e8pnu.Ultimate.Aircraft.A.Dorling.Kindersley.Book.pdf

DK Ultimate

AIRCRAFT

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PHll.I

Jlllil

Ultimate AIRCRAT

r

FOR THE COMMITTED AIRCRAFT ENTHUSIAST AND

THE CURIOUS AIR TRAVELER ALIKE, ULTIMATE

AIRCRAR

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AN INVALUABLE VISUAL REFERENCE

SOURCE, PACKED WITH A WEALTH OF FASCINATING

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AIRCRAFT AND THE PIONEERS

HUMANKIND WINGS. The human conquest of the skies

is

a story

of unparalleled

achievement. Ultimate Aircraft charts every key step in

the absorbing progression

from the

first fragile

and

experimental gliders to the

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an

high-capacity airliners of today's multibillion-dollar industry.

GALLERY OF THE WORLD'S MOST

FAMOUS AIRCRAFT In an incredibly diverse collection of specially

commissioned large-format photographs, significant aircraft are

capability

depicted

in

pinpoint detail, with performance

and unique engineering features highlighted.

The Ford Tri-motor, Boeing B-17G, Lockheed SR-71A,

BAe

The

Boeing 747, and Lockheed

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Fighter are clear,

trace the

among

F-n7

Stealth

the extraordinary machines profiled.

chronological arrangement makes

development of

civil

and

it

easy to

military aircraft through

the ages, and archive photographs and historic prints bring vividly to life the

enduring romance of

air travel.

AVIATION INNOVATORS

An

extensive biographical section

profiles the

major designers,

engineers, and pilots

who changed

the face of transportation around the worid and helped shape history.

From the Wright brothers Yeager, each

is

to

Chuck

profiled in detail,

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GRUMMAN BEARCAT

F8F

Ultimate

AIRCRAFT

A

Dorling Kiiulcrslcy Book

Dorling

Kindersley

LONDON, NEW YORK, SYDNEY, DELHI, PARIS, MUNICH, and JOHANNESBURG Project Art Editor Jamie

GRUMMAN

F7F

TIGERCAT

Hanson

David Tombesi-Walton Wills, Gary Werner Assistant Designer Nigel Morris

Project Editor

US

Editors

Chuck

DTP Designer Jason Little Production Elizabeth Cherry, Silvia La Greca

CONTENTS

Anna Grapes Photographer Gary Ombler

Picture Researcher

Managing Art Editor Nigel Duffield Managing Editor Jonathan Metcalf

PART ONE

Senior

THE HISTORY OF

Additional editorial assistance

Reg Grant, Frank at Published

in the

AIRCRAFT 6-17

Ritter

Grant Laing Partnership

United States by Dorhng Kindersley Publishing,

95 Madison Avenue, First

New

©

New

Inc.,

PART

York 10016

10 9 7 5 3

TWO

GALLERY OF AIRCRAFT 18-141

American Edition, 2000

2 4 6

Copyright

York,

1

2000 Dorling Kindersley Limited © 2000 Philip Jarrett

Text copyright

The author has

asserted his moral right to

^/890-/9/3

be identified as the author of this work. All rights reserved

under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

part of this publication in

may

No

be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted

any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. Published

in

Glider Pioneers 22

Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited.

First

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Powered Airplanes 24

The Wright Brothers 26

Jarrett, Philip.

Ultimate aircraft p.

THE EARLY YEARS 20-37

/

Philip Jarrett.

French Pioneers 28

cm.

Bl£riot XI

Includes index.

Monoplane 30

ISBN 0-7894-5961-2 1.

Airplanes-History.

TL670.3

.J37

2.

Airplanes-Pictorial works.

I.

Early Designs 32

Title.

2000

The Farman Line 34

629.133'34'09-dc21

00-025755 Color reproduction by Printed and

bound by see

L.

GRB

Rex

Editrice,

Printing

Verona,

Company

our complete catalog at

www.dk.com

Weird

&c

Wonderful 36

Italy

Ltd.,

China

I9I4-/9I#

WAR IN THE AIR World War

I

38-51

Fighters 40

Bristol F.2B Fighter 42

The Fokker Line 44 FokkerD.VII 46

The Sopwith Line 48

World War Bombers 50 I

I9/9-/938

j^fctf^

THE GOLDEN ERA

THE JET AGE DAWNS

52-77

98-119

Airships 54

The

Piston-Engined Airliners Jets &: Turboprops

First Airlinkrs 56

The Trailblazers 58

Jet Fighters

Ford 5-AT-B Tri-Moior 60 Thi Schneider Troi'hv 62

&

Tin

02

1

Bombers

I.(hkheedSR-71A

108

B()iiN(. I.iNi

Boeing B-52C.

The Junkers Line 66

Boeing 747-400

1

VTOL

114

Aircra!

1

1

I

\

I

M< K

)

l<

()

1

\

I

(

K

I

K

04

1970-2000

106

Flying Boats &: Skapi axes 64

Larce Intervcar Airliners 68

100

THE NEW TECI INOLOGY

1

120-141 1

Helicopters I

Warplane Evolution 70

BAe Harrier GR.5 116

Metal Monoplanes 72

Concorde 118

Bell

1

11

AH-IS CohRA 124

Wide-Bodied Airliners 126

The Airbus Line 128

Lockheed Electra 74

General Aviation

The Record Breakers 76

1

Fighters &: Bombers

j>0 1

32

MIG-2IF-13 134

/939-IW5

MiiiiARV Suppt)RT Aircraft

Lockheed

BACK ro WAR 78-97

F-

1

1

"A 138

iME FLrRIRE OF FLIGH

140

I

The New Warplanes 80 The Supermarine Line 82

Bahi

E

PART THRLI

Mk V

84

OF Britain Airc ram

86

Supermarine Spitfire

AVI Al

ION

INNOVATORS

Heavy Bombers 88

142-165

Messerschmitt Bf 109E 90 BoEiNC.

Glossary

B-17G 92

Late- WWII Fighters 94

The

First Jets

96

166

Index 170 W

I

s

I

I

\\

I)

l)K

\(.()M

n

136

ACKNOWl ED(.MENTS

1

76

s^

PART ONE

The History OF Aircraft Up

to the time of the

controlled flight,

December

powered, sustained, and

first

made by

on

the Wright brothers

17,

1903, the evolution of the airplane

was extremely

slow. Since then, progress has been

phenomenal, and aviation has affected the human race like

no other technology.

numerous other

conflicts

aeronautical science and civil

Two

world wars and

have hastened advances its

allied disciplines,

in

and

aviation has shrunk the globe. This chapter

highlights significant events in this exciting story.

ORY OF AIRCRAFT

he he

,^:

sticcess

HISTORY o/' AIRCRAFT

of aviation in the twentieth century has

an achievement

flight

is.

The

first

made

easy to forget

it

powered airplanes were

remarkable

the end product of almost

The rapid development of

years of courageous experimentation.

how

100

aircraft since that time

has been the result of numerous triumphs of invention and applied science. The human

desire to fly like

the birds can be traced back to the earliest days of recorded

The legends of ancient

history.

peoples often contain colorful

accounts of

flights,

most famously

perhaps

Greek

in the

myth of Daedalus and Icarus,

who

in

wax

escape imprisonment on the island of Crete - with tragic

Fantasy flight

consequences for Icarus,

who plummeted

to his

Probably the

"Aerial Steam Carriage" flying over exotic regions

to

human

flight

first

was

person to give serious thought the great artist

and

modern

of the world were widely

Leonardo da Vinci (I452-I5I9), whose manuscripts,

published

tragically

in the early

1840s despite the

fact that

a full-size version of the aircraft built.

a

was never even

covered wooden wings, a tricycle undercarriage,

and

patented in

an

it

and

effort to

set

form what we would

airline to operate

worldwide

and passengers.

Stringfellow,

Henson

built

The following year he

up the Aerial Transit Company

and

who

model with a it

slowly descending powered glides.

and

1849 he

really

time, however,

it

Pilatre

stirred

Cayley into action

he

made

at the

was beneath

air for the first

when

aeronaut

a tethered ascent in a Montgolfier balloon

French court

at Versailles

on October

15,

1783. With the Marquis d'Arlandes, de Rozier

made

the

first

untethered balloon flight the

following month. For

many

years after, aeronauts

in balloons

had no control over

their flight.

The

first

or steerable, balloon

powered

the direction of

flight in a dirigible,

was made by Frenchman

Henri Giffard on September 24, 1852. This

line

of

development eventually led to the airships produced by the German Count Zeppelin from 1900 onward. Heavier-than-air aviation traces to the early nineteenth century,

its

when

origins Sir

free

machine

and towed

back

George

Cayley, a baronet from Yorkshire, England, took

fly in a

built

with

a ten-

flights,

was

the

heavier-than-air aircraft. In

another machine,

in

which

his

coachman made an unpiloted gliding flight across a dale on Cayley's Brompton estate. The coachman then tendered his notice to his employer, saying: "I was hired to drive, and not to fly." reluctant

a balloon. Frangois

first

built a full-size triplane

made both

person to

1853 Cayley

took to the

de Rozier became the

in

year-old boy

first

When humans

20-ft (6-m)

achieved only

reportedly of "several yards." This boy

Balloons and gliders

an

call

Helped by

devised light steam engines,

tested a

a flapper propulsion system. In this

machines - mostly ornithopters (flapping- wing

now

services.

and descriptions and drawings of human-powered

an enclosed nacelle for the pilot

remarkable design for an

"Aerial Steam Carriage."

Henson's experiments

devices), but also including a type of helicopter.

Aerial

lacemaker William Samuel

again,

monoplane with twin

pusher propellers, fabric-

a

contain copious observations on bird- and batflight

flying

Henson's design was

hidden from public view for centuries,

On

science of aerodynamics.

In 1842, English

wingspan during 1844-47, but

scientist

(1.6

Navigation, in which he laid the foundations of the

John

death after flying too close to the sun.

ft

published a three-part paper, entitled

Engravings of English inventor W.S. Henson's

first

m) long. By 1809 he had built a full-sized glider which was successfully flown uncrewed, and in 1809-10 he

Henson developed to

1804 he made the

flight. In

proper model airplane, a glider 5

son

his

used wings of

embedded

feathers

up the study of

THh HISTORY

Ol

Vulnerable vessel Although Henri Gitt.irJs coal diriBiblc balloon" of

envelope containing lifting

manage only 6 mph (9. ft km/h) on its l-hp ste^ engine, and was vulnerable even tf) Nonetheless, it was the first airship to make a powered and controlled flight

flight

French naval officer Felix

de

Croix

la

the

hiiilt

first

airplane able to sustain

A monoplane

air.

li.

France, and

in

dii

Temple

powered

itself in

a series of

the

with swept-forward

biplane and

wings, a retractable undercarriage, and

took off briefly after

a

downhill run

1

monoplane

1

gliders until his death, as

a hot-air engine driving a tractor propeller, it

IHS2 shMrrJth

lightcr-than-air vessel could be stccred.^it could

gas

Experiments with heavier-than-air also took place

r^

^.tj-fiUed

Streamlined

in

the result of a crash, in 1896.

Photographs of lilienthal soaring

1(S'"4.

over spectators' heads were widely published, and

Stham machinfs

he sold several examples of

The last two decades of the nineteenth century saw a flurry of experiments with ambitious steampowered airplanes. In Russia in 1884 Aleksandr Fedorovich Mozhaiskii's large monoplane, powered

glider, the

by two steam engines, with a mechanic at the helm, was launched down a ramp but crashed after a

Pilcher,

Ader 890 when he tested his batmonoplane powered by a 20-hp

No.

1 1

his

most successful

of 1894, to fellow experimenters.

By the 1890s the gasoline engine had emerged as an alternative to the steam engine. In

1899

LilienthaPs greatest disciple. Englishman Percy

was preparing

to

fit

a gasoline

newly completed triplane when he was

motor

to a

killed in a

Samuel Pierpont

short hop. French electrical engineer C^lement

gliding accident. In 1901,

came

the eminent American astronomer, flew a quarter-

to the fore in

winged Eii\l hrjiini;

Hires

IVkv

developed

I'llchcr

Bat, in 1895,

Here he

lets

and

it

tested

float

this it

in

ilienrha! inspired glider, the

1

Scotland with some success.

on the breeze

for the benefit of the

photographer, simply by holding the front ends of the "hiselage" niembers. Pine and

bamboo were

used, and

o\er 100 bracing wires maintained the wing's c"ur>ature.

