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...)
BAE Systems is a British defence and aerospace company headquartered in London, UK, which has worldwide interests, particularly in North America through its subsidiary BAE Systems Inc. BAE is the world's seventh-largest defence contractor and the largest in Europe. BAE was formed on 30 November 1999 by the £7.7 billion merger of two British companies: Marconi Electronic Systems, the defence electronics and naval shipbuilding subsidiary of the General Electric Company plc (GEC) and aircraft, munitions and naval systems manufacturer British Aerospace (BAe). It has increasingly disengaged from its businesses in continental Europe in favour of investing in the United States. Since its formation it has sold its shares of Airbus, EADS Astrium, AMS and Atlas Elektronik. BAE Systems is involved in several major defence projects, including the F-35 Lightning II, the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Royal NavyQueen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers. The company has been the subject of criticism, both general opposition to the arms trade and also specific allegations of unethical and corrupt practices, including the Al-Yamama contracts with Saudi Arabia that have earned BAE and its predecessor £43 billion in twenty years. (Full article...)
The Ryan X-13 Vertijet was designed to explore the feasibility of a pure-jet vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) fighter aircraft. Here, the X-13 is about to moor itself to a dual-role flatbed transport/launch trailer.
The following are images from various aviation-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1"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 10The Biot-Massia glider, restored and on display in the Musee de l'Air (from History of aviation)
Image 11Santos-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 18Concorde, 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)
Helmut Paul Emil Wick (5 August 1915 – 28 November 1940) was a GermanLuftwaffeace 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 Jagdgeschwader2 "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.
An ERJ-145 of BA CitiExpress (now BA Connect) takes off from Bristol Airport (UK)
The Embraer ERJ-145 is a regional jet produced by Embraer, a Brazilian aerospace company. The ERJ 145 is the largest of a family of airliners, which also includes the ERJ 135, ERJ 140, and Legacy. All aircraft in the series are powered by two turbofan engines. It is one of the most popular regional jet families in the world with primary competition coming from the Canadair Regional Jet.
The first flight of the ERJ 145 was on August 11, 1995, with the first delivery in December 1996 to ExpressJet Airlines (then the regional division of Continental Airlines). ExpressJet is the largest operator of the ERJ 145, with 270 of the nearly 1000 ERJ 145s in service. The second largest operator is American Eagle, with 206 ERJ 145 aircraft. Chautauqua Airlines also operates 95 ERJ 145s through its alliances with American Connection, Delta Connection, US Airways Express and United Express. By some accounts, the ERJ 145 has a cost of ownership of about $2,500,000 per year.
2011 – A Royal Thai Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed killing 9 people. The chopper had been sent out to recover five bodies of victims of another helicopter, a Bell UH-1 Iroquois, that had crashed two days before while looking for illegal loggers over the Tenasserim Hills in the area between Myanmar and Thailand near Phetchaburi. A third helicopter, a Bell 212, also crashed in the same area on Sunday 25 July a few miles further east close to the Kaeng Krachan reservoir killing three.
2010 – A Philippine Air Force SIAI S-211 09005 crashed during a training flight in the Philippines. The crew ejected safely.
2009 – Afghanistan Mil Mi-8 crash: A civilian Mil Mi-8 helicopter chartered by NATO crashed at Kandahar International Airport in southern Afghanistan killing 16 and injuring 5. The aircraft was not shot down, but rather apparently trying to take off.
2009 – A Chinese Air Force Xian JH-7 (FBC-1 Flying Leopard) crashes near the Taonan tactical training base in Jilin province while on a joint counter-terrorism exercises with Russia resulting in the death of 2 crew.
2005 – AH-64D Apache 02-5319 from 1–3rd Aviation Regiment crashes in Iraq, injuring the two pilots. Helicopter is written off.[1]
2004 – (19-24) The 16th FAI World Precision Flying Championship in Herning, Denmark. Individual winners: Krzysztof Wieczorek (Poland) – 3Xtrim, 2. Petr Opat (Czech) – Cessna 152, 3. Wacław Wieczorek (Poland) – PZL Wilga 2000; team winners: 1. Poland, 2. Czech Republic, 3. France.
2004 – near Basra, a British HC.1 Aérospatiale Puma XW221 of 33 RAF Squadron crashes, killing one crewman and injuring two others.[2]
1994 – Alas Chiricanas Flight 00901, an Embraer EMB-110, explodes in mid-air over Panama, killing all 21 people on board. Investigators conclude that a suicide bomber caused the plane to explode, although motives and affiliation of the bomber remain unclear.
