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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 aircraft 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. Clément Ader built the "Ader Éole" in France and made an uncontrolled, powered hop in 1890. This is the first powered aircraft, although it did not achieve controlled flight. 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

A U.S. Air Force F-35A off the coast of Florida
A U.S. Air Force F-35A off the coast of Florida
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide electronic warfare and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. Lockheed Martin is the prime F-35 contractor, with principal partners Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. The aircraft has three main variants: the conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) F-35A, the short take-off and vertical-landing (STOVL) F-35B, and the carrier-based (CV/CATOBAR) F-35C. (Full article...)

Selected image

Credit: Senior Airman Greg L. Davis, USAF
The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is a single-seat, twin-engine jet aircraft designed to provide close air support of ground forces by attacking tanks, armored vehicles, and other ground targets. It is the first US Air Force aircraft designed exclusively for close air support. The A-10 was developed in response to the increasing vulnerability of ground attack-planes to ground air defenses. This indicated the need for a specialized, heavily armored aircraft with long loiter time and large ordnance load, much like the Ilyushin Il-2 or A-1 Skyraider.

Did you know

...that Suriname's worst air disaster was Surinam Airways Flight 764, which crashed after the pilots ignored repeated warnings that they were flying too low? ...that the airfields captured in the battle of Tinian were used for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? ... that Flying Officer (later Air Commodore) Frank Lukis was one of the original twenty-one officers in the RAAF when it was formed in 1921?

More Did you know facts

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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

Helmut Paul Emil Wick (5 August 1915 – 28 November 1940) was a German Luftwaffe ace and the fourth recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (German: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub). The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade, the Oak Leaves, was awarded by the Third Reich to recognise extreme bravery in battle or successful military leadership. It was Germany's highest military decoration at the time of its presentation to Helmut Wick.

Born in Mannheim, Wick joined the Luftwaffe in 1936 and was trained as a fighter pilot. He was assigned to Jagdgeschwader 2 "Richthofen" (JG 2—2nd Fighter Wing), and saw combat in the Battles of France and Britain. Promoted to Major in October 1940, he was given the position of Geschwaderkommodore (wing commander) of JG 2—the youngest in the Luftwaffe to hold this rank and position. He was shot down in the vicinity of the Isle of Wight on 28 November 1940 and posted as missing in action, presumed dead. By then he had been credited with destroying 56 enemy aircraft in aerial combat, making him the leading German fighter pilot at the time. Flying the Messerschmitt Bf 109, he claimed all of his victories against the Western Allies.

Selected Aircraft

Dash 8 300 landing at Bristol (UK)
Dash 8 300 landing at Bristol (UK)

The de Havilland Canada DHC-8, popularly the Dash 8, is a series of twin-turboprop airliners designed by de Havilland Canada in the early 1980s. They are now made by Bombardier Aerospace which purchased DHC from Boeing in 1992. Since 1996 the aircraft have been known as the Q Series, for "quiet", due to installation of the Active Noise and Vibration Suppression (ANVS) system designed to reduce cabin noise and vibration levels to near those of jet airliners.

Notable features of the Dash 8 design are the large T-tail intended to keep the tail free of propwash during takeoff, a very high aspect ratio wing, the elongated engine nacelles also holding the rearward-folding landing gear, and the pointed nose profile. First flight was in 1983, and the plane entered service in 1984 with NorOntair. Piedmont Airlines (formerly Henson Airlines) was the US launch customer for the Dash 8 in 1984.

The Dash 8 design had better cruise performance than the earlier Dash 7, was less expensive to operate, and more notably, much less expensive to maintain. The Dash 8 had the lowest costs per passenger mile of any feederliner of the era. The only disadvantage compared to the earlier Dash 7 was somewhat higher noise levels, but only in comparison as the Dash 7 was notable in the industry for extremely low noise due to its four very large and slow-turning propellers.

  • Length: 107 ft 9 in (32.84 m)
  • Wingspan: 93 ft 3 in (32.84 m)
  • Height: 27 ft 5 in (8.34 m)
  • Powerplant: 2× Pratt & Whitney Canada PW150A turboprops, 5,071 shp (3,781 kW) each
  • Cruise speed: 360 knots (414 mph, 667 km/h)
  • Maiden Flight: June 20, 1983

