Questions tagged [aviation-history]
Questions about aviation history, starting from kites, balloons, airplanes, helicopters and rockets.
339
questions
1
vote
0answers
40 views
Two wings in the fuselage reference axis [on hold]
Can aeroplane fly with front and rear wings attached in the fuselage reference axis
4
votes
1answer
194 views
Need Help to Identify Plane in Photographs
I'm hoping for some help in identifying the plane in these two photographs. I found these in the collection of my father's after he passed away. He marked them as special, but didn't provide any ...
8
votes
1answer
1k views
What's the story behind U-2 flying from aircraft carriers?
This video from the CIA YouTube channel shows U-2 aircraft launching via catapult and trapping with a tailhook:
The description only offers this:
After stopping U-...
2
votes
1answer
108 views
What is the typical sink rate during a well-executed carrier landing at the moment the main wheels touch the deck?
What is the typical sink rate during a well-executed carrier landing at the moment the main wheels touch the deck? And how has this changed over the decades?
0
votes
1answer
161 views
Was the F4F-1 Wildcat ever built?
The original design for the F4F Wildcat was as a biplane, but with the -2 model, it was redesigned as a monoplane. I am wondering if the -1 model was ever actually built, or did it remain as a ...
54
votes
13answers
13k views
Have any large aeroplanes been landed — safely and without damage — in locations that they could not be flown away from?
And, what was done with them subsequently?
6
votes
1answer
345 views
Did the Douglas SBD Dauntless have a second set of controls?
In the book Never Call me a Hero, the author mentions that there were controls in the rear seat of the Douglas SBD Dauntless. However, I don't recall ever hearing this before, though I know the TBD ...
2
votes
0answers
34 views
What is the best reliable weight/power ration achieved by a pre-1911 plane?
From the article "DAYTON BOYS EMULATE GREAT SANTOS-DUMONT" that appeared on December 18, 1903, it can be calculated that the apparatus, which took off one day before, flew 700 lb / 16 hp = 19.84 kg / ...
4
votes
1answer
351 views
Are requests for an emergency landing ever refused?
Under what circumstances might it happen that a pilot's request to make an emergency landing is refused?
Is such a thing known to have occurred?
-2
votes
1answer
249 views
Would a ringed propeller have any advantage over a standard propeller? [closed]
I am curious to know if a ringed propeller would have any advantage over a standard propeller. I have spent a long time searching the Internet for a ringed propeller and an analysis of it but so far I ...
2
votes
3answers
161 views
What are some of the longest flights without modern navigation systems?
Context: As a private pilot, I enjoy preparing my flights with a mix of paper charts and iPad apps. In flight, my navigation is now often very assisted by the G1000 or iPad, relegating the paper maps ...
7
votes
7answers
6k views
What is the largest (size) solid object ever dropped from an airplane to impact the ground in freefall?
What is the record for the largest single solid item that has ever been dropped from an airplane at free fall to the ground?
Here, "free fall" means falling vertically, or nearly vertically falling ...
21
votes
1answer
3k views
Why were early aviators' trousers flared at the thigh?
For example, these dapper outfits:
(Credit History Bunker)
What purpose does the extra volume down to the knee serve? Why don't modern pilots wear similar jodhpurs?
4
votes
2answers
324 views
Has a small airplane ever been air launched from a heavy-lift helicopter?
I would like to know if a small airplane, like a Cessna, has ever been air launched from a heavy-lift helicopter, perhaps as a stunt or as an aviation experiment?
I think it would have been a simple ...
32
votes
2answers
8k views
Has a commercial or military jet bi-plane ever been manufactured?
Are there any, or have there ever been any commercial/military jet bi-planes?
What would be some of the major advantages vs disadvantages if one was built?
Electric radio controlled ducted fan model.
...
4
votes
1answer
291 views
When was Kai Tak permanently closed to cargo service?
Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong was closed to both passenger and cargo service early in the morning of 6 July 1998, with all flights moving to the brand-new airport at Chek Lap Kok. However, shortly ...
13
votes
1answer
604 views
Did the FAA order the installation of “Cooper vanes?”
On November 24, 1971, a man hijacked a Boeing 727 and parachuted away, never to be found.
According to Wikipedia, this prompted (together with 2 other hijackings) the installation of "Cooper vanes" ...
