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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

Ben Gurion International Airport is the largest and busiest international airport in Israel, with about 10.2 million passengers passing through it in 2007. It was known as Wilhelma Airport when it was first founded by the British Mandate of Palestine. It was known as Lod Airport from 1948 until 1973, when the name was changed to honor Israel's first prime minister, David Ben Gurion.

The airport is located near the city of Lod, 15 km (9 mi) southeast of Tel Aviv. It is operated by the Israel Airports Authority, a government-owned corporation that manages all public airports and border crossings in Israel. Ben Gurion Airport is on Highway 1, the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Highway, accessible by car or public bus.

Ben Gurion Airport is the hub of El Al, Israir Airlines, Arkia Israel Airlines, and Sun d'Or International Airlines. During the 1980s and 1990s, it was a focus city of the now-defunct Tower Air. Today, Terminal 3 is used for international flights, and Terminal 1 is used for domestic flights. The airport has three runways and is used by commercial, private, and military aircraft.

Ben Gurion Airport is considered to be among the five best airports in the Middle East due to its passenger experience and its high level of security. Security forces such as Israel Police officers, IDF and Israel Border Police soldiers are complemented by airport security guards who operate both in uniform and undercover. The airport has been the target of several terrorist attacks, but no attempt to hijack a plane departing from Ben Gurion airport has succeeded. (Full article...)

Selected image

A flight control system consists of the flight control surfaces, the respective cockpit controls, connecting linkage, and necessary operating mechanisms to control aircraft in flight.

Did you know

...that in 1929 the Graf Zeppelin completed a circumnavigation of the globe in 21 days, 5 hours and 31 minutes? ...that the Zagreb mid-air collision over Croatia in 1976 was one of the deadliest mid-air collisions? ... that the first exhibition at the Boeing Galleries was a series of photographs taken from helicopters and hot air balloons?

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
Read and edit Wikinews

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

A spitfire in flight
A spitfire in flight

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)

