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Aviation, or air transport, refers to the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. Aircraft includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, parachutes, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as 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. Some of the most significant advancements in aviation technology came with the controlled gliding flying of Otto Lilienthal; then a largest step in significance came with the construction of the first powered airplane by the Wright brothers in the early 1900s. Since that time, aviation has been technologically revolutionized with the introduction of the jet which permitted a major form of transport throughout the world.

Aerodynamics is a branch of dynamics concerned with studying the motion of air, particularly when it interacts with a moving object. Understanding the motion of air (often called a flow field) around an object enables the calculation of forces and moments acting on the object. Typical properties calculated for a flow field include velocity, pressure, density and temperature as a function of position and time. By defining a control volume around the flow field, equations for the conservation of mass, momentum, and energy can be defined and used to solve for the properties. The use of aerodynamics through mathematical analysis, empirical approximation and wind tunnel experimentation form the scientific basis for heavier-than-air flight.

External aerodynamics is the study of flow around solid objects of various shapes. Evaluating the lift and drag on an airplane, the shock waves that form in front of the nose of a rocket is an example of external aerodynamics. Internal aerodynamics is the study of flow through passages in solid objects. For instance, internal aerodynamics encompasses the study of the airflow through a jet engine.

The ratio of the problem's characteristic flow speed to the speed of sound comprises a second classification of aerodynamic problems. A problem is called subsonic if all the speeds in the problem are less than the speed of sound, transonic if speeds both below and above the speed of sound are present (normally when the characteristic speed is approximately the speed of sound), supersonic when the characteristic flow speed is greater than the speed of sound, and hypersonic when the flow speed is much greater than the speed of sound. Aerodynamicists disagree over the precise definition of hypersonic flow; minimum Mach numbers for hypersonic flow range from 3 to 12. Most aerodynamicists use numbers between 5 and 8.

US Navy Blue Angels Fat Albert (C-130T Hercules)

Credit: Jonathan Zander

The Blue Angels use a United States Marine Corps C-130T Hercules, nicknamed "Fat Albert", for their logistics, carrying spare parts, equipment, and to carry support personnel between shows. Beginning in 1975, "Bert" was used for Jet Assisted Take Off (JATO) and short aerial demonstrations just prior to the main event at selected venues, but the JATO demonstration ended in 2009 due to dwindling supplies of rockets.

... that Paul Haenlein was the first to create a dirigible airship powered by an internal combustion engine?

• ...that the Aichi D1A (pictured) was a carrier-borne dive bomber primarily used by the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Second Sino-Japanese War?

... that before he flew the Spirit of St. Louis on his historic transatlantic flight, Charles Lindbergh's first choice of aircraft was the Ryan M-2? Template:/box-footer

The de Havilland Canada DHC-8, popularly the Dash 8, is a series of twin-turboprop airliners designed by de Havilland Canada in the early 1980s. They are now made by Bombardier Aerospace which purchased DHC from Boeing in 1992. Since 1996 the aircraft have been known as the Q Series, for "quiet", due to installation of the Active Noise and Vibration Suppression (ANVS) system designed to reduce cabin noise and vibration levels to near those of jet airliners.

Notable features of the Dash 8 design are the large T-tail intended to keep the tail free of propwash during takeoff, a very high aspect ratio wing, the elongated engine nacelles also holding the rearward-folding landing gear, and the pointed nose profile. First flight was in 1983, and the plane entered service in 1984 with NorOntair. Piedmont Airlines (formerly Henson Airlines) was the US launch customer for the Dash 8 in 1984.

The Dash 8 design had better cruise performance than the earlier Dash 7, was less expensive to operate, and more notably, much less expensive to maintain. The Dash 8 had the lowest costs per passenger mile of any feederliner of the era. The only disadvantage compared to the earlier Dash 7 was somewhat higher noise levels, but only in comparison as the Dash 7 was notable in the industry for extremely low noise due to its four very large and slow-turning propellers.

• Length: 107 ft 9 in (32.84 m)
• Wingspan: 93 ft 3 in (32.84 m)
• Height: 27 ft 5 in (8.34 m)
• Powerplant: 2× Pratt & Whitney Canada PW150A turboprops, 5,071 shp (3,781 kW) each
• Cruise speed: 360 knots (414 mph, 667 km/h)
• Maiden Flight: June 20, 1983

Infrastructure		Transport		US Air Force		Royal Air Force

Air Marshal Sir George Jones KBE, CB, DFC (18 October 1896 – 24 August 1992) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He rose from being a private soldier in World War I to Air Marshal in 1948. He served as Chief of the Air Staff from 1942 to 1952, the longest continuous tenure of any RAAF chief. Jones was a surprise appointee to the Air Force’s top role, and his achievements in the position were coloured by a divisive relationship during World War II with his head of operations and nominal subordinate, Air Vice Marshal William Bostock.

Jones first saw action as an infantryman in the Gallipoli campaign of 1915, before transferring to the Australian Flying Corps the following year. Initially an air mechanic, he undertook flying training in 1917 and was posted to a fighter squadron in France, achieving seven victories to become an ace. After a short spell in civilian life following World War I, he joined the newly-formed RAAF in 1921, rising steadily through training and personnel commands prior to World War II.