Single-surface \

CiTcuUr

fin bisects

circular tail plane

American development Octave Chanute and Augustus Herring created this elegant biplane, in the

which made many safe glides in 1896-9". Chanute, a

Indiana sand dunes

railroad engineer, used a cross-bracing system

based on the bridge-builder's Pratt truss,

basis of

which has formed the

most multiplane

bracing systems ever since.

wing with

small number of ribs

THE EARLY YEARS

Powered Airplanes

First

is90'i9i3

Attempts at building powered, human-carrying airplanes date back to the late 1800s,

when

Gasoline-powered cycle

the lack

Wings contain hundreds of custom-made silk feathers

engine drives wingflajiping

of a suitable power plant posed an insurmountable problem. Most experimenters sought the solution in light steam engines, but these were relatively

mechanism

and required large quantities of fuel and water. Such problems did not deter a number of would-be aviators from spending enormous sums of money on their endeavors. inefficient for their weight,

Test frame for

ground

experiments only

Copying the birds Edward

P.

Frost of Cambridgeshire, England, believed the

solution to flight lay in ornithopters, or flapping-wing

machines, that emulated birds. This

test rig, built in

1906,

had elaborate 20-ft (6-m) span wings made of hundreds of

artificial feathers,

driven by a 3-hp

Ship of the air Russian sea captain Aleksandr Mozhaiskii began building his large

monoplane, powered by two English-designed and

steam engines,

-built

launched

down

Krasnoe Selo

at

a

in St. Petersburg in

ramp on

in

1876.

It

was

the military campsite

1884, but crashed after

^^^^^

a short hop.

Stiffening rib

of main icing

Cone-shaped

fuel tank

in front

of engine

Jacob Christian Ellehammer of Copenhagen

Denmark, made (42

m) around II

a tentative tethered flight of 138

a circular track in this

tr

Ellehamnui

semi-biplane on September 12, 1906.

It

wab

driven by an 18-hp three-cylinder motor, which

Ellehammer

24

built,

but had no control s\stem

^^.

BAT

gasoline engine.

POWERED AIRPLANES

1890-1913 FIRST Steam-powered bat

France, distinguished electrical engineer Clement Ader

111

two steam-powered bat-winced aircraft. His hrst, a brief hop «)n October 9, 1890. The Mcond, the Avion III {left), powered by two 20-hp steam engines, was tested twice on a circular track at Satory on v.(>mpleted

the

f^.ole,

()ct()ix-r

managed

12 and 14, IS^^. but failed to

flv.

lu-i) ii'ts

wings

in

of nuin

had very thin wings,

wooden

ribs attached to

two

was maintained by numerous

spars. Their rigidity

bracing wires attached to a "cabane" of struts above the cockpit and to points on the undercarriage. Likewise, the wires for the wing-warping system for lateral control ran

over pulleys on the upper cabane and to a pylon beneath the fuselage.

All-mining tad

hrame crossmember linking main undercarriage legs

The

tail

controls were operated through wires

leading from the cockpit and back along the fuselage.

plane tips act as I

elevators

Spreader bar!

between wheel axle hubs

Tricky to fly While wing warping made the Bleriot Xl's lateral control rather

sluggish, the lack of a fixed fin

made Fuselage girder consists of

four longerons linked by horizontal struts

and

vertical

and wire-braced

it

sensitive directionally.

This example instead of a

(right) tail

has a skid

wheel and

a

normal elevator rather than the all-moving

tail

plane tips that

were originally used. Rudder with balance Elevator horn to which

areas forward of

operating cables from

hinge line

cockpit are attached

Supporting pylon for tad wheel

t levators at ends of,

tad plane piifU around tail-plane spar

31

THE EARLY YEARS

mo-m Early Designs From 1910

aviation developed rapidly in both Europe and

the US, as a growing

number of small companies

Many

a great assortment of designs.

originated

of these companies were

to disappear without a trace, but others, such as Avro, Blackburn,

and Handley Page in Great Britain, Curtiss and Martin in the US, and Sikorsky in Russia were destined to grow into great manufacturing enterprises employing thousands of people. Initially, however, their founders often had to strive against great difficulties before achieving recognition or success. Like a bird

The

on the wing

elegant Taube ("Dove")

monoplane design -

seen here in a 191 1/12 version built by

Rumpler - was developed but adopted by various

was so-named because

Edmund

Germany by Igo Etrich, manufacturers. The aircraft

its

in

wing planform resembled

that of the bird. In this illustration, the Taube's

complex wing bracing system can be seen

clearly.

Successful Soviet

Blackburn on the beach Russian Igor Sikorsky built the world's

first

successful

large airplanes. Starting with the Bolshoi Baltiskiy, or

Grand,

in

1913, he then built a series of

Mouromets

biplanes

Il'ya

powered by four 100-hp Argus

engines. This non-flying reproduction of one of the latter types

32

was

built for

movie use

in the

1980s.

was powered by a 50-hp monoplane a top speed of 70 mph (113 km/h). Blackburn monoplanes were often flown from the beach at Filey, Yorkshire. This picture shows Robert Blackburn's Mercury

Gnome

a

II

of 1911

engine, which gave the 32-ft (9.75-m) span

Mercury

II

at that location attracting the locals'

admiring gazes.

18

90-1913 EARLY DESIGNS

Successful sportster rom

I

1*^1 1,

produced

as this

many

the .Morane-liorel Saulnier

a series ot sporting

one

company

monoplanes, such

(right), that cnjoyeil

successes in races,

both as landplanes

and seaplanes.

They had no

fixed

i.iil

only elevators, which

pl.iiie,

made

the pitch contro

rather sensitive. 1 he wing-warping t)n

these

mechanism

monoplanes was very

sluggish.

Magnificent flying machine

'

i'yiuti fur

warft

control wires I

lu-

ot

Farmaii-inspircJ Bristol B«)\ Kite

1910-11, produced by the

Leaf spring between wheels

British

Spiral- lube radiators

for water cuoIihk

and Ciolomal Aeroplane Company (later Bristol

I,

and was bought by the Russian governments.

were

built,

Winning formula

met with great success, British

A

A

and

total of ''S

50-hp Cinome rotary engine. This

made

tor the

the

Men

Machines,

on calm days.

still flies

in a line

movie

Those Mji;nificent

in Their

Hying

a

60-hp F.NV first

of successful aircraft for

Avro company tounded by

Alliort

Verdon Roe.

It

was soon

followed by the company's .SOO, and, great

Pilot's steering ,

powered by

water-cooled engine, was the

powered by the ubiquitous

reproduction,

sharp two-seater, the Type E

{left),

later,

the 504, of which a

many were produced.

Deeply arc he J wing section

wheel control

early

^Wing warping for control in

H

'*

roll

Kingpost bracing to wingtips

Tall tail skid ensures level

position

11)1

vriiiitul

The Yellow Peril The

stylish,

yellow-varnished, crescent wings of

Frederick Handlcy Page's Type h the

nickname "Yellow

Peril" (a

monoplane earned

name

the time to Ciold Flake cigarettes).

made doubly

eye-c.itching by

it

also applied at

The its

aircraft

was

blue fuselage.

33

THE EARLY YEARS

The Farman Line

mo'im ^W^

The brothers Henry and Maurice Farman,

French-

LX^I

domiciled children of English parents, both created

A-l i

successful families of aircraft before setting

up

their

joint company in 1912. Henry began by buying a Voisin box-kite biplane in 1907 and progressively modifying it until he had a practical machine. By 1909 he was building his own designs. His classic HF III biplane was copied worldwide.

Maurice began building his own machines in 1909, and evolved the MF.7 and 11, which became standard military trainers. Proven warhorse Biplane to triplane

Appearing

November 1907 Henry Farman

In

modified his Voisin biplane into triplane

form by adding a short-

span third upper surface. in this it

had

Ibis,

50-hp Antoinette engine

and was equipped with ailerons for lateral control,

though

it

retained the Voisin's quaint sidecurtains between the wings.

Favored steed The

classic

Farman

HF

pre-World III

was

War

sold

I

Farman

biplane, the

its

many famous

Henry

around the world. Usually

powered by the 50-hp Gnome rotary engine, choice of

pilots.

upper wing to increase

lift

summer

it

was

the

This one has extensions to

and reduce landing speeds.

of 1912, the

Henry Farman either a

Gnome

served

or Le

Rhone 80-hp

throughout World

Known

form as the Farman a

in the

HF.20 military three-seater was powered by

War

I,

rotary engine.

latterly

It

mainly as a

trainer.

1890-1913 THE

FARMAN LINE

Strjiiiht ifing

The

rather tlimsy-lookm^

Henry Farman Monoplane

an an);ular two-seater with winn, appeared

hjhric-coi'ereJ,

It

U'ire-hrjcfJ. ivooden

a speed of

t.iil

1907

first

1909

Europe

The Maurice Karnian

Henry Farman makes country

1909

HF

III

flight in

first

cross-

Europe

Maurice Farmans

first

with

pl.inc,

having only

it

lacked a fixed

fin

movable rudder and

a

and

elevator.

in

1912.

A

pusher biplane,

a water-cooled Renault engine

booms

it

and

that extended

forward to carry an elevator,

m

January Becomes France's

at that

time becoming a trademark feature of

largest aircraft factory

MF7

.\1K2 seaplane,

exaggerated wing-stagger, took

distinctive curved

Avions Henri et

Advent of the

Its

Monaco had

Joint factory,

1936 Company

100-1 10 kni/h). Like some

design

Maurice Farman. opens

1912

(

part in the hydroairplane meeting at

biplane introduced

appears

1912

dl-hH mph

^Vh (lO-m) planklike dnome rotary engine ^avc

a

II. Its

Staggered seaplane

6-mile (l-km) closed-circuit

1908

*^

hu. huc.hts

Henry Farman achieves the flight in

I

other designs of the period,

gtrJer fiiseLige

Company

in

this familv of aircraft.

"Longhorn

"

nationalized, the

Precursor of the "Longhorn"

brothers retire

Seen here

in its

Michelin Ir

developed form, the Maurice Farman Type (Joupe first

flew

in

19 10, powered by a 5()-hp Renault engine.

introduced the forward elevator mounted on curved booms, ind foreshadowed the appearance 1

in

1913 of the MF.7,

ubiquitous military trainer nicknamed the

Longht)rn,"

for

obvious reasons.

It

ongmalK

had equal-span upper and lower wings uith side-curtams near their

tips.

WMmm Air-supported ailerons tahrtc-cuvered

i

Powered by

a

50-hp

Gnome

rotary engine, the

naiclle for pilot

Henry Farman 1/1 parasolwmged monoplane

and passenger Extended-span

upper wing

I

appeared

in

mid- 1910. Easily visible

photograph are

its

hung down when

the

I

ailerons

the

which

machine was on the ground

hut were supported by the airflow

Sprung main undercarruige

in

"single acting' aileron*,

moved downward

onlv,

in flight.

The

manipulated via

cables from the pilot's control column.

THE EARLY YEARS

Weird

mo'im

&c

Wonderful

Strange and eccentric designs have appeared throughout the course of aviation's development, but during the pioneer years they were evident in abundance.

Many

ambitious inventors,

full

of faith and

optimism but often having little knowledge of aerodynamics and structures, built machines incorporating their pet theories, hoping for fame and fortune. Sadly, quite a number of their ingenious machines had no real hope of success, even if they did manage to get off the ground. Gcis bcilloon

Assisted takeoff In France in

1910

a Belgian

named Cesar

Prini-Berthaud engine driving a pusher propeller. it

into the air he

sausage-shaped balloon envelope,

new form

his futile

in

contraption was

described as a "'biplan mixte."

was

augment dynamic lift

added

which

a

generated by

aircraft's

Called Diapason - French for the tuning fork that

it

resembled -

in a

this aircraft

had

its

wings swept back

curve. Built by Louis Schreck and

intended to

built a

cumbersome short-span tandem biplane with a four-wheel undercarriage, powered by a 50-hp In a vain effort to help

Flying fork

wings

Gnome fly in

rotary engine,

1911.

it

powered by

did actually

a

50-hp

wide

1890-191? WKIRD

8c

WONDERFUL

Humble beginning InlrrfiLinf

No.

