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The Aviation Portal

A Boeing 747 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...)

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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...)

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Did you know

...that on October 5, 1914, a French Voisin III pilot scored the first air-to-air kill of World War I? ...that the Zagreb mid-air collision over Croatia in 1976 was one of the deadliest mid-air collisions? ... that Walter Borchers was one of three brothers, all three received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II?

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
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Associated Wikimedia

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

Selected biography

Francis Stanley "Gabby" Gabreski (Franciszek Gabryszewski) (28 January 1919 - January 31, 2002) was the top American fighter ace in Europe during World War II, a jet fighter ace in Korea, and commanded numerous fighter squadrons, groups, and wings during his Air Force career.

Assigned as a P-40 pilot with the 45th Fighter Squadron of the 15th Fighter Group at Wheeler Field, Hawaii, 2nd Lt. Gabreski witnessed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but did not become airborne in time to engage the attackers.

In March 1943 Gabreski became part of the 56th Fighter Group, flying the P-47 Thunderbolt, and in May was promoted to Major and named commander of the 61st Fighter Squadron, which included six Polish nationals as pilots in 1944. He made his 28th kill on July 5, 1944, passing Eddie Rickenbacker's record from World War I to become America's top ace (although several pilots passed him by the end of the war).

Col. Gabreski flew combat again during the Korean War, as commander of the 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing, piloting an F-86 Sabre. He was credited with 6.5 MiG-15 kills, making him one of seven U.S. pilots to be aces in more than one war (the others are Col. Harrison Thyng, Col. James P. Hagerstrom, Major William T. Whisner, Col. Vermont Garrison, Major George A. Davis, Jr., and Lt.Col. John F. Bolt, USMC).

He ended his career as a commander of several tactical and air defense wings, his last assignment being commander of the 52d Fighter Wing at Suffolk County Air Force Base in Westhampton Beach, New York.

Selected Aircraft

Avro Arrow replica at CASM Arrow rollout in 2006
Avro Arrow replica at CASM Arrow rollout in 2006

The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow was a delta-winged interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Aircraft Limited (Canada) in Malton, Ontario, Canada, as the culmination of a design study that began in 1953. Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry, the CF-105 held the promise of Mach 2 speeds at altitudes exceeding 50,000 ft (15,000 m), and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond. Not long after the 1958 start of its flight test program, the development of the Arrow (including its Orenda Iroquois jet engines) was abruptly and controversially halted before the project review had taken place, sparking a long and bitter political debate. The controversy engendered by the cancellation and subsequent destruction of the aircraft in production, remains a topic for debate among historians, political observers and industry pundits. "This action effectively put Avro out of business and its highly skilled engineering and production personnel scattered... The incident was a traumatic one... and to this day, many mourn the loss of the Arrow."

  • Span: 50 ft 0 in (15.24 m)
  • Length: 77 ft 9 in (23.71 m)
  • Height: 20 ft 6 in (6.25 m)
  • Engines: 2×Pratt & Whitney J75-P-3
  • Cruising Speed: Mach 0.91 (607 mph, 977 km/h) at 36,000 ft (11,000 m)
  • First Flight: 25 March 1958
  • Number built: 5
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Today in Aviation

