Jump to content

Portal:Aviation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Portal topics
Activities
Culture
Geography
Health
History
Mathematics
Nature
People
Philosophy
Religion
Society
Technology
Random portal
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

British Airways Boeing 747-400 taking off at Heathrow Airport in October 2007
British Airways Boeing 747-400 taking off at Heathrow Airport in October 2007
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom and its largest airline based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations. When measured by passengers carried it is second-largest, behind easyJet. The airline is based in Waterside near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. A British Airways Board was established by the United Kingdom government in 1972 to manage the two nationalised airline corporations, British Overseas Airways Corporation and British European Airways, and two smaller, regional airlines, Cambrian Airways, from Cardiff, and Northeast Airlines, from Newcastle upon Tyne. On 31 March 1974, all four companies were merged to form British Airways. After almost 13 years as a state company, British Airways was privatised in February 1987 as part of a wider privatisation plan by the Conservative government. The carrier soon expanded with the acquisition of British Caledonian in 1987, Dan-Air in 1992 and British Midland International in 2012. British Airways is a founding member of the Oneworld airline alliance, along with American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, and the now defunct Canadian Airlines. The alliance has since grown to become the third-largest, after SkyTeam and Star Alliance. British Airways merged with Iberia on 21 January 2011, formally creating the International Airlines Group (IAG), the world's third-largest airline group in terms of annual revenue and the second-largest in Europe. (Full article...)

Selected image

Did you know

...that the Fairey Seafox was a Second World War reconnaissance floatplane of the Fleet Air Arm? ...that during World War II, Marine Fighting Squadron 215 established four new U.S. Marine Corps records in the South Pacific including having the most ace pilots? ... that Soviet test pilot Vladimir Kokkinaki set twenty aviation world records?

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

Orville Wright
Wilbur Wright

The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (August 19, 1871 - January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867 - May 30, 1912), are generally credited with making the first controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight on December 17, 1903. In the two years afterward, they developed their flying machine into the world's first practical airplane, along with many other aviation milestones.

In 1878 Wilbur and Orville were given a toy "helicopter" by their father. The device was made of paper, bamboo and cork with a rubber band to twirl its twin blades, and about a foot long. The boys played with it until it broke, then built their own. In later years, they pointed to their experience with the toy as the initial spark of their interest in flying.

Selected Aircraft

AN-225 with the Soviet Space Shuttle, Buran.
AN-225 with the Soviet Space Shuttle, Buran.

The Antonov An-225 Mriya (Антонов Ан-225 Мрія, NATO reporting name: Cossack) was a strategic airlift transport aircraft built by Antonov, and was the world's largest powered aircraft before its destruction in February 2022. Mriya (Мрія) means "dream" (inspiration) in Ukrainian.

With a maximum gross weight of 640,000 kg (1,400,000 lb), the An-225 was the world's heaviest aircraft. Although its wingspan is less than that of the Hughes H-4 "Spruce Goose", the latter never went beyond a single short low-altitude test flight, making the An-225 the largest aircraft in the world to take off more than once. Both the An-124 and An-225 are larger than the C-5 Galaxy, the largest aircraft in the U.S. inventory. The An-225 was also larger than the Airbus A380.

  • Span: 88.40 m (291 ft 2 in)
  • Length: 75.30 m n(246 ft 11 in)
  • Height: 18.1 m (59.3 ft)
  • Engines: 6× ZMKB Progress D-18 turbofans, 229 kN (51,600 lbf) each
  • Cruising Speed: 750 km/h (400 knots, 465 mph)
  • First Flight: December 21, 1988