He did not actively seek the position of Chief of the Air Staff before being appointed in 1942, and his conflict with Bostock—with whom he had been friends for 20 years—was partly the result of a divided command structure, which neither man had any direct role in shaping. After World War II Jones had overall responsibility for transforming what was then the world's fourth largest air force into a peacetime service that was also able to meet overseas commitments in Malaya and Korea. Following his retirement from the RAAF he continued to serve in the aircraft industry and later ran unsuccessfully for political office.

Wikinews Aviation portal

Template:/box-header January 26

• 2013 – The United States announces that U.S. Air Force tankers will provide aerial refueling support to French Air Force aircraft operating over Mali.

• 2010 – A Nigerian Navy AgustaWestland AW109E helicopter crashed in south Nigeria. The accident happened at about 01:30 p.m. (1330 GMT) when the helicopter was returning from a routine patrol of Port-Harcourt area in the Niger-Delta region. Four people were killed.

• 2010 – Spanish airline Quantum Air ceased operations.

• 2010 – First flight of the Kawasaki C-2 (previously C-X), a Japanese military transport aircraft.

• 2009 – Two OH-58 Kiowas collide near Kirkuk while evading enemy fire, killing four soldiers.

• 2005 – A CH-53E Super Stallion 164536 from HMH-361 crashes in Al-Anbar province, killing 30 U.S. Marines and one Navy sailor.

• 1995 – An explosion during the launch of a communications satellite at the Xichang Space Centre in China destroys both the Long March 2E Booster and Hughes Apstar 2 satellite.

• 1995 – Outbreak of the Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador. Peruvian Mil Mi-8 and Mil Mi-25, as well as Ecuadorian Aérospatiale Gazelle helicopters begin ground attack operations.

• 1991 – U. S. Air Force F-15 C Eagles of the 33rd Tactical Fighter Wing shoot down three Iraqi MiG-23 s using AIM-7 Sparrow missiles. U. S. Navy A-6 Es attack Kuwait Harbor, hitting an Iraqi patrol boat, and elsewhere hit an Iraqi TNC-45 fast attack boat, leaving both boats burning. The U. S. Navy loses an F/A-18 C Hornet to non-combat causes.

• 1990 – The first of two new Air Force Ones, VIP variants of the Boeing 747-200, for the use of the United States President and his staff, are delivered.

• 1988 – The French defence ministry approves full-scale development of the Dassault Rafale

• 1984 – The U. S. Army accepts the first production model of the Hughes/McDonnell Douglas AH-64 A.

• 1978 – Entered Service: Westland Lynx with No. 702 Squadron FAA.

• 1976 – Death of Forster Herbert Martin Maynard, New Zealand WWI flying ace, Air Officer Commanding of Malta during the early part of WWII (6 Gloster Gladiators of which 2 were still in crates marked “Boxed Spares – Property of the Royal Navy”).

• 1974 – A Turkish Airlines Fokker F28 crashes after takeoff from Izmir Cumaovasi Airport due to wing icing; of the 73 on board, only 7 survive.

• 1972 – JAT Flight 367, a Douglas DC-9, suffers a bomb explosion while en route from Copenhagen to Zagreb; twenty-seven of twenty-eight on board are killed; Vesna Vulović, the only survivor, is entered in the Guinness Book of World Records for surviving the longest fall without a parachute, over ten thousand meters (33,000 ft).

• 1969 – Death of Austin Lloyd Fleming, Canadian WWI flying ace who also served in WWII.

• 1968 – Death of Merrill Church Meigs, American newspaper publisher and aviation promoter.

• 1967 – First flight of the Scheutzow Bee, an American two-seat utility helicopter, developed with the FLEXIHUB. In this system, the two main rotor blades were mounted in rubber bushes, reducing vibration and requiring no lubrication.

• 1965 – President Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco of Brazil decides that the Brazilian Air Force henceforth will control all Brazilian fixed-wing military aircraft, including those aboard the aircraft carrier Minas Gerais, and that the Brazilian Navy will control all seagoing rotary-wing aircraft. Key Brazilian naval personnel resign in protest.

• 1962 – Death of Herbert Howard Snowden Fowler, Canadian WWI flying ace.

• 1962 – NASA launches the Ranger 3 moon probe aboard an Atlas-Agena rocket. After a series of malfunctions, the spacecraft would miss the moon by 22,000 miles (35,400 km).

• 1961 – First flight of the Fiat 7002, an Italian general-purpose medium-capacity prototype helicopter.

• 1959 – Tenth of 13 North American X-10s, GM-52-3, c/n 10, on Navaho X-10 Drone BOMARC target mission 3, out of Cape Canaveral, Florida. The X-10 is launched with only one electrical generator due to a lack of any remaining spares. As it headed out over the ocean, that generator fails. It loses all electrical power, and crashes into the ocean 105 km downrange. This is the final X-10 mission, the Navaho program having been canceled on 13 July 1957.

