Portal:Aviation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Portal:Airplanes)
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

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...)

Selected image

Antonov An-124
Antonov An-124
An Antonov An-124 belonging to Polet Airlines on final approach to Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow, Russia. The An-124 was designed for strategic lift capability and remains the third-largest operating cargo aircraft.

Did you know

...that five USAAF airmen were awarded the Medal of Honor following Operation Tidal Wave, a low-level bombing of Romanian oil refineries on 1 August 1943? ...that the Aerocar Coot was a two-seat amphibious aircraft designed for home-building by Moulton Taylor? ...that the asymmetrical monoplane BV 141 is one of many military aircraft designed by Richard Vogt?

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

Related portals

Associated Wikimedia

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

Selected biography

Erich Alfred "Bubi" Hartmann (19 April 1922 – 20 September 1993), also nicknamed "The Blond Knight of Germany" by friends and "The Black Devil" by his enemies, was a German fighter pilot and still is the highest scoring fighter ace in the history of aerial combat. He scored 352 aerial victories (of which 345 were won against the Soviet Air Force, and 260 of which were fighters) in 1,404 combat missions and engaging in aerial combat 825 times while serving with the Luftwaffe in World War II. During the course of his career Hartmann was forced to crash land his damaged fighter 14 times. This was due to damage received from parts of enemy aircraft he had just shot down, or mechanical failure. Hartmann was never shot down or forced to land due to enemy fire.[1]

Hartmann, a pre-war glider pilot, joined the Luftwaffe in 1940 and completed his fighter pilot training in 1942. He was posted to Jagdgeschwader 52 (JG 52) on the Eastern front and was fortunate to be placed under the supervision of some of the Luftwaffe's most experienced fighter pilots. Under their guidance Hartmann steadily developed his tactics which would earn him the coveted Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds on 25 August 1944 for claiming 301 aerial victories.

He scored his 352nd and last aerial victory on 8 May 1945. He and the remainder of JG 52 surrendered to United States Army forces and were turned over to the Red Army. Convicted of false "War Crimes" and sentenced to 25 years of hard labour, Hartmann would spend 10 years in various Soviet prison camps and gulags until he was released in 1955. In 1956, Hartmann joined the newly established West German Luftwaffe and became the first Geschwaderkommodore of Jagdgeschwader 71 "Richthofen". Hartmann resigned early from the Bundeswehr in 1970, largely due to his opposition of the F-104 Starfighter deployment in the Bundesluftwaffe and the resulting clashes with his superiors over this issue. Erich Hartmann died in 1993.

Selected Aircraft

[[File:|right|250px|The two YC-130 prototypes; the blunt nose was replaced with radar on later production models.]] The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop cargo aircraft and the main tactical airlifter for many military forces worldwide. Over 40 models and variants of the Hercules serve with more than 50 nations. On December 2006 the C-130 was the third aircraft (after the English Electric Canberra in May 2001 and the B-52 Stratofortress in January 2005) to mark 50 years of continuous use with its original primary customer (in this case the United States Air Force).

Capable of short takeoffs and landings from unprepared runways, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation and cargo transport aircraft. The versatile airframe has found uses in a variety of other roles, including as a gunship, and for airborne assault, search and rescue, scientific research support, weather reconnaissance, aerial refuelling and aerial firefighting. The Hercules family has the longest continuous production run of any military aircraft in history. During more than 50 years of service the family has participated in military, civilian and humanitarian aid operations.

More selected aircraft Read more...