1989 – United Airlines Flight 232, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, suffers a complete hydraulic system failure over Iowa, United States after the tail-mounted engine disintegrates. The crew maintains partial control of the aircraft using differential throttle, bringing it to a crash landing on the runway of the Sioux City, Iowa airport. Of the 296 people on board, 111 die.
1989 – A U.S. Navy McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18 Hornet from Cecil Field, NAS Jacksonville, Florida, loses a 950-pound training bomb over Waldo, Florida, in the afternoon. The ordnance narrowly misses home with four inside, bounces off tree, skips over a second home, and impacts in a field where the spotting charge explodes. No one is injured in the incident. Navy spokesman Bert Byers states that the pilot lost track of the bomb after it fell off the jet.
1981 – The USS Guam, while operating 50 km SE of Morehead City, North Carolina (USA), a Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter crashes into another CH-53 and a Bell UH-1N Twin Huey upon landing. Four crewmen die and 10 are injured.
1967 – Piedmont Airlines Flight 22, a Boeing 727 departing from Asheville, North Carolina, crashes shortly after takeoff after a mid-air collision with a twin-engine Cessna 310 on instrument approach to Asheville; all 82 passengers and crew on both aircraft die.
1962 – United Arab Airlines Flight 869 (1962), a de Havilland DH-106 Comet 4 C on an international scheduled flight from Hong Kong to Cairo via Bangkok, crashes into the Khao Yai mountain while descending to Bangkok; all 26 die.
1961 – Aerolíneas Argentinas Flight 644, a Douglas DC-6, crashed a half hour after takeoff from Ministro Pistarini International Airport in Bueno Aires, Argentina. All 67 passengers and crew on board were killed.
1960 – In the wake of the Congo Crisis, a Belgian Air Force (BAF) Fairchild C-119G Flying Boxcar, CP36, c/n 11083, crashes into a mountain in Rushengo near Goma after an engine caught fire. 41 died.
1958 – The NATO Training Plan ended this date after having trained 5575 pilot and navigators from Euopean partners to wing standard.
1947 – RAF Bristol Brigand TF.1, RH742, assigned to the A&AEE, piloted by F/L T. Morren, failed to pull out of firing pass during exercise in the Lyme Bay area off the Dorset coast, entered slow roll and lost speed while inverted, into spiral dive into sea, killing both crew. It was thought that one of the dive brakes may have failed. This was the first fatal accident in the type
1945 – U. S. Army Air Forces B-29 Superfortresses strike Hitachi, Japan.
1944 – 1,200+ 8th Air Force bombers bomb targets in SW Germany.
1944 – Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress 42-102937 crashed at RAF Duxford, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom when attempting to buzz the airfield at too low an altitude. The aircraft clipped a hangar and crashed into a barracks block killing all thirteen on board and one person on the ground.
1943 – 500 allied air forces raid Rome during WW II.
1943 – Soviet Air Forces fighter pilot Yekaterina Budanova, along with Lydia Litvyak, one of only two female aces in history, is shot down and killed in a dogfight with Messerschmitt Bf 109 s over Luhansk Oblast. Although her victory total is unclear, she is commonly credited with 11 kills.
1937 – The official search for missing flyers Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan was abandoned.
1921 – USAAS pilot 1st Lt. Willard S. Clark is killed at Ellington Field, Texas, when his Orenco D enters a spin at low altitude and plunges to the ground. All aircraft manufactured in this batch are grounded.
1920 – The Vickers R. 80 airship, designed in an innovative streamlined shape by company designer Barnes Wallis, makes its first flight.
1918 – Seven Sopwith 2 F.1 Camels from the Royal Navy aircraft carrier Furious attack the Imperial German Navy airship base at Tondern, destroying the Zeppelins L 54 and L 60. It is the most successful attack by shipboard aircraft of World War I.
1913 – First example of skywriting by Milton J Bryant over Seattle WA, in forming a business of aerial advertising.
1912 – Winnipeg Manitoba was the sight of the first mile-high altitude flight in Canada, 6000 ft.
1909 – Hubert Latham makes the first attempt to cross the English Channel. He flies 11.2 km (7 mi) from Calais in an Antoinette IV and lands in the water. He becomes the first aviator to be rescued from the English Channel when a French warship picks him up.
1867 – James W. Butler and Edmund Edwards are awarded His Majesty's Patent 2115 for their delta wingjet design the Steam Dart.[3]
1812, lamp gas used to fill a Montgolfière (Green).
