Aviation began in the 18th century with the development of thehot air balloon, an apparatus capable of atmospheric displacement throughbuoyancy. 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 ofOtto Lilienthal in 1896. A major leap followed with the construction of theWright Flyer, the first poweredairplane by theWright 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 theICAO. As of 2018, estimates suggest that 11% of the world's population traveled by air, with up to 4% taking international flights. (Full article...)
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, showingHounslow, near London, as the hub (fromHistory of aviation)
Image 19Santos-Dumont's "Number 6" rounding the Eiffel Tower in the process of winning the Deutsch de la Meurthe Prize, October 1901 (fromHistory of aviation)
Image 26Concorde,G-BOAB, in storage atLondon 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 (fromHistory of aviation)
Helmut Paul Emil Wick (5 August 1915 – 28 November 1940) was aGermanLuftwaffeace and the fourth recipient of theKnight'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 theThird 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 inMannheim, Wick joined the Luftwaffe in 1936 and was trained as afighter pilot. He was assigned toJagdgeschwader 2 "Richthofen" (JG 2—2nd Fighter Wing), and saw combat in theBattles of France andBritain. Promoted toMajor in October 1940, he was given the position ofGeschwaderkommodore (wing commander) of JG 2—the youngest in the Luftwaffe to hold this rank and position. He was shot down in the vicinity of theIsle of Wight on 28 November 1940 and posted asmissing 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 theMesserschmitt Bf 109, he claimed all of his victories against theWestern Allies.
TheAirbus A400M Atlas is a four-engineturboprop aircraft, designed byAirbus Military (nowAirbus Defence and Space) to meet the demand of European nations for military airlift. Since its formal launch, the aircraft has also been ordered by Malaysia, Kazakhstan and Indonesia.
The A400M is assembled at the Seville plant ofAirbus Military. The first test flight occurred in December 2009.
2010 – Launch: Space Shuttle EndeavourSTS-130 at 09:14 UTC. Mission highlights: ISS assembly flight 20A: Node 3 and Cupola.
2008 –Eagle Airways Flight 2279, a BAe Jetstream 32, is hijacked ten minutes after taking off from Blenheim, New Zealand by a passenger who attacked both pilots. The hijacker is eventually restrained by the co-pilot and the flight lands safely at Christchurch. All nine on board survive the incident.
2006 – Steve Fossett takes off The Scaled Composites Model 311 Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer for a world endurance record.
1999 – First flight of theTupolev Tu-334, a Russian short to medium range airliner project that was developed to replace the aging Tu-134 s and Yak-42 s
1993 – Iran Air Tours Tupolev Tu-154 departing on a non-scheduled flight from Mehrabad International Airport, Tehran, to Khoram Dareh is involved in a midair collision with an Iranian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 that was on approach to the same airport.
1989 –Independent Air Flight 1851, a Boeing 707, crashes into a hill on approach to Santa Maria, the Azores. All 144 people on board are killed.
1988 – The Federal Aviation Administration retires an aircraft registration number for the first time – That of Amelia Earhart’s airplane, which disappeared over the Pacific in July1937.
1982 – Death of Vladimir Yevgeniyevich Turovets, Russian test pilot in the crash of a Mi-8 Helicopter.
1974 – The crew of Skylab 4 leaves the American space station for the last time.
1974 – A USAF Boeing B-52G Stratofortress, 58-0174, of the 744th BS, 456th BW, veered off the runway during night take-off from Beale AFB, California, skidded 1,500 feet through a muddy field before overturning, destroyed by four massive explosions and fire. One crew member, the first pilot, was thrown free with severe burns, but seven others perished.
1967 – First flight of theSaab 37 Viggen, a Swedish single-seat, single-engine, short-medium range fighter and attack aircraft.
1965 –Eastern Air Lines Flight 663, a Douglas DC-7B on takeoff, overreacts in avoiding Pan Am Flight 212 (a Boeing 707) on approach, loses control, and crashes into the ocean several miles off Jones Beach State Park, New York, killing all 84 on board.
1958 – A nuclear weapon was inadvertently dropped from a Boeing B-52D Stratofortress bomber parked at a pad and ready to be unloaded at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota. Preliminary reports indicated that an airman erred and pulled the manual release handle which released the weapon from the bomb bay and through the unopened bomb bay doors. Damage to the weapon included a dented afterbody, two smashed fins, and a displaced secondary. There was no capsule aboard the aircraft. The bomb was loaded aboard a trailer and removed to the Q Area weapons maintenance depot (Site F) at Rushmore Air Force Station, South Dakota, adjacent to Ellsworth AFB. The damaged weapon was later exchanged for an operational weapon from stockpile.
1956 – A flight of eight Royal Air Force Hawker Hunter F1s was redirected to another airfield due to inclement weather. With low visibility over the alternate airfield and little fuel left, six aircraft ran out of fuel and crashed, with one pilot killed.
