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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

A U.S. Air Force F-35A off the coast of Florida
A U.S. Air Force F-35A off the coast of Florida
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide electronic warfare and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. Lockheed Martin is the prime F-35 contractor, with principal partners Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. The aircraft has three main variants: the conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) F-35A, the short take-off and vertical-landing (STOVL) F-35B, and the carrier-based (CV/CATOBAR) F-35C. (Full article...)

Selected image

Refueling a fire fighting helicopter Southern River, Western Australia.
Refueling a fire fighting helicopter Southern River, Western Australia.
Refueling a fire fighting helicopter Southern River, Western Australia.

Did you know

...that British Airways unveiled a new corporate identity in 1997 which involved repainting its fleet with around 20 daring tailfin designs by world artists? ...that during World War II, Marine Fighting Squadron 215 established four new U.S. Marine Corps records in the South Pacific including having the most ace pilots? ... that while flying accidents were commonplace at RAAF training establishments during World War II, No. 8 Service Flying Training School's first fatality was from drowning?

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

Helmut Paul Emil Wick (5 August 1915 – 28 November 1940) was a German Luftwaffe ace and the fourth recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (German: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub). The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade, the Oak Leaves, was awarded by the Third Reich to recognise extreme bravery in battle or successful military leadership. It was Germany's highest military decoration at the time of its presentation to Helmut Wick.

Born in Mannheim, Wick joined the Luftwaffe in 1936 and was trained as a fighter pilot. He was assigned to Jagdgeschwader 2 "Richthofen" (JG 2—2nd Fighter Wing), and saw combat in the Battles of France and Britain. Promoted to Major in October 1940, he was given the position of Geschwaderkommodore (wing commander) of JG 2—the youngest in the Luftwaffe to hold this rank and position. He was shot down in the vicinity of the Isle of Wight on 28 November 1940 and posted as missing in action, presumed dead. By then he had been credited with destroying 56 enemy aircraft in aerial combat, making him the leading German fighter pilot at the time. Flying the Messerschmitt Bf 109, he claimed all of his victories against the Western Allies.

Selected Aircraft

Airbus A380
Airbus A380

The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, four-engined airliner manufactured by Airbus S.A.S. It first flew on 27 April 2005 from Toulouse–Blagnac Airport. Commercial flights began in late 2007 after months of testing, with the delivery of the first aircraft to launch customer Singapore Airlines. During much of its development phase, the aircraft was known as the Airbus A3XX, and the nickname Superjumbo has also become associated with the A380.

The A380 is double decked, with the upper deck extending along the entire length of the fuselage. This allows for a spacious cabin, with the A380 in standard three-class configuration to seat 555 people, up to maximum of 853 in full economy class configuration. Only one model of the A380 was available: The A380-800, the passenger model. It is the largest passenger airliner in the world superseding the Boeing 747. The other launch model, the A380-800F freighter, was canceled and did not join the ranks of the largest freight aircraft such as the Antonov An-225, An-124, and the C-5 Galaxy.

  • Span: 79.8 m (261 ft 10 in)
  • Length: 73 m (239 ft 6 in)
  • Height: 24.1 m (79 ft 1 in)
  • Engines: 4 * Rolls-Royce Trent 900 or Engine Alliance GP7200 (311 kN or 69,916 lbf)
  • Cruising Speed: 0.85 Mach (approx 1,050 km/h or 652 mph or 567 kn)
  • First Flight: 27 April 2005
  • Number built: 254 (including 3 prototypes)
More selected aircraft Read more...

