The Little Book of Aviation E-Book

Norman Ferguson

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

The Little Book of Aviation is a collection of facts, figures and interesting stories from the world of flight. Sad, humorous, baffling and astounding stories abound, from the pioneering days of the Wright Brothers to the present day, and covering everything from great milestones, famous names who've served, and the greatest of aircraft icons; phantom pilots and aircraft and a glossary of slang; the origins of plane-spotting and unusual aircraft names; great feats and enduring mysteries; lucky escapes and great aircraft in the movies… the trivia is limitless and will appeal to everyone, whether you want help telling your Spitfire from your Messerschmitt or you know a Spitfire I from a Spitfire II!

Leseprobe

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Any errors are the fault of the author and not in any way of those he consulted. Thanks go to the following individuals for their help and contributions: Raymond A. Ferguson; Derek N. Ferguson; Henrietta B. Ferguson; Des Brennan; Sandy Buchanan; Captain James A. Lovell Jr; Dick Rutan; John Farley; Jake Jarron.

The following online sources were used: RAF Museum; Royal Air Force; Little Friends; Aviation Safety Network; HistoryNet.com; Flight Global, Flight magazine archive; Detroit Free Press; USA Today; Providence News; The Log; The Times; US Centennial of Flight Commission; Civil Aviation Authority; SITA; IATA; United Airlines Historical Archive.

CONTENTS

Title

Acknowledgements

Introduction

The Little Book of Aviation

Bibliography

Copyright

INTRODUCTION

In the 110 years since the Wright Brothers made their first powered and barely controlled flights at Kitty Hawk, the mode of transport they helped develop has transformed the way we view the world. Journeys that took weeks now take hours. Sights that were previously unavailable are now commonplace. Things that were not even thought of happen every day. To travel by air is now nothing special; a sign of how much aviation has progressed since those early pioneering days of risk and daring innovation.

Aviation is a wide-ranging subject and it is not difficult to find stories and facts that are inspiring, tragic, humorous, perplexing, impressive and many other things besides. Hopefully The Little Book of Aviation captures some of these.

Norman Ferguson

May 2013

THE LITTLE BOOK OF AVIATION

FIRST FLIGHT

120 – 175 – 200 – 852:

The distances in feet of four successive flights made on the most notable date in aviation: 17 December 1903. On this day, Orville and Wilbur Wright took the ‘giant leap’ that led to a revolution in transportation. The brothers from Ohio had worked on developing gliders before moving on to creating powered machines. On the morning of the 17th, on the beach at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina, Orville took his position on top of the lower wing of the Wright Flyer. With a photographer standing by, the biplane moved off down metal tracks before lifting off. Orville described the flight as ‘exceedingly erratic’ with the aircraft difficult to control and subject to large pitching movements. Nonetheless, it flew for twelve seconds, enough to complete the first powered and sustained flight by a heavier-than-air flying machine. Flights continued but on the fourth and last flight of the day, which lasted almost a minute, the machine hit the ground heavily and became damaged. While it was being retrieved, winds caused further damage. It never flew again. It was repaired for display and after a period in the Science Museum in London was returned to America. It is displayed in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, alongside Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St Louis, the sound barrier-breaking Bell X-1 and Apollo 11’s command module Columbia. Apollo 11, in fact, carried small pieces of fabric and wood from the Wright Flyer to the moon.

Wilbur watches as his brother Orville Wright makes history at Kitty Hawk on 17 December 1903 by lifting off in the Wright Flyer. J.T. Daniels, USLSS/US Coast Guard

FIRST SUPERSONIC AIRLINER

The first supersonic airliner was not Concorde, as might be thought. In 1961 another type was first to break the sound barrier. Flying from the location for so many aviation firsts – Edwards Air Force Base in California – a four-engined Douglas DC-8 was put into a dive from 52,000ft. The intentional test flight saw the airliner reach Mach 1.012 (660mph) before pulling up. No harm or damage was done and the actual aircraft later entered service with Canadian Pacific Air Lines.

FAMOUS FEATS OF AVIATION: ATLANTIC THERE AND BACK

The Scottish county of East Lothian is known for its scenic golf courses, historic castles and one of the biggest gannet colonies in the world at the Bass Rock. What’s less known is its place in aviation history. In the early hours of 2 July 1919 the biggest airship in Britain left its hangar at the airfield at East Fortune. The 643ft-long craft soon took off and headed west. After a journey of four and a half days that encountered poor weather and engine problems the dirigible landed in the USA. The R34 had completed the first east-to-west aerial crossing of the Atlantic. It touched down with approximately one hour’s fuel left.

