Questions tagged [aviation-history]
Questions about aviation history, starting from kites, balloons, airplanes, helicopters and rockets.
402
questions
8
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1answer
249 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
202 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
188 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
1k 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
472 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 ...
11
votes
1answer
691 views
What is the longest time after which plane crash survivors were rescued?
I found:
Aviator Bob Gauchie retains 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
383 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
427 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 ...
38
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
691 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
107 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
197 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?
44
votes
4answers
15k views
Why was Concorde never sold as a private business jet?
Airliners like Boeing 747 and even Airbus 380 are at times considered as personal jets for extremely wealthy people. Looking from the side, Concorde was ideal for this role: while not very big, it ...
2
votes
1answer
413 views
Lindbergh's panel— Ryan NYP— what is this instrument and how was it useful?
Lindbergh's panel-- Ryan NYP-- what is this instrument and how was it used?
See this link-- it should allow you to zoom in by mousing around
https://www.amazon.com/Instrument-Successfully-Atlantic-...
3
votes
2answers
215 views
Re old (1993) US VFR sectional charts— when did the term “Class E” first appear?
When did the phrase "Class E" or "Class E airspace" first appear on the legend of US VFR sectional charts, to identify the meaning of the thin dashed magenta line? I'd like to narrow down the date as ...
5
votes
2answers
287 views
What was the first aircraft designed with a plug-system fuselage, and why?
Nearly all modern transport aircraft are designed with a plug-system fuselage, allowing longer and shorter variants to be built by adding or removing plugs.
In addition, the plug system simplifies ...
2
votes
1answer
283 views
Why wasn't Saint-Exupéry able to cover more distance before his 1935 desert crash?
Is there any source that provides more details on Saint-Exupéry's desert crash in 1935 than Wikipedia does:
On 30 December 1935, at 2:45 a.m., after 19 hours and 44 minutes in the air, Saint-...
8
votes
1answer
386 views
When did the military/Air Force start measuring fuel in pounds instead of gallons?
Watching a training film for the B-47 from 1951, they mention (around 12:30) that the fuel is now measured in pounds instead of gallons on the instruments. Was that a new concept with jet aircraft? ...
2
votes
2answers
202 views
What was the first control room--used for flight test--established in aerospace history?
The control room for space missions in Houston is probably the best, most widely known example of a control room. It is an operations center used in support and execution of flight and space missions....
3
votes
1answer
177 views
What would have been the other stops of Amelia Earhart's ill fated last voyage?
Having just watched Amelia - A tale of two sisters, I wondered whether, had she landed successfully on Howland Island, what, or where, would the remaining subsequent stops for the rest of her ...
9
votes
1answer
4k views
How did the term PAN PAN originate?
Where did the phrase " pan pan" when declaring an emergency originate?
4
votes
4answers
1k views
Which fonts were used in old (1930s) aircraft cockpit displays and instruments?
This is probably more of a graphic design question than aviation but maybe a few hangar rats around here know the answer.
What type fonts were used on the old instruments in aircraft from the 1930s ...
14
votes
2answers
1k views
What was the flight route from New York to Paris that Air France took in 1955?
I have a photograph of me and my sister in 1955 or 1956 boarding Air France to Paris. I seem to remember the route was:
New York - Gander
Gander - Shannon
Shannon - Orly
Is that correct? I know the ...
9
votes
1answer
2k views
What did the “gear warning horn” on the North American P-51 sound like?
I'm working on a sound project for a P51 simulation and I'm having real trouble trying to find a reference on how the P51 gear warning horn sounded like. What mechanisms were used in the '40s to make ...
2
votes
1answer
269 views
How much extra weight is added by strengthening a piston-prop fighter for carrier landings?
To land on a carrier, an aircraft must be strong enough to withstand sudden deceleration by the tail hook catching the arresting wire. I think it also requires strengthening the undercarriage to ...
4
votes
3answers
2k views
Did WW2-era aircraft have constant-speed or variable-pitch props?
This is slightly related to my other question on variable-pitch controls.
I want to know if WW2-era aircraft typically had variable-pitch or constant-speed propellers. Variable-pitch lets the pilot ...
17
votes
5answers
1k views
Has an airplane ever been launched from a train?
Presumably helicopters have landed and lifted off railroad flat cars.
Has an airplane ever been launched from a train?
(my artwork)
F-84 during project ZELL testing (info provided by jwenting)
33
votes
5answers
8k views
Why, until recently, were smooth nose sections not popular?
Why, until recently, were smooth nose sections not popular? By smooth I mean without a break between the nose and windshield. (The question focuses on airliners.)
Seeing the Starliner (left) and DC-7 ...
1
vote
1answer
328 views
Are there any airliner crashes that can be definitively attributed to Mach tuck?
