Portal:Aviation

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The Aviation Portal

Aviation, or air transport, refers to the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. Aircraft includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, parachutes, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as 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; then a largest 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 with the introduction of the jet which permitted a major form of transport throughout the world.

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Selected article

The F-35 Lightning II, called in development the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), is a military fighter aircraft designed by the United States and the United Kingdom. It is intended to replace the current generation of strike fighters, particularly the vertical take off and landing (VTOL) Harrier jump jets: the AV-8 Harrier II (US), Harrier GR7/9 (UK), and the Sea Harrier, along with the conventional A-10 Thunderbolt II, F/A-18 Hornet and the F-16 Fighting Falcon. It will be a multi-role strike fighter (a plane with a strong emphasis on close air support and tactical bombing as well as being capable of air-to-air combat), and will make considerable use of stealth technology in that it will be almost undetectable (stealthy) to X-band radars (tracking radars, often short range) in the forward hemisphere but not particularly stealthy in the rear hemisphere and not stealthy to L band (search radars, often long range) in either hemisphere. It is currently in production with Lockheed Martin, along with partners Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, and Smiths Aerospace.

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Selected picture

Credit: Library of Congress LOT 13403, no. 12 [P&P]. Author unknown.

1786 description of the historic Montgolfier Brothers' 1783 balloon flight. Illustration with engineering proportions and description.

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Selected biography

Elizabeth Muriel Gregory "Elsie" MacGill (27 March 1905 – 4 November 1980), known as the Queen of the Hurricanes, was the world's first female aircraft designer. She worked as an aeronautical engineer during the Second World War and did much to make Canada a powerhouse of airplane construction during her years at Canada Car and Foundry (CC&F) in Fort William, Ontario. After her work at CC&F she ran a successful consulting business. Between 1967–1970 she was a commissioner on the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada, published in 1970.

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Did you know

...that Alejandro Maclean, Spanish television producer and Red Bull Air Race World Series pilot, is nicknamed "The Flying Matador"?

• ...that the Aichi D1A (pictured) was a carrier-borne dive bomber primarily used by the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Second Sino-Japanese War? ...that Yekaterina Zelenko was the only woman to perform an aerial ramming and the only female pilot in the Winter War?

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Aviation News

Wikinews Aviation portal

• January 7: Japan Airlines to relist shares
• December 24: Lansing, Michigan airport designated 'aerotropolis'
• December 22: Cypriot court clears all of wrongdoing in Greek air disaster
• October 30: Qantas grounds all flights in labour dispute
• September 23: Camp Pendleton, California: helicopter crash kills two US marines

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Today in Aviation

February 2

• 1998 - A Cebu Pacific Air DC-9-32 crashes into a mountain near Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, killing 104.

• 1872 - French navy-engineer Dupuy de Lome achieves 9 to 11 km/h with his muscle powered airship.

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

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Selected Aircraft

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)

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