Built in 1909, the Brcnuct-Richct

was renamed

^

slruli link fraiil sfKirs

only

BrcRuet No.

I,

and as such was the

this s;hts

SO hp Renault ennine until

i-r.islud at the

hy

under it

1909 Reims meeting.

S^cflle carries

and cnninc

fill it

NO-HOPER Wingnp drandly called the Hercolitc Phenomenon, Victor Thuau's crude monoplane of 1910 had short-span, sail-type wings and a deeply arched tail plane. Installing a

and changing

»r

pr«)pellers

single

it

to

Jiij^tnci:

main

more powerful cngme

could not induce

stahilizix

wheels

irln,

at center

fly.

Engine mounted

Marine pioneer

in

nose of fuselage

Despite

Its

quaint appearance, Henri

Fabre's hydroairplane, later

named

Flydravion, was the world's

first

Ailerons at lips of

aircraft to

make

a

powered takeoff

from water, on .March 28, 1910.

powered by

a

50-hp

upper

and middle It

wings

was

Gnome Omega

rotary engine. Sadly, the design lacked

development potential. Engine and propeller at

mounted

extreme rear

of aircraft

Armored astra Spanning over 42

ft

6

Astra Triplane of 1911 Flenri

Oeutsch de

la

in

(13 m), the ungainly armor-plated

was

built

Meurthe.

under the sponsorship of

Its

four huge

mam

wheels were

centered on the leading edge of the lower wing, and

crew of two on

its

it

carried a

75-hp Renault engine. Only one was

built.

Concentric circular

wings connected

Iifin floats

at rear

,

hitel

hy vanes

tank at rear

of triangular-

girder fuselage

Flap or flop The .Marquis

I'icar

du Breuil sponsored the construction

of three monoplanes with steel-tube wing leading edges

supporting loose fabric wings

set at

an acute angle.

.Although the machines had rudders and elevators, there

seems to have been no provision for

lateral control.

Flying

in

circles

Cilaude Ciivaudan built this curious machine,

with

its

tandem concentric -circle wings,

in

1911. Flach wing unit could pivot, the front for control in pitch

and the rear

control. Unfortunately,

its

engmc could not persuade

(or directional

40- hp Vcrmorcl it

t tl\.

.?.

1914-1918^

War ALTHOUGH saw

in

the Air

SOME ATTENTION had been given

to

its

military potential diirini; the early years.

World War

the airplane mature from a

machine

frail,

unreliable

a sturdy workhorse. Aerial reconnaissance, liaison

I

into

bombing, and

provided valuable support to the armies on the

ground; and the need to either prevent these duties from being carried out, or to protect the aircraft performing them,

A NEW

led to the

BEGINNING

War

This late-World

I

grew

development of the "scout," or

in size

fighter.

and complexity and took the war

Bombers

to the cities

poster encouraged

men to join Britain's new Royal Air Force, which came into being on April

1918,

when

I,

and towns of the combatant nations. This,

in turn, led to

creation of national defense forces and nightfighters. At sea, the operation of airplanes from ships

became

routine, while

the

Royal Flying Corps

and Royal Naval

the

fixing

submarine.

boat

became

In parallel

a

useful

weapon

against

the

with these dexelopments, structures,

Air Service were

combined.

the

German warbird The Albatros DA' ot 1917/18 was one of (lermany's foremost

World War

I

fighters,

and had elegant,

weapons, and equipment

steadiK' improved.

curvaceous

lines.

39

WAR

THE AIR

IN

World War

i9i4'im World War

I

were known

saw fighter airplanes (or "scouts" as they develop from relatively frail and

I

Fighters

-

at the time)

primitively-armed machines, intended primarily to protect

reconnaissance and bomber aircraft, into maneuverable single-seaters.

that were

The

later

much more

machines could be deployed

in roles

aggressive than their established ones.

Crucially, the perfection of gun-synchronization devices

eventually enabled the fighters' guns to be fired through the arc of the revolving propellers, the pilot simply having to

aim

his aircraft at his

opponent and press the

trigger.

Pfalz fighter The 1917

Pfalz D.III

was armed with twin Spandau

machine guns and powered by

Mount

a

160-hp Mercedes

watercooled engine. Top speed was 103

of aces

mph

inline

(165 km/h).

Along with the Sopwith Camel, the Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a of

1917-18 was the of the war.

finest British fighter

Powered by

a Fiispano-

Suiza or Wolseley Viper inline engine, it

had a Vickers gun on the fuselage

and a Lewis gun above the upper wing.

Top speed was 138 mph (222 km/h).

The German Fokker D.VII entered and quickly proved

itself in

highly maneuverable, 1

85-hp

and

delightful to

BMW inline engine gave

of 124

mph

service in

combat, being

(200 km/h).

It

it

fly. Its

a top speed

was armed with

twin Spandau machine guns.

Gallic style The elegant French Nieuport

fighters, represented here

the Nieuport 17 of 1916,

were small and

Le Rhone rotary engines.

A

mounted on

40

agile,

by

powered by

Lewis machine gun was often

the upper wing, firing

above the propeller

arc.

1918

sensitive,

1914-1918

WORLD WAR

I

FIGHTERS

Fast Frenchman All-utunien

semt-monocoqiif

The Moranc Type

fusebf't'

90 mph control,

(

N

of 1916,

known

as the Bullet because of

144 kni/h) top speed, h.id winj;-warpinn for

and elevators hut

n«) tixed tail

plane. 1 here

wedges were

interrupter gear as yet, so steel

its

lateral

was no gun

fitted to the

hacks

of the propeller hiades to deflect any mistimed bullets.

I

jri;c

domed

ifiinncr over l>ri,iH-lU-r

hith

Aggressive Albatros I

he

mount

ot

many German aces, the Albatrj)s moniKoque fuselage with

elegantly streamlined installed

DV

180/200-hp Mercedes water-cooled engine.

an excellent combat

aircraft, but in a

had an

a neatly It

was

prolonged dive could

break up, owing to faulty design of the smaller lower wing. ^'ing warping

provides Literal control Pilot's

cockpit bctivcen

fuel tank/engine and

\ hahric-covered

gunner's position

fuselage faired to circular cross-

Movable ioiin Lewis machine gun on spigot mounting .

section

Potent pusher Before gun synchronization, one

uay

ot

overcoming the forward-firing

gun problem was to have engine and a gunner pilot.

The Vickers

1^14-15 used

in

F.B.5

a pusher

front of the

Gunbus

of

this layout successfully,

although the drag of the extra

tail

bracing and struttery imposed heavy

pertormance penalties.

Hoops protect wingtips during ground maneuvering, takeoff, and landing

Popular mount

A

»ine

French

tighter,

the Spad XIII of 1917-18 had a

2.^5-hp water-c«K)lcd Hispano-Suiza engine and

was

armed with twin .30.Vin Vickers machine guns. Nearly 8,500 were built,

equipping many Allied si|ii.ulr(ins.

Long exhaust

pipes

alonx: fuseU\;e sides

\

Bungee-sprung wheels with fabric covers over wire spokes

Skids protect forward

J

to prevent aircraft

nosing over on landing

41

WAR

THE AIR

IN

m-m

Bristol F.2B Fighter

Designed by Captain Frank Sowter Barnwell of the British and Colonial Aeroplane Co., the flew, as the Bristol F,2A,

Bristol Fighter first

on September

9,

1916.

service with Britain's

1917

was flown

it

When

it first

entered

Royal Flying Corps

in

as a reconnaissance

airplane; but once the correct strategy for

formations of four or

was worked out

five

two-seat fighters

became

it

a

popular and

Long service history By the end of October 1918 total of

a

1,754 Bristol Fighters

had been delivered, and 1,583 remained

in

RAF

Force) service.

(Royal Air

They served

well into the interwar years,

notably

Middle

in India

and the

The last Mk IVs were withdrawn from East.

service in

1931-32.

effective fighting machine.

Beast of burden The F.2B 25-lb

(1

Mk

1-kg)

1

on racks under

The

RAF

could carry up to a dozen

Cooper high-explosive bombs

post- World

its

fuselage and lower wing.

War

I

Mk

IV flown by the

could carry four Cooper

bombs

two 112-lb (50-kg) bombs and gun on the lower wing

a

or

camera

An

center-section.

aerial-reconnaissance camera, a radio, and

heating equipment could also be attached.

9'/2-ft

(3-m) diameter propeller

down

to

is

geared

improve efficiency

Specification

^^ BB (11.96 m) Winqspan 39ft3 Lenqth 25ft10in(7.87 m) |H 9 (2.97 m) Height 9 Jap' Loaded weight 2,848 (1,292 MKCi ^fc^ ^1..* Top speed 123 mph (198 km/h) ^H (255 m) per mm Rate of climb 838 ^H ll Service ceiling 20,000 (6,096 m) Armament Two machine quns; ^H 1 Engine 275-hp Rolls-Rovce Falcon

III

water-cooled VI 2

in

,.-

ft

M^

in

lb

kq)

1

tt

ft

.303-in

up to twelve 25-lb (11 -kg) Cooper bombs on underwing racks

Crew

42

2

^^

ailerons

on upper

and lower wings

1914-1918 BRISTOL F.2B FIGHTER amttuti\l wtHidcn

Dial radiator with

Single streamlined

propeller with brass-

ad/iistahle lom-ers

"Rafwires" take

sheathed leading edge

to control cooling

landing loads

I

Double streamlined

Twii-ipjr fabric-

"Rafwires" take

covered uintden wing

firing load*

Streamlined

Wingtip hoops guard against

sfiriice

inlerplane struts

damage during landing and taxiing between wheels

Refined fighter

Unsheltered cockpit Triplex glass

.\U)st

examples ot the F.2B, which

Ihe cockpit of the F.2B looks sparse

windshield

incorporated some design refinements

by modern standards, but

over the original F.2A, were powered by

of a World

Padded on cockpit rim

leather

various versions of the Rolls-Royce

pilot

high fur-lined Airspeed indicator

and observer/gunner

is

typical

winter the fur-

and thigh"fug boots" - or the

one-piece Sidcot flying suit - plus

were seated close together, allowing easy in- flight

it

aircraft. In

lined leather flying coat

engme, although other engines were also

The

I

occupants would have worn a long

Falcon 12-cylmder-V water-cooled

used.

War

helmet, goggles, scarf, and gloves

communication.

as protection against the cold.

tgine- ret < >luti<

Murahle

m

counter

single

or twin .iOi-in

Lewis machine gun

Rudder has ni.l.li

I

all-

'T itti.-

Long exhaust pipe carries

fumes clear

of pilot and gunner

Wire-braced /

wooden

fuselage

frame, covered with

doped

fabric

Hungee- Sprung lailskid

on support pylon

Llevators

and

fins

are steel-framed

with spruce ribt

43

WAR

THE AIR

IN

The Fokker Line

/9/4-/9I8 /^-'ft

!^CA^n

^y^Ji!^ ^^

1910, 20-YEAR-OLD Dutchman Anthony Fokker built the first of his Spin ("Spider") ^'^

monoplanes, and just two years later he formed the Fokker Aviation Company. During World War I Fokker's products included such famous fighters as the eindecker (monoplane) scouts, the Dr.l triplane,

and the D.VII, while the interwar years saw the development of a series of successful airliners and military aircraft. After a hiatus during World War II, the company continued with production from 1945 until 1996, when it went bankrupt.

Laterally stable Spin Anthony Fokker's Spin designs were

all

monoplanes with a sharp dihedral angle wings for

lateral stability.

The

M

low-wing to their

series of

two-

seat military trainers followed this format.

The

airplane pictured here

is

a

1913

variant of the M.I.