Today in Aviation

January 30

  • 2013 – Israeli Air Force aircraft strike a target in Syria for the first time since 2007. The United States claims that the target was a truck convoy carrying antiaircraft weapons, but the Syrian government claims it was a nearby defense research facility in Jamraya, just north of Damascus.[1][2]
  • 2012 – An Indian Air Force HAL HJT-16 Kiran Mk2 exploded in mid-air Iyancherry village in Kancheepuram district in South India. The two pilots ejected safely.
  • 2009 – Death of Walter Omiccioli, Italian WWII pilot who flew in the Italian Air force until 1973, commanding a T-33 Squadron.
  • 2007 – A Boeing 702 spacecraft carrying NSS-8 (Dutch telecommunications satellite) is destroyed when the rocket that was launching it exploded on launch.
  • 2005 – The 2005 Royal Air Force Hercules shootdown was the loss of a Royal Air Force Lockheed Hercules C3, serial number XV179 when it was shotdown in Iraq, probably by Sunni insurgents, killing all 10 personnel on board.
  • 2001 – Johnnie Johnson, British fighter pilot, dies (b. 1916). Air Vice Marshal James Edgar “Johnnie” Johnson CB, CBE, DSO & Two Bars, DFC and Bar was a Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot who during the Second World War shot down 38 Luftwaffe aircraft, thus becoming the British flying ace with the greatest number of victories during the war.
  • 2000 – Kenya Airways Flight 431, an Airbus A310, carrying 169 passengers and 10 crew members, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off Côte d'Ivoire after takeoff from Abidjan. Only ten people survive.
  • 1998 – British Airways launches the low-fare airline Go.
  • 1991 – Fleet Air Arm Lynx helicopters (employing Sea Skuas), Royal Air Force Jaguars, and U. S. Navy A-6 Es (using Rockeye cluster bombs) attack an Iraqi naval convoy made up of a minesweeper, three fast-attack craft, and three landing craft carrying troops and ammuniton, breaking up the second and final seaborne component of Iraqi forces in the Battle of Khafji. The Coalition reports that thus far in the Gulf War it has destroyed or disabled 46 Iraqi naval vessels, although another report at about this time claims the total is about 60. Coalition aircraft have inflicted most of the losses.
  • 1988 – A Boeing 747 sets a new around-the-world record of 36 hours 54 min
  • 1985 – Death of Harold Arthur Sydney Molyneux, Canadian WWI flying ace who also served during WWII.
  • 1984 – Death of Kenneth Burns Conn, Canadian WWI fighter ace, businessman who served as head of the Royal Canadian Air Force Historical Section during WWII.
  • 1983 – Sun Country Airlines begins operations.
  • 1981 – British Airways make a record 96 automatic landings in one day at Heathrow airport.
  • 1976 – A Convair PQM-102A Delta Dagger, belonging to the Fairchild Corporation according to a press report, crashed on landing at Bob Sikes Airport, Crestview, Florida when the landing gear collapsed. Airframe destroyed by fire. Sperry Flight Systems pilot, Earl C. Pearce, was unhurt.
  • 1975 – Turkish Airlines Flight 345, a Fokker F-28, crashes into the Sea of Marmara after a missed approach; all 42 on board die; the cause is never determined.
  • 1974 – Pan Am Flight 806, a Boeing 707-321B, crashes on approach to Pago Pago International Airport on American Samoa. 97 of the 101 passengers and crew on board are killed.
  • 1971 – Two Kashmiri men hijack the Indian Airlines Fokker F27 Friendship Ganga and force it to fly to Lahore, Pakistan. They release their hostages there and burn the plane on February 1. India retaliates by prohibiting overflights of its territory by Pakistani aircraft.
  • 1965 – First flight of the Aerial Distributors Distributor Wing, an American prototype agricultural aircraft of unorthodox design. It had a second engine mounted directly below its main powerplant, using this second motor to power a distribution system that used compressed air to carry dry chemicals from a hopper and blow them out of the trailing edges of its wings, over the flaps. Varying the power of this blower engine also provided lift control.