1951 – First flight of theLeduc 0.16, a French research aircraft powered solely by a ramjet, evolution of the 0.10 featuring a Turbomeca Marbore I turbojet on each wingtip, to provide better control during landings
1950 – ALockheed P-2 Neptune of the US Navy establishes a distance record for carrier-launched aircraft flying 5,156 miles in 25 hours 59 min, non-stop from the Atlantic to San Francisco.
1943 – The secondBell XP-39E Airacobra (of three), 41-19502, is damaged during a forced landing when a Wright Field test pilot runs out of fuel short of Niagara Falls Airport, New York, where the Bell Aircraft plant is located.
1941 – PrototypeCurtiss XSB2C Helldiver, BuNo 1758, suffers engine failure just prior to landing and fuselage is heavily damaged. Repaired.
1933 – Squadron Leader O Gayford (officer in charge of the RAF Long Range Development Unit) and his navigator Flight Lieutenant G. E. Nicholetts lands their Fairey Long-Range Monoplane at Walvis Bay, South West Africa. Coming from Cranwell they set a 5,309 mile (8,544 km) flight, new distance record. They took 57 hours 25 min.
1933 – First flight of theBoeing 247, an early US airliner, considered the first such aircraft to fully incorporate advances such as all-metal (anodized aluminum) semi-monocoque construction, a fully cantilevered wing and retractable landing gear.
1928 – Charles Lindbergh with the Spirit of St Louis completes the 7,800-mile (12,600 km) “Good Will Tour” of Latin America and the Caribbean after having spent 125 hours in the air.
1919 –Henry Farman carries 11 paying passengers in hisF.60 Goliath plane from Paris to London on first commercial flight between the two cities.
1918 –Lafayette Escadrille, the US volunteer squadron serving in the French Army is transferred to the US Army and re-designated the 103rd Aero Squadron.
1917 – First allied pilot to shoot down a German heavy bomber is French Georges Guynemer, bringing down a Gotha G.III with his Spad VII.
1914 – 8-10 – Berliner, Haase and Nikolai fly 3053 km in their free balloon from Bitterfeld to Perm. This record lasted until1950.
1913 – Russian pilot N. de Sackoff becomes the first pilot shot down in combat when his biplane, possibly aMaurice Farman MF.7, is hit by ground fire following bomb run on the walls of FortBizani during theFirst Balkan War. Flying for the Greeks, he comes down near small town ofPreveza, on the coast N of the Aegean island ofLevkas, secures local Greek assistance, repairs plane and resumes flight back to base.
1912 – Robert Grant Fowler lands his Wright biplane in Jacksonville, Florida, after a 4 months west to east coast-to-coast journey. coming from San Francisco. He becomes the first person to traverse the US from the West Coast to the East Coast.
1912 – Birth of Horst Ademeit, German WWII fighter ace.
1909 – Birth of Wassili Iwanowitsch Rakow, Soviet WWII Pilot and high-ranking officer.
1908 – First flight of theGastambide-Mengin monoplane, (later Gastambide-Mengin I, Gastambide-Mengin II and Antoinette II), early French experimental aircraft designed by Leon Levavasseur and first aircraft built by the Antoinette company.
1902 – Birth of Gori Castellani, Italian raid aviator.
1899 – Birth of Lester James Maitland, American aviation pioneer and a veteran pilot of WWI and WWII.
1896 – Birth of Bruce Digby-Worsley, British WWI fighter ace.
1894 – Birth of Air Marshal William Avery “Billy” Bishop VC, CB, DSO & Bar, MC, DFC, ED, Canadian WWI flying ace, officially credited with 72 victories, making him the top Canadian ace, and according to some sources, the top ace of the British Empire.
1894 – Birth of Erich Bönisch, German WWI flying ace.
1892 – Birth of William Spurrett Fielding-Johnson, British WWI flying ace.
1892 – Birth of Wilhelm Fahlbusch, German WWI flying ace.
1886 – Birth of Gunther Plüschow, German aviator, aerial explorer and author, Only German Prisoner of war (in either WW) to escape from Britain back to Germany.
1884 – Birth of John Theodore Cuthbert Moore-Brabazon, first Baron Brabazon of Tara, GBE, MC, PC, English aviation pioneer and politician, first Englishman to pilot a heavier-than-air machine under power in England, who he served as Minister of Transport and Minister of Aircraft Production during WWII.
1882 – Birth of Thomas Etholen Selfridge, first person to die in a crash of a powered airplane. He was a passenger while Orville Wright was piloting the Wright Flyer.
1862 – Birth of Ferdinand Ferber, French Army artillery captain who played an important role in the development of aviation.
1825 – Birth of Henri Giffard, French engineer, who invented the steam injector and the powered airship.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.png)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