Along the way two stowaways had been discovered, a kitten called Wopsie and a human called William Ballantyne – a crew member who had been removed to make room for an American observer but didn’t want to miss out. He was found over water, otherwise he would have been given a parachute and sent homewards. A parachute was used by one of the officers who jumped to help the American reception personnel who were unused to dealing with an airship of that size.

The crew were fêted by the people of New York, and met the American President Woodrow Wilson. After several days of being entertained and re-equipping the airship, it was time to return. The journey home encountered no major issues. The R34 was scrapped in 1921 following an accident. In the Museum of Flight that now stands on the East Fortune airfield site, the airship’s nose cone, in the shape of a heraldic crest, can be seen.

AVIATION-RELATED PUBS AND RESTAURANTS

Air Balloon Tavern, Bristol

Airfield Tavern, Yeovil

Airport Tavern, Bristol

Dambusters Inn, Scampton

Happy Landing, Stanwell

Memphis Belle, Westbrook

Red Arrow, Lutterworth

The Air Balloon, Birdlip

The Airfield, Hatfield

The Airman, Feltham

The Aviator, Cheltenham

The Barnes Wallis, North Howden

The Concorde, Rainham

The Douglas Bader, Martlesham Heath

The Flying Fortress, Bury St Edmunds

The Tiger Moth, Brickhill

The Vulcan Arms, Sizewell Beach

Whittle Inn, Hucclecote

BATTLE OF ‘BRITAIN’?

Australia, Barbados, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Jamaica, New Zealand, Poland, Rhodesia, South Africa, USA.

Countries who provided Allied aircrew that took part in the Battle of Britain.

WARTIME SLANG

ack-ack – anti-aircraft fire

Archie – anti-aircraft fire

bandit – enemy aircraft

beat up – fly low-level over an airfield

prang – a crash

crate – aircraft

deck – the ground

drink – area of water

flap – situation involving panic

goon – German prisoner-of-war guard

kite – aircraft

Mae West – inflatable life vest

piece of cake – easy thing to do

scramble – rapid take-off

squirt – burst of machine-gun fire

Tail End Charlie – rear gunner

wizard kite – great aeroplane

BOWLED OVER

William Gilbert Grace is regarded as one of the greatest cricketers ever to have played the game. Easily identified by his bushy beard and portly physical shape he was the most famous sportsman of his day. ‘W.G.’ ran up a long list of achievements, including 2,876 first-class wickets as a bowler and 54,896 runs with the bat. He was the first to score a hundred hundreds. Grace played cricket for forty-eight years and his last game was in July 1914 when he was 66 years old. His life without cricket was not to last too long, however. He became irritated with the Zeppelin raids that were flying above his Kent home and it was reported he would show his annoyance by shouting and shaking his fist at them. On the last Zeppelin raid of 1915, on the night of 13/14 October, fifty-five people were killed in London and the south-east of England. Grace suffered a heavy fall. He died of a heart attack ten days later.

TOP GUN AIRCREW NICKNAMES

Characters in the film:

Charlie, Chipper, Cougar, Goose, Hollywood, Iceman, Jester, Maverick, Merlin, Slider, Sprawl, Stinger, Sundown, Viper, Wolfman.

US Navy F-14 aircrew, Top Gun instructors and ‘MiG’ pilots involved in making of the film:

Bio, Boa, Bozo, Circus, Curly, D-Bear, Flex, Hollywood, Horse, Jambo, Jaws, Loner, Organ, Player, Rabbi, Rat, Secks, Silver, Sobs, Squire, Sunshine, Tex, Too Cool, Vida.

HOW TO FLY AEROPLANES

Rules of the Air:

‘When flying in the air the pilot must obey certain rules like the motorist on the road who must keep to one side. If an aeroplane has to wait over an aerodrome, whether for room to land or for another aeroplane to join it in the air, it must circle to the left all the time. If it cannot wait, it must make a distress signal – perhaps fire a pistol – and it is then allowed to land.

‘The pilot always moves on a left-hand turn unless he is more than 2 miles from the aerodrome, or more than 6,000 feet above the ground. The faster aircraft give way to the slower ones. When meeting or overtaking in the air, each aeroplane must alter course to the right, and no aircraft must dive to pass. No aeroplane must pass within 200 yards of any other and in the case of regular air routes this distance is 300 yards.’

