Questions tagged [aviation-history]
Questions about aviation history, starting from kites, balloons, airplanes, helicopters and rockets.
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Who is this flyer seen in Oakland c. 1929?
Looking for identification of the man on the left. Second from left is W.A. "Sandy" Sanders, third is Denny Wright, and fourth is Clyde Sunderland.
Oakland, around 1929.
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How did Soapy get to fly Hornets?
Allegedly, in early June 1983, while flying a Sea Harrier during a NATO exercise off the coast of Portugal, Royal Navy's Sub-Lieutenant Ian "Soapy" Watson found himself in a rather ...
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Which individual airframe has carried the most passengers in its lifetime?
I'm guessing that the airframe will be one of the 747s that service the domestic Japanese market, making regular short hops full of passengers - but perhaps actual figures exist to confirm this.
See ...
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Who was the first person to break the sound barrier?
While watching this video on Wikipedia of Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 in level flight, I noticed the narrator say: "For the first time, except in dive, a man has flown ...
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Was the Wright Brothers' 1902 machine a working glider or just a kite?
Was the Wright Brothers' 1902 machine a working glider or just a kite?
I spent the last days reading the letters and articles of Amos I. Root, the man who claimed he had seen Wilbur Wright flying his ...
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When did the United States stop issuing pilot "licenses" (and start issuing "certificates")?
The first document issued by the US federal government authorizing a person to fly an aircraft was issued on April 6, 1927 by the Aeronautics Branch of the Department of Commerce, and it is called a ...
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What was the penultimate flight of the TCA plane that crashed near Vancouver in 1947?
In his 1975 book An Almanac of Words at Play, Willard R. Espy recounts the following:
En route from Montreal to Vancouver in 1947, we sat down in Calgary, where a wire from my boss changed my ...
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Why did two of the development Concordes have red cabin doors?
The second British Concorde 101 G-AXDN at the 1974 Farnborough Airshow
(Photo by: Richard Vandervord source: www.airliners.net via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Three of the six development ...
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Which was the first aeroplane to have fuel tanks within its wings?
Wings with substantial thickness start appearing after WW1, with Junkers pioneering all-aluminium aircraft such as the Junkers F 13 (1919). It as a far from universal trend, however; compare with the ...
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Is this vintage altimeter from the Cuatro Vientos?
My father who was a pilot, passed away some years ago and I have a vintage altimeter that he told me someone gave him. They assured him that it belonged to the Cuatro Vientos airplane, but I'm not ...
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How did the Wright brothers measure the maximum airspeed of their 1904 plane?
The Wright brothers used during their 1904 trials (105 in total, according with their claims) a Richard anemometer mounted on Flyer II (there are numerous pictures on the net with such a device). The ...
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What were the rules about night flights from LHR in the 80s?
I was just reading a question over on movies.SE: How could Ryan land in New York in early morning?, and the accepted answer suggests that Jack Ryan's plane takes off from LHR at about 4am.
One of the ...
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How did lateral and longitudinal separation minima evolve?
What is the evolution in time of lateral and longitudinal separation minima?
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Are there other examples of Brown-Stigler incident?
I have just finished reading A Higher Call and wondered if there are other cases where a pilot showed his mercy to the foe when they are in desperate situation. Looked through several B17 related-webs,...
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P-51 Supercharger Loops
A WWII pilot once told me that, for fun, they would sometimes take their P-51s up and perform what he called "supercharger loops". They would climb to an altitude below where the ...
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To which side did the first Cierva autogyros fall?
The first Cierva autogyros, before the introduction of the flapping articulation, fell to the right when the take-off was attempted, according to witnesses. That had an explanation, as the rotor ...
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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 = ...
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What is the origin of the ‘six pack’ flight instrument arrangement?
I was wondering who came up with the modern ‘six pack’ flight instrument arrangement, when I realized that the old British blind instrument flying panel that was the standard across many airplane ...
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Why does Fairbanks, AK have a terminal area chart?
It's a relatively uncluttered airspace. Why have a TAC?
FAI Terminal Area Chart
Arguably, Louisville, KY has at least the same complexity, and since it's UPS's hub it's far more active. Plus, it's a ...
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Why doesn't the -30% SFC fully account for the dramatic reduction in fuel consumption compared to the 1960s?
In looking at the specific fuel consumption (SFC) of some aero engines I find that for example, the Rolls Royce Conway turbofan engine had typical cruise SFC of 0.874 lb/(h lbf) whilst the most modern ...
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Tail Warning Radar on the P-51
One of the "features" of the P-51 was a tail warning radar that was supposed to let pilots know if an enemy fighter was on your tail.
However, a P-51 pilot told me that they generally ...
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Did the Wright brothers patent their Wing Warping method in Germany?
I know that the Wright brothers patented their Wing Warping method for controlling the roll of a plane or glider in Great Britain, France, United States, Austria, Italy,... but did they obtain a ...
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What airplane model was this historic propeller attached to?
I have a 9-foot historic wooden biplane propeller with brass edges. It does have a serial number, but it is tough to read. 2250 DN 152 6' 6" is what it appears to say. I am attaching a photo of it. ...
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What did Yeager think of Boyd?
According to tweets posted on August 19, 2016, on July 17, 2017 and on March 15, 2018, I am tempted to conclude that Chuck Yeager did not think too highly of John Boyd and his theories — e.g., OODA, ...
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What are the aerodynamic characteristics of the flying saucer?
It seems that Canadian VZ-9 Avrocar was aerodynamically unstable. Particularly at high altitudes, and so the project was cancelled. IIRC there was considerable interest in flying saucers in the 1950s ...
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What was the story of a serious incident with Galaxy C5 in about 1973
I am guessing it was a flight in support of the Yom Kippur War in October of 1973 that due a pitot tube failure that Galaxy C5 had to do an emergency landing on Azore with assitance from another plane ...
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Identification of control column spade
I have a control column head similar to that used on the Spitfire and Hurricane but with two levers for cables coming up from the stick. I would like to find out what aircraft used this type.
Markings ...
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The cost of these aircrafts in modern US dollar?
Could you tell me where I can find the development cost and market price of a Fairey Rotodyne, Convair CV-240, Martin 4-0-4, Ka-22 in current US dollar?
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What's the highest altitude ever achieved by a (rocket-?)plane for level flight?
As probably most of us know, the SR-71 Blackbird holds the altitude record for leveled flight for (manned) jet planes (and ground-launched planes) at 90,000 ft MSL. However, the very altitude record ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Was Hawthorne C. Gray the first pilot to use a positive pressure mask?
The balloonist Hawthorne C. Gray established human altitude records twice in 1927. His ascent in May 1927 went to 42,470 ft (12.94 km) which is an altitude the FAA requires the use of a pressure ...
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