Mach tuck (the tendency of aircraft to develop an increasingly nose-down pitching moment at speeds above its critical mach number) caused a number of crashes of high-speed fighter aircraft before the ...
7
votes
0answers
184 views
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.
7
votes
1answer
460 views
What is this c. 1930 beautiful monoplane seen in Oakland?
Photo from Denny Wright's album. He piloted for
Clyde Sunderland. This photo has no stamp or markings. Anyone recognize this aircraft?
5
votes
1answer
455 views
What is this propeller found underwater in the English Channel? [closed]
I need some help identifying this piece.
5
votes
1answer
435 views
How big was the F-14 fleet compared to other US carrier-based aircraft in 1981?
Back in the 80's I was away jesting about the F-14 are here to protect the carriers and the carriers to deploy F-14.
I know there are a number of other aircraft here for other purposes but I really ...
8
votes
2answers
458 views
Were there any folding wing biplanes?
Given that several nations had operational carriers by 1920 and biplanes were still in military service, were there any folding wing biplanes?
Wikipedia: United States first purpose built aircraft ...
20
votes
1answer
2k views
What means of navigation did commercial Soviet airplanes use in the 50s-90s?
Nowadays, practically all Western commercial airplanes use some kind of GNSS/GPS as primary means of navigation, sometimes paired with inertial navigation systems and user-friendly computer interfaces ...
7
votes
1answer
244 views
What uses for flight did early aviation pioneers envision?
Between 1903 and 1914, what did the aviation pioneers think flight would be used for, besides military purposes? Did they envision anything like crop dusting, commercial transportation, charting ...
7
votes
2answers
728 views
What instruments were “standard” in WWI aircraft?
What instruments made up a typical panel of a WWI airplane?
Did any country regulate the required cockpit instruments prior to the United States "Air Commerce Act" of 1926?
31
votes
5answers
5k views
In the early days of flight, were there any cockpit control schemes other than the modern one?
Back in the early days, what kind of control schemes were invented for aircraft, other than the modern one? (pedals to yaw, yoke to pitch and roll).
I'm only interested in control schemes that can be ...
2
votes
1answer
138 views
More information on PanAm's first trans-Pacific flight
I have came across this answer, about PanAm's first trans-Pacific flight (SFO-MNL route via HNL, MDY, AWK and GUM). For the text, I'm working on, I was wondering, if there is any source that can ...
13
votes
3answers
4k views
Why didn't early jetliners use turbofans?
For subsonic operation, high-bypass turbofans seem to have essentially only advantages for efficiency, noise and takeoff thrust, at least until they reach the size where ground clearance or LP/fan ...
6
votes
3answers
855 views
Airport Security Pre-1970-s?
I just accidentally discovered a few pictures on the web, that seem to imply, that there were some sort of airport security checks on passengers all the way back in the 1960-s. It was always my ...
5
votes
1answer
285 views
How did the windshield technology evolve?
I would really appreciate it if someone could please explain the differences and similarities between the cockpit windows of a Boeing 747-400 and Douglas DC-3.
I am just trying to figure out how the ...
7
votes
1answer
464 views
What is this closed cabin / open cockpit biplane from the 1910s?
This photo was taken when Lieutenant Marix RNAS visited his old school, Radley College in Oxfordshire on 30 May 1914. Marix was awarded in October 1914 the DSO for bombing the Zeppelin sheds in ...
6
votes
2answers
2k views
What material is used for the floor panels in the main cabin for Boeing 747-400?
Just conducting some research into materials used in construction for Boeing 747-400 and Douglas DC-3.
I just found out that in a DC-3 the floor panels in the main cabin and companionway are of ...
6
votes
1answer
411 views
What is this WW1 era plane?
I'm trying to identify this plane from an old family photograph. Is it possibly a DH4?
The tail number doesn't bring any success (well, at least not that I can find).
Any info would be much ...
12
votes
6answers
2k views
Has there been an aircraft with multiple type of engines? [duplicate]
Has there ever been an aircraft that can fly using at least two different type of engines? For example, a piston engine and a turbine engine, or a piston engine and a electric motor.
To clarify the ...
4
votes
2answers
257 views
Would an area-ruled fuselage improve the MiG-15/17's performance?
The top speed range of these MiG 15-17 airplanes is in the transonic region, but, when they were first designed, the area rule was unknown.
Even if owning a jet fighter is not exactly 'Maintaining ...
14
votes
3answers
857 views
21
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5answers
1k views
Which aircraft have fought against its own type in active combat?
The criteria for this question are
The aircraft has to be the same type (but not necessarily the same mark)
The two opposing sides are actively hostile; but not restricted to nation states (so civil ...
