Portal:Aviation
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The Aviation Portal
Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. Aircraft include 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 was 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. A major leap followed with the construction of the Wright Flyer, 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 engine which enabled aviation to become a major form of transport throughout the world. In 2024, there were 9.5 billion passengers worldwide according to the ICAO. As of 2018, estimates suggest that 11% of the world's population traveled by air, with up to 4% taking international flights. (Full article...)
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Did you know
...that the Fairey Seafox was a Second World War reconnaissance floatplane of the Fleet Air Arm? ...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 Samuel Frederick Henry Thompson, a British flying ace of World War I, scored 30 kills in five months of service and won both the DFC and MC?
General images -
Planophore model aeroplane by Alphonse Pénaud, 1871 (from History of aviation)
French reconnaissance balloon L'Intrépide of 1796, the oldest existing flying device, in the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna (from History of aviation)
Maxim's flying machine (from History of aviation)
Nieuport IV, operated by most of the world's air forces before WW1 for reconnaissance and bombing, including during the Italian-Turkish war (from History of aviation)
Otto Lilienthal, 29 May 1895 (from History of aviation)
Often published as a photo of Santos-Dumont during the prize-winning flight, this is actually an earlier attempt using his "Number 5" (from History of aviation)
A Boeing 777X. It is under testing and will be the largest twinjet, with the widest and longest fuselage to enter production. (from Wide-body aircraft)
The Aeroplane of Victor Tatin, 1879. (from History of aviation)
Flagg biplane from 1933 (from History of aviation)
The 14-bis, or Oiseau de proie (from History of aviation)
Experimental helicopter by Enrico Forlanini (1877), exposed at the Museo nazionale della scienza e della tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci of Milan, Italy (from History of aviation)
Apollo 11 lifts off on its mission to land a man on the Moon (from History of aviation)
The Wright Flyer: the first sustained flight with a powered, controlled aircraft (from History of aviation)
Map of record breaking flights of the 1920s (from History of aviation)
Jean-Marie Le Bris and his flying machine, Albatros II, 1868 (from History of aviation)
1928 issue of Popular Aviation (now Flying magazine), which became the largest aviation magazine with a circulation of 100,000. (from History of aviation)
"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)
One of Leonardo's sketches (from History of aviation)
Woodcut print of a kite from John Bate's 1635 book The Mysteryes of Nature and Art (from History of aviation)
Early Voisin biplane (from History of aviation)
The Biot-Massia glider, restored and on display in the Musee de l'Air (from History of aviation)
Clément Ader Avion III (1897 photograph) (from History of aviation)
Concorde, 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)
Me 262, world first operational jet fighter (from History of aviation)
An Airbus A380 of Qantas. The A380 is the world's largest passenger airliner. (from Wide-body aircraft)
1843 artist's impression of John Stringfellow's plane Ariel flying over the Nile (from History of aviation)
"Governable parachute" design of 1852 (from History of aviation)
The Wright Military Flyer aboard a wagon in 1908 (from History of aviation)
D.H. Comet, the world's first jet airliner. As in this picture, it also saw RAF service (from History of aviation)
La France flying in 1885 (from History of aviation)
An Airbus A321 of Vietravel Airlines parking next to a Vietnam Airlines Airbus A350-900 and a Cargolux Boeing 747-400 widebodies, highlighting their size differences. (from Wide-body aircraft)
Alberto Santos-Dumont flying the Demoiselle over Paris (from History of aviation)
First failure of Langley's manned Aerodrome on the Potomac River, 7 October 1903 (from History of aviation)
Qantas De Havilland biplane, c. 1930 (from History of aviation)
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Aviation news
- 19 September 2026 – 2026 Indonesia wildfires, Indonesia–Malaysia relations
- Indonesia accepts Malaysian assistance to combat wildfires in Kalimantan, including a Bombardier CL-415MP aircraft, three helicopters, and 52 personnel, as the fires cause transboundary haze affecting Southeast Asia. (AFP via France 24)
- 18 September 2026 – Denmark–United States relations
- Denmark and the United States reach a deal allowing the U.S. to expand its military presence in Greenland and granting permanent basing, overflight, and access rights, while barring non-NATO countries from establishing bases and restricting sensitive investments on the island. (Reuters)
- 8 September 2026 –
- Indonesia reopens its airport in Jakarta and four others after previously being closed due to ashes from Anak Krakatoa. (Al Jazeera)
- 7 September 2026 –
- A private Piper PA-34-200T Seneca aircraft goes missing off Andros Island, the Bahamas, with four people on board. A search and rescue operation is ongoing. (NBC News)
- A PAC P-750 XSTOL aircraft operating a passenger flight for Niugini Aviation crashes near Simbai, Madang, Papua New Guinea, during approach. All four people on board are killed. (ASN)
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Selected biography
Assigned as a P-40 pilot with the 45th Fighter Squadron of the 15th Fighter Group at Wheeler Field, Hawaii, 2nd Lt. Gabreski witnessed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but did not become airborne in time to engage the attackers.