Today in Aviation

February 14

  • 2013 – American Airlines and US Airways announce an $11,000,000,000 deal to merge, creating the world's largest airline, with 900 planes, 3,200 daily flights, and 95,000 employees. Under the deal, former US Airways management will dominate the merged airline, but the "US Airways" brand will disappear.[1]
  • 2011 – Two Royal Thai Air Force General Dynamics F-16s collide over north east Thailand. Both aircraft are destroyed but the pilots ejected safely.
  • 2010 – A Yemeni Air Force Mil Mi-17 Helicopter crashes in the Kahlan district, east of the provincial capital Saada. Crash was the result of a technical fault. The helicopter's four-man crew and the seven wounded soldiers they were evacuating all died, as did two soldiers in a military vehicle which the aircraft crashed into.
  • 2009 – N440RA, a CASA C-212 Aviocar operated by Arctic Transportation Services lands short of the runway at Ralph Wien Memorial Airport, Alaska and is significantly damaged.
  • 2008 – Belavia Flight 1834, a Bombardier CRJ100, hits its left wing on the runway while taking off from Yerevan, Armenia. All 21 on board escape the aircraft before it erupts into flames.
  • 2007 – JetBlue announces their codeshare agreement with Cape Air, connecting Boston passengers with Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.
  • 2000 – The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker enters orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.
  • 1996 – China launches a Long March 3 rocket, carrying the Intelsat 708 satellite. The rocket flies off course 3 seconds after liftoff and crashes into a rural village due to an engineering defect. The number of fatalities is unconfirmed.
  • 1992 – Aerolíneas Argentinas Flight 386, sometimes referred to as the Valentine’s Day flight, refers to an incident that occurred on board a scheduled flight of that carrier, in which food contaminated with cholera was distributed to the passengers, of which one died from the illness
  • 1991 – U. S. Navy A-6E Intruders sink an Iraqi Navy Osa-class missile boat in Kuwait Bay, the last Iraqi naval loss of the Gulf War. Iraqi ground fire shoots down a Royal Air Force Tornado and a Royal Saudi Air Force F-5E Tiger II during strikes on Iraqi forces, and a U. S. Air Force EF-111 A Raven electronic warfare aircraft crashes in Saudi Arabia due to battle damage. The United States reports that Coalition airstrikes against Iraqi military forces in Kuwait have destroyed 1,300 of Iraq’s 4,280 tanks, 850 of its 2,870 armored personnel carriers, and 1,100 of its 3,110 artillery pieces there.
  • 1990 – Voyager 1 took the first ever “family portrait” of our Solar System as seen from outside.
  • 1989 – The first of 24 Global Positioning System (Block-II) satellites is placed into orbit.
  • 1984 – First flight of the Cessna S550 Citation
  • 1980 – Japan Air Lines begins commercial operations with the highest-capacity airliner ever put into scheduled service, conducting the inaugural flight of eight Boeing 747SR. The aircraft has seating for 550 passengers, 45 in the upper deck.
  • 1979 – Sabrina Jackintell sets an open class glider altitude record of 12,637 m with her Burkhart Grob G-102 Astir CS.
  • 1975 – Death of Arthur Hicks Peck, British WWI flying ace.
  • 1973 – Death of Charles Ronald Steele, British WWI flying ace, High-ranking officer in WWII and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at RAF Coastal Command post war.
  • 1963 – Launch of Syncom 1, first geosynchronous communications satellite.
  • 1956 – US Army de Havilland Canada U-1A Otter, 55-3252, c/n 93, encountered wake turbulence. The aircraft broke up in mid-air and crashed in Toronto, Canada. 4 killed.
  • 1953 – The RCAF accepted the first of 69 de Havilland Otters.
  • 1951 – Major Raymond S. Wetmore, World War II ace (21.25 kills), and commander of the 59th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Otis Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is killed this date in the crash of North American F-86A-5-NA Sabre, 48-0149, c/n 151-43517 at age 27. After a cross-country flight from Los Angeles, California, to Otis AFB, he was on his final approach when his plane suddenly shot up skyward, and then turned towards the ground where it crashed. Raymond was killed instantly. He was reported to have said that he had trouble steering and ejecting from the plane. He was also reported to have said to the tower that, "I'm going to go up and bring it down in Wakeby Lake, so I don't hit any houses." When he died, he left a widow and four children.
