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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 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

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...)

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Did you know

...that Swedish adventurer Saloman Andrée died in 1897 while trying to reach the geographic North Pole by hot-air balloon?

Aichi D1A

... that Samuel Frederick Henry Thompson, a British flying ace of World War I, scored 30 kills in five months of service and won both the DFC and MC?

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

F-4E from 81st Tactical Fighter Squadron dropping 500 lb (230 kg) Mark 82 bombs
F-4E from 81st Tactical Fighter Squadron dropping 500 lb (230 kg) Mark 82 bombs

The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is a two-seat, twin-engined, all-weather, long-range supersonic fighter-bomber originally developed for the U.S. Navy by McDonnell Aircraft. Proving highly adaptable, it became a major part of the air wings of the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Air Force. It was used extensively by all three of these services during the Vietnam War, serving as the principal air superiority fighter for both the Navy and Air Force, as well as being important in the ground-attack and reconnaissance roles by the close of U.S. involvement in the war.

First entering service in 1960, the Phantom continued to form a major part of U.S. military air power throughout the 1970s and 1980s, being gradually replaced by more modern aircraft such as the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon in the U.S. Air Force; the F-14 Tomcat and F/A-18 Hornet in the U.S. Navy; and the F/A-18 in the U.S. Marine Corps. It remained in use by the U.S. in the reconnaissance and Wild Weasel roles in the 1991 Gulf War, finally leaving service in 1996. The Phantom was also operated by the armed forces of 11 other nations. Israeli Phantoms saw extensive combat in several Arab–Israeli conflicts, while Iran used its large fleet of Phantoms in the Iran–Iraq War. Phantoms remain in front line service with seven countries, and in use as an unmanned target in the U.S. Air Force.

Phantom production ran from 1958 to 1981, with a total of 5,195 built. This extensive run makes it the second most-produced Western jet fighter, behind the F-86 Sabre at just under 10,000 examples.

  • Span: 38 ft 4.5 in (11.7 m)
  • Length: 63 ft 0 in (19.2 m)
  • Height: 16 ft 6 in (5.0 m)
  • Engines: 2× General Electric J79-GE-17A axial compressor turbojets, 17,845 lbf (79.6 kN) each
  • Cruising Speed: 506 kn (585 mph, 940 km/h)
  • First Flight: 27 May 1958
  • Number built: 5,195
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Today in Aviation