In March 1943 Gabreski became part of the 56th Fighter Group, flying the P-47 Thunderbolt, and in May was promoted to Major and named commander of the 61st Fighter Squadron, which included six Polish nationals as pilots in 1944. He made his 28th kill on July 5, 1944, passing Eddie Rickenbacker's record from World War I to become America's top ace (although several pilots passed him by the end of the war).
Col. Gabreski flew combat again during the Korean War, as commander of the 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing, piloting an F-86 Sabre. He was credited with 6.5 MiG-15 kills, making him one of seven U.S. pilots to be aces in more than one war (the others are Col. Harrison Thyng, Col. James P. Hagerstrom, Major William T. Whisner, Col. Vermont Garrison, Major George A. Davis, Jr., and Lt.Col. John F. Bolt, USMC).
He ended his career as a commander of several tactical and air defense wings, his last assignment being commander of the 52d Fighter Wing at Suffolk County Air Force Base in Westhampton Beach, New York.
Selected Aircraft
The Avro Lancaster was a British four-engine Second World War bomber aircraft made initially by Avro for the British Royal Air Force (RAF). It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley-Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF and squadrons from other Commonwealth and European countries serving within RAF Bomber Command. The "Lanc" or "Lankie," as it became affectionately known, became the most famous and most successful of the Second World War night bombers, "delivering 608,612 tons of bombs in 156,000 sorties." Although the Lancaster was primarily a night bomber, it excelled in many other roles including daylight precision bombing, and gained worldwide renown as the "Dam Buster" used in the 1943 Operation Chastise raids on Germany's Ruhr Valley dams.
- Span: 102 ft (31.09 m)
- Length: 69 ft 5 in (21.18 m)
- Height: 19 ft 7 in (5.97 m)
- Engines: 4× Rolls-Royce Merlin XX V12 engines, 1,280 hp (954 kW) each
- Maximum Speed: 240 knots (280 mph, 450 km/h) at 15,000 ft (5,600 m)
- First Flight: 8 January 1941
- Number built: 7,377
Today in Aviation
- 2004 – AH-64D Apache 02-5292 from B Company, 1–227th Aviation Regiment, 4th BCT, 1st Cavalry Division crashes near Tallil AB, Iraq when pilot loses control following tail rotor problem.
- 1999 – NASA announces that it has lost contact with the Mars Climate Orbiter after it descended to a low altitude in Mars’ orbit and was destroyed by atmospheric stresses.
- 1999 – Qantas Flight 1 overruns the runway in Bangkok during a storm. While some passengers only received minor injuries, it is still the worst crash in Qantas‘s history to date.
- 1997 – Static test Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet airframe, ST56, being barricade tested at NAES Lakehurst, New Jersey by being powered down a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) track by a Pratt & Whitney J57-powered jet car, flips over and crashes into nearby woods when the steel cable linking the barrier with underground hydraulic engines fails.
- 1983 – Gulf Air Flight 771, a Boeing 737, crashes near Mina Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates after a bomb planted by the Abu Nidal Organization detonates on board; all 112 people on board perish.
- 1968 – General Dynamics F-111A, 66-0040, c/n A1-58, crashes and is destroyed this date due to control system failure, at Nellis AFB, Nevada. Crew ejected safely.
- 1961 – The 1961 Turkish Airlines Ankara crash: a Turkish Airlines-operated Fokker F27 Friendship crashes while on approach to Esenboğa Airport; 28 of the 29 passengers and crew on board perish in the crash.
