Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells escorted by 80 P-38 Lightnings raid Rabaul, where they encounter the newly arrived Japanese carrier aircraft and lose nine B-25 s and 10 P-38 s shot down. They shoot down 20 Japanese planes and sink two merchant ships and a minesweeper.
  • 1942 – A B-17C Flying Fortress breaks apart in the air near Tells Peak, California, while en route to Sacramento for an engine overhaul. Pilot 1st Lieutenant Leo M. H. Walker dies, but the other eight crew members survive.
  • 1941 – Wisconsin-native Lieutenant Thomas "Bud" L. Truax is killed, along with his wingman, Lt. Russell E. Speckman, in a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk training accident during poor weather in San Anselmo, California. In the late afternoon, San Anselmo residents are startled when two low-flying Curtiss P-40C Warhawks, 41-13375 and 41-13454, roar up the valley at just above roof level and crash into the east side of Bald Hill just shy of the peak at 1740 hrs. It was almost dark, was misty and they were under a low cloud ceiling. They were critically low on fuel and part of a larger training group that had gotten separated. They were under the wintertime marine layer of low clouds that are common in the Marin County area, searching for nearby Hamilton Field to land.[85][86] Madison Army Air Field, Wisconsin, is named Truax Field in his honor in 1942. A third pilot, Lt. Walter V. "Ramblin" Radovich, flying 41-13392, had left the formation over San Rafael, almost hit the city courthouse on 4th Street, circled the Forbes Hill radio beacon (37°58'44.73"N,122°32'50.78"W), clipped a tree and then turned northeast, towards Hamilton Field. Unsure of what the oncoming terrain might be and critically low on fuel, he decides to climb up though the typically thin marine cloud layer to 2500 ft, trim the airplane for straight and level flight and bail out. According to USAAF accident reports, his left leg was broken when exiting the plane and he parachuted down, landing near Highway 101 in Lucas Valley reportedly near where Fireman's Fund / Marin Commons is currently located (38° 1'10.66"N, 122°32'29.36"W). Ironically, after Lt. Radovich bailed out, the airplane slowly descended back down through the clouds and made a relatively smooth "gear up" landing. All aircraft were of the 57th Pursuit Group (Interceptor), on a cross-country flight from Bradley Field, Windsor Locks, Connecticut, to McChord Field, Washington.
  • 1936 – Department of Transport was established and took over control of civil aviation from the Department of National Defense.
  • 1931 – The USS Akron, a purpose-built aircraft-carrying airship, is commissioned.
  • 1929 - The Ninety-Nines: International Organization of Women Pilots, also known as 99s, was founded at Curtiss Field, Valley Stream, New York, for the mutual support and advancement of women pilots.
  • 1923 – Flying a Curtiss R2 C-1, U. S. Navy Lieutenant H. J. Rowe sets a new world airspeed record of 259.16 mph (417.07 km/hr).
  • 1912 – The first airplane flights in Japan by Imperial Japanese Navy personnel are made by two officers at the naval air station at Oppama using Farman and Curtiss seaplanes.

References

  1. ^ Yeager, Chuck and Janos, Leo. Yeager: An Autobiography. p. 252 (paperback). New York: Bantam Books, 1986. ISBN 0-553-25674-2.
  2. ^ "Syria airstrikes leave 'scores dead' in north", Al Jazeera, 2 November 2012.
  3. ^ Dunn, Marcia, (November 5, 2012) "Atlantic Rides Off Into the Sunset," The Washington Post, p. A15.[dead link]
  4. ^ "Two U.S. Marines killed in helicopter crash in Iraq". Pravda. 2005-11-02. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
  5. ^ "DoD Identifies Marine Casualties" (Press release). Department of Defense. 2005-11-03. Retrieved 2010-10-29. The Department of Defense announced today the death of two Marines who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Maj. Gerald M. Bloomfield II, 38, of Ypsilanti, Mich. Capt. Michael D. Martino, 32, of Fairfax, Va. Both Marines died Nov. 2 when their AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter crashed while flying in support of security and stabilization operations near Ar Ramadi, Iraq. Both Marines were with Marine Light-Attack Helicopter Squadron 369, Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, their unit was attached to 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, II MEF (Forward).
  6. ^ "Helicopter crash kills 16 soldiers headed for leave". CNN.com. 2007-11-03. Archived from the original on 2007-12-24. Retrieved 2007-06-08.
  7. ^ "U.S. helicopter shot down in Iraq". CNN.com. 2007-11-02. Retrieved 2010-04-06. The helicopter was shot down by a shoulder-type missile, about 60 kilometers west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, at 8 a.m. Sunday, witnesses told CNN.
  8. ^ "DoD Identifies Army Casualties" (Press release). U.S. Department of Defense. 2003-11-03. Retrieved 2012-08-11. The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of eight soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. The soldiers were on board a CH-47 Chinook Helicopter when it went down on Nov. 2 in Al Fallujah, Iraq.
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