Today in Aviation

March 25

  • 2011 – French and British jets strike Libyan government tanks and artillery in eastern Libya to help rebel forces to take Ajdabiya.[2]
  • 2010 – A Chilean Army MD Helicopters 530F suffered an engine failure shortly after takeoff after disembarking a passenger and crashed. The helicopter was on a mission in the region that was badly damaged by the last earthquake. All 4 crew member were taken to the hospital, three of them with serious injuries.
  • 2010 – A Royal Malaysian Air Force Pilatus PC-7 crashed during an airshow near local university campus. Pilot bailed at low altitude but was killed.
  • 2009 – Medair TC-HEK helicopter crash: A Bell 206L-4 Longranger helicopter of Medair crashes at Mount Keş, Turkey, killing all six people on board.
  • 2009 – The September 2007 approval by the U. S. Department of Transportation for American, Northwest, Continental, Delta, and US Airways to begin service between and Beijing, China, or Shanghai, China, goes into effect.
  • 2009 – An USAF Lockheed Martin F-22A Block 10 Raptor, 91-4008, Raptor 07, of the 411th Flight Test Squadron, 412th Test Wing, crashes in the marshy flat land 6 miles N of Harper Dry Lake near Edwards Air Force Base, California, during a weapons integration flight test mission. The single-seater goes down about 1000 hrs. (1300 hrs. ET) for unknown reasons, the officials said. The fighter was on a test mission when it crashed about 35 miles (56 km) NE of Edwards AFB, where it was stationed, the Air Force said in a news release. KWF was David Cooley, 49, a 21-year Air Force veteran who joined Lockheed Martin Corp., the plane's principal contractor, in 2003. Cooley, of Palmdale, was pronounced dead at Victor Valley Community Hospital in Victorville, California. An Air Force investigation finds that the accident occurred after the pilot lost consciousness in a high-gravity maneuver. The reports stated that during the third test of the mission the pilot appeared to have been subjected to increased physiological stress and his lack of awareness delayed a recovery maneuver. At 7,486 ft MSL, the pilot initiated ejection outside of the seat design envelope and immediately sustained fatal injuries.
  • 2008 – Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 810, a Boeing 747-300 (TF-ARS) on wet-lease from Air Atlanta Icelandic catches fire on landing at Dhaka-Zia International Airport in Bangladesh. Though all 326 aboard escaped with their lives, the aircraft would be written off.
  • 2000 – A Uralex Antonov An-32 (D2-MAJ) crashes after experiencing a brake failure on takeoff after trying to avoid a hole on the runway. The aircraft loses control, hits another hole and breaks into two pieces. Of the 33 occupants, 3 are killed.
  • 1993 – The first woman Concorde pilot makes her first flight as First Officer of the daily supersonic London-New York route. British-born, Barbara Harmer, is one of only 17 co-pilots in the British Airways Concorde fleet.
  • 1993 – A US Navy Grumman E-2C Hawkeye, BuNo 161549, c/n A082, of VAW-124, crashes into the Ionian Sea off of southern Italy0] shortly after being waved off from the USS Theodore Roosevelt due to a fouled deck. The aircraft had been monitoring nightly drops of humanitarian aid to Muslims in eastern Bosnia, and was returning to the carrier when it was sent into the holding pattern. The radar plane then disappeared ~one mile from the ship without any radio call and no cause was determined for the loss. KWF were Lt. Cmdr. Jon A. Rystrom, Lt. William R. Dyer, Lt. Robert A. Forwalder, Lt. Patrick J. Ardaiz, and Lt. John A. Messier.
  • 1983 – As a consequence of the March 4 and 5 incidents, the American government bans use of American airspace by Cubana de Aviación for 14 days.
  • 1981 – Piedmont Airlines announces an order for eight more Boeing 737 s with options for 20 more, to begin delivery in 1982. Order will makes their 737 fleet the largest in the world.
  • 1978 – A Burma Airways Fokker F-27 Friendship (XY-ADK) crashes into a paddy field immediately after takeoff from Okaraba, Burma, killing all 48 on board.
  • 1977 – The YC-141 B “stretched” cargo aircraft completed its first test flight.
  • 1968 – Four F-111As flew the first F-111 combat mission from Takhli AB, Thailand, under radar control to target areas northwest of Doug Hoi, North Vietnam.
  • 1966 – Lt. Col. R. C. W. Blessley flew an F-111 A on the longest low-level penetration flight to date (1,201.8 miles). He flew 1,000 feet above terrain ranging from 500 feet to over 10,000 feet.
  • 1958 – The first Canadian-Built supersonic aircraft, the Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow made its first test flight in Malton, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The long-range, all- weather, super-sonic interceptor was to be an eventual replacement for the CF 100. This Aircraft was considered decades ahead of its time and far superior to any aircraft in the interceptor role. Unfortunately, the economic situation in Canada resulted in the disbandment of the Arrow program. Many still consider the loss to be Canada’s most devastating blow to the Aircraft industry.
  • 1958 – A Braniff Airlines Douglas DC-7 (N5904), Flight 971, departs Miami, Florida, and tries to return to the airport after an fire on the #3 engine but did not make it. Of the 24 on board, 9 perish in a marsh.
