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Portal:Aviation

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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...)

Selected article

Air Force One
Air Force One
An airport is a facility where aircraft can take off and land. At the very minimum, an airport consists of one runway (or helipad), but other common components are hangars and terminal buildings. Apart from these, an airport may have a variety of facilities and infrastructure, including fixed base operator services, air traffic control, passenger facilities such as restaurants and lounges, and emergency services. (Full article...)

Selected image

Credit: Tech. Sgt. Ben Bloker (USAF)
A P-51 Mustang in a heritage flight during an airshow at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, USA. The P-51 was a long-range single-seat fighter aircraft that entered service with Allied air forces in the middle years of World War II. It remained in service with some air forces until the early 1980s.

Did you know

...the study of airmail is known as aerophilately? ...that the Blohm und Voss Bv 144 was an attempt by Nazi Germany to develop an advanced commercial airliner for post-war service? ...that Royal Brunei Catering, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Royal Brunei Airlines, was named as Best Regional Caterer 1995/1996 by Singapore Airlines?

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

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Hugh Montague Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard GCB OM GCVO DSO (3 February 1873 – 10 February 1956) was a British officer who was instrumental in establishing the Royal Air Force. He has been described as the Father of the Royal Air Force.

During his formative years Trenchard struggled academically, failing many examinations and only just succeeding in meeting the minimum standard for commissioned service in the British Army. As a young infantry officer, Trenchard served in India and in South Africa. During the Boer War, Trenchard was critically wounded and as a result of his injury, he lost a lung, was partially paralysed and returned to Great Britain. While convalescing in Switzerland he took up bobsleighing and after a heavy crash, Trenchard found that his paralysis was gone and that he could walk unaided. Some months later, Trenchard returned to South Africa before volunteering for service in Nigeria. During his time in Nigeria, Trenchard commanded the Southern Nigeria Regiment for several years and was involved in efforts to bring the interior under settled British rule and quell inter-tribal violence.

In 1912, Trenchard learned to fly and was subsequently appointed as second in command of the Central Flying School. He held several senior positions in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I, serving as the commander of Royal Flying Corps in France from 1915 to 1917. In 1918, he briefly served as the first Chief of the Air Staff before taking up command of the Independent Air Force in France. Returning as Chief of the Air Staff under Winston Churchill in 1919, Trenchard spent the following decade securing the future of the Royal Air Force. He was Metropolitan Police Commissioner in the 1930s and a defender of the RAF in his later years.

