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...)
Image 5Map of record breaking flights of the 1920s (from History of aviation)
Image 6Santos-Dumont's "Number 6" rounding the Eiffel Tower in the process of winning the Deutsch de la Meurthe Prize, October 1901 (from History of aviation)
Image 36"Map of Air Routes and Landing Places in Great Britain, as temporarily arranged by the Air Ministry for civilian flying", published in 1919, showing
Hounslow, near London, as the hub (from History of aviation)
Image 40Concorde, G-BOAB, in storage at
London Heathrow Airport following the end of all Concorde flying. This aircraft flew for 22,296 hours between its first flight in 1976 and final flight in 2000 (from History of aviation)
Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager (born February 13, 1923) is a retired Brigadier-General in the
United States Air Force and a noted test pilot. In 1947, he became the first pilot (at age 24) to travel
faster than sound in level flight and ascent.
His career began in
World War II as a private in the
U.S. Army Air Forces. After serving as an aircraft mechanic, in September 1942 he entered enlisted pilot training and upon graduation was promoted to the rank of
Flight Officer (WW 2 U.S. Army Air Forces rank equivalent to
Warrant Officer) and became a
P-51 Mustangfighter pilot. After the war he became a
test pilot of many kinds of aircraft and rocket planes. Yeager was the first man to break the sound barrier on October 14, 1947, flying the experimental
Bell X-1 at
Mach 1 at an altitude of 45,000 ft (13,700 m). Although
Scott Crossfield was the first man to fly faster than Mach 2 in 1953, Yeager shortly thereafter exceeded Mach 2.4.[1] He later commanded fighter squadrons and wings in
Germany and in
Southeast Asia during the
Vietnam War, and in recognition of the outstanding performance ratings of those units he then was promoted to
Brigadier-General. Yeager's flying career spans more than sixty years and has taken him to every corner of the globe, even into the
Soviet Union during the height of the
Cold War.
The de Havilland Canada DHC-8, popularly the Dash 8, is a series of twin-
turbopropairliners designed by
de Havilland Canada in the early 1980s. They are now made by
Bombardier Aerospace which purchased DHC from
Boeing in
1992. Since
1996 the aircraft have been known as the Q Series, for "quiet", due to installation of the Active Noise and Vibration Suppression (ANVS) system designed to reduce cabin noise and vibration levels to near those of jet airliners.
Notable features of the Dash 8 design are the large
T-tail intended to keep the tail free of propwash during takeoff, a very high
aspect ratio wing, the elongated engine nacelles also holding the rearward-folding landing gear, and the pointed nose profile. First flight was in
1983, and the plane entered service in
1984 with
NorOntair. Piedmont Airlines (formerly Henson Airlines) was the US launch customer for the Dash 8 in 1984.
The Dash 8 design had better cruise performance than the earlier
Dash 7, was less expensive to operate, and more notably, much less expensive to maintain. The Dash 8 had the lowest costs per passenger mile of any feederliner of the era. The only disadvantage compared to the earlier Dash 7 was somewhat higher noise levels, but only in comparison as the Dash 7 was notable in the industry for extremely low noise due to its four very large and slow-turning propellers.
2011 – The Libyan government claims that NATO air raids have killed 718 civilians and injured more than 4,000 since the international bombing campaign to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya began.[2]
2008 –
Champion Air ceased operations because of high fuel prices and fuel inefficiency, the main two reasons the airline was terminated.
2008 – Launch: Space Shuttle Discovery
STS-124 at 21:02:12 UTC. Mission highlights: ISS assembly flight 1J: JEM - Japanese module Kibo & JEM RMS.
2005 – An Italian
AB-412 helicopter crashes near
Nasiriyah, killing the four soldiers on board.[3]
1977 – The Vietnam People's Air Force is separated from the Vietnamese Air Defense Force.
1973 –
Indian Airlines Flight 440, a Boeing 737, crashes while on approach to Palam Airport in New Delhi, India. 48 of the 65 passengers and crew on board are killed in the accident.
