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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 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

J-3 aircraft with CAP markings
J-3 aircraft with CAP markings
The Civil Air Patrol is the official civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force. It was created just days before the Attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, and is credited with sinking at least two German U-boats during the War. It was seen as a way to use America's civil aviation resources to aid the war effort, rather than grounding them, as was the case in the United Kingdom. Today, the Civil Air Patrol is a volunteer organization dedicated to education and national service, including people from all backgrounds and all walks of life. It performs three key missions: Emergency services (including search and rescue), aerospace education for youth and the general public, and cadet programs. The September 11, 2001 attacks demonstrated the importance of the Civil Air Patrol, as it was this organization's aircraft that flew blood to victims of the attack as well as providing the first aerial pictures of the World Trade Center site. (Full article...)

Selected image

U.S. F/A-18 Hornet breaking the sound barrier
U.S. F/A-18 Hornet breaking the sound barrier
Credit: John Gay, U.S. Navy
U.S. F/A-18 Hornet flying at transonic speeds. In aerodynamics, the sound barrier is a physical boundary that was once thought to be stopping large objects becoming supersonic. When an aircraft is near to the speed of sound, an unusual cloud sometimes forms. A drop in pressure, in this case due to shock wave formation, causes water droplets to condense and form the cloud.

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 Tenerife disaster remained the deadliest aircraft incident in history until the September 11, 2001 attacks and neither plane was in flight when the accident occurred. ... 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

Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr. (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974), known as "Lucky Lindy" and "The Lone Eagle", was a pioneering United States aviator famous for piloting the first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927, flying from Roosevelt Airfield (Nassau County, Long Island), New York to Paris on May 20-May 21, 1927 in his single-engine aircraft The Spirit of St. Louis.

He grew up in Little Falls, Minnesota. Early on he showed an interest in machinery, especially aircraft. After training as a pilot with the Army Air Service Lindbergh took a job as lead pilot of an airmail route in a DeHavilland DH-4 biplane. He was renowned for delivering the mail under any circumstances.

Lindbergh is recognized in aviation for demonstrating and charting polar air-routes, high altitude flying techniques, and increasing aircraft flying range by decreasing fuel consumption. These innovations are the basis of modern intercontinental air travel.

Selected Aircraft

British Airways Boeing 747-400
British Airways Boeing 747-400

The Boeing 747 is a widebody commercial airliner, often referred to by the nickname Jumbo Jet. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first widebody ever produced. Manufactured by Boeing's Commercial Airplane unit in the United States, the original version of the 747 was two and a half times the size of the Boeing 707, one of the common large commercial aircraft of the 1960s. First flown commercially in 1970, the 747 held the passenger capacity record for 37 years.

The four-engine 747 uses a double deck configuration for part of its length. It is available in passenger, freighter and other versions. Boeing designed the 747's hump-like upper deck to serve as a first class lounge or (as is the general rule today) extra seating, and to allow the aircraft to be easily converted to a cargo carrier by removing seats and installing a front cargo door. Boeing did so because the company expected supersonic airliners (whose development was announced in the early 1960s) to render the 747 and other subsonic airliners obsolete; while believing that the demand for subsonic cargo aircraft would be robust into the future. The 747 in particular was expected to become obsolete after 400 were sold but it exceeded its critics' expectations with production passing the 1,000 mark in 1993. As of September 2023, 1,574 aircraft have been built, with the final delivery in January 2023.

The 747-8, the latest version in service, is among the fastest airliners in service with a high-subsonic cruise speed of Mach 0.855 (564 mph or 908 km/h). It has an intercontinental range of 7,730 nautical miles (14,320 km; 8,900 mi). The 747-8I (passenger version) can accommodate 467 passengers in a typical three-class layout. The 747-8 completed production on 6 December 2022 and the final 747 was delivered to Atlas Air on 31 January 2023.

More selected aircraft Read more...