6
votes
1answer
863 views
Is it unprecedented for an F-16 to get hit by its own bullet(s)?
According to Dutch state broadcaster NOS, an F-16 was hit by its own bullet(s) in a training exercise:
De F-16 die in januari aanzienlijke schade opliep tijdens een oefening boven Vlieland blijkt ...
5
votes
1answer
218 views
What safety issues led the FAA to ban Constellation flights into/out of the U.S.?
Although the Lockheed Constellation (like the other late, large piston airliners) was superseded in the 1960s and 1970s by newer jets (plus turboprops for shorter/lighter routes), it hung on into the ...
0
votes
0answers
122 views
Why were there so few general-aviation aircraft in South Korea in the late 1990s?
While reading the AAIB report on the crash of KAL 8509, I came across (in section 1.17.11, “Korean aviation statistics”) this surprising information regarding the South Korean aircraft population in ...
5
votes
1answer
361 views
Why did the Mercure fail?
The Dassault Mercure was a French regional jet that first flew in 1971 and received its type certificate in February 1974; it resembled an enlarged, shorter-range 737-200, and was designed to serve ...
2
votes
1answer
264 views
Did Kai Tak have a straight-in approach to runway 13 for higher-performance aircraft?
Runway 13 at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport (closed in 1998 and replaced by the current airport at Chek Lap Kok) had a hideously difficult approach in which pilots would fly in from the west, following ...
24
votes
1answer
3k views
When and why was runway 07/25 at Kai Tak removed?
Wikipedia states that Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong originally had two runways, both built under Japanese occupation during World War II:
... In 1942, the Japanese army expanded Kai Tak, using many ...
2
votes
0answers
86 views
How was the navigation managed on jetliners before having programmable routes?
This in-flight photo provides a look into the pre-FMS era (also pre-INS), i.e., not having a programmable route.
How was the navigation managed back then? (Question limited to 2-crew jetliners, or ...
0
votes
0answers
44 views
I want to find out more about Raab Schwalbe Reg SX-AAG
According to the records on the web, Raab Schwalbe 11 reg SX-AAG was built in Greece in 1935 and sold abroad in 1937.
I know that it was destroyed in a crash on landing in Palestine but I am not ...
1
vote
2answers
155 views
Did the Doolittle raid run their engines over square?
My flight instructor made a comment when talking about complex airplanes that "never over-square an engine" is a good rule of thumb but secondary to POH instructions. The POH, (I presume) is the best-...
7
votes
1answer
629 views
How did aircraft flying in formation use flares to communicate with each other?
The image shown in the question Which aircraft had such a luxurious-looking navigator's station? (also below) shows a flare gun with several flares.
A comment below the question says:
On the ...
39
votes
1answer
7k views
Which aircraft had such a luxurious-looking navigator's station?
I'm reading the BBC's How Fiji changed the way we travel; The little Pacific island nation was the first to incorporate GPS into its aviation system – and in doing so forever changed the way we get ...
3
votes
2answers
282 views
What did Fiji have to do when it incorporated GPS into its aviation system?
I'm reading the BBC's How Fiji changed the way we travel; The little Pacific island nation was the first to incorporate GPS into its aviation system – and in doing so forever changed the way we get ...
2
votes
5answers
271 views
Was the adoption of conventional tailplanes as 'everyday aircraft' inevitable, or are there other designs that can be just as good?
I originally asked a variant of this on Worldbuilding.SE, but they didn't seem to like it. So I apologize if it's out of place even here.
I ask, because I've been forming in my head an alternate ...
6
votes
1answer
293 views
What is this aircraft from ca. 1925 (crash included)?
I recently found the following family pictures from ca. 1925 and have been trying to identify the aircraft in them:
A second picture of the same aircraft was taken shortly after the first one:
Both ...
1
vote
1answer
123 views
Who made the first high-wing jet airliner?
I thought the only high-wing jet airliners were made by the Soviets but the British Aerospace RJ-100 and Dash 6 series twizzled my mind.
So who made the first high-wing jet airliner?
6
votes
1answer
277 views
If Floyd Bennett Field failed due to its remoteness and isolation, how has JFK been so successful?
Floyd Bennett Field was built at the end of the 1920s in order to give New York City its own airport and avoid having to rely on Newark; however, despite its superb airport facilities, Floyd Bennett ...
