Portal:Aviation

Born in Earlsdon, Coventry, England on June 1, 1907, Whittle left Leamington College in 1923 to join the Royal Air Force (RAF). Through his early days as an Aircraft apprentice he maintained his interest in the Model Aircraft Society where he built replicas, the quality of which attracted the eye of his commanding officer, who was so impressed that he recommended Whittle for the Officer Training College at Cranwell in Lincolnshire in 1926, a rarity for a "commoner" in what was still a very class-based military structure. A requirement of the course was that each student had to produce a thesis for graduation. Whittle decided to write his thesis on future developments in aircraft design, in which he described what is today referred to as a motorjet.

Whittle and Hans von Ohain met after the war and initially Whittle was angry with him as he felt Ohain had stolen his ideas. Ohain eventually convinced him that his work was independent and after that point the two became good friends.

The Boeing 777 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the world's largest twinjet and is commonly referred to as the "Triple Seven". The aircraft has seating for over 300 passengers and has a range from 5,235 to 9,380 nautical miles (9,695 to 17,372 km) depending on model. Its distinguishing features include the largest diameter turbofan engines of any aircraft, six wheels on each main landing gear, a circular fuselage cross-section, and blade-shaped tail cone. Developed in consultation with eight major airlines, the 777 was designed to replace older wide-body airliners and bridge the capacity difference between the 767 and 747. As Boeing's first fly-by-wire airliner, it has computer mediated controls; it is also the first entirely computer-designed commercial aircraft.

The 777 is produced in two fuselage lengths. The original 777-200 model first entered service in 1995, followed by the extended range 777-200ER in 1997; the stretched 777-300, which is 33.3 ft (10.1 m) longer, began service in 1998. The longer-range 777-300ER and 777-200LR variants entered service in 2004 and 2006, respectively, while a freighter version, the 777F, debuted in 2008. Both longer-range versions and the freighter feature General Electric GE90 engines, as well as extended and raked wingtips. Other models are equipped with either the GE90, Pratt & Whitney PW4000, or Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines. The 777-200LR ranks as the world's longest-range airliner and holds the record for longest distance flown by an unrefuelled commercial aircraft, with the demonstrated capability to fly more than halfway around the world.

United Airlines first placed the 777 into commercial airline service in 1995. As of August 2023, 1,716 777s have been delivered. The most common variant used worldwide is the 777-300ER, with 832 aircraft delivered, and Emirates operates the largest 777 fleet, with 134 aircraft (as of May 2019). The airliner has had 8 hull-loss accidents, with 541 fatalities. The most deadly incident was Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, in which a 777-200ER carrying 298 people was shot down by a missile over Ukraine on 17 July 2014.

Through the 21st century, the 777 has emerged as one of its manufacturer's best-selling models. Because of rising fuel costs, airlines have acquired the type as a comparatively fuel-efficient alternative to other wide-body jets and have increasingly used the aircraft on long-haul, transoceanic routes. Direct market competitors include the Airbus A330-300, the A340 and A350 XWB.

• Span: 212 ft 7 in (64.8 m)
• Length: 242 ft 4 in (73.9 m)
• Height: 61 ft 5 in (18.7 m)
• Engines: 2 X GE 90-115B
• Cruising speed: 0.84 Mach (555 mph, 892 km/h, 481 kn) at 35,000 ft (11,000 m) cruise altitude
• First flight: 12 June 1994
• Number built: 1,716 as of August 2023 (based on deliveries)

February 9

• 2010 – A Bell AH-1 Cobra gunship helicopter of the Pakistan Air Force crashed in the Teera Valley in Pakistan's Khyber tribal area near the Afghanistan's border. Both the pilot and gunner lost their lives in the incident.

• 2009 – A Royal Air Force BAE Systems Harrier T.10 (ZH656) on a routine training exercise from No. 20 Squadron (R) Operational conversion unit based at RAF Wittering crashes on the runway at Royal Air Force Station Akrotiri, Cyprus. The 2 crew ejected safely from the aircraft which was damaged in a fire.

• 2009 – A leased Pilatus U-28A, 06-0692, with three personnel of the 319th Special Operations Squadron, 1st Special Operations Wing on board, based at Hurlburt Field, Florida, makes a gear-up landing at Craig Field (Alabama) at Selma, Alabama (formerly Craig Air Force Base), whilst performing simulated engine failure approach, breaking off nosewheel and causing severe damage to nosewheel strut assembly, propeller and main undercarriage doors. A board of officers will investigate the 1415 hrs. incident in which there were no injuries. This accident has been classified as a Class A accident, indicating that fairly substantial damage was incurred. Aircraft repaired and reported flying again by 29 April 2009.