(The Book About Aircraft, published 1933)

DE HAVILLAND MOTHS

The de Havilland company built a variety of aircraft including the ‘Wooden Wonder’ Mosquito during the war and then later the world’s first jet airliner, the Comet. In the pre-Second World War days, however, it was known for its range of light aircraft, particularly those named after a certain species of insect:

Cirrus Moth

Fox Moth

Genet Moth

Giant Moth

Gipsy Moth

Hawk Moth

Hermes Moth

Hornet Moth

Leopard Moth

Menasco Moth

Metal Moth

Moth Major

Moth Minor

Puss Moth

Swallow Moth

Tiger Moth

One of the famous Moths built by de Havilland was the Gipsy Moth. This example was built in 1929, and was one of 688 built. Derek N. Ferguson

TOP TEN ACES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR

Ranking

Name

Country

Number of kills

1

Erich Hartmann

Germany

352

2

Gerhard Barkhorn

Germany

301

3

Günther Rall

Germany

275

4

Otto Kittel

Germany

267

5

Walter Nowotny

Germany

258

6

Wilhelm Batz

Germany

237

7

Erich Rudorffer

Germany

224

8

Heinrich Bär

Germany

220

9

Hermann Graf

Germany

212

10

Heinrich Ehrler

Germany

208

The Luftwaffe pilots flew many more missions than their Allied counterparts. The highest-scoring Allied pilot was a Russian, Ivan Kozhedub, who shot down sixty-two enemy aircraft. Kozhedub flew 330 missions, compared to Hartmann’s 1,400+.

WORLD’S FIRST FLIGHT ATTENDANT

In March 1912, Heinrich Kubis became the first flight attendant when he served passengers on the German airship Schwaben. He went on to serve as chief steward on the Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg, and was on board that ill-fated airship when it caught fire in 1937. Kubis managed to escape after first helping his passengers evade the inferno. He sat on a window ledge until the burning airship descended close enough to the ground to allow them all to jump. Kubis had also evaded injury when working on the Schwaben when it caught fire in 1912.

GREAT PLANES: SPITFIRE

Of all the warplanes that Britain has produced, it is Supermarine’s Second World War fighter that is the best loved and most easily identified. Its slim elliptical wings and neat fuselage, ending with a smooth, rounded tail – all pulled through the air by the Merlin engine with its classic engine sound – make the Spitfire stand out from its contemporaries. Its legendary position was not always assured. The design was difficult to produce and caused the pre-war Air Ministry to consider cancellation. In the manner of many other high-tech projects, it was over budget. Fortunately the project was allowed to proceed.

Reconnaissance Supermarine Spitfire PR.11s were unarmed and relied on speed and height for their defence and brought back much valuable information from enemy territory. Derek N. Ferguson

The aircraft had a narrow undercarriage track that made it more problematic to land than the sturdier Hawker Hurricane. Come the two planes’ ‘finest hour’ – the Battle of Britain – there were considerably more Hurricanes in squadron service than Spitfires (thirty squadrons had Hurricanes while only nineteen were equipped with Spitfires). However, it was the sleeker fighter the press and public came to know better. Luftwaffe pilots who were shot down by Hurricanes preferred their conqueror to be a Spitfire as they had a higher regard for it, tasked as it was to shoot down German fighters, while the slower Hurricane was directed to attack bombers.

The Spitfire was built right through the war and over 20,000 were made. It was used for fighter interception, photo reconnaissance and ground attack, while a sea-going version – the Seafire – was built for the Royal Navy.

MACROBERT’S REPLY

Since 1982 each aircraft operated by the RAF’s XV Squadron assigned the code letter ‘F’ has also been marked with the words ‘MacRobert’s Reply’. This tradition goes back to the Second World War, when two Short Stirling heavy bombers were marked this way. The MacRobert in question was Lady Rachel MacRobert of Douneside, Aberdeenshire, and her ‘reply’ was due to having lost all three sons in flying incidents: two during the war. Roderic was a Hurricane pilot killed while on an airfield attack in the Middle East and Iain was lost while searching the North Sea for downed airmen. Lady MacRobert wrote a cheque for £25,000 to ‘buy a bomber to carry on their work in the most effective way’. She later sent a further £20,000 to buy four Hurricanes. Lady MacRobert also gave a country house as a leave centre for RAF personnel.