Fabric-covered iviiifis

engine

on port

side

Engine cowling houses

Five-seat airliner

modern

radial engine in

this replica aircraft

Designed

in

passengers

and

1920, the

F.III

airliner

a welded-steel-tube fuselage,

and

had

The

customer for

type of engine fitted

five

in the earliest

this type

was Dutch

was chosen by

versions

open cockpit.

to endure the discomfort of an

the pilot first

accommodated

had a cantilevered wooden wing

in its cabin. It

airline

KLM. The

the purchaser.

Lower portion of engine exposed for cooling and emission of lubricant

Military discharge Following the

style set

by the Spin

series, the

M.III of 1913 Single I

was designed by a Mr. Palm under Fokker's instructions. It had a slab-sided fuselage and a distinctive streamlined rudder, but no fin. Powered by a 100-hp Mercedes or 70-hp Renault engine - giving It

it

a top speed of

60 mph (96 km/h) -

proved unsuitable for army use and production was halted.

Palm was

44

fired

when

his

next design, the M.IV, also

failed.

interplane struts link

ivDig spars

Fairing covers

spreader bar

between wheels

1914-1918 THE FOKKER

MM

The shape of wings to come

Company 1912

hic.hlights The

Fokker Aviation Limited

IS

formed on Feb 22

to enter service in

triplane

1

goes into

and the produaion

wing

flies,

1919 The V45. prototype of the F makes its maiden flight in Oct

1936 The D

Anthony Fokker

1955

F27

1996

Fokker

Friendship files

dies first

fighter Its

later

formed the basis of the aircraft.

a rotary

ike the Dr.l. the

I). VIII

engine and a pair of fixed, forward-firing

machine guns above the engine.

Foreign I

licenses to build Fokkers granted

1939

1.

had

1

1925 The forerunner of the F Vllb3m, the FVII-3m. flies on Sept 4 flies.

VX'ar

company's postwar transport

II.

XXI fighter

Fokker

last

World

welded-steel-tuhe fuselage and wcmhIcii

1915 The El eindecker scout appears 1917 The prototype Or

D.Vill, a sleek, parasol-winged

monoplane, was the

Company

Point

'n'

shoot

Fokkcr's

flown

F.III

ntfrrii/tler

gear allows gun to

fire,

between revolving propeller blades

on Dec 23

cmdcckcr of 1915/16,

based on the French Moranc-Saulnicr

for bankruptcy

designs, had an interrupter gear fitted to

Horn-halanced ailerons

its

pilot

on top

niachine-gun armament. The

merely aimed his aircraft at

an enemy fighter and pressed

H'lni; i>nly

the trigger. Allied casualties were heavy until

countermeasures were taken.

Turboprop success One fillet

fin

area

of the most successful

F.27 Friendship

increases

Fokker based

his highly

rotary -cngined

i

maneuverable

1917 Dr.l

the

"DC-3 replacements,"

worlds

commercial transport. Flown

^

1955,

Red Baron's mount

was

it

was powered by

Fokkcr's

turboprop-powered

for the first time in

November and had

a pair of Rolls-Royce Darts

a pressurized passenger cabin. license bv Fairchild

bestselling

m

The

the

US

aircraft

was

as the F-27

built

under

and FH-IZ".

triplane fighter

on the Sopwith Triplane. .Armed with two torward-finng machine guns,

it

gained

fame as the mount of aces such as Barun Manfred von Richthofen ^ho claimed a record

80

victories.

First

the

flown

in

November

I98f>.

Fokker 100 shori-to-mcdium

range airliner carries 107 passengers

in its

standard

configuration, and

two

A Tail

is

powered by

Roils Roycc Tay turbofans.

corporate and VIP version,

plane

hracinK strut

the Executive Jet 100,

was also Range

available in an Fvtended

Biingeesprung Vinif-tip skids

'revent

damage

durint( lanJinfi

I

tail

model with increased

skid

capacity.

A

Fokker "O.

fuel

shorter variant, the vKas

launched

in

1^**?.

45

WAR

IN

THE AIR

m-m FoKKER The D.VII prototype,

the V.II of 1917,

won

D.VII a

German

competition for single-seat fighting scouts in January 1918,

and the design was soon put into production, reaching operational units in April. By the autumn over 40 Jastas (fighter squadrons) had received D.VIIs, and it gained a reputation as the best German fighter of World War I. By the time of the Armistice almost 4,000 D.VIIs had been ordered from Fokker and other builders. It was the only aircraft specified in the Armistice agreement among items of military equipment to be handed over to the Allies,

The Fokker way The

D.VII's fabric-covered fuselage used

the welded steel tube box-girder that

had become

common

The system of

in

struts

Fokker

aircraft.

between the two

wings eliminated the need for draginducing bracing wires.

Radtator mounted in frniit of

engine

Choice of colors

One

of the

many

pilots to fly the

notable fighter

D.VII was

Hermann Goering, who commanded Jagdgeschwader Like many German fighter pilots he

had

I.

his airplane

painted to his personal taste,

choosing the overall white finish seen here. Although the D.VII initially

had a 160-hp Mercedes

engine, later models were

equipped with a 185-hp

BMW.

Specification Engine 185-hp in-line

BMW

III

six-cylinder

water-cooled

Wingspan 29

ft

3

in

(8.9

m)

Length 23 ft (7 m) Height 9 ft 2 in (2.75 m) Loaded weight 1,870 lb (850 kg) Top speed 16.6 mph (186.5 km/h) 1

Rate of climb 3,280 ft (1,000 m) Ceiling 22,900 ft (6,980 m)

Armament Two

fixed forward-firing

Spandau macliine guns

Crew

46

1

in 2'A

Wire-spoked wheel with fabric covers

1914-1918 FOKKER D.VM Wooden

Twu-bladed lammjtfJ

cjniilever-slruclured

wing

iiiinJcn priipt'llcr

\ Most new

D.V'lls

"lozenpes," which from a distance merge to form an effective camouflage.

The

use of prmted fabric avoided the weight of pigmented paint ("dope"),

although protective coats of clear dope and matt lacquer were

still

applied.

Rudder iontrol

(Me emerging

were covered with linen printed with patterns of irregular

from fuselage Spruttfi

wooden

tail'

tkid with steel shoe

WAR

IN

THE AIR

m-m The Although years, the

it

Sop with Line existed for only eight

Sopwith Aviation

Company

produced a rich variety of aircraft types, of which more than 18,000 were built by the parent company and subcontractors. Founded by Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith at Kingston-on-Thames, England, in 1912, the company first attained prominence when its Tabloid seaplane won the 1914 Schneider Trophy contest. It went on to build some of the greatest airplanes of World War I, including the Pup and Camel single-seat fighters; and Sopwith aircraft were used by both the military and naval air arms of the Allied forces.

Slow The

start

first

Sopwith airplane,

hybrid appeared

in

this

July 1912.

with wings based on those of

two-seat Sopwith-Wright

Its

a

new

fuselage

Before being replaced with an 80-hp version,

Gnome

rotary engine gave

slow even

Fabric-covered twospar wire-braced

wooden wing

Water wings The

first

successful British flying boat, the Bat Boat appeared in

1913. The wheel-equipped version seen here, powered by a 100-hp engine,

won

aircraft

on July

£500 Mortimer Singer

the

prize for

amphibious

8 of that year. Several other variants

were

built.

Fabric-covered,

unbalanced rudder with

steel-

tube frame

Sprung wooden

tail

skid with metal shoe

In

1919 Sopwith produced the 360-hp Rolls-Royce Eagle-

engined Atlantic for an attempt at the Daily Mail's £10,000 prize for the first

Hawker and St.

nonstop transatlantic

flight. Pilot

Johns, Newfoundland, on

May

to ditch. Both

left

18, 1919, but incorrect

operation of the radiator cooling louvers forced

48

Harry

navigator Lt. Cdr. K.K. Mackenzie-Grieve

men were

Hawker

successfully rescued.

_

in those days.

it

was paired

Wright-type pusher biplane.

a speed of 55

Only two were

its

mph

built.

70-hp (88.5 km/h),

19I4-I918 THE SOPWITH

SmM U'lndihwUI iitUihcJ to rear

Company highlights

of X'ickers

1912

1914

.

?(M-/w nuuhine

nnn

Sopwith Aviation Company founded Tabloid seaplane wins Schneider

Trophy contest at

191S Prototype

1

Monaco

k Strutter appears

1916 Sopwith Pup nnakes as does F

1

first flight,

Camel.

1917 Sopwith Cuckoo,

first

landplane

torpedo earner capable of carrier operation, appears

1919 Harry Hawker attempts nonstop transatlantic flight

1920 Large

bill causes Sopwith to company, he forms H.G Hawker Engineering

tax

liquidate

Named

.iftiT

the unusual arrangement ot

intcrplane struts, the

compact two-scat aircraft.

It

I

'

Strutter

was

its

a

fighter reconnaissance

Triple trouble

pioneered the concept that led

to the Bristol Fighter,

Allied aircraft to

go

and was the

into

first

combat with

synchronized forward-firing gun. served as a shipboard fighter.

The Sopwith Triplane

It

a

also

of

\^\h

succeeded the Pup. but was used operationally only by the

A

very agile

combat

single-seat fighter

allow

Its

RNAS

aircraft, this

was designed

to

pilot the best possible field

of view and ensure maiuuverabiiit\

WAR

IN

THE AIR

»M-i9« When war

World War I Bombers

broke out

in

1914 most airplanes could carry only

small bombs, which were dropped over the side of the observer's cockpit. Soon, however, purpose-designed

Two-spar wooden wing with fabric covering

bombers appeared, with

on racks beneath the fuselage and wings or housed within a special bay in the fuselage. These were released by a mechanism operated by the pilot or bombaimer. Bombing raids on civilian populations and industrial targets became an accepted practice. ^v their deadly cargoes either carried

Four-hladed wooden propeller with fabric-covered

tips

Day and night bomber Introduced into service towards the end of 1916, the

AEG

G.IV

laciced the range

German Nacelle for Mercedes engine

and Hfting power of the Gothas

mounted on lower wing

but was built in large numbers and served until the war's end,

performing day and night raids on Allied targets behind the hnes.

It

carried an 880-lb (400-kg)

bomb

load.

Tail surfaces carried

on twin boom

extensions of engine nacelles

Large

Germany's Gotha bombers were widely used for daylight raids

England Italian triplane In Italy,

Caproni produced

a range of

carried in a special streamlined

bombers, including the Ca 4

span Ca 42.

bomb

Up

to

series of

26 small bombs were

carrier attached to the

bottom wing.

on London and southern

the later

G.III seen here

triplanes, such as this 98-ft (30-m)

50

in

war

years.

The Gotha

had two 260-hp engines

driving pusher propellers, and introduced a rear-fuselage tunnel enabling a defending

gunner to

fire

downward beneath

its tail.

horn-

balanced

rudder

I

1914-iyiS NXDKII) \XAR

Developed

late

m

(tiitincr

the war, the V'ickers

FB.2~ V'lmy three-seat bomber {below) entered service with the

RAF

too

BO.MBIRS

I

i

position in front

of engine nacelle

late

for active participation in the conflict,

but became a standard postwar type. It

spanned 68

ft

(20.7 m) and earned a

2.4-'6-lb (1,123-kR)

bomb

load.

Position for front gunner/

bomh-aimer

Kciir gunner's position with

mounting

Shadow over

the Eastern Front

for single or twin Lewis machine guns

The Staakcn

R.III, built

by the Zeppclin-

VCcrke Staakcn, was one of Germany's most successful R-plancs.

.Mercedes 1

^S

;-ft

I). Ill

Powered by

engines

in

six IftO-hp

tandem

pairs, this

i42.2-m)-span monster serscd on the

Kastern Front in 1916-17.

It

882-1, 764-lb (400-800-kg)

carried an

bomb

load.

