Jump to content

Portal:Aviation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Portal topics - (Random portal)

Activities
Culture
Geography
Health
History
Mathematics
Nature
People
Philosophy
Religion
Society
Technology
Main page   Categories & Main topics  


Tasks and Projects

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

BAE Systems' offices in Farnborough, UK
BAE Systems' offices in Farnborough, UK
BAE Systems is a British defence and aerospace company headquartered in London, UK, which has worldwide interests, particularly in North America through its subsidiary BAE Systems Inc. BAE is the world's seventh-largest defence contractor and the largest in Europe. BAE was formed on 30 November 1999 by the £7.7 billion merger of two British companies: Marconi Electronic Systems, the defence electronics and naval shipbuilding subsidiary of the General Electric Company plc (GEC) and aircraft, munitions and naval systems manufacturer British Aerospace (BAe). It has increasingly disengaged from its businesses in continental Europe in favour of investing in the United States. Since its formation it has sold its shares of Airbus, EADS Astrium, AMS and Atlas Elektronik. BAE Systems is involved in several major defence projects, including the F-35 Lightning II, the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Royal Navy Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers. The company has been the subject of criticism, both general opposition to the arms trade and also specific allegations of unethical and corrupt practices, including the Al-Yamama contracts with Saudi Arabia that have earned BAE and its predecessor £43 billion in twenty years. (Full article...)

Selected image

Did you know

... that Paul Haenlein was the first to create a dirigible airship powered by an internal combustion engine? ...that the Zagreb mid-air collision over Croatia in 1976 was one of the deadliest mid-air collisions? ... that the first exhibition at the Boeing Galleries was a series of photographs taken from helicopters and hot air balloons?

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

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

The Avro Lancaster was a British four-engine Second World War bomber aircraft made initially by Avro for the British Royal Air Force (RAF). It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley-Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF and squadrons from other Commonwealth and European countries serving within RAF Bomber Command. The "Lanc" or "Lankie," as it became affectionately known, became the most famous and most successful of the Second World War night bombers, "delivering 608,612 tons of bombs in 156,000 sorties." Although the Lancaster was primarily a night bomber, it excelled in many other roles including daylight precision bombing, and gained worldwide renown as the "Dam Buster" used in the 1943 Operation Chastise raids on Germany's Ruhr Valley dams.

  • Span: 102 ft (31.09 m)
  • Length: 69 ft 5 in (21.18 m)
  • Height: 19 ft 7 in (5.97 m)
  • Engines: 4× Rolls-Royce Merlin XX V12 engines, 1,280 hp (954 kW) each
  • Maximum Speed: 240 knots (280 mph, 450 km/h) at 15,000 ft (5,600 m)
  • First Flight: 8 January 1941
  • Number built: 7,377
More selected aircraft Read more...