Today in Aviation

May 29

  • 2012 – A Pakistan Air Force F-7PG of the 31 Fighter Wing was destroyed by fire during maintenance at Quetta airbase.
  • 2007 – OH-58D(R) Kiowa 93-0978 from B Troop, 2–6 Cavalry Regiment is shot down between Baquba and Muqdadiyah with small arms, killing the chopper's two pilots.[4][5][6]
  • 2003 – A man attempts to hijack Qantas Flight 1737, a Boeing 717, in Melbourne, Australia, intending to crash the plane in Tasmania. He is overpowered by the flight crew and passengers, but injures three people.
  • 2001 – A US Navy McDonnell-Douglas FA-18C Hornet from VFA-106 crashed near Fort Pierce, Florida, during a ferry flight from NAS Oceana, Virginia, to NAS Key West, Florida. Pilot was killed.
  • 2001 – Three crew are killed when a Republic of Korea Army Boeing Vertol CH-47D Chinook, of the 301st Aviation Regiment, Icheon, crashes in Seoul, South Korea while installing a torch-shaped sculpture on the Han River Olympic Bridge, built to commemorate the 1988 Olympic Games. The Chinook had just lowered the flame-shaped statuary onto the bridge central tower when its rotors hit the sculpture and then the tower. The front rotor clipped the top of the sculpture and separated from the helicopter which then fell onto the span, breaking in two, with the rear bursting into flame on the bridge and the forward half falling into the river. No other casualties were reported. The bridge had been closed during the installation work. The dead were identified as pilot Chun Hong-yop, co-pilot Nam In-ho and Sgt. 1st Class Kim Woo-soo. Army scuba divers were working to recover the wreckage. Footage of this crash is widely available on the web.
  • 1986 – (29-June 1) The 5th FAI World Rally Flying Championship in Castellón de la Plana, Spain.
  • 1981 – The Bell X-14B, NASA N704NA, originally USAF 56-0422, upgraded from the A-configuration with an onboard computer and digital fly-by-wire control system installed to enable emulation of landing characteristics of other VTOL aircraft, and used in this test role, is damaged beyond repair in a landing accident this date. Airframe was saved from being scrapped and is now under restoration at the Ropkey Armor Museum, Crawfordsville, Indiana.
  • 1980 – Canadian Armed Forces accepted the first CP-140 Aurora maritime patrol aircraft at CFB Greenwood, NS.
  • 1977 – The keel of the first aircraft carrier to be built in Spain, Principe de Asturias, is laid at Ferrol.
  • 1975 – Lockheed U-2A, 56-6700, Article 367, seventh airframe of first USAF contract, delivered to USAF at Groom Lake in February 1957, but apparently transferred to the Central Intelligence Agency by June 1957, then to Strategic Air Command in fall 1960, converted to U-2C by October 1966. Flyable storage at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, 1969. Converted for Advanced Location and Strike System (ALSS) project, 1972. Crashed in a heavily wooded area of West Germany ~100 miles NE of Bonn this date, Capt. Robert "Terry" Rendleman, 30, of Tucson, Arizona, escaping unhurt after experiencing flight control problems, aircraft entering Mach tuck at high altitude, forcing pilot to eject. He was taken to hospital in Wiesbaden in good condition, an Air Force spokesman said. Aircraft was on Constant Treat deployment of the ALSS system.
  • 1969 – A USAF General Dynamics F-111 on a training flight out of Nellis AFB, Nevada, crashes from low altitude when deficient wind-shield bulged down from the top of the canopy bow and instantly crazed. Tactical Air Command replaces 50 F-111 windshields in 1969 and 93 in 1970.
  • 1953 – The first of two 40 passenger de Havilland Comets arrived in Ottawa. With the arrival of this Aircraft, the RCAF became the first air force in the world to operate jet transports and the first operator to make scheduled trans-Atlantic crossings.
  • 1947 – United Airlines Flight 521, a Douglas DC-4, was a scheduled flight departing from LaGuardia Airport to Cleveland, Ohio. While attempting to take off from runway 18, the aircraft failed to get airborne, overran the end of the runway, ripped through an airport fence onto traffic on the Grand Central Parkway, and slammed into an embankment, ultimately plunging into a pond and exploding. Ten people escaped the flaming wreckage; only six of those survived. It was the worst commercial aviation disaster in United States history at the time. This record stood for less than 24 hours when an Eastern Airlines DC-4 crashed near Baltimore, Maryland killing all 54 aboard.
  • 1947 – Twelve members of the Colombian army air force are injured in the crash landing of their transport at Bogotá, Colombia, after it collided in mid-air with a buzzard.
