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

Aircraft spotter on the roof of a building in London. St. Paul's Cathedral is in the background.
Aircraft spotter on the roof of a building in London. St. Paul's Cathedral is in the background.
The Battle of Britain (German: Luftschlacht um England) is the name given to the sustained strategic effort by the German Luftwaffe during the summer and autumn of 1940 to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force (RAF), especially Fighter Command. The name derives from a speech made on 18 June 1940 in the House of Commons by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, "The Battle of France is over. I expect the Battle of Britain is about to begin..."

Had it been successful, the planned amphibious and airborne landings in Britain of Operation Sea Lion would have followed. The Battle of Britain was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces. It was the largest and most sustained bombing campaign attempted up until that date. The failure of Nazi Germany to destroy Britain's air defence or to break British morale is considered its first major defeat.

British historians date the battle from 10 July to 31 October 1940, which represented the most intense period of daylight bombing. German historians usually place the beginning of the battle in mid-August 1940 and end it in May 1941, on the withdrawal of the bomber units in preparation for the attack on the USSR. (Full article...)

Selected image

Credit: Master Sgt. Andy Dunaway, United States Air Force
An F-22 Raptor flies over Kadena Air Base, Japan, Jan. 23 on a routine training mission. The F-22 is deployed from the 27th Fighter Squadron at Langley Air Force Base, Va.

Did you know

...that the pioneer American airman Lowell Smith participated in the first mid-air refueling, the first aerial circumnavigation and held 16 records for military aircraft in speed, endurance and distance? ...that the Alexander Aircraft Company, which produced Eaglerock biplanes in Colorado, was the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world for a brief period between 1928 and 1929? ... 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

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

Benjamin Delahauf Foulois (1879-1967) was an early aviation pioneer who rose to become a chief of the U.S. Army Air Corps. The son of a French immigrant, he was born and raised in Connecticut. He enlisted in the Army at age 18 to serve in the Spanish–American War. After just a few month he was separated because of disease he had picked up in Puerto Rico. He re-enlisted in 1899 and was sent to the Philippines where he received a commission as a Second Lieutenant. Foulois believed that the new airplane would replace the cavalry for reconnaissance and in 1908 transferred into the Signal Corps.

Foulois conducted the acceptance test for the Army's first aircraft, a Wright Model A, in 1909. He participated in the Mexican Expedition from 1916–17 and was part of the American Expeditionary Force in France during World War I where he was responsible for the logistics and maintenance of the U.S. air fleet. During World War I he and Billy Mitchell began a long and hostile relationship over the direction of military aviation and the best method to get there. After the war he served as a military attaché to Germany where he gathered a great deal of intelligence on German aviation. He later went on to command the 1st Aero Squadron and ultimately commanded the Air Corps.

He retired in 1935 as part of the fallout from the Air Mail scandal. Foulois continued to advocate for a strong air service in retirement. In 1959, at the invitation of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Foulois began touring Air Force bases advocating national security. He died of a heart attack on 25 April 1967 and is buried in his home town of Washington, Connecticut.

Selected Aircraft

The Yakovlev Yak-42 is a line of tri-jet aircraft produced by the aircraft company Yakolev. The Yak 42 was produced from 1980-2003.

Historically, the yak-42 was competition for older Russian aircraft companies. The Yak-42 was only made in one passenger variant, but it was used in many tests of equipment.

  • Crew: 3
  • Span: 114 ft 5 in (34.88 m)
  • Length: 119 ft 4 in (36.38 m)
  • Height: 32 ft 3 in (9.83 m)
  • Engines: 3× Lotarev D-36 turbofan
  • Cruise Speed: 740 km/h (399 knots, 460 mph) (economy cruise)
  • Range: 4,000 km (2,158 nmi, 2,458 mi) (with maximum fuel)
More selected aircraft Read more...