51

The Golden Era WORLD

WAR

I

HAD BOOSTF.D

airplane production to

Linsustainably high levels, and with

its

end

air forces

were downsized and orders canceled. Manufacturers found that the militar\

market

for

could nor afford new aircraft, and the

custom-designed

airlines using crudely

civil

aircraft

was

tiny,

many

converted bombers. As the 1930s

approached, things slowly improved. Helped by pioneering long-distance and survey flights, the larger airlines began

Long-server Although

to stretch their networks across Legend revived This 193()s poster,

and record-breaking

flights

and between continents,

pushed the technology steadily

forward. This period saw radical developments

in

both

airhnc

KIM,

relates

military and

modern technology to the legend of the

Flying

The is

a

Dutchman.

metal

cixil

aircraft,

with the advent of sleek

monoplanes with enclosed crew and passenger

accommodation, retractable undercarriages, autopilots,

1936, and was

outbreak of World II,

the Faircy

Swordfish torpedo

bomK-r served valiantly with Britain's Fleet Air

Ann throughout

aircraft depicted

Fokker KVIII.

all-

entered

obsolescent by the

War

advertising Dutch

It

service as early as

and devices

to

improve low-speed handling and

safety.

the entire conflict.

53

THE GOLDEN ERA

im-im Airships Once Frenchman Henri Giffard had airship in

flown

1852 and demonstrated that such

in his

steam-powered

a craft could be

controlled, the airship developed steadily. There are three basic types:

nonrigid, in which the envelope's shape

is

maintained by the pressure

of the gas and air ballonets therein; semi-rigid, which has a rigid keel

form and to support the loads; and rigid, in which a framework gives the airship its shape. Although airships are still with us, they have never regained the prominence they attained in the early years of the 20th century. to help maintain the envelope's

A ~1'

giant's tragic end

Fusiform" (tapering)

envelope reduces resistance

of vessel

in

forward

flight

Launched

airship conceived

French airship

the

Lebaudy

Patrie,

was buih

by Pierre and Paul Lebaudy 1906. Over 200 it

ft

(61

m)

1

containers plus

Of

its

to that

mph

1907 when carried

(45 km/h).

It

ft

37

was

It

mooring

at Lakehurst,

was

804

flights,

while approaching

May

speed of 28

63

largest

were ocean crossings.

a

out to sea by a stray wind. Hull encloses

in

(245 m).

long,

had a 60-hp engine and

lost in

up

time, with a length of

This French semi-rigid airship,

6,

1937,

its

New Jersey, when

it

flames. Although 35 crew

passengers died

lost

on

burst into

and

in the disaster,

62 were saved.

7 separate gas 1

LZ

1936, Zeppelin

in

129 Hindenburg was the

.„-^

7 fuel tanks

Control gondola and passenger section

Forward engine car on each side with a 530-hp

Maybach engine from which framework and car are suspended

"Wide fabric belts carry cables

Second to none? Developed and in

built at

Farnborough, England,

1907 under Col. John Capper and

Army

Dirigible

No.

1,

(26 km/h).

Its

it

could

A

was

120-ft (36.6-m)

fly at

only 16

mph

performance was even worse

when "improved"

54

Cody,

Nulli Secundus,

Britain's first military airship.

long semi-rigid,

S.F.

in a

1908 reconstruction.

Small forward control surfaces in

framework

beneath envelope

1919-1938 AIRSHIPS Flight to disaster In the

1920s a scheme for airship services linking the

various parts of the British Fmpire resulted

in

the

construction of two large rigid airships, one of

which was the government-built R 101. After a troubled

development,

it

set

oH on

its

inaugural flight to India on October 4,

1930. in

The next day

it

crashed

France, taking 48 hves.

Small, tail

suept^

surfaces I

large in

fins

and

tail

planes

ne ^SS-hp

Jiesel engines in

cars suspended beneath hull

crucifDrm arrangement

Lost at sea

One

11

of America's last

two

Ck)odycar-Zeppe!in USS

large rigid airships, the

Mjcon

21, 1933, a few weeks after Akriin, It

had

was wrecked

a top speed of

carry four Curtiss

first

its sister

ship, L'SS

at sea. Built for the

84

mph

(

I

on April

flew

US Navy,

35 km/h) and could

Sparrowhawk

single-seat fighters,

which could be launched and retrieved while the airship

was

in flight.

February 12, 1935,

&-• :.»,

\

Suffering a structural failure on

Mjcon came down

#4 proved very effective

Representing the acme of Zeppelin design, and benefiting

from the company's unmatched airship experience before

and during World War Seprcmbcr 18, 1928.

in

It

Graf Zeppelin first flew on was over 776 ft (236 m) long, had

I,

the

volume of 3,708,040 cu 79.5

sea.

mph

March 1940

(

it

ft

(105,000 cu m), and could

128 km/h). By the time

it

was broken up

had become the most famous and most

successful airship ever built, having

made 590

flights.

from duralumin girders

Airship advertising

Goodyear produced

Superstar of the skies

fly at

open

Wire-braced and fabric -covered hull built

a

in

familiar the

now

for the in

US Navy

a series of nonrigid airships,

an antisubmarine role during

NX'orld \Xar

II.

which .More

are the company's smaller public-relations airships, such as

Coliimhu IV of ]^~A, with illuminated advertising on

their sides.

THE GOLDEN ERA

m-ms The First Airliners WHEN COMMERCIAL

AIR transportation began to get off ground after World War I, many of the aircraft used were hastily converted military bomber and

Auxiliary fuel tanks

beneath upper wing

the

,

reconnaissance machines. In some cases the intrepid passengers needed to be quite hardy to endure the discomfort of basic seating, minimal facilities, and exposure to considerable cold. Airlines soon realized that better conditions

would

have to be provided if they were to attract fare-paying customers in any numbers - even if the pilots were still expected to

sit in

Bomber no longer The Breguet l4Tbis of 1921 was

open cockpits.

a fairly basic conversion of the

company's

reconnaissance/day-bomber biplane. The fuselage was deepened to incorporate a two-seat cabin with pilot's

windows

This cabin unfortunately obstructed the

in its sides.

forward view during landing.

A 300-hp

Renault engine was commonly used.

Channel hopper The

Bleriot 165

appeared

in

1926. The aircraft was

powered by

a pair of

Gnome Rhone

Baggage compartment

Wide-track undercarriage provides stability

when landing and

in

nose, in front of cockpit

taxiing

420-hp

Jupiter air-

cooled radial engines, could attain speed of

1

12

mph

(180 km/h), and carried 15-16 passengers. There were only

two examples

saw

built

and both

service with the French

airline Air

Union, operating on

its

Paris-London route.

Conversion of a classic Vickers produced the

combining the Eagle-engined

Vimy Commercial

flying surfaces of

its

{left)

by

Rolls-Royce

Vimy bomber with a new ovalwhich had a monocoque front

section fuselage,

section incorporating a 10-passenger cabin. First

flown

in

April 1919,

speed of 84

mph

it

had a

stately cruising

I

(135 km/h).

Horn-balanced rudder 2 had a h\ed undercarriage

despite being oi advanced all-metal

construction. First tlown in 1933, eight passengers

it

and offered sleeper

carried

facilities.

user fjirmjii on

Elegance

mam undenamane

wood

in

The sleek de Havilland l).H.9l Albatross was powered by four >2vhp de Havilland dipsy Twelve water-cooled engines.

went against the trend

made

all-w(M>d structure

Its

for metal.

The

fuselage

was

of cedar ply with a thick balsa core.

Well-strejntlmeJ

engine cowlings

Flights of the First

flown

in July

Condor

1937, the Focke-W'ulf

Fw

2()(

Condor had four B.MW 132 radial engines and carried a total of 25-26 passengers in its two cabins.

The Condor was capable of making

nonstop

flights

from Berlin to

New

^ork.

World War

1 he largest landplaiie built for Imperial Airways before

Armstrong Whitworth A.W.27 Fnsign Initially the l.nsigns

had four

K5()

t(M)k

tt)

the air in

II,

the

Januan 19^8.

hp Armstrong Siddclcy

Figer IX(

radial

engines, but the aircraft proved underpowered and they were replaced b>

950-hp

NX'right

Cyclones. Farly

in

World \Xar

iinmunition, and other equipment !>

tin

II

a

few Fnsigns

Umisli fivrns

in

I

tle\^

r.iiui-

footl.

THE GOLDEN ERA

Warplane Evolution

im-ms

Nations began to re-equip their air forces in the late 1 920s and 1930s, after allowing them to run down in the aftermath of World

War

I.

Aircraft manufacturers produced a great assortment of

fighters

and bombers, some of them retaining

many

new

traditional features,

and weaponry. monoplanes, although these often retained the drafty open cockpits and some of the but

introducing

structural techniques

Gradually, biplanes began to give

external

wing bracing of

way

to

their biplane predecessors. Metal fuselage shaped ii'ith

wooden formers and

Naval warrior

covered with fabric

The Boeing F4B-3 carrier-borne fighter entered US Navy service in 1931. Powered by a 550-hp Pratt & Whitney R-1340 air-cooled radial Enclosed cockpit

pilot's

engine,

it

had

a

maximum

speed of 188

mph

(302 km/h). F4B-3s were used on carriers

up to 1938.

Impeccable styling

One

of the family of elegant

Hart two-seat

biplanes, the

powered by

a

Hawker miHtary

light

Rolls-Royce Kestrel. Entering Force) service in 1930, large

day bomber was

525-hp 12-cylinder water-cooled

it

was

RAF

(Royal Air

built in

numbers and flown by both

home and

overseas units.

New-found luxury The

first

RAF bomber

to

power-operated enclosed gun

have a turret,

the Boulton Paul Overstrand (right

entered service in 1936. Powered by

two 580-hp

Bristol

radial engines,

it

Pegasus air-cooled

had the luxury of an Mid-upper gunner has

enclosed cockpit for the pilot and heating for the crew, but

its

fixed

one .303-in

undercarriage and biplane structure cut top speed to 153

mph

Lewis gun

(246 km/h Nonretractable

main undercarriage

Two-way power The French Armee de

I'Air's first four-

engined bomber, the Farman F.22 service in 1936.

700-hp

It

Gnome Rhone

entered

radial engines in

push-pull pairs on either side of

70

1

was powered by four

its

nose.

WARPLANE EVOLUTION

1919-1938 Bulldog

British Bristol

front-line |9,?~.

hghter squadrons from 192^ to

Although

relatively slow, they

some "0 percent

upper inwv unly

comprised

torward-tiring

machine guns, the Bulldog had

490-hp

,

ot Britain's hghter defenses.

Armed with twin X'lckers

Ailerons un

Bulldog single-scat tightcrs equipped

RAF

.

U)3-im

a

Bristol Jupiter air-cooled

radial engine

speed of

1

\%

~4

hich gave

it

a top

JSO km

iiiph

li

French muscle flown

Hirst

in

June 1912, the Dewoitinc D.500 had a

liquid-

cooled 12-cylinder 69()-hp Hispano-Suiza 12Xbrs engine

and was armed with two 7.7-mm Vickers machine guns. successor, the I).501, entered French service in 1935,

was Mjriitjlly

still

in

routed

turret houses

i

i()3-in

machine gun

\

J single

.

World War

use in the early years of

Its

and

II.

Turret innovation The

.Martin B-10

was an

retractable undercarriage

assist

operation

bomber with

a

and enclosed crew positions, including

entered service with the

US bomber. First flown in 1932, it US .Army in 1934. The ""5-hp NX'right

Cyclone engines gave

top speed of 213

the

Servo-tjh to

all-metal rwin-engincd

first

gun

turret fitted to a

a

mph

(343 km/h),

carrying four crew and 2.260 lb (1,025 kg) of bombs.

of rudder

Rearward- sliding canopy over cockpit

dinner and

one

.

?0?-/«

Lewis gun positioned

under rear fuselage

Italian

thoroughbred Aerodynamic

First delivered to Italy's

Rcgia Acronautica the Fiat

in

balance for

1934,

CR.32 was one

A

30

RA

220 mph

I

it

1916, CR.

Us

served

in

the Spanish Cavil War.

253 mph

km/h) on the power

(40''

840-hp it

Mercury radial was armed with four Bristol

forward-firing machine guns.

In

(iladiator

Streamlined spats orer

mam

wheels

first

193". Capable of

in

engine,

a speed of

V54 km/hi.

biplane fighter to serve with

entered service

«if Its

12-cylinder water-cooled

engine gave

last

the R.AF. the Cjlostcr Ciladiator

fighters of the era. Its Fiat

The

ailerons

of

the outstanding single-seat

590-hp

Hero of Malta

It

played

is

in

best

known

The

for the part

the \aliant defense of

.Malta during 1**4U-4I.