11
votes
1answer
866 views
Can anyone identify the plane in this old photo?
It belonged to my uncle. May have been 1930s vintage.
0
votes
2answers
243 views
Did Boeing or Lockheed ever seriously consider releasing a widebody airliner powered by low-bypass engines?
During the 1960s race to build the first widebody jetliner, each of the three major engine manufacturers was racing to put out a high-bypass engine for one of those jumbo jets:
Boeing went with Pratt ...
2
votes
1answer
108 views
Why did Lockheed abandon the Constellation II?
It’s well known that Lockheed never designed a first-generation jetliner.
Not as well known: they actually did!
The L-193 Constellation II, a quadjet with four tail-mounted engines (a configuration ...
4
votes
3answers
206 views
Are there statistics showing the relationship between safety and the age of aircraft?
Some people seem to believe that some airplanes are less safe to fly just because they are older than others. As a pilot myself who has learned that the safety of aircraft is nothing to do with their ...
8
votes
1answer
204 views
Was the foil in older FDRs reused when it ran out, or replaced?
Before magnetic tape became the standard recording medium for flight data recorders, most FDRs used a long strip of metal foil that had altitude, airspeed, etc. traces scratched into it by a set of ...
2
votes
1answer
174 views
First airplane to use a flight simulator?
Icarus, Pegasus, da Vinci's flying machine and Wright brothers airplane probably didn't have a flight simulator, since computer science was not yet developed enough (Antikythera ancient analogue ...
0
votes
1answer
144 views
Where can I find complete aircraft blueprints for the purpose of study?
Where can I find aircraft blueprints for the purpose of study? I find that I learn a lot more when I am able to get the big picture of a machine that is used in real life (for example, to understand ...
5
votes
1answer
530 views
Has turbulence ever killed a passenger?
The question is on my mind, because many passengers think there is no need to wear the seatbelt when the seatbelt sign is not illuminated.
6
votes
2answers
444 views
What is this flyer in a 1911 short film?
In the very first instants of the 1911 comedy short film Robinet aviatore (or Tweedledum Aviator) by Michel Fabre, which can be watched here, on the background some kind of flyer can be seen.
Does ...
5
votes
0answers
228 views
What is the longest time after which plane crash survivors were rescued?
I found:
Aviator Bob Gauchie detains the record for solo arctic survival by a downed airman, enduring 58 days of arctic weather before his rescue in Canada 1967.
After 72 days on the glacier, 16 of ...
10
votes
5answers
3k views
Why didn't Boeing or Douglas make a jet airliner before the British DH Comet?
I was looking at the history of commercial aircraft and was wondering why UK-based De Havilland was the first to produce a jet powered airliner (the DH 106 Comet) when the US had a much bigger civil ...
4
votes
1answer
259 views
What was the lift equation used by the Wright brothers?
NOTICE: The modern lift equation and the lift equation used by the
Wright brothers in 1900 are slightly different. The lift coefficient
of the modern equation is referenced to the dynamic pressure ...
2
votes
2answers
329 views
Has a passenger or cabin crew member ever flown an airliner?
Is there any documented case, excluding hijacking, where a passenger or cabin crew member had to fly an airliner (hands on yoke/stick) – even if just briefly – due to an emergency (pilot ...
39
votes
2answers
2k views
How can I find my grandmother's OLD instrument rating documentation?
This is my grandmother, Nathalie Myrtle Brown:
The big-eared kid she's posing with is my dad.
She has a claim to fame in that she was the first female instrument-rated pilot in the state of Iowa, a ...
6
votes
3answers
605 views
Which aircraft had the shortest operational life?
I read in Wikipedia that the operational life of Consolidated B-32 was limited to just a handful of months (January to August 1945).
Please note that B-32 wasn’t an experimental model, but an ...
0
votes
0answers
100 views
Why did biplanes and triplanes go away? [duplicate]
Why did multi-wing aircraft (two or three stacked wings) eventually fade off to single-wing aircraft?
3
votes
1answer
167 views
What was the first Russian jet designed with the use of area rule?
What was the first Russian jet designed with the use of area rule? Also, how did the Russians acquire the knowledge of this design method? Was Whitcomb's discovery public?