• 1958 – Entered Service: Lockheed F-104 Starfighter with the United States Air Force's 83rd Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Hamilton Air Force Base, California.

• 1954 – A RAF Boeing Washington B.1, WF495, of 149 Squadron, disappears during the night en-route from Prestwick to Laagens in the Azores. Aircraft is believed to have come down in Morecambe Bay but after an intensive search lasting several days no trace is ever found. Aircraft was on return flight back to USAF. Last message from pilot mentioned icing and it is thought this condition led to loss of control. Seven crew lost. Another source gives date as 27 January.

• 1953 – The first meeting of the Experimental Aircraft Association takes place at Milwaukee, Wisconsin's Curtis-Wright Field.

• 1950 – 1950 Douglas C-54D-1-DC disappearance: AA Douglas C-54D-1-DC Skymaster, 42-72469, c/n 10574, of the Second Strategic Support Squadron, Strategic Air Command. out of Biggs AFB, Texas, departs Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, for Great Falls Air Force Base, Montana, with a crew of 8 and 36 passengers (34 service personnel and 2 civilians). Two hours into a planned eight-and-a-half hour flight, at 1709 hrs. it makes its last contact by radio and has been missing since. Despite a massive air and ground search at the time and repeated searches since 1950, as of 19 June 2011 no trace of the aircraft or its occupants has been found, nor has the cause of the aircraft's disappearance been determined.

• 1947 – A KLM Douglas DC-3 Dakota crashes after take-off from Copenhagen, killing all 22 on board, including Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten of Sweden.

• 1946 – Col William Councill sets a new US transcontinental speed record of 4 hours 13 min in a Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star

• 1945 – First flight of the McDonnell FH Phantom, is the first jet aircraft to operate from a U. S. Navy aircraft carrier.

• 1945 – First flight of the Miles Aerovan, a British twin engine short-range low-cost transport.

• 1945 – The British aircraft carriers HMS Ameer and HMS Shah support the landings of the Royal Marines on Cheduba Island off the coast of Burma.

• 1944 – A raid on Allied ships off Anzio by German Focke Wulf Fw 190s damages a tank landing ship, seven patrol craft, two merchant ships, and a rescue tug.

• 1944 – After Japanese fighters establish a pattern during the month of attacking American bombers as they retire from strikes on Maloelap, a squadron of U. S. Army Air Forces P-40 Warhawk fighters intercepts them for the first time, shooting down six Japanese aircraft.

• 1943 – Three U. S. Army Air Forces Consolidated B-24 Liberators of the Seventh Air Force make the 704-nautical mile (1,304-km) flight from Funafuti to bomb Tarawa Atoll, where they discover a new Japanese airfield on the island of Betio.

• 1939 – The Boeing Model 314 Clipper is given permission by the Civil Aeronautics Authority to be used for commercial service by Pan American Airways.

• 1939 – In the Spanish Civil War, Barcelona surrenders to Nationalist forces. In the days leading up to the surrender, Nationalist aircraft have raided the city continually, especially targeting ships in port to prevent them from saving Republican refugees from capture.

• 1938 – Spanish Republican Air Force aircraft bomb Seville and Valladolid.

• 1935 – During a mail flight, the Hillman's Airways de Havilland Dragon Rapide G-ACPO crashes in bad weather at Derbyhaven on the Isle of Man.

• 1932 – Death of Edward Anderson 'Eddie' Stinson, early American aviator and aircraft designer, founder of the Stinson Aircraft Company, in the crash of the Stinson-Detroiter he was demonstrating in Jackson Park, Clark Field of Kalamazoo, Michigan.

• 1929 – The Pratt and Whitney Company announced the formation of a Canadian company, which would start operations in Longueil, Quebec.

• 1928 – Death of Guido Nardini, Italian WWI flying ace, killed in an accident at Ciampino field when his parachute failed to open.

• 1926 – Ramón Franco sets out from Spain in a Dornier Do J to reach Buenos Aires after 59 hours in the air.

• 1916 – Birth of Carlo Faggioni, Italian WWII pilot.

• 1911 – First practical seaplane is flown. Built and flown by American Glenn Curtiss, the Curtiss Hydro lands and takes off in the waters off San Diego, California.

• 1896 – Birth of Frank Tremar Sibly Menendez, British WWI flying ace.

• 1896 – Birth of Charles Ronald Steele, British WWI flying ace, High-ranking officer in WWII and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at RAF Coastal Command post war.

• 1896 – Birth of József Kiss, WWI flying ace for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, credited with 19 aerial victories. He was the most successful Hungarian ace in the war.

• 1895 – Birth of Cesare Magistrini, Italian WWI flying ace, commercial pilot, Italian SAS pilot during WWII and pilot of the King of Yemen after WWII.

• 1892 – Birth of Elizabeth "Bessie" Coleman, American civil aviator. She was the first female pilot of African American descent and first person of African American descent to hold an international pilot license.

• 1889 – Birth of Alfred Victor Robert Auger, French WWI flying ace.

• 1887 – Birth of Michal Scipio del Campo, Polish early aviator.

References

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