Today in Aviation

March 21

  • 2013 – Two helicopters – a Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma and a Eurocopter EC 155 – of the German Federal Police participating in a large-scale training exercise collide in snowy weather in front of the Olympic Stadium in Berlin and crash, with one helicopter apparently landing on top of the other and debris striking bystanders. One pilot dies and several other people are injured.
  • 2012 – A United States Air Force F-16CG crashed near Kunsan Air Base, South Korea. The pilot ejected but was injured.
  • 1991 – Two US Navy Lockheed P-3C Orion anti-submarine patrol planes are lost during a training mission off the San Diego coast. The crash occurs in a storm 60 miles SW of San Diego at 0230 hrs., as one plane flies to relieve the other, which had been airborne for seven hours. Search-and-rescue workers discover wreckage from the downed planes but all 27 crewmen are lost. The two aircraft were assigned to Patrol Squadron 50, based at Naval Air Station Moffett Field in Mountain View.
  • 1987 – Dean Martin's son Dean Paul Martin (formerly Dino of the 60s "teeny-bopper" rock group Dino, Desi & Billy) dies when his McDonnell Douglas F-4C-25-MC Phantom II fighter, 64-0923, of the 196th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 184th Tactical Fighter Wing, crashes into San Gorgonio Mountain in the San Bernardino Mountains after take off from March Air Force Base, during a snow storm while flying with the California Air National Guard. His Weapon Systems Officer (WSO), Ramon Ortiz is also KWF. Wreckage found four days later just below summit.
  • 1983 – First all female USN aircrew to conduct an operation mission. The flight was conducted in a Grumman C-1 Trader from VRC-30 and ended with an arrested carrier landing on USS Ranger. Lt Elizabeth Toedt, Ltjg Cheryl A Martin, AD3 Gina Greterman, ADAN Robin Banks were the crew members.
  • 1975 – In a tragic error by an air traffic controller, the wrong landing instructions are conveyed to Lockheed C-141A-20-LM Starlifter, 64-0641, of the 62d Military Airlift Wing on approach to McChord AFB, Washington, from Japan, to descend below safe minimums and it impacts on the 5,900-foot level of Warrior Peak in the Mount Constance range in the Olympia National Forest, Washington, killing 16 passengers and crew. The Federal Aviation Administration said that a preliminary investigation showed that a controller gave descent instructions intended for a U.S. Navy Grumman A-6 Intruder en route from Pendleton, Oregon, to NAS Whidbey Island, Washington, to the Military Airlift Command C-141. The two aircraft were both at 10,000 feet, about 60 miles apart. A review of recorded conversations between ATC and pilots showed that the controller - instead of calling "Navy 8323" - radioed "MAC 0641" to descend to 5,000 feet. Sadly, word of the controller's error was received at McChord as memorial services were being conducted for the 10 crew members of the Starlifter. The Navy said that services for the six sailors who were passengers on the flight would be held aboard the ships or stations where they were assigned. The casualties were: USAF - 1st Lt. Earl R. Evans, 28, Houston, Texas; Capt. Frank E. Eve, 27, Dallas, Texas; 2d Lt. Harold D. Arensmen, 25, Irving, Texas, 1st Lt. Stanley Y. Lee, 25, Oakland, California; Lt. Col. Richard B. Thornton, 40, Sherman, Texas; M. Sgt. Robert J. McGarry, 37, Shrewsbury, Missouri; T. Sgt. James R. Campton, 45, Aberdeen, South Dakota; S. Sgt. Peter J. Arnold, 25, Rochester, New York; A1C Robert D. Gaskin, 21, Fremont, Nebraska; Lt. Col. Ralph W. Burns, Jr., 42, Aiken, South Carolina; U.S. Navy - PO1C William Michael Raymond, Coupeville, Washington; Lt. Edwin Wayne Uptegrove, San Diego, California; PO3C Terry W. Howard, Sylmar, California; PO3C John Eves, Ridgewood, New Jersey; CWO Samuel E. Flemming, Alameda, California; and Seaman Donald R. Dickson, Tempe, Arizona.
  • 1965 – Second (of five) Ling-Temco-Vought XC-142A VTOL transports, 62-5922, crashes at the Vought facility at NAS Dallas, Texas, while flying at 24 mph at an altitude of 10 to 20 feet, striking the ground first with the port wingtip, then with the starboard wingtip, before making a hard landing. The wing at the time was at an angle of 45 degrees with the flaps deflected at 60 degrees. Wingtips, ailerons and outboard engine tailpipes are damaged, but crew is uninjured. Recirculated propwash airflow caused by combination of wing tilt and flap deflection produced large erratic aerodynamic disturbances and loss of directional stability. Aircraft is repaired.
  • 1958 – A Boeing B-47E-25-LM Stratojet, 52-244, c/n 52, of the 306th Bombardment Wing, MacDill AFB, Florida, breaks up over the Avon Park, Florida bombing range.
  • 1958 – Canada’s era of supersonic flight began when pilot Jan Zurakowski took off from Malton Airport near Toronto in an Avro CF-105 Arrow for a 35-minute maiden flight. Less than a month later, Zurakowski flew the Arrow at Mach 1.5 at an altitude of 50,000 ft (15,000 m). In spite of the aircraft’s early promise, the Canadian government scrapped the project before the Arrow could be put into production.
  • 1955 – Announcement that Dew Line radar defensive system to be built in Northern Canada and Alaska.