  • 1956 – First prototype Martin XB-51, 46-0685, crashes in sand dunes near Biggs AFB, El Paso, Texas, killing both crew. Pilot was Maj. James O. Rudolph, 36, who was dragged from the crash site with severe burns and conveyed to Brook Army Hospital at San Antonio where he succumbed to his injuries 16 April 1956. The flight engineer was S/Sgt. Wilbur R. Savage, 28, of Rte. 3, Dawsonville, Georgia. The aircraft was staging to Eglin AFB, Florida at the time of its crash for filming of scenes for the motion picture Toward the Unknown. After stopping for refuelling, the bomber began its take-off run at 1030 hrs., but smashed through the fence at the end of the southwest runway and then began to disintegrate, spreading wreckage along a 250-yard trail. There was some initial confusion about the aircraft type as rescuers found the "Gilbert XF-120" name applied to the airframe for the film on the wreckage.
  • 1955 – During a test flight with afterburner, the Lockheed XF-104 achieves a speed of Mach 1.79 (1,324 mph, 2,130 km.hr).
  • 1954 – An Aeronaves de Mexico Douglas DC-3 (XA-GUN) crashes into Friar’s Peak while descending in Monterrey, Mexico, killing all 18 aboard.
  • 1950 – A Devlet Hava Yollari Douglas DC-3 (TC-BAL) catches fire while on approach to Ankara, Turkey. The crew became incapacitated and the aircraft fell short of the runway, resulting in the deaths of all 15 occupants.
  • 1950 – A Mandated Air Lines Lockheed 414-08 Hudson IVA crashes into a house while trying to make an emergency landing back at Law-Nadzab Airport in Papua New Guinea. After experiencing a failure of engine #1, and then had to execute a go-around because of traffic on the runway, and subsequently hit telephone wires. There was 1 survivor among the 3 aboard.
  • 1948 – 1948 Tinker Air Force Base tornadoes: Two large tornadoes strike Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, damaging or destroying a large number of aircraft including at least two Douglas C-54 Skymasters, a Douglas C-47 Skytrain, and many Boeing B-29 Superfortresses stored from World War II.
  • 1945 – Japanese aircraft make their last raid on Iwo Jima. U. S. Army Air Forces P-61 Black Widow night fighters based on the island shoot down several of the Japanese planes and drive off the rest.
  • 1945 – The Japanese high command issues an alert for Operation Ten-Go, a concentrated air attack against amphibious forces preparing to invade Okinawa.
  • 1944 – A British twin-engined aircraft lands on an aircraft carrier for the first time when Lieutenant Commander E. M. Brown lands a navalized de Havilland Mosquito VI on the British carrier HMS Indefatigable.
  • 1944 – 74 airforce POWs escaped from Stalag Luft 3 in Sagan. 50 later captured and executed including 6 Canadians.
  • 1942 – Test pilot Fritz Wendel takes Messerschmitt Me 262V1, PC+UA, on its first jet-powered flight but experimental BMW 003 gas turbine engines both fail and he has to limp the prototype airframe back to Augsburg on the nose-mounted Jumo 210 piston engine installed for initial airframe testing
  • 1939 – Ongoing ceasefire negotiations between Nationalist and Republican officials which include a Nationalist demand that all Spanish Republican Air Force aircraft fly to Nationalist airfields to surrender on this day are broken off when Republican aircraft do not surrender. A major motivation for the Nationalist demand is to prevent Republican leaders from fleeing Spain by air; six Republican aircraft carry officials and refugees from central Spain to France on this day.
  • 1928 – Jim Lovell, American astronaut was born. James “Jim” Arthur Lovell, Jr., is most famous as the commander of Apollo 13, which suffered an explosion en route to the Moon but was brought back safely to Earth by the efforts of the crew and mission control.
  • 1926 – Willie Messerschmitt, a graduate of Munich Technical High School and already an experienced designer of light aircraft and sailplanes, forms the Messerschmitt Flugzeugbau G. m. b. H.
  • 1924 – Royal Air Force (flag pictured) officers McLaren, Plenderleith, and Andrews set off in an attempted round-the-world flight in a Vickers Vulture II. Their attempt will ultimately fail in Siberia in early August.
  • 1922 – One of the first small commercial transport aircraft built upon experience from passenger flying and the requirements of airline operators, makes its first flight from Edgware, near London. The 10-seat passenger D. H. 34, with a top speed of 128 mph and a cruising speed of 105 mph has a range of 365 miles. Daimler Hire used six D. H.34′s and Instone used four, while one was sold to Dobrolet, the Russian airline. When Imperial Airways was formed in 1924 it took over seven D. H.34 s and used them over the next two years before deciding to re-equip with larger aircraft.
  • 1918 – Ensign John McNamara makes the first US Navy attack on a submarine.
  • 1917 – One of the greatest fighter pilots of WWI, Canada-born Lt. Col. William Avery Bishop, scores his first combat victory over an Albatros single-seat fighter while flying a Nieuport.
  • 1910 – The first aeroplane flight over a Canadian city, New Westminster, BC, was part of a 26 mile trip made by C. K. Hamilton on a Curtiss pusher biplane from Minoru Park near Vancouver, BC.

References

  1. ^ Reuters, "Boeing Makes First of Two 787 Dreamliner Flight Checks," The Washington Post, March 26, 2013, p. A16.
  2. ^ "Libyan Leader 'Arming Volunteers'". BBC News. 25 March 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  3. ^ "UAE Sends Warplanes to Libya as NATO Takes Command". GlobalPost. 25 March 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  4. ^ "UAE Commits 12 Planes to Libya Action". Herald Sun. Agence France-Presse. 25 March 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  5. ^ "Highland Airways goes into administration". BBC News. 25 March 2010. Archived from the original on 28 March 2010. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
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