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

September 10

  • 2009 – A Spanish Air Force Dassault Mirage F1 crashes in the Cazorla Natural Park, near Jaén, Spain, while in a training flight. The pilot ejected and suffered minor injuries.
  • 2009 – An Armada de México Bell 406 Helicopter on a routine patrol crashes near the 27 kilometre post on the Perote-Los Humeros Highway, Veracruz State, Mexico, resulting in 2 crew injured and 3 fatalities.
  • 1993 – Boeing finishes production of their 1,000th 747 airplane, 26 years after the 747 program was launched.
  • 1989 – Flights began carrying about 8,000 East German refugess who were given permission to leave Hungary. Posing as tourists, they promptly announced they were going to remain in West Germany upon arrival.
  • 1981 – British Airways CEO Roy Watts announces a financial crisis for the airline. He states that the company is losing £UK 200 per minute.
  • 1976 – 1976 Zagreb mid-air collision between British Airways Flight 476, a Hawker Siddeley Trident, and Inex-Adria Flight 330, a Douglas DC-9, near Zagreb, Yugoslavia, kills all 176 people on board both aircraft.
  • 1975 – A U.S. Army Bell UH-1H Iroquois from Fort Rucker Army Base, Alabama, on a routine training flight crashes and burns three miles SE of Marianna Municipal Airport, Marianna, Florida, killing all three crew, an instructor pilot and two students, military officials said. The identities of the victims was being withheld pending notification of next of kin. Army officials were investigating the cause of the crash.
  • 1962 – A USAF Boeing KC-135A-BN Stratotanker, 60-0352, c/n 18127/466, assigned at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, crashes into a fog-shrouded ravine on 5,271-foot tall Mount Kit Carson, ~20 miles NE of Spokane, Washington, at ~1105 hrs. while on approach to Fairchild AFB, Washington, killing four crew and 40 passengers. Thirty-nine were members of the 28th Bomb Wing, being sent TDY to Fairchild while runways were being repaired at Ellsworth. One civilian was on board. The aircraft mowed through a 25 X 200 yard swath of evergreens before striking the terrain and exploding. Visibility was near zero. Col. Floyd R. Cressman, of Fairchild AFB, said that it appeared that the pilot tried to pull up at the last moment. A spokesman at SAC headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska, said that this was the worst accident involving the C-135 type to date.
  • 1956 – During first flight of North American F-107A at Edwards AFB, California, prototype, 55-5118, experiences problem with engine gear box differential pressure during a dive, North American test pilot Bob Baker lands on dry lakebed at just under 200 knots (370 km/h), after rolling about a mile, aircraft hits a depression in the lakebed, nose gear collapses. Jet slides ~ three-tenths of a mile on its nose, but suffers limited damage, no fire. Total landing roll was 22,000 feet (6,700 m). Airframe repaired in under two weeks.
  • 1956 – Boeing B-50B Superfortress, 47-133, modified as RB-50G with additional radar and B-50D-type nose, of the 6091st Reconnaissance Squadron, out of Yokota Air Base, Japan, disappears over Sea of Japan. Probably went down in Typhoon Emma.
  • 1952 – During a dogfight between two piston-engined United States Marine Corps F4U Corsair fighter-bombers from the escort aircraft carrier USS Sicily (CVE-118) and several MiG-15 jet fighters, Corsair pilot Captain Jesse G. Folmar shoots down a MiG-15 before being shot down himself; he survives and is rescued. It is the only Corsair victory over a MiG-15 during the Korean War.
  • 1952 – A contractor-led team launches the first Boeing XF-99 Bomarc propulsion test vehicle from the Air Force Missile Test Center (AFMTC) at Patrick AFB, Florida, but the test fails.
  • 1950 – (10, 13, and 14) United Nations carrier aircraft soften up targets in the Inchon area in preparation for the landing there.
  • 1945 – Five escort carriers of the British East Indies Fleet’s 21st Aircraft Carrier Squadron anchor off Singapore to support Operation Zipper, the British reoccupation of Malaya.
  • 1944 – Nos. 133 and 135 Squadrons were disbanded.
  • 1943 – (10-12) Allied forces detect only 158 German Luftwaffe sorties against the Salerno beachhead. Allied fighters break up most of the German attacks before they reach the beachhead.
  • 1942 – The United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command establishes the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS), an organization of civilian women pilots who ferry military aircraft from factories to airfields to free male pilots for combat duty.
  • 1942 – (Overnight) Royal Air Force Bomber Command employs “Pink Pansy” – A target indicator that creates an instantaneous pink flash – For the first time during a raid by 479 bombers on Düsseldorf, Germany. It is the most successful Pathfinder-led raid yet, but 33 bombers (6.9 percent) are lost.
  • 1942 – No. 422 Squadron RCAF, temporarily operating Saro Lerwick flying boats cast off from RAF No. 4 OTU whilst awaiting arrival of Short Sunderlands, suffers loss of L7267 this date when Plt. Off. Hoare crashes on landing at Lough Erne in good weather, airframe breaks up, sinks, but crew escapes safely. This is the final Lerwick write-off as the type is withdrawn from operation, remaining airframes sent to Scottish Aviation in November 1942 for reduction to salvage. Type had been an utter failure, contributions to U-boat war were negligible. None now exist.
  • 1940 – The Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) forms the Corpo Aereo Italiano (Italian Air Corps) as an expeditionary force for bombing the United Kingdom alongside the German Luftwaffe from bases in Belgium.
  • 1939 – Canada declared war on Germany. RCAF strength at 4061 officers and airmen, eight Permament and twelve Auxiliary squadrons, 270 aircraft of 23 different types. Only the Hurricane was a front-line aircraft.
  • 1939 – First RCAF wartime patol was flown from Dartmouth N. S. by F/L DG Price in a No. 5 Squadron Stranraer flying boat.
  • 1938 – Germany prohibits all foreign air traffic in its airspace except along specific air corridors.
  • 1928 – Charles Kingsford Smith and crew make the first successful trans-Tasman flight.
  • 1919 – The Schneider Trophy race is flown at Bournemouth, UK. An Italian Savoia S.13 is the only finisher, but is disqualified for missing a turning buoy. When judges ask pilot Guido Janello to complete another lap, he runs out of fuel.
  • 1912 – Lts. E. Hotchkiss and C. A. Bettington are killed when their Bristol-Coanda monoplane suffers a structural failure and crashes. This second accident involving a Royal Flying Corps monoplane in five days causes Col. Seely, Secretary of State for War, to issue a ban on monoplanes on 14 September. The ban will be reversed five months later when technical studies show that monoplanes are no more dangerous than biplanes.
  • 1908 – At Fort Myer, Orville Wright sets a world flight endurance record of 1 h 5 min and 52 seconds.

References

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


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