  • 1952 – A USAF North American B-45 Tornado crashes shortly after departure from Reese AFB, Texas, on the return leg of a cross-country training flight to its home base at Langley AFB, Virginia, from Mather AFB, California, killing all four crew. The bomber came down 22 miles (35 km) NW of Paducah, Texas in Cottle County, in a severe dust storm. The wife of a railroad worker, Mrs. I. R. Hull, saw the plane plunge to earth near the small community of Narcisso and notified a funeral home at Paducah. It was several hours before searching parties reached the scene. KWF were pilot 1st Lt. Billy M. Reynolds, 26, Cleveland, Mississippi; Lt. Winfred R. Weller, Denver, Colorado; Cpl. Henry G. Geiger, 19, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Pfc. Thomas F. Penninger, 21, gunner, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harlon M. Penninger, Lubbock, Texas.
  • 1952 – 10 Navy airmen are killed when a four-engine Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer patrol bomber dives into Corpus Christi Bay less than a mile from Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas. All aboard the plane are killed. KWF are: four officers, Lt. William Ervin Dozier, Ltjg Bertram Magna Roeder, Delangton Ernest Ruttledge, and Rodney Gwynn Williams; two Naval Air Cadets, Richard Wilfred Augrain, and Robert Benedict Nye; and four enlisted crew, Aviation Machinists Mate Airman Richard Charles Chase, Aviation Machinists Mate Third Class John Leonard Daffenberg, Airman Donald Jarrell Givens, and Airman Apprentice Robert Herman Steinbaugh.
  • 1951 – Flying a U. S. Navy F9 F Panther of Fighter Squadron 191 (VF-191) from the aircraft carrier USS Princeton (CV-37), Ensign Floryan “Frank” Sobieski is blinded by enemy ground fire over Korea. Guided and encouraged by his wingman, Lieutenant junior grade Pat Murphy, and assisted by Princeton’s landing signal officer, Sobieski lands safely aboard Princeton without being able to see. He later recovers full vision. [citation needed] - this is the plot of Men_of_the_Fighting_Lady which in turn is based on an incident with a different pilot and different aircraft on March 22, 1952. It seems highly unlikely that this happened twice almost exactly a year apart.
  • 1946 – A major reorganization of the United States Army Air Forces creates the Strategic Air Command, the Air Defense Command, and the Tactical Air Command.
  • 1946 – Nos. 441, 412, 416, 443 Squadrons (Spitfires) disbanded at Utersen, Germany.
  • 1945 – The Imperial Japanese Navy uses its Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka (“Cherry Blossom”) rocket-powered human-guided anti-shipping kamikaze attack plane operationally for the first time, but without success.
  • 1942 – HMS Eagle makes the second delivery of Spitfires to Malta, flying off nine.
  • 1933 – Fairey’s TSR.1 torpedo spotter-reconnaissance airplane makes its first flight at Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England.
  • 1933 – James L. Kinney makes the first cross-country test of blind flying and landing from College Park, Maryland to Newark, New Jersey.
  • 1930 – The Chilean army and navy combine their air arms into a separate, independent command.
  • 1928 – Charles Lindbergh is presented the Medal of Honor for his first trans-Atlantic flight.
  • 1927 – John Rodgers Airport (the future Honolulu International Airport) is dedicated in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii.
  • 1924 – Martin GMB (Glenn Martin Bomber), USAAS 64308, ex-Post Office (possibly 202), ends cross-country flight to Parris Island, South Carolina, noses over when it hits unmarked ditch on the airfield. Pilot 1st Lt. (later Lieutenant General) Harold L. George reported later that "I also remember being told that it (Parris Island) was an exceptional landing field. It was except that the information had failed to inform me that the Marines had dug a trench across the field. This was not indicated by markers, or in any other way. I didn't know the trench was there until we stopped quickly." Airframe had only logged 99 hours when it was written off.
  • 1916 – Captain-Commandant of the United States Coast Guard Ellsworth P. Bertholf orders Coast Guard experimentation with the use of aircraft and directs Third Lieutenant Elmer F. Stone to begin flight training. It is the birth of U. S. Coast Guard aviation. The unit, made up of American volunteer pilots is later renamed the Lafayett Escadrille.
  • 1913 – Heinz “Pritzl” Bär, German fighter pilot, was born (d. 1957). Bar was a WWII fighter pilot and had a total of 221 victories, fighting in all the major German theaters of war, including the Western Front, Mediterranean and Eastern front. He was shot down 18 times during the course of flying about 1000 combat missions.
  • 1910 – Harry Houdini achieves one of the first powered flights in Australia.
  • 1908 – Henri Farman covers 6,275 ft (1,913 m) in 3 min 47 seconds in his Voisin-Farman No.1 bis at Issy-les-Moulineaux. Henri Farman was a key figure in the early days of European aviation and established several aviation “firsts. ” Born of English parents in Paris in 1874, he first raced bicycles and automobiles. He was involved in a serious auto accident and turned to aviation instead. In 1907, he ordered his first biplane from Gabriel Voisin, a French planebuilder.
  • 1877 – Maurice Farman (1877-1964), aviation pioneer and manufacturer, is born in Paris, France. 1908, he made the first circular flight of more than 1 mi (1.6 km) with his brother, Henri.

References

Edit today's anniversaries – March Archive – All anniversaries...


Purge server cache

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Portal:Aviation&oldid=1257586536"