  • 1947 – A Boeing F-13A Superfortress, 45-21848, c/n 13742, of the 46th Reconnaissance Squadron, crashes shortly after take off from Ladd Field, Alaska, coming down 3 miles E of Fairbanks, Alaska. Three crew were reported missing while nine others were injured.
  • 1947 – An Army Douglas C-54D-5-DC Skymaster courier plane, 42-72553, c/n 10658, of the 6th Troop Carrier Squadron, 317th Troop Carrier Group, 5th Air Force, with 33 passengers and eight crew on board crashes into a mountain SW of Tokyo, Japan. An Army announcement said that it had not been determined whether or not there were any survivors. A revised count reported that there were 40 aboard the C-54, 28 enlisted, eight officers, and four civilians, all killed in the crash. They were reported to be burned beyond recognition. The flight, inbound from Korea, had apparently exploded as it approached Tachikawa Airfield for a landing.
  • 1947 – A captured, modified V-2 rocket, launched from White Sands Proving Grounds, New Mexico, at 2030 hrs. CST, fails to reach its maximum altitude, and comes down ~three minutes later, impacting in Tepeyac cemetery, ~six miles S of Juarez, Mexico. Unburnt fuel explodes, with the blast being felt in both Juarez and El Paso, Texas. Lt. Col. Harold R. Turner, commander at White Sands, confirmed by telephone the launch of the rocket, but refused any further comment.
  • 1944 – Luftwaffe fighter ace Friedrich-Karl "Tutti" Müller (140 victories in 600 combat sorties) is killed in a landing accident at Salzwedel, when his Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6, Werknummer 410827, stalls on landing approach at low altitude. He is posthumously promoted to Oberstleutnant.
  • 1941 – The USAAC forms USAAC Ferrying Command|Ferrying Command to fly newly manufactured aircraft across the Atlantic to Britain.
  • 1943 – A merchant aircraft carrier, or “MAC-ship,” puts to sea with a convoy for the first time as MV Empire MacAlpine sets out from the United Kingdom with Convoy ONS 59 bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She carries four Swordfish aircraft of No. 836 Squadron.
  • 1943 – Japanese resistance on Attu ends.
  • 1941 – The United States Army Air Corps forms Ferrying Command to fly newly manufactured aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean to the United Kingdom.
  • 1941 – Geran dive bombers attack a British naval task force as it retires from Crete with evacuated British troops aboard. They fatally damage the destroyer HMS Imperial, sink the destroyer HMS Hereward, and damage the light cruisers HMS Ajax, HMS Dido, and HMS Orion. A single bomb that strikes Orion kills 260 and wounds 280.
  • 1941 – Surviving elements of Fliegerführer Irak depart Iraq.
  • 1934 – The Collier trophy for the year’s outstanding aviation achievement is awarded in Washington, D.C. to Hamilton Standard Propeller Company for the development of the controllable-pitch propeller.
  • 1929 – Boeing Aircraft of Canada was incorporated by William Edward Boeing of Seattle, Henry Stonestreet Hoffar and Charles George Beeching of Vancouver, to design and build aircraft and to take over, as a going concern, the Hoffar-Beeching Shipyards at Vancouver.
  • 1925 – Alan Cobham lands the prototype de Havilland D.H.60 Moth after flying 1,000 miles to Zurich, Switzerland and back to Croydon, England in a single day.
  • 1923 – Reuben Fleet founds Consolidated Aircraft Corporation.
  • 1910 – Glenn Curtiss flies from Albany NY to New York City, a then-epic flight of about 150 miles. This could loosely be credited as the first air mail flight, for he unofficially carried a letter from Albany’s mayor to the mayor of NYC.
  • 1908 – The first passenger flight in Europe occurs as Henri Farman takes up Ernest Archdeacon for a brief flight at Issy-les-Moulineaux, France.

References

  1. ^ Toliver & Constable 1986, p. 12.
  2. ^ Boone, John, "Pakistan: Senior Taliban Militants Killed By US Drone Strike," The Guardian, 29 May 2013, 15:28 EDT.
  3. ^ Khan, Ismail, and Ihsanullah Tipu Mejsud, "After Taliban Deputy’s Death, Hints of a Schism," The New York Times, May 30, 2013.
  4. ^ "Chopper attack, bombs kill 10 U.S. troops in Iraq". CNN.com. 2007-05-29. Retrieved 2007-05-30.
  5. ^ "10 GIs Die In Iraq On Memorial Day". CBS News. 2007-05-29. Retrieved 2007-05-31.
  6. ^ "ARMY AIR CREWS: Kiowa Crewmembers Line of Duty Deaths". Retrieved 2010-07-15.
  7. ^ https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/28-may-1935/
Edit today's anniversaries – May Archive – All anniversaries...


Purge server cache

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Portal:Aviation&oldid=1142106391"