BOMB GUNS FOR AEROPLANES

‘For the purpose in making some tests in dropping bombs on to warships, at Garden City, New York, Mr Clifford B. Harmon fitted a novel “gun” to his Farman biplane. It consisted of a steel tube placed vertically, the lower end being closed by a hinged door. An ingenious arrangement of mirrors shows the operator exactly when the tube is pointing directly to the object he wishes to strike, and by merely pressing a button the door is released, and the bomb drops to its mark.’

(Flight magazine, 3 September 1910)

BLACK BOX BOOKS

Ten of the books available on why aircraft crash:

1 Why Planes Crash – An Accident Investigator Fights for Safe Skies

2 Black Box: Aircrash Detectives – Why Air Safety Is No Accident

3 The Black Box: All-New Cockpit Voice Recorder Accounts of In-Flight Accidents

4 Beyond the Black Box: The Forensics of Airplane Crashes

5 Air Disasters: Dramatic Black Box Flight Recordings

6 Air Disasters: The Truth Behind the Tragedies

7 Aviation Disasters: The World’s Major Civil Airliner Crashes Since 1950

8 Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908

9 Early Aviation Disasters: The World’s Major Airliner Crashes Before 1950

10 Snakes in the Cockpit: Images of Military Aviation Disasters

Black boxes are not black but painted in high-visibility markings, usually orange and white, to aid their location following an incident. Their name reputedly derives from one of the earliest flight recorders, which marked an image on scrolling photographic film, deviating according to changes in altitude, speed etc. The photographic process required absolute darkness inside the box, hence ‘black’, so the theory goes.

PHANTOM VS JAGUAR

The early summer of 1982 saw British aircraft in combat with their counterparts from Argentina. Far from the South Atlantic, another aerial encounter was to claim a ‘kill’, albeit an unintended one. An RAF Phantom from 92 Squadron, based in Germany, was scrambled as part of a tactical exercise. The fighter was carrying live weapons. During a combat air patrol two RAF Jaguars were detected and pursued. The Phantom slid in behind one of them and the pilot went through the procedures required to launch a Sidewinder heat-seeking missile. Pulling the trigger, the last thing the pilot expected to see was an actual missile leave his aircraft and streak towards the Jaguar up ahead. Within seconds the Sidewinder exploded causing catastrophic damage. Luckily the Jaguar pilot was quickly alerted to his situation by his flight leader and he ejected immediately, landing without injury.

An inquiry found that the Phantom’s master armament switch should have had a piece of tape covering it, to prevent inadvertent operation. In the heat of the moment the pilot had gone through the drill forgetting his aircraft was carrying live missiles. The Phantom pilot and his navigator were both court-martialled.

BIRD STRIKES

The Civilian Aviation Authority collected figures in 2010 on which types of birds were most involved in bird strikes:

Gulls*

297

Swallows

165

Skylarks

93

Swifts

81

Wood pigeons

71

Pigeons

70

Kestrels

49

Starlings

49

Meadow pipits

43

Rooks

38

* Types included: Common Gull, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, Great Black-headed Gull and ‘Gull (unspecified)’.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

‘We are safely on the other side of the pond. The job is finished.’

Lieutenant Commander Albert Read, US Navy, pilot of Curtiss NC-4 flying boat, after first aerial crossing of the Atlantic, May 1919.

FIRST SUPERSONIC EJECTION

The first successful supersonic ejection involving a live test subject took place in 1962. The test pilot chosen for this landmark event wasn’t selected from an air force squadron, but from a zoo: it was a bear named Yogi. This specific species was chosen as a bear’s internal body structure resembles that of a human’s. The test, which took place at 35,000ft, was designed to prove the effectiveness of an enclosed escape capsule fitted in the American B-58 Hustler nuclear bomber. Yogi survived her forced ejection into the 870mph slipstream and subsequent eight-minute descent to the ground, although she was later subjected to an autopsy.

ENID

‘Enid’ is the name for part of the Red Arrows’ formation. The world-renowned RAF Aerobatic Team fly nine Hawk trainer jets and while they fly formations that include all aircraft of the team at times, they often split into smaller components. The front five form Enid. When flying as a nine-ship the Arrows have flown these formations: Diamond Nine, Big Nine, Card, Tango, Big Vixen, Corkscrew, Goose, Apollo, Vixen, Nine Arrow, Eagle, Fred and Concorde.