  • 1947 – Birth of Pham Tuân, Vietnam Air Force aviator, first Vietnamese citizen and first Asian (outside of Russia) in space.
  • 1946 – Philippine Airlines resumes service after a 5-year hiatus during World War II.
  • 1945 – Death of Otto “Bruno” Kittel, German WWII flying ace on his 583rd combat mission, shot down and killed by the air gunner of a Shturmovik.
  • 1945 – On the first day of the bombing of Dresden, the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces begin fire-bombing Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony. Prague is also bombed probably due to a mistake in the orientation of the pilots.
  • 1943 – The Vought F4U Corsair naval fighter makes its operational debut in Solomon Island, escorting PB4Y-1 Liberators (the US Navy’s version of the B-24) raiding Bougainville.
  • 1943 – Birth of Shannon Matilda Wells Lucid, American biochemist and NASA astronaut.
  • 1943 – The first combat action of the F4U Corsair occurs, when 50 Imperial Japanese Navy A6 M Zero fighters attack a formation of American bombers and their escorting fighters. In what the Americans call the “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, ” the Japanese shoot down two U. S. Marine Corps Corsairs and eight U. S. Army Air Forces aircraft – Two P-40 s, four P-38 s, and two B-24 s – Losing three Zeroes in exchange.
  • 1943 – The Dakotas Sqn begin air supply missions to Chindit forces working behind enemy lines in Burma. Chindits were small pockets of highly trained British troops, usually with local guides, who operated behind enemy lines, cutting enemy lines of communication.
  • 1942 – The Douglas C-54 Skymaster makes its first flight. Designed as the DC-4, it is adapted for military use. During the war Skymasters complete 79,632 transoceanic flights with only three ditchings, one of which was a test.
  • 1939 – Death of Lucien Marcel Gasser, French WWI flying ace, killed in an air crash.
  • 1934 – Howard R. Hughes launches the Hughes Tool Co. aircraft division, which evolves into Hughes Helicopters Inc.
  • 1934 – First prototype Bulgarian DAR-3 Garvan ("Raven") (ДАР-3) two-seat biplane, first flown Autumn 1927 and rebuilt twice with different powerplants, written off this date in a fatal crash.{(DAR - Derzhavna Aeroplanna Rabotilnitsa - State Airplane Workshop)}
  • 1928 – First flight of the Short S.8 Calcutta, a British three engine biplane airliner flying boat, First airliner with a full kitchen.
  • 1922 – Death of Herbert Brian Richardson, British WWI fighter ace.
  • 1921 – Birth of Werner Utter, German pilot, one of the first pilot for Lufthansa, who flew more of 100 types of aircraft from sailplanes to Jumbo Jet.
  • 1914 – An official American nonstop duration and distance record is made when Lt. Townsend Dodd and Sgt. Herbert Marcus fly the U. S. Signal Corps Burgess H tractor biplane. (S. C. No. 26) 244.8 mi. in 4 hours 43 min. Although it established a record for two people in one airplane, it also exceeded the previous single-seat record.
  • 1913 – Birth of Anthony W. “Tony” LeVier, American air racer and test pilot for the Lockheed Corporation.
  • 1910 – Birth of Eugène Przysiecki, polish aviator, test pilot and WWII bomber pilot.
  • 1898 – Birth of John William Pinder, British WWI fighter ace and aviation pioneer in South America.
  • 1898 – Birth of William Newton “Bill” Lancaster, pioneering British aviator.
  • 1897 – Birth of Laurent Baptisti Ruamps, French WWI flying ace.
  • 1896 – Birth of Mary Anita ‘Neta’ Snook Southern, American pioneer aviator who achieved a long list of firsts, first woman aviator in Iowa, first woman student accepted at the Curtiss Flying School in Virginia, first woman “aviatrix” to run her own aviation business and first woman to run a commercial airfield. She was Amelia Earhart’s first flying instructor.
  • 1896 – Birth of Harold Albert “Pete” White, British WWI flying ace.
  • 1895 – Birth of Alexander Alexandrovich Mikulin, Soviet aircraft engine designer.
  • 1894 – Birth of Horace Balfour Davey, British WWI flying ace.
  • 1891 – Birth of Katherine Stinson, American early female flier.
  • 1889 – Birth of Bartolomeo ‘Meo’ Costantini, Italian WWI flying ace and post war racing driver and manufacturer.

References

  1. ^ Anonymous, "American Airlines, US Airways Announce $11B Merger," CBS/AP, February 14, 2013, 7:06 a.m.
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