Today in Aviation

March 28

  • 2012 – A United States Air Force F-15E crashed in southwest Asia on a non-combat mission. The pilot was killed and a crewman got injured.
  • 2012 – An Angolan Air Force Aerospatiale SA316B helicopter crashed near Lunondo, Angola, killing two and injuring four.
  • 2011 – British jets bomb ammunition bunkers in southern Libya and destroy 22 tanks, other armoured vehicles, and artillery pieces in the vicinity of Ajdabiya and Misrata.[2]
  • 2011 – (Overnight) Coalition aircraft fly 115 strike sorties against targets in Libya.[3]
  • 2005 – Chicago Express Airlines, also known as ATA Connection, ceased operations.
  • 2003 – Two AH-64D Apaches, 97-5032 of A Company and 98-5068 of B Company, 2–101st Aviation Regiment crash in Iraq; one pilot injured.[4]
  • 2003 – OH-58D Kiowa 95-0006 from A Troop, 2–17th Cavalry Regiment crashes in Iraq, pilots survive.[5]
  • 1990 – The Boeing 737 becomes the world’s best-selling jetliner when United Airlines accepts delivery of the 1,832nd 737.
  • 1970 – A United States Navy F-4 J Phantom II fighter of Fighter Squadron 142 (VF-142) shoots down a North Vietnamese MiG-21 fighter. It is the only American air-to-air kill in the Vietnam War between September 1968 and 1971.
  • 1961 – ČSA Flight 511, an Ilyushin Il-18, crashed in Gräfenberg, West Germany. All 52 passengers and crew on board were killed.
  • 1961 – The Royal Canadian Air Force took a delivery of the first CF-104 Starfighter. Capable of flying at over 1,400 miles per hour; it carried nuclear bombs, the CF-104 fulfilled Canada’s NATO commitment in Europe as a nuclear strike aircraft.
  • 1956 – A Boeing B-47B-35-BW Stratojet, 51-2175, of the 3520th FTW, McConnell AFB, Kansas, suffers explosion in bomb bay fuel tank and sheds its wings over East Wichita, Kansas, crashing four miles (6 km) NE of the city, killing three crew. The office of information services at McConnell Air Force Base, said the explosion occurred after takeoff, probably at about 2,000 feet (610 m) altitude. Lt. Maurice Boyack, pilot of a Navy Lockheed P2V Neptune bomber, out of Naval Air Station Hutchinson, Kansas, said the explosion occurred in a climbing turn. He flew his bomber to a point where he could see the wings rip off the B-47. He said it appeared there was a fire in the midsection, followed by the explosion. Fire fighters battled the blaze at the crash scene for more than an hour. The plane crashed within 1,000 feet (300 m) of two large suburban houses. Officials at McConnell AFB identified the pilot and instructor as Capt. William C. Craggs of Wichita. He is survived by his widow and two sons. The students were Lt. Col. William H. Dames, 39, of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin whose wife and two sons are reported to be living in Milwaukee; and 1st Lt. John C. Leysath, 24, of North, South Carolina.
  • 1952 – Entered Service: Convair CV-340 with United Air Lines
  • 1947 – First RCAF helicopter crash on take-off.
  • 1947 – A dual ceremony, the first two Douglas DC-6 commercial airliners are delivered to American Airlines and United Air Lines.
  • 1944 – Japanese torpedo bombers attack U. S. Navy Task Force 58 as it approaches the Palau Islands, doing no damage.
  • 1943 – 57 Japanese Rabaul-based aircraft – 18 Aichi D3 A (Allied reporting name “Val”) dive bombers and 37 Mitsubishi A6 M Zeros – Attack Allied shipping in Oro Bay off New Guinea, sinking a United States Army transport and a Dutch merchant ship.
  • 1941 – During the Battle of Cape Matapan in the Mediterranean Sea, Swordfish and Albacore torpedo bombers from the British aircraft carrier HMS Formidable and land-based Fleet Air Arm Swordfish from Maleme, Crete, damage the Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto and heavy cruiser Pola, slowing Pola. In the predawn darkness of the next morning, British battleships catch up to the damaged Pola and the four ships accompanying her – The heavy cruisers Zara and Fiume and two destroyers – And sink all five ships with gunfire.
  • 1936 – National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) commences operational use of the newly constructed 8-ft.-high speed tunnel (8-Foot HST) at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, Langley, Virginia. Built as a companion to the full scale tunnel capable of simulated speeds of up to 118 mph, the new facility can test models and components to 577 mph (Mach 0.75).
  • 1933 – The City of Liverpool disaster was the fatal accident of an Armstrong Whitworth Argosy II aeroplane flown by British airline Imperial Airways named City of Liverpool on 28 March 1933 near Dixmude, northern Belgium after an onboard fire. All 15 onboard were killed. At the time it was the deadliest accident in the history of British civil aviation. It has been suggested that this was the first airliner ever lost to sabotage, and in the immediate aftermath suspicion centred on one passenger, Dr. Albert Voss, who seemingly jumped from the aircraft before it crashed.
  • 1931 – Boeing Air Transport, National Air Transport, Varney Airlines and Pacific Air Transport combine as United Air Lines, providing coast-to-coast passenger service and mail service. It takes 27 hours to fly the route, one way.
  • 1920 – Croydon replaces Hounslow Heath Aerodrome as London’s airport.
  • 1918 – Sole prototype of the Breguet LE (Laboratoire Eiffel), a single-seat fighter monoplane, crashes on its second flight, out of Villacoublay, France, when it dives into the ground at full-throttle, killing pilot Jean Sauclière. Further development suspended.
  • 1913 – Lts. Thomas DeWitt Milling and William C. Sherman set a two-man duration and distance record of four hours and 22 min for 220 miles from Texas City, Texas to San Antonio.
  • 1908 – Leon Delagrange makes the first passenger flight, taking Farman aboard his Voisin biplane at Issy-les-Moulieaux.
  • 1843 – William Samuel Henson (1805-1888) receives the patent and publishes in London his design for an Aerial Steam Carriage. This is the first reasoned, formulated, and detailed design for a propeller-driven aircraft.

References

  1. ^ Strobel, Warren, "U.S. B-2 Bombers Sent To Korea On Rare Mission: Diplomacy Not Destruction," Reuters, March 29, 2013, 6:42 p.m. EDT.
  2. ^ "British Jets Bomb Tanks, Ammunition Bunkers in Libya". Agence France-Presse (via Google News). 28 March 2011. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
  3. ^ Staff (28 March 2011). "Libya Live Blog – 29 March". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
  4. ^ Bernstein, Jonathan (2005). Ah-64 Apache Units of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Oxford: Osprey Publishing (UK). pp. 53–54. ISBN 1-84176-848-0.
  5. ^ "1995 USAF Serial Numbers". Retrieved 2010-02-13.
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"