71

THE GOLDEN ERA

Metal Monoplanes

/9/9'/938

Most of the commercial

920s were wooden biplanes and monoplanes, often with dragaircraft of the 1

Record breaker The Northrop very

inducing struts and bracing wires. In the 1930s,

first

Frank Hawks,

especially in the United States, a series of

Gamma

appeared

in

1932. The

one, seen here, was built for pilot

who

used

it

to set several records,

including a non-stop flight from Los Angeles to

smooth-skinned, all-metal monoplanes

New

of advanced design and exceptional

York

in 13

hours, 27 minutes

an average speed of 181

mph

in

/o^

June 1933,

(291 km/h).

performance emerged. Enclosed and streamlined, these outstanding designs

soon began to replace

their

lumbering

forebears on the world's air routes. Lightning services The prototype of

the Heinkel

speed four-passenger airplane

December set eight

1,

He 70G first

high

flew on

1932, and the second aircraft

"Trousered",

mmretractahle

"Park bench" ailerons

iimiercarriage

above

speed records. Lufthansa used

number of He 70s from 1934 on its appropriately named Blitz ("Lightning") internal German services.

full-spar: flaps

a

Closely-cowled engine for

optimum streamlining

Destined to become the most famous piston-

Duralumin monocoque fuselage contrasts with

wooden

elliptical

Versatile transport

^

engined airliner of

wing

all

DC-3 was DC-1 and DC-2.

time, the Douglas

the ultimate development of the

Originally

Transport), the

December

known as the DST (Douglas Sleeper DC-3 made its maiden flight on

first

17, 1935.

versatile,

The

aircraft

proved tough and

and became one of the

military transport aircraft in

production ended

in

Allies' principal

World War

IL

When

1947, Douglas had built

10,654 DC-3s and derivatives. The type was also built in the

USSR and

Japan.

Hamilton Standard fully feathering

propeller

.

72

Main gear semienclosed when retracted

Wing/fuselage fairing

iy>V-|V?8 Ml lAl Tti'D-ifhir all-mctul

Uil

Clantileirr

MONOl'l.ANHS

wing

/>/.///\

sheet

ilitrjliimin

l-ixfj tail

wheel

French by design The WiKuilt-IVnhoct 2SVT12. with three 3S()-hp dnomc Rhone Titan M.i|(>r radial engines, was designed by Frenchman Michel

Inspiring First

tlown

in

l^vi, the Btwing

24" was America's

first

miiltiengine transport. retractable

mam

?^

l/

model

VC'ibault

Draji rings Liter

crewmen seated

Tw(i

replaced hy

and made

its

maiden

flight in

19^0.

.

side-hy-side in cockfit

longer cowlings

Model

low-wing

It

introduced a

undercarriage and

enclosed accommodation lor

its

hill\

crew

and 10 passengers.

In competition,

Douglas developed

its

DC-1.

Duralumin-

Outlawed

covered, all-metal three- spar

airliner

wing

Conceived by Americans Vance Brccsc and Gerard Vultce the eight-passenger Vultee

were

built, 12

Wright

C

going

V-IA

first

in 19.?1,

flew in 193.V Twenty-four

.American Airlines. The engine was a ""VS-hp

t«)

A clone R-IS2() radial. The \'-I.Vs commercial service

on

curtailed by a I'S ban

single engined airliners,

bombers

their lives as makisiiitt

in

the Spanish

C

and nil

several

was

ended

VC'ar.

Baggage hold hairing for directum-

finding loop antenna

TATE 1

u)l\.>.vi

;;

;..(.

smaller

flew in July 19^7.

first

Model 10

14 passengers at a top speed of enthusiast

Nonretractahle tail

wheel

same to

i

Howard Hughes Hew

year, the aircraft

Munich

l cinnuti ginihjl-muun

The example

fuel

shortages limited

seen here

is

its

a captured

operational use.

He l"" under

test.

Tu'o .303-in machine

aims

in

nose turret

The Short Stirling was the first monoplane bomber to

akjgined

rXF i;

service

and the

itionally. Its

.>>)ut

first

four-

enter

to be used

shoulder-wing

required a complicated stalky

undercarriage with an electrical vtion

mechanism

lesome '

:.._ -il

hp

that proved

in service.

Bristol

engines,

it

Powered by

Hercules air-cooled

could carry a

14.000-lb (6.350-kg)

bomb

load

over a range of 590 miles (950 km).

A

total of

2,208 were

built.

89

BACK TO WAR

tmmB Messerschmitt^ Bf 109E The

Spitfire's

great adversary during the

Battle of Britain of

High-powered engine

1940, the Bf 109 was designed by Willy Messerschmitt of the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke. Designed to match the smallest possible

The Bf 109E-3's liquid-cooled Daimler-

airframe with the most

inverted-V engine, hence the low

powerful engine available,

it

first

flew in

mid-September 1935, at which time it was probably the world's most advanced fighter. Blooded in the Spanish Civil War, it remained in service in various forms, latterly with foreign air forces, for nearly 20 years. In total, some Aperture mspmner , 35,000 of all marks were built. through which ZU-nim '

cannon

fires

Benz

DB 601Aa was

a 12-cylinder

position of the exhaust stubs. a metal, electrically

with a

20-mm

MG FF cannon

through the hole

It

drove

operated propeller, firing

in the spinner.

Exhaust stubs

Aperture for

wing-mounted un Slats in

enhance

90

lift

wing leading edge and delay stalling

1939-1945 MESSERSCHMITT BF 109E Minimum headroom Three-blade

The Bf 109's narrow, cramped, single-seat cockpit (left) was enclosed by a heavily framed, sideways-

Blast troughs for twin 7.92-nnir

opening canopy, which incorporated crude sliding

on engine crankcase

MG

metal propeller

17 machine guns mounted

The structure inhibited the pilot's vision, and was so restrictive that head movement was limited. Moreover, the hood was difficult side panels.

to

open from the

inside.

Quick-removal engine panels for easy field

maintenance

Spinner covers pitch-change

mechanism

Specification Engine

1,1

50-hp liquid-cooled

Daimler-Benz DB 601Aa

Wingspan 32

ft

Length 28

ft

4

Height

ft

2

11

Weight 5,523

4

in

in

lb

in

(9.8

(8.6

m)

(3.4

m)

m)

(2,505 kg)

Top speed 354 mph (570 km/h) Rate of climb (945 m/min)

3,

1

00 ft/min

at sea level

Service ceiling 36,000

Armament Crew

ft (1

1

,000

Four machine guns, one cannon

1

91

ACK TO WAR

imbm Boeing B-17G One of the War

HLimilton Stcindard Hydrumatic

constant-speed propeller _

greatest medium bombers of World

was used for massed formations. Among its best-known operations were those from England against targets in Germany and occupied II,

Boeing's B-I7 Flying Fortress

high-altitude daylight raids in

Europe, carried out by the 8th Air Force of the (US Army Air Force) from 1943. First flown

USAAF as the

B-299 on July 28, 1935, the B-17 appeared

in several basic variants

with steadily increasing

defensive armament. At the time production ceased in

1945, a total of 12,726 B-17s had been buih.

Fabric-covered

Sally

rudder

The

Memphis Belle

B., alias

aircraft featured here (and

flight

above) was one of the

to be produced.

shown

last

in

100 B-17s

rolled out of Lockheed's

It

plant in Burbank, California, in June 1945 -

too late to see combat. After being used for cartographic

work

in

France

the British entrepreneur Ted Sally B., as title

Tail-gunner position

92

26-in (66-cm).

diameter

tail ti'heel

it is

now known,

role of the

it

was bought by

White

in

1975.

starred in the

1990 movie Memphis

Belle.

,

,

1939-1945 BOEING B-17G 'Bombs away!' Outer wing

Navigation .

The bombardier's

light

position in the nose has a

triangular flat-glass panel for aiming, using the centrally positioned bombsight.

rack selector switches are on the

bombardier was and

in

aircraft for the run

Control yokes for ailerons elevators

absolute

on

The bomb The

left.

command

of the

to the target.

Bombsight

Good instrument The

visibility

neatly arranged cockpit has

the pilot's seat

on the

left

and

the copilot's on the right, while the throttle controls are situated

on

a central pedestal.

The most

important flying instruments are in the center of the panel, clearly visible to both pilots,

while the engine instruments are

grouped on the

right.

Selector switches

Cockpit roof contains

two emergency

exits

/

Cheek position for one .50-in machine gun

Navigator's sighting

dome

,

M^

\

JM.

mMt Specification

\1

Engines Four 1,200-hp

air-

\ \

\

Length 74 ft 4 Height 19 ft 1

ft

9

in

(31.6 m)

in

(22.7 m)

in

(5.8

Service ceiling 35,600

Armament

h»>

^^^^| ^^^^^^B^

that time.

103

THE JET AGE DAWNS

/946-/969

&

Jet Fighters

During the 1950s and 1960s a whole gamut of classic military jet aircraft filled the skies, and the world became familiar with such famous names as Hunter, Phantom, Canberra, Vulcan, and Super Sabre, to mention but a few. With

Bombers

the

Cold War still very much at the fore, manufacturers both in the West and in the Eastern Bloc vied to keep pace with developments in aircraft, weapons, and technology in order to maintain a "balance of power." Under this degree of pressure, aircraft were constantly being developed and improved.

Soviet success

One the

9,000 of various models were

First supersonic fighter

The

first

between 1958 and 1980;

operational fighter in the world capable of level

US

made

its

maiden

Air Force service in

flight

on

May

November

The

Pratt

fighter.

built in the

was

Over

USSR

also built under

was

and

India.

LVitemia

25, 1953, and entered

of that year.

it

license in China, Czechoslovakia,

Communicdtiom

supersonic performance, the North American F-lOO Super

Sabre

of the USSR's most successful warplanes

Mikoyan and Guryevich MiG-21

&

Whitney J-57 turbojet engine gave the F-IOOD a top speed of 892 mph (1,436 km/h) at 35,000 ft (10,670 m).

First

Wings swept back 40°

flown on July 21, 1951, the

Hawker Hunter was powered by

a Rolls-Royce

Avon

armed with four 30-mm Aden cannons

turbojet and

in

an ingenious undernose pack. The Hunter served with many of the world's air forces, and 1,972 were built before

sOi'j/

iiir

production ended in 1959.

-^gt'

intake in nose

Antenna at base of fin leading

edge

France's nuclear bomber, the Dassault Mirage IVA,

was

first

flown

1961. To allow short runways

when

dispersed in an emergency,

equipped with a rocket-assisted takeoff system.

Auxiliary/ fuel tanks

104

Atar

9K

with

maximum

it

October

in it

to use

was

Two SNECMA

turbojets, each giving 15,432-lb (7,000-kg) thrust

speed at sea

afterburner, gave the

level of

1,454

mph

bomber

a

maximum Mach 2.2.

(2,340 km/h), or

.

1946-1969 JET FKIHTERS & BOMBERS Arrival of the V-bombers The

first l.irgc

honilHr to have

a delta

wing, the Avro Vulcan,

along with the \'ickers Valiant and Handley Page Victor, made

up the RAF's (Royal Air prototype Vulcan entered service

first

in

Force's)

group of "V-bombers." The

flew on September 3, 1953, and the type

1956. The example

which was powered by four

shown here is a B.Mk 2, Olympus turbo|ets

Bristol Siddeley

of 17,000-lb (7,71 1-kg) or 20,()0()-lb (9,()^2-kg) thrust each.

Dell J icing Wiis giicn lejiiing-eJgc

sweep

compnunj

in Liter versions

Radofne also houses electronic countcrnieasiires equipment

Double-delUi wing

Supersonic Swede Engine

With

its

unusual double-delta wing,

Sweden's supersonic fighter [rii^ht)

j

^

air intakes at

front of wing

35 l^raken

from Saab entered

service in I960,

Fighter of repute

and was also First

used by Finland, Austria, and

Denmark. The

definitive

35K had

October 1947,

in

model, the

swept-wing

first J

flown

North American's F-S6 Sabre was the jet

fighter to

go

into

a 12,"l()-lb (5,~65-kg)

thrust R.\l 6C' engine

production and serve with the USAF.

and could It

made

name

a

for itself in the

Korean

carrv four Falcon air-to-air missiles.