Today in Aviation

January 22

  • 2013 – An American unmanned aerial vehicle attacks a ground vehicle in Yemen's Al Jawf Governorate, killing three suspected al-Qaeda members.[1]
  • 2013 – The United States announces that the United States Air Force has begun airlifting French military personnel and materiel into Mali, having made five flights thus far.[2]
  • 2011 – Launch of Kounotori 2, or HTV-2, second Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle to resupply the International Space Station (ISS).
  • 2010 – A Myanmar Air Force Chengdu F-7 fighter crashed while attempting to land at Yangon airport, killing its pilot.
  • 2008 – A Pakistan Air Force Cessna T-37 Tweet trainer faced mechanical failure while in first solo flight of Pilot Officer Raja Jahanzeb flying over Topi, Pakistan. Declining ejection orders to prevent loss of life on the ground he chose to crash land the plane on a campus road of GIK Institute merely avoiding faculty buildings and blew up into pieces on crashing. The crash killed the pilot and a gardener. Raja Jahanzeb was posthumously awarded Tamgha-e-Basalat (Medal of Good Conduct).
  • 1998 – Launch: Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-89 at 9:48:15 pm EST. Mission highlights: Shuttle-Mir docking.
  • 1992 – Launch: Space Shuttle Discovery STS-42 at 14:52:33 UTC. Mission highlights: Spacelab mission, Dr. Roberta Bondar becomes the first Canadian woman in space.
  • 1991 – In the Gulf War, Iraqi antiaircraft artillery downs a Royal Air Force Tornado ground-attack aircraft and the U. S. Army loses an attack helicopter to non-combat causes. Four U. S. Navy A-6E Intruders disable an Iraqi Navy T43 class minesweeper.
  • 1987 – The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Michelob Light Eagle, piloted by Glenn Tremml, sets a world closed circuit distance record for human-powered aircraft of 58 km (36 miles).
  • 1973 – The Kano air disaster was a chartered Nigeria Airways Boeing 707-3D3 C passenger flight on 22 January 1973 which crashed and explodes into flames while attempting to land at Kano International Airport. 176 passengers and crew perished in the crash. It is the worst aviation disaster to ever take place in Nigeria.
  • 1971 – A US Navy P-3 Orion sets a distance record of 7,010 miles (11,282 km) for an aircraft in its class.
  • 1970 – The last CF Sabre flight 23102. It was ferried Canadair-Trenton by pilot Bob Ayers.
  • 1969 – The U. S. 9th Marine Regiment begins Operation Dewey Canyon – an operation dependent completely on helicopters – in South Vietnam's Da Krong Valley. It will conclude on March 19, rated as the 9th Marines' most successful operation of the Vietnam War.
  • 1968 – Apollo 5 lifts off carrying the first Lunar module into space with a Saturn IB rocket.
  • 1964 – In its first public violation of the 1959 requirement for all aircraft operating from the aircraft carrier Minas Gerais to belong to the Brazilian Air Force, the Brazilian Navy steams Minas Gerais into Guanabara Bay at Rio de Janeiro with four navy T-28 Trojan trainers on her flight deck.
  • 1964 – A USAF Lockheed F-104B-10-LO Starfighter, 57‑1306, c/n 283-5019, of the 319th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Air Defense Command, Homestead Air Force Base, Florida, crashes at ~1330 hrs. on Santa Rosa Island, ~one mile E of Fort Walton Beach, Florida, shortly after departure from Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, to return to Homestead. The pilot, Capt. Lucius O. Evans, ejects safely just before the fighter impacts in sand dunes just short of the Coronado Motor Hotel, parachuting into the Choctawhatchee Bay. He is then transported to the Eglin base hospital by Assistant Police Chief Jack McSwain, where he is reported to have sustained no injuries. Over sixty occupants at the hotel are not injured although flaming wreckage sprays an area close to the business. Eyewitness Andrew Christiansen, of Chester, Connecticut, reported that the aircraft was on fire as it descended and observed Capt. Evans' ejection from the Starfighter. A secondary explosion after the impact further scatters the burning wreckage.
  • 1955 – Birth of Thomas David Jones, USAF pilot and NASA astronaut.
  • 1952 – The de Havilland Comet 1 became the first turbojet-powered civil airliner to be awarded a certificate of airworthiness. Entered Service with BOAC.
  • 1952 – American Airlines Flight 6780, a Convair CV-240 crashes on approach to Newark, New Jersey into dwellings in Elizabeth, New Jersey, killing 30 and leading to the Doolittle Commission recommendation for laws coordinating urban zoning to keep airport approach paths clear.
  • 1949 – Death of Frederick Robert Gordon McCal, Canadian WWI fighter ace, Post war stunt flyer who founded McCall Aero Corp. Ltd and Great Western Airway, and who returned in RCAF service for WWII.