1968 – Lockheed U-2, 56-6954, Article 394, fourth airframe of the USAF supplementary production, delivered to the USAF in March 1959. Built as a two-place airframe for ARDC at Edwards AFB, California - later designated a U-2D. Transferred to SAC in 1966 and converted to U-2C by January 1967. Crashed this date near Tucson, Arizona. Pilot Maj. Vic Milam ejects safely at 41,000 feet after losing control when airframe experiences uncontrolled pitch-up.
1968 – Lockheed JQF-104A Starfighter drone, 56-0733, 'QFG-733', (so modified and designated on November 29, 1961), of the 3205th Drone Squadron, suffers a severe class A landing accident at Eglin AFB, Florida. Repaired.
1957 – A Royal Canadian Navy McDonnell F2H-3 Banshee fighter jet, BuNo 126313, Sqn. No. 104 of VF-870, spirals out of control after its right wing breaks in half during a high-speed flyby at naval air station HMCS Shearwater, Nova Scotia, Canada. The canopy is observed to separate from the aircraft, but the pilot, Lt. Derek Prout, fails to eject and is killed when the plane slams into McNabs Island. The crash is attributed to improperly manufactured fittings in the folding wing mechanism, and most RCN and US Navy Banshees are grounded until improved fittings can be installed.
1946 – London Heathrow Airport is officially opened.
1942 – Nos. 405, 408, 419 and 420 (Bomber) Squadrons participated in the first 1,000 aircraft attack on Germany, directed at Cologne.
1942 – Since January 1, Royal Air Force Bomber Command has dispatched 12,029 sorties, losing 396 aircraft; German night fighters have shot down 167 of them, an average of 34 British bombers per month. Since February 1, aircraft losses in British bombing raids on Germany have averaged 3.7 percent.
1941 – The Anglo-Iraq War ends with the collapse of Iraqi resistance.
1939 – Italian forces, including the “legionary air force, ” depart Spain.
1935 – Hickam Field is dedicated in the Territory of Hawaii.
1928 – (May 31 and June 9) The first airplane flight across the Pacific is made by British Capt. Charles Kingsford-Smith and crew in a Fokker F-VIIB/3 m Southern Cross. They fly from Oakland Field, California to Brisbane, Australia, 7,389 miles (11,890 km), in 83 hours, 38 min. On the way, it becomes the first airplane to land in Fiji.
1919 – NC-4 aircraft commanded by AC Read completes first crossing of the Atlantic.
1919 – First wedding held in an aircraft. Flying
2000 ft above Houston Texas in a converted Hadley Page bomber, Marjorie Dumont and Lt. R. W. Meade were married by an Army chaplain.
1918 – Douglas Campbell scores his fifth victory, becoming the first American pilot to become an ace while flying for an American unit.
1916 – A Short Type 184 from the Royal Navy seaplane carrier Engadine achieves the only British aerial reconnaissance flight of the Battle of Jutland, reporting the sighting of three cruisers and ten destroyers of the German High Seas Fleet before a broken fuel pipe forces it to end the mission.
1915 – First Zeppelin raid on
London, made by LZ 38. Seven people killed, fourteen wounded.
1910 –
Glenn Curtiss wins a $10,000 (USD) prize from the New York World for flying in his Hudson Flyer from Albany, New York, to New York City in 2 hours 51 min, following the course of the Hudson River.
1862 – Information obtained from Thadeus S. C. Lowe's balloon observation saves Union forces from defeat at the Battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia during the U. S. Civil War. Union General George McClellan is warned by Lowe of Confederate General Albert Johnston's approaching troops.
1811 – Albrecht Ludwig Berblinger, the "tailor of
Ulm" (Germany) crashes in his apparatus, a copy of Degen's, into the Danube. It was presumably a workable
hang glider.
References
^Yeager, Chuck and
Janos, Leo. Yeager: An Autobiography. p. 252 (paperback). New York: Bantam Books, 1986.
ISBN0-553-25674-2.