- 1959 – The USAF officially cancels the North American Aviation XF-108 Rapier.
- 1941 – Formation of University Training Squadrons was approved.
- 1941 – Hans-Ulrich Rudel single-handedly sinks a Soviet battleship (the Marat) flying a Junkers Ju 87
- 1940 – (23-25) The British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal arrives off Dakar, Senegal, with the Free French leader General Charles de Gaulle embarked. She flies off two French Caudron C.270 Luciole trainer aircraft, which carry Free French officers ashore to request that Vichy French forces there join de Gaulle on the Allied side, but the Vichy French refuse. The British naval force supports a disastrous Free French attempt at an amphibious invasion of Dakar. Vichy French forces resist successfully, and HMS Ark Royal loses nine Swordfish aircraft before operations are called off.
- 1938 – First flight of the Supermarine Sea Otter. (Some sources say 29 Sep).
- 1931 – A Pitcairn XOP-1 autogyro conducts landing and take-off trials aboard the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Langley (CV-1). It is the U. S. Navy’s first experiment with a shipborne rotary-wing aircraft.
- 1925 – The U.S. Navy flies 23 Curtiss CS-1 floatplanes to Bay Shore Park on the Chesapeake Bay, 14 miles SE of Baltimore, Maryland, on a Friday with intention of an airshow demonstration before the 1925 Schneider Cup Race on Saturday, but that night gale force winds break three-inch mooring and anchor ropes on 17 of the biplanes and they are blown onto shore or dashed against seawalls, destroying seven and damaging ten. The next afternoon's Baltimore Evening Sun runs headline "Plane Disaster in Harbor Called Hard Blow to Navy" and quotes the ever-outspoken General William "Billy" Mitchell calling the loss of the CS-1s "staggering", and blaming it on Navy mismanagement of its aviation program.
- 1923 – 1st Lts. Robert Stanford Olmsted and John W. Shoptaw enter U.S. Army balloon S-6 in international balloon race from Brussels, despite threatening weather which causes some competitors to drop out. S-6 collides with Belgian balloon, Ville de Bruxelles on launch, tearing that craft's netting and knocking it out of the race. Lightning strikes S-6 over Nistelrode, the Netherlands, killing Olmsted outright, and Shoptaw in the fall. Switzerland's Génève is also hit, burns, killing two on board, as is Spain's Polar, killing one crew immediately, second crewman jumps from 100 feet (30 m), breaking both legs. Three other balloons are also forced down.Middletown Air Depot, Pennsylvania, was renamed Olmsted AFB on 11 March 1948.
- 1922 – A Martin NBS-1 bomber, Air Service 68487, Raymond E. Davis, pilot, nose dived and crashed from an estimated altitude of 500 feet (150 m) on a residential street near Mitchel Field, Mineola, New York, killing the six military personnel on board. At the time, the plane was involved in a night time war game display that was lit by searchlights and watched by an estimated crowd of 25,000 spectators.
- 1917 – During an epic 10-minute dogfight against six Royal Flying Corps SE.5s of No. 56 Squadron, the German ace Werner Voss, flying a Fokker Dr.I triplane, is shot down and killed by the British ace Arthur Rhys-Davids north of Frezenberg, Belgium. At the time of his death, Voss has 48 victories and is the second-leading German ace behind Manfred von Richthofen.
- 1916 – 23-24 – By some counts as many as eleven Zeppelins (more likely four) attacked England in a mass air-raid. Two were shot down, LZ 76 by ground fire, and LZ 74 by Lt Frederick Sowrey[1][better source needed]
- 1913 – Roland Garros (right) makes the first air crossing of the Mediterranean Sea. He flies the 729 km (453 miles) from Saint-Raphaël to Bizerte in 7 hours 53 min.
- 1911 – The first US airmail flight is made. Earle Ovington flies 9.7 km (6 miles) from Nassau Boulevard, New York to Mineola, New York.
- 1910 – The Peruvian Geo Chavez flies the Blériot-monoplane over the Alps from Brig (Switzerland) to Domodossola (Italy) reaching a height of 2,200 metres (7,200 ft), but was killed in a crash landing.
References
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