  • 1964 – Launch of Ranger 6, American spacecraft carriying six television cameras high-resolution to photographthe lunar surface during the final minutes of flight up to impact.
  • 1964 – Death of Paul Wenzel, German WWI flying ace.
  • 1963 – A Boeing B-52E-90-BO Stratofortress, 57-0018, of the 6th Bomb Wing from Walker Air Force Base, New Mexico, crashes in snow-covered mountains in northern New Mexico, with at least three crew surviving. Aircraft commander Lt. Col. Donald L. Hayes, 39, of Alta, Iowa, and another officer walked through heavy snow to a nearby town in search of aid. Survivors, who parachuted from the bomber, include Lt. Col. Nicholas P. Horangic, 39, radio operator, of Boydtown, Pennsylvania, and Maj. Thomas J. McBride, 42, co-pilot, of Panama City, Florida. Horangic was treated for shock and a possible broken left elbow at a Mora, New Mexico hospital. McBride walked to safety and telephoned the base. Three Lockheed T-33 Shooting Stars and, later, three Douglas C-54 Skymaster transports, circled the area trying to locate other survivors. The pilots reported that they saw two other survivors after the first man walked to safety. The crew also included Maj. Emil B. A. Goldbeck, 40, navigator, of Kennelworth, New Jersey; Maj. George J. Szabo, 44, electronics countermeasures officer, of Columbus, Ohio; and M/Sgt. Burl D. Deas, 39, gunner, of Charleston, West Virginia. The vertical fin was torn off in turbulence. The ECM operator and tail gunner were killed.
  • 1960 – Death of Paul Codos, French Raid Aviator.
  • 1958 – Ernst Heinkel, German aviation engineer, aircraft designer and manufacturer, dies (b. 1888).
  • 1948 – Air Marshal Sir Arthur "Mary" Coningham KCB, KBE, DSO, MC, DFC, AFC, RAF disappears with G-AHNP Star Tiger, Avro Tudor Mark IV passenger aircraft owned and operated by British South American Airways on a flight between Santa Maria in the Azores and Bermuda. Royal Flying Corps flying ace during WWI, Conningham was later a senior Royal Air Force commander during WWII, as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief 2nd Tactical Air Force and subsequently the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Flying Training Command.
  • 1948 – The BSAA Star Tiger disappearance: an Avro Tudor IV disappears without a trace en route from the Azores to Bermuda with 31 on board. The loss of the aircraft along with the 1949 BSAA Star Ariel disappearance remain unsolved to this day, with the resulting speculation helping to develop the Bermuda Triangle legend.
  • 1946 – Death of Maryse Hilsz, born Marie-Louise Hilsz, French aviatrix and air force test pilot, in the crash of her Siebel 204 due du bad weather.
  • 1946 – Death of Oskar von Boenigk, German WWI fighter ace.
  • 1945 – Consolidate B-24L Liberator44-49180 crashes west of Helendale, California. The crew consisted of 1st Lt. James G. Wright, pilot, 2nd Lt. Norbert J. Vehr, copilot, 2nd Lt. Carl F. Hansen radar instructor, 2nd Lt. John R. Palin radar student, 2nd Lt. Herbert A. Perry, radar student, and T/Sgt. Harvey L. Cook, flight engineer. Perry, Vehr and Cook died during the crash, while the remaining crew members successfully bailed out
  • 1944 – Task Force 58 aircraft attack a Japanese convoy off Kwajalein Atoll and bomb Kwajalein Island, Roi-Namur, Maloelap, and Wotje. They also make the first airstrike against Eniwetok, destroying 15 Japanese Mitsubishi G4 M (Allied reporting name “Betty”) bombers on the ground. American carrier aircraft will continue to strike Eniwetok daily through February 7.
  • 1943 – 30-31 – The H2S radar is used by RAF bombers for navigation for the first time