• 2006 – Andrew Keech sets 3 world records for autogyros: Speed over a closed circuit of 500 km (311 mi) without payload: 168.29 km/h (104.57 mph), speed over a closed circuit of 1,000 km (621 mi) without payload: 165.07 km/h (102.57 mph), and distance over a closed circuit without landing: 1,019.09 km (633.23 mi).

• 2006 – Death of Sir Frederick Alfred Laker, British airline entrepreneur, best known for founding Laker Airways.

• 2005 – (9-13) Aero-India show in Bangalore, India.

• 2004 – Death of Janusz Zurakowski, renowned Polish WWII fighter and test pilot.

• 1997 – First flight of the Boeing 737 Next Generation

• 1996 – Death of Adolf “Dolfo” Joseph Ferdinand Galland, German Luftwaffe General and flying ace who served throughout WWII in Europe.

• 1995 – Space Shuttle astronauts Bernard A. Harris, Jr. and Michael Foale become the first African American and first Briton, respectively, to perform spacewalks during the Space Shuttle Columbia STS-55 mission.

• 1995 – 9-12 – Heavy fighting continues between Peru and Ecuador. Peruvian and Ecuadorian air forces step up their activities.

• 1993 – Death of Elwood Richard “Pete” Quesada, CB, CBE, USAF General, FAA administrator and also a raid pilot.

• 1991 – A U. S. Navy A-6E badly damages an Iraqi Zhuk-class patrol boat with a Rockeye cluster bomb.

• 1989 – Entered Service: Boeing 747-400 with Northwest Airlines.

• 1985 – An armed USAF Fairchild-Republic A-10A Thunderbolt II, 78-0723, crashed into a cliff in Oak Creek Canyon just north of Sedona, Arizona during a morning rainstorm. A military demolitions crew was sent in to recover unexploded munitions and the canyon was closed to traffic for several days. The lone pilot, attached to the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing at Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, South Carolina, was killed.

• 1983 – British Airways begins Boeing 757 service.

• 1982 – Japan Airlines Flight 350, a Douglas DC-8-61, crashes on approach to Tokyo International Airport (Haneda); of the 166 passengers and 8 crew, 24 passengers are killed.

• 1978 – Launch of FLTSATCOM 1, American satellite communication system of the U. S. Navy used for UHF radio communications between ships, submarines, airplanes and ground stations of the U. S. Navy.

• 1977 – Death of Sergey Vladimirovich Ilyushin, Soviet aircraft designer who founded the Ilyushin aircraft design bureau.

• 1975 – Death of Fritz Wendel, German Messerschmitt test pilot during WWII.

• 1975 – Soyuz 17 returns to earth after setting a Soviet mission-duration record of 29 days on a trip to the Salyut 4 space station.

• 1975 – A Luftwaffe Transall C-160D, 50+63, c/n D-85, one of three en route from Hohn Air Base, West Germany, to Chanea-Souda Airport, Crete, Greece, strikes 5,000-foot Mount Koukoules in a snow storm, killing all 42 on board.

• 1974 – A USAF North American T-39A Sabreliner, 60-3506, returning to McClellan AFB, California collides with a USAF Boeing NKC-135A Stratotanker at 23,000 feet, over Peterson Field, Colorado, killing all seven on board the T-39. The Sabreliner had experienced landing gear trouble, rendezvoused with the NKC-135 for a look-over, accidentally striking the rear fuselage and fin of the Boeing. The NKC-135, en route from Seattle, Washington, to Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, lands safely.

• 1974 – Two USAF Republic F-105 Thunderchiefs of the 457th TFTW (TH tailcode), Carswell AFB, Texas, suffer mid-air collision, downing one aircraft ~1 mile from Holliday, Texas, with the pilot ejecting, suffering broken right leg on landing, recovered by helicopter. Second F-105 recovers to Carswell despite damage, pilot uninjured. 1st Lt. Hayes C. Kirby in F-105D-10-RE, 60-5375, had a violent pitch up and roll in the aircraft and hit his leader in F-105D-10-RE, 60-0513. Ejected in a flat spin. Leader landed okay.

• 1972 – First flight of the Boeing E-3 Sentry (EC-137D), an American airborne warning and control system (AWACS) prototype derived from the Boeing 707 which will lead to the final version of the E-3 Sentry.