War, and a range of variants served hlighl refueling

Navigator

m

Pilot in front cockpit

with

many

nose probe this

rear cttckpit

The F-S6K

air forces.

(like

Royal Netherlands Air Force

example) was evolved from the F-860 for

Leading-edge

slats

improve

low-sfieed handling

NATO

forces,

and had

both cannons and missiles.

of intake improves airflow to engine

Splitter plate in front

Vietnam veteran The most

significant

Western fighter ot

1960s, the .McDonnell Douglas F-4 first

flew on

not only the

May

the

27, 1958, and equipped

US Navy and USAF,

other air arms.

It

but

many

played a prominent part

Vietnam War, proving equally

whether

t

Phantom

sea- or land-based.

Shown

i

effec

here

is ai

F-4F of the US.AF's Tactical Air Conimanii

Engine nacelle

_

Simple wing has single

Britain's first jet

Bombardier's position in nose

main spar

bomber, the Canlx-rra from English

Electric, served

with the R.\F from 1951. Powered bv Rolls-R«)yce Avt>ns.

proved effective for high-altitude reconnaissance. This

was used

as a test be-d

f4. In 1976

SR-71s

set

three experimental

US

Air Force.

2,193.17

absolute records for speed

mph

horizontal flight of 85,069

A The SR-71 A was with a

much

m

a straight line of

(3,529.56 km/h) and sustained height ft

RETURN TO DUTY

larger than

its

predecessors

Twin all-moving

greater fuel capacity and bays

until

in

fins,

hydrauliCiilly activated

housing sensors and radar. Production

ended

in

(25,929 m).

1968, and SR-'') As served

1990. Five years later tw< returned to active dutv.

Engine exhaust mizzle

Six bypass pipes feed

Wingtip and outer half of I nacelle hinge

up

to allow

access to engines

air

through

afterburner to enhance

supersonic thrust

"Btg

I

mI" modification,

I

unique to the machine shown. increases

and enhances sensor and capability

capacity

THE JET AGE DAWNS

The Boeing Line

1946-1969

On July

15, 1916, William Boeing up Pacific Aero Products, and the following year he changed its name to the Boeing Airplane Company. Now with more than 80 years of continuous operation behind it, Boeing is the longestrunning aircraft manufacturer in the US, and its products have included an exceptional number of

^£F^£A/i:

set

outstanding designs for use in

all

manner of

roles.

The Segmented

first

William

high-lift

along wing leading edge

slats

E.

Boeing Boeing and naval officer Conrad Westervelt

collaborated

in the

design of the company's

product, a twin-float seaplane built

Lake Union,

made

New

that country's

first

first

boathouse on

Washington. The two

Seattle,

were bought by the

in a

B&Ws

built

Zealand government and experimental airmail

flights.

Lightweight liner Boeing's latest product, the

long-range 777 airliner flew

in

June 1994.

A?' i5')^^v \'

first

v^6(

built

It is

with lightweight materials such as

aluminum

fibers,

and

equipped with a

alloys,

glass fiber,

and

*>>^

is

digital fly-by-wire

flight control

Tail

!«'

>

«f*i«

carbon

system

of fuselage houses

auxiliary

power

unit

Six-wheel groups, rear Pratt

Hornet

&

Whitney

pair of wheels steerable

Double-slotted flaps inboard of engines

radial engine

Commercial comfort Designed to meet a United Air Lines requirement, the

Model 247 commercial

transport (beloiv), Pratt

first

flown

in

1933, had two

& Whitney Wasp air-cooled radial engines

and carried 10 passengers

in

considerable

comfort for the time. Stewardess service and a tiny galley

and washroom were included.

First

flown

Monomail

in

1930, the all-metal

[above]

made

very early use of a

semi-retractable undercarriage.

two

built

Air Transport, the second, the All-metal

moiiocoque

fusel,

The only

were used successfully by Boeing

Model 221,

having a cabin for six passengers. Both

were

later

converted to eight-seaters.

1946-1969 THE BOEING LINE

An ARMED

FORCE

Company highlights

Narrow, long-span I

1916 Two B&W seaplanes built Aero Products Co registered

Company

2*^'

mlkIc

.iiui

.i

1942. With

its first flight in

10- or

1

Vj;un defensive

its

three pressurized crew

armament

in

controlled power-operated turrets and a directly controlled

U'lngi for htgh

four remotely tail turret,

it

lift

at allituJe

was

a

re-registered as

Boeing Airplane

1933

Boeing B

compartments

Pacific

1917

hi-

Boeing Aircraft

Co

Co formed

as

subsidiary

1947

1960

The two companies merge Boeing buys Vertol helicopter

company 1961

Name changes to The Boeing Company due to diversification of output

1986

Boeing buys North American Aviation

1997

Boeing buys McDonnell Douglas \

paisenfiers.

variant

and

depctuimg on

Each Ijnn-hp Wright Doiihle Cyclone engine has two superchargers

Rear gun

positinii

pnnuics

good defense

laximt

against

attack from hehind

Sleek bomber Designed to carry thermonuclear hombs, the

B-47 was revolutionary when in

1947,

^

in part

due to

wing and

six

its

ir

first

appeared

35-dcgrcc swept

underslung

jet

engines.

The slow-accelerating turbojcts were augmented by IS rocket-assisted takeoff units, while its only defense was a pair of

20-mm cannons

in a

tail turret.

H^^^ WJ^^jL^/

C

^^^^54

hco dene eneral Uectric I'i?5 engines

Whitney, or Rolls-

Royce tiirhofan engines can he used

.

Pilot

Single-slotted flaps

and

copiloi/tail-gunncr

seated in tandem

along trailing edge, (luthoard of engines

Nat •igator/hombardier 's

A Designed as a short-to-medium-range

and turboprop-powered

jet

types, the

Boeing's usual styling by having

around the rear

CHANGE

fuselage.

its

Its

IN

High

to replace piston-

ile.ir

three engines clustered

auxiliary

power

"S"duct leading Sealing for up passengers

it

independent of ground power vehicles.

of let efflux

Air intake with

unit for

made

set

tailplanc well

727 departed from

stationary use and integral boarding stairs virtually

position in nose

DESIGN

to central engine /.

.

/

/ ''

,

10^

THE JET AGE DAWNS

^^^» Boeing B-52G When

Boeing conceived the B-52 Stratofortress conventional and nuclear strategic bomber late in 1948, it was expected that it would serve until the late 1950s. Yet it is still going strong and, in

its

latest

B-52H

version, will equip frontline

the tandem-cockpit YB-52, took to the

followed two years later by the B-52A with

with

US

Strategic Air

The

first

Fixed external fuel tank, capacity

Air Force

700 gallons

The first of the breed, air on April 15, 1952,

units well into the twenty-first century.

airline-style flightdeck.

US

its

(2,6S0

liters)

,

now-familiar

Stratofortress to enter service

Command was

the

B-52B

in

1955. Since

then the successful design has undergone constant updating of equipment and extensive structural modification.

Specification Engines Eight

Pratt

(6,237-kg) thrust with water injection

Wingspan 185 Length 160

ft

ft

m)

ft

^^^

^^g^^^f

takeoff weight

488,000

(221,357 kg)

Well displayed on

this

B-52E

is

the earlier, taller vertical

This variant of the Stratofortress, of which 100 were

had

a completely

new

navigation and

Combat ceiling 46,000 ft (14,000 m) Armament Defense: four .50-in M3s; bomb load: 20,000 lb (9,072 kg) Crew 6

tail.

built,

bombing system

that

J^ ^H

Ci^^^^^^^^^^l^^V^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^B ^^ ^^^^

SB^^^

Top speed 650 mph (1046 km/h)

Tall tail

H|^B

^^^^^

(56.4 m)

11 in (50.2

Maximum lb

^

& Whitney J57-43WB

turboiet engines rated at 13,750-lb

_^^f

nominal

^^^L BB^^k

^^^

4 Iw

|

f

^HL

required substantial redesign of the crew compartment.

ALQ-n?

radar

warning antenna

Turret for low-light / television scanner

Electronic

countermeasures antennas

Forward main undercarriage; port trucks retract forward,

starboard trucks retract aft

110

1946-1969 BOKING B-52G

Wings of Ihc B-S2's flight,

fuel wing

is

based on a two-spar torsion box, and

is

though the weight ot the paired engine pods dampens

appeared

in

extraordinarily flexible in

1958, was the greatest single advance of the type.

the largest integral fuel tankage up to that time, giving the capacity, including the fuselage tanks, of

46,575 gallons

The B-S2Ci, which wing incorporated

this out. Its

bomber

a total internal fuel

(176,,?()5 liters).

On

this

variant the ailerons were omitted, lateral control being provided by spoilers.

Ill

THE

J

DAWNS

FT ACE

"^km Boeing 747-400 of the famous 747 airliner made its maiden flight on February 9, 1969. The program was launched by Boeing at enormous financial risk, but the company's gamble paid off handsomely over the ensuing years. The 747 ushered in the age of the

The prototype

widebody, bringing

air travel

within the reach of

people. Although the 747-400 looks to and purposes like just another variant of the 747 family, and has the same fuselage dimensions as the -300, it is a major redesign incorporating numerous aerodynamic enhancements and upgraded engines, and is cleared to higher operating weights.

many more all

intents

Plenty of

room on board

On December

30, 1969, the 747, represented above by

the prototype,

powered by four 43,000-lb (19,732-kg)

thrust Pratt

&

Whitney JT9D turbofan engines, was up to 490 passengers. The launch

certificated to carry

customer. Pan American, flew the type's service, using the first

from

New

York

to

first

scheduled

production variant, the 747-100,

London on February

22, 1970.

Fin built up on two-spar

box structure

Rearmost passenger door

entry/exit

Engines Four Rolls-Royce RB 21 1-524 turbofans, of 58,000-lb (26,300-kg) thrust each

Wingspan

211

ft

5 in (64.4

m)

Length 231 ft 10 in (70.6 m) Height 63 ft 8 in (19,4 m Maximum takeoff weight ^000 lb (362,880 kg) Typical cruise speed Mach 0.85 Initial

cruise altitude*

34,700

ft

(10,577 m)

Range* 6,828

miles (10,982

Passengers 420

(in

km)

typical

three-class arrangement)

Crew 4 pilots and up to 14 cabin crew * at maximum takeoff weight

The 747-400 has, in common with the -300, the Stretched Upper Deck fuselage. While this additional passenger accommodation inevitably increases weight,

it

also improves the fuselage

aerodynamics. The -400 was developed to enable the 747 to

nonstop, without requiring a reduction

12

fly

popular long-haul routes, such as those from the US to Asia, in

payload.

1946-1969 BOFINC. 747-400

Overhead systcnn switch

paiit-l

Instrument panel has five catbode-ray-tiibe EFIS dispbyi

Making

Twin landing

life

easier

lights in ifing ^

root leading edge

The rwo-crew

flightdcck has an Klcctronii.

Flight Instrumentation

System (EFIS), which

presents primary flight and navigation

information on color cathode-ray tubes. This reduces the pilots' workload by about a third.

Because of the small rest area

is

aircraft's increased range, a

provided behind the cockpit.

^Captain's seat First Officer's

6-ft (l.8-m)

on on

left,

right

high winglets,

canted out at 290-degree angle

Special color scheme applied to promote the March 2000 Qantas .Grand Pnx in Melbourne

Additional passenger accommodation

Upper Deck: 52 business69 economx-class seats

in Stretched

class or

Flight deck includes

two folding

seats for

observers at rear

•••••••tlii rH£ SPIRIT OF "AUSTRALIA

Full-length nacelle cowling for

Rolls-Royce RB.ZII engine

113

THE JET AGE DAWNS

VTOL

i946-f969

The advantages of endowing an and land

vertically,

Aircraft

airplane with the abihty to take off

with no forward speed, have always been apparent;

means of accomplishing this was developed. The true jet-lift pioneer was RollsRoyce's Thrust Measuring Rig (the "Flying Bedstead"), which first hovered uncertainly in 1953, but was never intended as a practical but

it

many

took

aircraft.