September 30

  • 2012 – U.S. airlines have collected US$924 million in baggage fees since July 1, a three percent increase over the same period in 2011.[1]
  • 1996 – Air Force Academy Slingsby T-3A Firefly crashes 30 miles E of Colorado Springs, Colorado when the crew, who had been practicing a forced landing, suffer engine failure during the key part of the manoeuvre. Cadet Dennis Rando, 21, and his instructor, Captain Clay Smith, 28, KWF.
  • 1994 – Launch: Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-68 at 7:16:01 am EDT. Mission highlights: Space Radar Laboratory-2.
  • 1985 – The first Italian aircraft carrier, Giuseppe Garibaldi, is commissioned.
  • 1982 – H Ross Perot Jr. and J. W. Coburn make history by landing their Bell LongRanger II helicopter in Dallas, Texas 29 days, 3 hours, and 8 min after taking off. It is the first time a trip around the world is completed by helicopter.
  • 1978 – Aarno Lamminparras, an unemployed home building contractor, hijacks Finnair Flight 405, a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle with 47 other people on board flying from Oulu to Helsinki, Finland. At Helsinki, he allows 34 passengers off the plane, which he then forces to fly back to Oulu, where he receives a ransom payment from Finnair, then back to Helsinki, where he receives more money from a Finnish newspaper and releases the remaining 11 passengers. The aircraft then flies to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, refuels, and returns to Helsinki for more ransom money from the newspaper before flying on to Oulu, where he releases his final three hostages in exchange for a chauffeured limousine ride home and 24 hours alone with his wife. Police storm his house and arrest him.
  • 1975 – Malév Flight 240, a Tupolev Tu-154, crashes on approach near Lebanon, killing all 60 people on board.
  • 1973 – Aeroflot Flight 3932, a Tupolev Tu-104, crashed shortly after takeoff from Koltsovo Airport in Sverdlovsk, Soviet Union. All 108 passengers and crew on board were killed.
  • 1965 – Republic Aviation becomes a division of the Fairchild-Hiller Corporation.
  • 1955 – First cruise for full-scale training exercises without operational restrictions for the Westland Wyvern S Mk. 4, deployed aboard HMS Eagle with Nos. 813 and 827 Squadrons, begins inauspiciously when on this date a Wyvern attempting a go-around after misjudged approach, strikes ship's funnel, forcing the carrier to return to Portsmouth to have Armstrong Siddeley Python turboprop engine extracted from funnel "in which it was stuck like a dart." Repairs delay cruise by a fortnight.
  • 1954 – XA271 a Royal Air Force Miles Marathon T1 of No. 2 Air Navigation School dives into the ground near Calne, Wiltshire, England following structural failure of outer wings.
  • 1949 – The Berlin Airlift officially ends, with 2,325 tons (2,362 tonnes) of food and supplies having been flown into the city. The final flight is made a week later.
  • 1949 – First Avro 707 delta-wing research aircraft, VX784, first flown 6 September 1949 (one source says 4 September), crashes near Blackbushe on test flight out of Boscombe Down, killing Avro test pilot Flt. Lt. Eric Esler. Cause never established
  • 1945 – Squadrons 121, 167, and 170 (Ferry) squadrons were all disbanded.
  • 1944 – Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat, BuNo. 42782, lost 125 miles (201 km) SE of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts during carrier qualifications. Pilot's name/fate unknown. Located by submarine DSV Alvin, 24 September 1968.
  • 1942 – The pilot of an Imperial Japanese Navy Nakajima A6 M2-N (Allied reporting name “Rufe”) floatplane fighter discovers the American base on Adak in the Aleutian Islands, a month after it was established. Japanese aircraft from Kiska bomb Adak daily for the next five days, but their biggest raid, on October 4, consists of only three planes. The rest of the raids consist of one plane each, and Adak suffers almost no damage.
  • 1942 – Since June 1, German night fighters defending Germany have shot down 435 British bombers.
  • 1942 – Engine failure of Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2/trop, Werke Nummer 14256, "Yellow 14" (on its first combat mission), of 3./JG 27, fills cockpit with smoke, forces Luftwaffe ace Hans-Joachim Marseille to bail out near Sidi Abdel Rahman, Egypt. His chest strikes the vertical fin as he departs the fighter, either killing him outright, or rendering him unconscious, as he makes no effort to deploy his parachute. His body is recovered from the desert, ~7 km. South of Sidi Abdel Rahman.
  • 1941 – Maritime Central Airlines was formed at Charlottetown P. E. I. by Carl Burk and Josiah Anderson.
  • 1940 – Since September 1, the Royal Air Force has lost 65 bombers.
  • 1938 – A senior French general tells the British military attaché in Paris that in the event of a war with Germany “French cities would be laid in ruins…They had no means of defense, ” and adds that France was paying the price for having neglected the French Air Force for years.
  • 1936 – The German airlift of Spanish Nationalist troops from Spanish Morocco to Spain ends after 677 flights carrying 12,000 men in August and September. The airlift will be one of the most decisive factors in the eventual Nationalist victory in the Spanish Civil War.
  • 1929 – Fritz von Opel pilots the world's first rocket-powered Opel RAK.1 aircraft on a 75-second, 1.6-kilometer (0.99 mi) flight near Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany.
  • 1914 – The Wakamiya is damaged by a naval mine and forced to retire from the Siege of Tsingtao, ending the first combat deployment of an aviation ship in history.
  • 1911 – First flight across the Continental Divide: Cromwell Dixon in a Curtiss on (both directions)
  • 1907 – A. V. Roe tested his 6-hp JAP powered full scale Biplane at Brooklands, but does not take off. (RAF).
  • 1907 – Flying a Voisin-Farman I biplane at Issy, Henry Farman begins a progressively longer series of flights.

References

  1. ^ Associated Press, "Baggage-Fee Total Tops Last Year's," The Washington Post, December 18, 2012, p. A14.
  2. ^ Brulliard, Karin, "Pakistan Blocks NATO's Afghan-Bound Supply Trucks After Airstrike Kills 3," washingtonpost.com, 30 September 2010, 12:49 p.m. EDT
  3. ^ Brulliard, Karin, and Joshua Partlow, "NATO Airstrike Strains U.S.-Pakistan Relations", washingtonpost.com, 27 November 2011, which corrects the death toll (reported as three in the earlier article) to two.
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