  • 1943 – Second day of the Battle of Rennell Island. The USS Chicago (CA-29) is sunk and a U. S. destroyer is heavily damaged by Japanese torpedoes launched from Mitsubishi G4 M Type 1 and Mitsubishi G3 M Type 96.
  • 1943 – January 30, 1943 – Construction of the incomplete and much-delayed German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin is halted for the last time.
  • 1942 – Canadian Pacific Air Lines is formed by the acquisition and merger of Arrow Airways and Canadian Airways, along with all the various subsidiaries of the latter.
  • 1934 – Soviet pilots Pavel Fedossenko, Andrey Vasenko, and Ilya Usyskin take the hydrogen-filled high-altitude balloon Osoaviakhim-1 on its maiden flight to a record-setting altitude of 22,000 m (72,160 ft), where it remains for 12 min. The 7 h 14 min flight – during which the balloon travels 470 km (292 miles) from its launch site – Ends in tragedy when the crew loses control of the balloon during its descent and the gondola disintegrates and crashes near the village of Potizh-Ostrov in the Insar district of Mordovia in the Soviet Union, killing the crew.
  • 1932 – The Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier Kaga arrives in Chinese territorial waters at the outbreak of the Shanghai Incident. The Japanese Navy’s use of aircraft carriers in the Shanghai Incident will be history’s first significant combat use of carrier-borne air power.
  • 1931 – First flight of the Tupolev ANT-8, a Soviet experimental flying boat designed by Tupolev, designated "MDR-2" (MDR meaning Morskoi Dalnii Razvedchik, or Naval Long-Range Reconnaissance) by the military.
  • 1930 – First flight of the Tupolev ANT-10 (also known as the R-7), soviet prototype single-engined light-bomber/reconnaissance aircraft
  • 1929 – Inter-Island Airways (today Hawaiian Airlines) is formed.
  • 1918 – Second Lieutenant Carl Mather is killed in an aircraft collision at Ellington Field, Texas. The future Mather Air Force Base, later Sacramento Mather Airport, at Rancho Cordova, California, will be named for him.
  • 1916 – First flight of the Gotha G.I, a German 3 seat heavy bomber biplane.
  • 1911 – The destroyer USS Terry (DD-25)makes the first airplane rescue at sea saving the life of James McCurdy 10 miles from Havana, Cuba.
  • 1911 – Longest over-water flight to date was made by J. A. D McCurdy on a Curtiss pusher biplane when he attempted to fly from Key West, Florida, to Havana, Cuba. After covering 96 miles, he was forced to land in the sea due to loss of oil through a crankcase crack.
  • 1895 – Birth of Ivan Vasilyevich Smirnov, Russian WWI fighter ace and Dutch airliner pilot.
  • 1894 – Birth of René Pierre Marie Dorme, French WWI fighter ace.
  • 1892 – Birth of Hans Waldhausen, German WW I flying ace.
  • 1892 – Birth of Heinrich Lorenz, German WWI flying ace.
  • 1891 – Birth of Walter Herschel Beech, American pioneer aviator, co-founder with his wife of Beech Aircraft Company.
  • 1891 – Birth of Francesco Pricolo, Italian aviator, Aeronautic engineer and Chief of staff of the Italian Regia Aeronautica during the WWII.
  • 1885 – Birth of John Henry Towers, USN admiral and pioneer Naval aviator.

References

  1. ^ Kershner, Isabe;, and Michael R. Gordon, "Israeli Airstrike in Syria Targets Arms Convoy, U.S. Says," The New York Times, January 30, 2013.
  2. ^ Londoño, Ernesto, and Joby Warrick, "Israeli Airstrike in Syria Targeted a Shipment of Weapons, 2 U.S. Officials Say," The Washington Post, February 3, 2013.
  3. ^ Army Times, Military Times Media Group, Springfield, Virginia, 25 May 2009, page 28.
  4. ^ "Ten feared dead in Hercules crash". BBC News. 2007-02-01. Retrieved 2007-06-08.
  5. ^ "Video 'shows UK plane crash'". CNN.com. 2007-02-01. Retrieved 2007-05-30.
Edit today's anniversaries – January Archive – All anniversaries...


Purge server cache

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