  • 1948 – First flight of the Short Sealand, a British light, twin engined commercial amphibian aircraft for 5–7 passengers, designed for the general overseas market in territories with suitable water access and/or runways.
  • 1945 – U. S. Army Air Forces aircraft begin a heavy bombing campaign against Japanese forces on Corregidor. By the time U. S. ground forces land on Corregidor on February 15–16, they will drop over 3,200 tons (2,903,021 kg) of bombs on the island.
  • 1945 – Task Force 38 aircraft conduct an early morning night strike against Formosa, sinking a large tanker in exchange for the loss of three U. S. aircraft, then fly 682 sorties during daylight hours to strike and conduct photographic reconnaissance missions against Okinawa, the Sakishima Gunto, Ie Shima, and Amami O Shima, destroying 28 Japanese aircraft, all on the ground. Task Force 38 then retires to its base at Ulithi Atoll. During January 1945, its aircraft have destroyed 300,000 tons of Japanese shipping and claimed 615 Japanese planes destroyed in exchange for the loss of 201 U. S. carrier aircraft.
  • 1944 – In Operation Shingle, Allied forces land at Anzio and Nettuno, Italy. Allied air forces fly 1,200 sorties in support of the landings.
  • 1943 – Death of Edmond Eugene Henri Caillaux, French WWI flying ace.
  • 1936 – Italian aircraft play a decisive role in the first Battle of Tembien, dropping mustard gas to defeat a promising offensive by Ethiopian forces.
  • 1931 – First flight of the Bristol Type 118, a British general-purpose military aircraft, a two-seat biplane prototype for overseas markets.
  • 1926 – Spanish Dornier Do J Wal flying boat 'Plus Ultra' takes off from Palos de la Frontera, in Huelva, Spain, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the first Trans-Atlantic flight between Spain and South America.
  • 1922 – Elsa Andersson (1897–1922) was Sweden's first female aviator and stunt parachutist. She was born a farmer's daughter in the Scanian countryside, at Strovelstrop. Andersson's mother died at her birth and her elder brother moved to America for a new life. A determined and inspirational woman, Andersson had ambitions beyond becoming a farmer's wife and so, aged 21, she learned to fly, getting her diploma "no.203" in 1920. Not content with being the first Swedish woman to become a pilot, she went to Germany to learn parachute jumping. In 1922, Andersson was tragically killed on her third jump in Askersund, Sweden. Thousands of spectators were gathering below on the ice of the frozen lake Alsen. She had trouble releasing her parachute, which finally unfolded only at a small distance from the treetops and she crashed violently against the ground. In 1926, the Swedish Aero Club erected a three-metre-high obelisk memorial in the place where she was found dead.
  • 1919 – Death of Carrick Stewart Paul, New Zealand WWI flying ace, drowned at sea while on the voyage home to New Zealand.
  • 1919 – The sole Blériot Bl-73, French 3 seat, 4 engine biplane bomber prototype, broke in the air.
  • 1914 – Death of Charles Keeney Hamilton, early American aviator.
  • 1907 – Douglas Corrigan, American pilot, is born (d. 1995). Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan was an American aviator born in Galveston, Texas. 1938, after a transcontinental flight from Long Beach, California, to New York, he flew from Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York, to Ireland, even though he was supposed to be returning to Long Beach. He claimed that his unauthorized flight was due to a navigational error, caused by heavy cloud cover that obscured landmarks and low-light conditions, causing him to misread his compass.
  • 1891 – Birth of Bruno Loerzer, German WWI flying ace and high-ranking officer in WWII.
  • 1889 – Birth of Harry George Hawker MBE, AFC, Australian aviation pioneer and co-founder of Hawker Aircraft.
  • 1887 – Birth of Elmer "Archie" Fowler Stone, US naval aviator and a Commander in the US Coast Guard. He was a pilot on the first successful transatlantic flight on a Curtiss NC-4.

References

  1. ^ Al-Haj, Ahmed, "U.S. Drone Strike Kills 3 Militants in Yemen", Associated Press, January 22, 2013, 14:53:15 EST,
  2. ^ Londoño, Ernesto, and Anne Gearan, "Mali: U.S. Begins Airlifts to Aid French Mission", The Washington Post, January 23, 2013, p. A6.
  3. ^ Anonymous, "Planes Sent to Evacuate Russians From Syria", Aljazeera, 22 January 2013, 10:07
  4. ^ Anonymous, "Russia's Lavrov Says Beirut Flights Not Syria Evacuation", BBC News, January 23, 2013, 07:55 ET.
  5. ^ Anonymous, "Russians Evacuated From Syria Arrive Home", Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, January 24, 2013.
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