July 28

  • 2011 – A General Dynamics F-16C Block 30H Fighting Falcon, 87-296, c/n 5C-557, of the 187th Fighter Wing, Alabama Air National Guard, flying out of Montgomery Air National Guard Base, overruns the runway at the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh air show at Wittman Regional Airport, Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The nose gear collapsed, the nose radome broke and the air-frame skidded to a stop. Pilot was uninjured.
  • 2010 – The 2010 Alaska C-17 crash occurred when a United States Air Force military transport plane crashed on Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska with the loss of all four crew aboard. The aircraft involved was a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III (tail number 00-0173) and the crash is believed to be the first fatal accident involving a C-17. The crew were preparing for Elmendorf’s Arctic Thunder Air Show, which went ahead three days later as a tribute.
  • 2010 – Airblue Flight 202, an Airbus A321, crashes into a hill in the Margalla Hills north-east of Islamabad apparently due to bad weather resulting in 146 passengers and 6 crew members perished. It is the first fatal accident involving an Airbus A321 and Pakistan's worst air disaster.
  • 2010 – A United States Air Force Boeing C-17A Lot XII Globemaster III, 00-0173, c/n P-73, "Spirit of the Aleutians", callsign Sitka 43, of the 3d Wing, on a training mission, crashed at ~1822 hrs. into a wooded area on Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska killing 3 members of the Alaska Air National Guard and 1 member of the US Air Force.
  • 2010 – An Iraqi military Mil Mi-17 helicopter crashes in a sandstorm. Five-member crew is killed.[3]
  • 2009 – Cambodian airline Cambodia Angkor Air commences operations.
  • 2008 – Deceased: Margaret Ringenberg, 87, an American aviator, who had logged more than 40,000 hours, natural causes.
  • 1982 – The first McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet is delivered to the Canadian Forces Air Command.
  • 1976 – Speed Records set. Two records set; USAF Capt Eldon W Joersz, 2193.16 mph over a straight course, and USAF Maj Adolphus H Bledsoe, 2092.29 mph over a closed circuit, both in Lockheed SR-71As at Beale AFB CA.
  • 1976 – Altitude record of 85,069′ attained in horizontal flight set in a Lockheed SR-71 A at Beale AFB CA by USAF Capt Robert C. Helt.
  • 1957 – Two Mark 5 nuclear bombs without nuclear capsules installed were jettisoned from a Douglas C-124 Globemaster II in the Atlantic Ocean ~100 miles (160 km) SE of Naval Air Station Pomona, New Jersey, just outside Delaware Bay E of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and S of Wildwood and Cape May, New Jersey. The aircraft was carrying three weapons and one nuclear capsule; the weapons were in Complete Assembly for Ferry (CAF) condition. Nuclear components were not installed; power supplies were installed but not connected. The C-124 was en route from Dover AFB, Delaware, to Europe via the Azores islands when its two port engines lost power. Maximum power was applied to the two starboard engines, however, level flight could not be maintained. The crew decided to jettison one weapon at an altitude of 4,500 feet (1,400 m) ~75 miles (121 km) off the coast of New Jersey. The second weapon was jettisoned soon afterwards at an altitude of 2,500 feet (760 m) at a distance of 50 miles (80 km) from the New Jersey coast. No detonation was seen to occur from either weapon, and both bombs were presumed to have been damaged or destroyed on impact with the sea and to have sunk almost instantly. The C-124 landed at an airfield in the vicinity of Atlantic City, New Jersey, with the remaining weapon and the nuclear capsule aboard. After a three-month long search, neither the weapons nor any debris were located. By November 1957, the AEC was taking action to issue replacement weapons to the DOD. No public announcement of this incident was made at the time it happened.
  • 1950 – The first scheduled passenger service flown by a gas-turbine powered airliner (turboprop) is British European Airway’s (British European Airways) Vickers V. 630 Viscount.
  • 1950 – A U. S. Air Force B-29 Superfortress mistakenly shoots down a British Seafire of No. 800 Squadron from HMS Triumph off Korea, apparently mistaking it for a Yak-9
  • 1945 – Task Force 38 carrier aircraft again carry out heavy airstrikes against targets in the Inland Sea without meeting aerial opposition. They sink the aircraft carrier Amagi, the battleships Haruna and Ise, and the obsolete armored cruiser Izumo and damage the aircraft carriers Katsuragi and Kaiyo. In addition, 548 U. S. Army Air Forces B-29 s drop 4,427 tons (4,016,148 kg) of bombs on Tsu and other cities in Japan.
  • 1945 – B-25 Empire State Building crash: A US Army Air Forces North American B-25D Mitchell bomber, 41-30577, named "Old John Feather Merchant", crashes into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building in fog at 0949 hrs., killing 3 on aircraft plus 11 on ground and causing over US$1 million in damage.
  • 1943 – For first time the No. 6 Group was able to send over 200 heavies to a single target as 234 aircraft visited Hamburg. It turned out to be a costly night as 22 aircraft failed to return.
  • 1942 – (Overnight) 256 British bombers attack Hamburg, Germany, with the loss of 30 aircraft, an unacceptably high 11.7 percent loss rate.
  • 1938 – Pan American World Airways Flight 229, a Martin M-130 flying boat named the Hawaii Clipper, disappears westbound from Guam to Manila with 6 passengers and 9 crew
  • 1935 – The Boeing Model 299 (XB-17), prototype of the B-17, makes its first flight at Boeing Field in Seattle. Newspaper reporters nickname it “The Flying Fortress. ”
  • 1934 – Nelly Diener becomes Europe’s first air stewardess.
  • 1933 – Dr. Albert Forsythe and Charles Alfred “Chief” Anderson land at Atlantic City to complete the first return flight to the West Coast by African-American pilots.
  • 1926 – During United States Navy experiments with the operation of seaplanes from a submarine equipped with an aircraft hangar, the submarine USS S-1 (SS-105) carries out for the first time a full cycle of surfacing, removing the disassembled seaplane from its hangar, assembling it, launching it, retrieving it, disassembling it, stowing in its hangar, and submerging, on the Thames River at New London, Connecticut.
  • 1918 – Royal Air Force Sopwith Dolphin E4449 flown by Tone Bayetto crashed in Hampshire, England when the wings folded back and it dived into the ground from 200 feet.
  • 1913 – A Caudron G.3 amphibian takes off from a platform aboard the Hermes while she is underway and lands at Great Yarmouth.
  • 1914 – Royal Naval Air Service Squadron Commander Arthur M. Longmore successfully releases a 14-inch (356-mm) torpedo from a Short Admiralty Type 81 floatplane. It may be the first successful aerial launch of a torpedo, although Captain Alessandro Guidoni of Italy’s drop of a dummy torpedo from the experimental Pateras Pescara monoplane in “mid-1914″ may have been ëarlier.
  • 1914 – outbreak of World War I Aviation changes war in a twofold way. The aeroplane turns the sky into a new battle field where about 20,000 flyers, most of them trained pilots die. Aircraft eliminate the distinction between frontline and hinterland, with the civilian population far behind the frontline also becoming a target.
  • 1858 – Nadar takes first airborne photo (in a balloon).

References

  1. ^ Paul Schemm (28 July 2012). "Syrian forces move to retake Aleppo". Yahoo. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  2. ^ Paul Schemm (28 July 2012). "Syrian rebels survive regime onslaught in Aleppo". Yahoo. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  3. ^ Sinan Salaheddin (2010-07-28). "Iraq military helicopter crash kills five". Associated Press. Retrieved 2010-07-28. A sandstorm has downed an Iraqi military helicopter, killing its five-member crew, while a Baghdad blast has killed five Iraqis, officials say. The helicopter was providing aerial protection to Shia pilgrims travelling to the city of Karbala when it crashed in the sandstorm early in the morning.
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