Today in Aviation

September 19

  • 2009 – Maltese airline Efly commences operations.
  • 2009 – A United States Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk crashed at Joint Base Balad, (formerly Al-Bakr Air Base), Balad, Iraq. The accident occurred during a storm including high winds and a sandstorm resulting in 12 crew injured and 1 fatality.
  • 1995 – Kish Air hijacking was the hijacking of an Iranian plane by a flight attendant Reza Jabari. Flying from Tehran to the Iranian resort Kish Island, Kish Air Flight 707 was hijacked by Reza Jabari, a flight attendant. The jet had 174 passengers on board. The hijacker tried to divert the aircraft to Europe, but there was not enough fuel. Instead, the plane landed in Israel after Jordan and Saudi Arabia refused its request to land. The plane was directed to the Ovda military air base near Eilat. The passengers were flown home 24 hours later.
  • 1989 – UTA Flight 772, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, explodes in mid-air over the Sahara desert when a bomb hidden in its forward cargo hold detonates. All 170 people on board are killed. Responsibility for the bombing is later traced back to Abdullah Sanussi, the brother-in-law of Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, whose government in 2003 agrees to pay compensation to the victims.
  • 1988 – Israel launches its first satellite, the Ofeq-1 from Palmachim Airbase in Israel for secret military reconnaissance.
  • 1980 – While performing routine maintenance in a LGM-25C Titan II silo at Damascus, Arkansas, a repairman dropped a heavy socket wrench, which rolled off of a work platform, bounced, and struck the missile, 62-0006, holing a pressurized fuel tank. The launch complex was evacuated and a specialist team called in from Little Rock Air Force Base. Approximately 8½ hours after the initial puncture, fuel vapours exploded, fatally injuring one team member and injuring 21 others. The missile re-entry vehicle, which contained a nuclear warhead, was recovered intact. There was no radioactive contamination.
  • 1976 – Turkish Airlines Flight 452, a Boeing 727, crashes into a hillside near Karatepe, Turkey, while on approach to Antalya Airport; all 154 passengers and crew die.
  • 1973 – A U.S. Navy Grumman A-6A Intruder, BuNo 155721, 'NJ', of VA-128, out of NAS Whidbey Island, Washington, crashes in the Oregon desert, ~25 miles SE of Christmas Valley, Oregon, during a low level night training mission. The pilot Lt. Alan G. Koehler, 27, and navigator Lt. Cdr. Philip D. duHamel, 33, are KWF. On 14 June 2007, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) officially declares the crash scene a historic Federal government site at a Flag Day ceremony. An interpretive plaques was unveiled during this event reflecting this designation and depicting the historical significance of the location.
  • 1969 – First flight of the Mil Mi-24, the most widely exported helicopter gunship ,flown by Mil test pilot German Alferov .
  • 1968 – A U. S. Navy F-8 C Crusader fighter of Fighter Squadron 111 (VF-111) shoots down a North Vietnamese MiG fighter. It is believed to be the last American air-to-air victory in the Vietnam War until March 1970.
  • 1966 – Using UH-1Bs borrowed from the U. S. Army, the U. S. Navy’s first attack helicopter unit begins operations, supporting U. S. Navy riverine forces operating in South Vietnam’s Mekong Delta.
  • 1958 – The first Thor Ballistic Missile (IRBM) was handed over to No. 77 Sqn, Bomber Command at RAF Feltwell. The first RAF-controlled launch of Thor took place at Vandenberg Air Base, USA, on 16 April 1959.
  • 1958 – Lockheed C-130A Hercules 56-0526, c/n 3134, of the 314th Troop Carrier Wing, has a mid-air collision with a French Armée de l'Air Dassault Super Mystère over France.
  • 1946 – The Portuguese airline Transportes Aéreos Portugueses (TAP) began commercial services with an inaugural flight from Lisbon to Madrid using a Douglas DC-3.
  • 1944 – Consolidated B-32-1-CF Dominator, 42-108472, first B-32 delivered, on this date, written off the very same day when nosewheel collapsed on landing.
  • 1944 – RAF Douglas Dakota Mk. III, KG374, c/n 12383, (ex-USAAF C-47A-DK, 42-92568), 'YS-DM', of 271 Squadron, RAF Down Ampney, Gloucester, piloted by F/Lt. David S. Lord, is hit by AAA in starboard engine while on resupply mission for beleaguered troops at Arnhem during Operation Market Garden. Despite fire spreading to whole of starboard wing, pilot spends ten minutes making two passes over very small dropzone (which, unbeknownst to the crew, had been overrun by German forces) to drop eight ammunition panniers. Just after last one has been dropped, fuel tank explodes, tearing off wing, only navigator F/O Harry A. King escaping from stricken aircraft and descending by parachute to be captured as a POW the following morning, spending the rest of the war in Stalag Luft I at Barth. KWF are pilot Lord, second pilot P/O R. E. H. "Dickie" Medhurst (son of Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Medhurst), wireless operator F/O Alec F. Ballantyne, and four air despatchers of 223 Company RASC, Cpl. P. Nixon, Dvr. A. Rowbotham, Dvr. J. Ricketts and Dvr. L. Harper. Following release of King from prison camp, full details of the action become known and pilot Lord receives posthumous Victoria Cross on 13 November 1945, the only VC awarded to any member of Transport Command during the Second World War. In May 1949 the Dutch Government awards Harry King the Netherlands Bronze Cross.
  • 1943 – F/L RF Fisher and crew in a Consolidated Liberator of No. 10 Squadron sank the German submarine U-341 in the North Atlantic.
  • 1939 – Germany halts construction of its second Graf Zeppelin-class aircraft carrier, Flugzeugträger B, while she still is on the building ways. Work on the ship never will be resumed.
  • 1937 – (19-22) Imperial Japanese Navy Mitsubishi A5 M (“Claude”) fighters conduct a successful campaign to eliminate Chinese air resistance over Nanking.
  • 1919 – CMA (Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes) commences a regular service between Paris and London, using ex-military Breguet 14 s.
  • 1907 – The first piloted helicopter flight takes place, reaching an impressive altitude of two feet above Douai, France while being steadied by several men.
  • 1784 The brothers Robert and Colin Hullin take a balloon ride over 186 km from Paris to Beuvry.
  • 1783, The Montgolfiers launch a sheep, duck, and rooster in a hot-air balloon in a demonstration for King Louis XVI of France. The balloon rises some 500 m (1,700 ft) and returns the animals unharmed to the ground.

References

  1. ^ Toliver & Constable 1986, p. 12.
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