• 1971 – Apollo 14 returns to earth following the third manned Moon mission.

• 1969 – First flight of the Boeing 747 “Jumbo Jet” airliner takes place in Seattle, Washington. The wide-bodied, long-range transport is capable of carrying 347 passengers, and is the largest aircraft in commercial airline service in the world.

• 1963 – First flight of the Boeing 727, an American mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner.

• 1960 – Birth of Peggy Annette Whitson, American biochemistry researcher, NASA astronaut and NASA’s Chief Astronaut.

• 1960 – The US Air Force opens its National Space Surveillance Control Centre at Bedford, Massachusetts..

• 1959 – The R-7 Semyorka (NATO name SS-6 Sapwood) becomes the world’s first operational intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at Plesetsk, USSR.

• 1955 – First flight of the Convair CV-540

• 1959 – Introduction: Morane-Saulnier MS.760 Paris

• 1954 – Birth of Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hans Walter, German physicist/engineer and a former DFVLR astronaut.

• 1945 – Balloon bombs launched by Japan were found near Moose Jaw, Sask.

• 1945 – In an event that would later be known as “Black Friday, ” a large force of 46 Allied Bristol Beaufighter, North American P-51 Mustang and Warwick aircraft suffers heavy casualties over the coast of Norway during an unsuccessful attack on German destroyer Z33 and its escorting vessels. Only 37 planes would return to base, with 14 airmen killed in action and four taken as POWs, while four Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf Fw 190 s would be shot down, killing only two pilots and seven sailors.

• 1943 – Death of Sahei Yamashita, Japanese WWII fighter ace, killed in action.

• 1939 – Alex Henshaw sets a new speed record for the round trip between England and Cape Town in 4 days 10 min in a Percival Mew

• 1937 – First flight of the Blackburn Skua, a British carrier-based low-wing, two-seater, single-radial engine aircraft operated by the British Fleet Air Arm which combined the functions of a dive bomber and fighter..

• 1936 – Tommy Rose lands at Wingfield Aerodrome in Cape Town, South Africa, after a record flight from England of 3 days 17 hours 38 min.

• 1934 – Douglas O-35 s and B-7 s are flown by the Army Air Corps after President Roosevelt cancels commercial airmail contracts.

• 1933 – Jim Mollison lands his de Havilland Puss Moth in Natal, Brazil. He flew from Lympne via Senegal, across South Atlantic, becoming the first person to fly solo across the North and South Atlantics.

• 1916 – First flight of the Sopwith Pup flown by Harry Hawker.

• 1914 – U.S. Army Lt. Henry Post exceeds his previous altitude records by reaching 12,140 feet. During descent, the Wright Model C, Signal Corps 10, aircraft sustained damage (wing collapsed) and crashed into San Diego Bay, killing Lt. Post. On 24 February, due to a large number of accidents and deaths, an Army board at the Signal Corps, Aviation School, San Diego, condemned all pusher airplanes. This recommendation basically condemned all Wright aircraft, which were all pushers.

• 1914 – Death of Henry Burnet Post, American pioneer aviator, when the right wing of his hydro-aeroplane crumpled in San Diego Bay.

• 1910 – Birth of Dan Vizanti, Romanian WWII fighter ace.

• 1907 – Birth of Charles Alfred ‘Chief’ Anderson, known as ‘the father of Black Aviation’, first African American to earn a transport, or commercial, pilot’s license, raid pilot and instructor for the Tuskegee airmen in WWII.

• 1899 – Birth of John Arthur Aldridge, British WWI flying ace who also served with the Air Training Corps in WWII.

• 1897 – Charles Kingsford Smith, Australian pilot, was born (d. 1935). Sir Charles Edward Kingsford “Smithy” Smith made the first trans-Pacific flight from the United States to Australia. He also made the first non-stop crossing of the Australian mainland, the first flights between Australia and New Zealand, and the first eastward Pacific crossing from Australia to the United States.

• 1895 – Birth of Stanley Cockerell, British WWI flying ace and test pilot for Vickers.

• 1895 – Birth of Max Valier, Austrian rocketry pioneer.

• 1894 – Birth of Alexandre Paul Leon Madeleine Marty, French WWI flying ace.

• 1894 – Birth of Helmut Dilthey, German WWI flying ace.

• 1875 – Birth of Modesto Panetti, Italian Aeronautical Engineer and politician.

• 1861 – Birth of Rudolf Max Wilhelm Hans Bartsch von Sigsfeld, German airship designer and pilot.