Shown

years of experimenting before a practical

here

is

a small selection of the

VTOL

(Vertical

Take-Off and Landing) devices built, some of which proved more successful than others.

Retractable stabilizing

wheels

in ivingtips

Large spinner for coiinterrotating

propellers

flown

First

was

in

1965, the Yakovlev Yak-36

the USSR's

first jet

V/STOL

(Vertical or

Short Take-Off and Landing) aircraft. Ten

were buih,

all

with two Tumanskii R-1 IV

turbojets engines. Stability

was maintained by

reaction control nozzles in the wingtips,

and

at the extremity of a

tail,

long nose boom.

French The

initiative

\OVi-ix

(3.2-m) diameter ringlike wing

SNECMA's C.450

of

Coleoptere (above)

surrounded a fuselage containing a 8,155-lb (3,700-kg) static thrust turbojet engine.

Its

was made in May 1959, but the program was abandoned when the Coleoptere crashed two months later. first free flight

POGO POWER named "Pogo," Convair's XFY-1 was designed to be lifted vertically by

Appropriately of 1954

the counterrotating propellers of

its

5,850-shp

Allison turboprop engine. Successful transitions

from

vertical to horizontal flight

and

vice versa

were made, but the backward descent to land, after a pull-up into the vertical,

was

tricky.

Vertical hook-up In

November 1956

Vertijet

make

became

the

a transition

flight

the

the USA's first

Ryan X-13

pure-jet aircraft to

from horizontal to

and back. Five months first full

transition

later

from

it

vertical

made

vertical to

horizontal flight, and vice versa for Aircraft attached to elevated

flatbed of special trailer

114

a vertical descent to a

landing on

its

hook-on

dedicated

trailer.

1946-1969 VTOI. AIRCRAFT Harrier takes the lead Dcsipncd around the

brilliant

Rolls-Royce i'cuasus vcctorcd-

"lump

Jet")

was

the P.l jJiM^-cti^'f root exlt'iiiitiiis

maneuver and improve handling

LERX) lift

increase

Hawker

the world's

squadron

first

service.

127, which hrst

Hew

making complete

conventionally

Kirst

April 2, 1957,

it

vertical descent,

back to

II.

Seen here

in a

ground

late 196()s/early I97()n in

lift

flight

achieved

lb

and then

climb

the VAK 191B VTOL aircraft of the was developed by Vl-"W-Fokkcr of Germany Italy. Its

lour thrust-vectoring no/zles, lift

vertical

level flight, three years later.

mam

hft/cruise engine, a

(4,M)9-kg) thrust Rolls- Royce/.M 11'

two RB. 162-81

its first

level flight to

test rig,

cooperatn)n with Fiat of

lO.lhO

RB.IOS

S.C.I were

flown ccmvcntionally on

complete transition from

and the

BAc/McDonncll Douglas AV-S Harrier

in Britain's Sht)rt

RB.IOS.

in July I'^hl,

transitions troin horizontal to

led to the Sea Harrier

VTOL concepts,

under the power of a single horizontal

Hawker

vertical (and back) that September. Further

developments

early

dead weight during normal

was developed through

Siddeley Kestrel from the original

As with many engines

V/STOl. combat airplane It

lift

the four tilting Rolls-Royce

thrust engine, the British Aeorspace (BAe) Harrier (the

to enter regular

Four-engine

was augmented

engines fore

and ah. The

RB.19M2

with

in vertical flight

prti)tvt

by

loundered.

115

THE JET AGE DAWNS

TMm'BAE Harrier GR.5 With

its

new and larger wing, an

airframe structure

incorporating 26 percent carbon-fiber composite, and

major innovations to the basic Harrier

several other

design {see p. 115), the

GR.5 was

the resuh of a joint

study by British Aerospace (BAe) and McDonnell Douglas. The aim was to meet Air Staff Requirement

409: higher performance and a greater fuel/weapon load to enable the Harrier V/STOL (Vertical or Short

Take-Off and Landing) ground-attack and battlefieldsupport fighter to remain in frontline service with the

RAF

(Royal Air Force) in

Germany

well into the 1990s. Seen above are Harrier GR.5s serving with 4

Specification Engine 21,750-lb (9,865-kg)

Squadron, RAF, counterpart

thrust Rolls-

flew in

Royce Pegasus 105 vectored-thrust turbofan Wingspan 30 ft 4 in (9.25 m)

Length 47 Height 1 1

ft )'^ in ft

8

in

in

in the

Germany in the mid-1990s. The type's US Marine Corps was the AV-8B, which

November 1978. However,

the

RAF

did not finaUze

plans for the improved Harrier until 1978, and

(14.4 m)

April 1985 that the

first

prototype GR.5

made

it

was not

its

maiden

first its

until flight.

(3.6 nn)

Maximum weight

31,000

1b

(14,060 kg)

Top speed 661 mph (1,064 knn/h) Range 2,440 miles (3,928 km) Armament Two 25-mm Aden cannon; two AIM-9L Sidewinder air-to-air missiles; 9,200

lb

Crew

1

Detonation cord

in

canopy

roof shatters canopy before emergency ejection by pilot

(4,173 kg) of weapons/drop tanks

Forward swiveling nozzles of Rolls-Royce Pegasus vectored-thrust engine

Free-floating supplementary air

doors permit additional air to be

drawn

in

during hovering flight

Putting

it

all together

Production of the GR.5 was shared between BAe and McDonnell Douglas. The former made the aft fuselage and tail, and the latter the front fuselage and singlepiece wing. Final assembly at BAe's plant

unit to have the

and

airfield at

GR.5 was

Many were

116

and

later

3

flight testing

took place

Dunsfold. The

Squadron

upgraded to

first

RAF

March 1989. GR.7 standard.

in

Steerable, levered-

suspension nose wheel retracts

forward

1946-1969 BAE HARRIER GR.S

A

Cockptt well fnnvard nn nose and pntvuied with clear-vietf

huhhie inmipy

VERITABLE

flii;hi refiielinK

trclruitvd)

Installed in the (iR.S

for fiber

ii'iwj;

i.jrhi

was

a pair of the

25-mm Aden cannon, which fire

Sm^lc-puw

ARMORY

I'rohe for in

3,600

thcn-ncw

together could

shells per minute. Also, seven

weapons or

pylons

stores facilitated the aircraft's

primary role of battlefield offensive

strike, fitted

with

marked jnhedral

as standard in the rear fuselage

were dispensers

for chaff or flares, used to confuse

and

missiles.

from

The GR.5's

enemy radars

ability to

operate

sites close to the battlefront

makes

it

a potent

weapon.

THE JET AGE DAWNS

mtm

Concorde

Fairing for rudder

power control

Aluminum skmumg can

The Concorde is a striking example of international cooperation in advanced technology. Conceived in the mid1950s, the world's only successful supersonic commercial transport became a collaborative venture when the British and French governments agreed to it in November 1962. Seven years later, in March 1969, the two prototypes from British Aerospace and Aerospatiale made their maiden flights, and fare-paying services were initiated by British

Fuselage kept to

270°

Mach

2.0.

minimum

cross-section possible with

four-ahreast seating

Long

_

fore-aft root of

wing allows

thin

wing

to

be used while retaining

Airways and Air France in 1979. Sixteen production Concordes were built on assembly lines in Bristol, England, and Toulouse, France, and 13 remain in operation today.

On

tolerate

kinetic heating to

(120°C) at

unit

structural stiffness

the same runways

Accommodating 128 passengers, the Concorde cruises efficiently at over 1,300 mph airport runways (2,100 km/h), more than twice the speed of sound, yet operates from variable-geometry designed for subsonic airliners. Regardless of the speed of the aircraft, the mph (483 km/h). below 300 engines the to airflow the of engine air intakes keep the speed

118

Wing skinned with machined! aluminum panels

1946-1969

On in the

Concorde

the pilot

and copilot

sit

CONCORDE

the flightdeck

side-by-side; a third

crew

member behind them on the starboard side attends to the systemsmanagement panel. There is provision for a further seat behind the pilots. The instrumentation appears somewhat antiquated now.

Airspeed indicator

Nosing around

(Machnieter below, obscured)

Because of the Concorde's high "angle of attack" during landing and takeoff,

its

nose

is

hinged to droop, greatly enhancing the crew's view.

Once

the aircraft

is

airborne a retractable

Control column and yoke^ iperates elevons, which act as

both elevators and ailerons visor streamlines the nose

and protects the

main windshield against the experienced

in

supersonic

kinetic heating

flight.

Rudder pedals^

four

throttles

on

central pedestal

Complex wing curvature optimum efficiency at high and low speeds ensures

.

Fairings covering elevon

power control

.

units

Sections along wing leading edge

incorporate expansion joints

Coming

in

to land

The Concorde's

steep tail-down approach

touchdown means that the crew on the flightdeck are 37 ft (11.2 m) above the

to

ground when the wheels make contact with the runway. Here, the nose 121^-degree fully

Antenna for Sound-insulated, pressurized, and ,

VHF

down

is

in its

position.

omnidirectional

radio range navigation aid

air-conditioned passenger cabin

Retractable

tail

bumper with

twin wheels in rear fuselage

119

'l^a.A^f^ne

'"'Oar-'-- *

/

««

'

^

(970-2000

The New Technology ALTHOUGH military

THE INCREASING complexity of resulted

aircraft

and

development

longer

in

civil

periods and higher costs, progress in the last decades of the

century accelerated on

all

fronts.

The

bodied airliners brought long-range

proliferation of wideair travel

within the

reach of millions, while technical developments led to great

changes in aircraft operation.

New

materials cut

down on

Aircraft for sale

weight, while refined aerodynamics continued to improve

Some

performance. Stealth technology changed the image of

United Europe

An of the larger air

shows are primarily trade affairs,

where

the world's aerospace

bombers and

fighters,

and weaponry continued to evolve.

Meanwhile, home-built

ultralight airplanes proliferated as

companies can exhibit their

products to

potential customers.

However, several days with enhanced flying

a reality.

passenger

At the beginning of the new century the 500airliner

is

upon

us,

and

the

displays are set aside for the public.

cooperation, the

swing-wing Tornado, represented here by a

never before, and sustained human-powered flight became

tilt-rotor

outstanding

result of international

GR.l all-weather

tactical strike aircraft, is

a product of

Panavia, a European

consortium of

German, and

convertiplane

is

becoming

a practical vehicle.

British,

Italian

companies.

121

THE NEW TECHNOLOGY

Helicopters

1970-2000

Because of the complex mechanical and aerodynamic problems associated with rotating-wing aircraft, the development of the helicopter was protracted, and many saw little use for it. However, once it had been perfected, it soon proved its worth in a

Forward transmission. gearbox

in front

pylon

variety of roles, including medical evacuation

crop-spraying, troop transport, heavy lifting

and construction work, policing, and antisubmarine operations. More recently it has also become a potent antitank weapon. Tandem transport First flown in 1961, the tandem-rotor Boeing Vertol

medium

transport helicopter

turboshaft engines driving rotors.

RAF

is

powered by

two

CH-47 Chinook

a pair of

Engines or side of rear pylon

Lycoming T-55

60-ft (18.3-m) diameter three-blade

(Royal Air Force) Chinooks like this one (above) can

carry a 22,000-lb (10,000-kg) payload or 30 seated troops.

Two 1,320-shp Turbomeca Turmo 111C4 turboshaft engines mounted side-by-side above cabin

Success... but

too

late

1920s Spanish marquis Pateras Pescara built and tested several cumbersome helicopters with In the

some

success. This

1925

effort,

with coaxial biplane

a

Salmson

radial engine,

achieved a degree of

stability,

but Pescara's

rotors

powered by

was overshadowed by the advent of Autogiro (see pp. 12-13

work

the Cierva

Amphibious helicopter The Sikorsky S-61N, launched

in

1962

(updating the S-61 of two years

earlier),

is

an all-weather helicopter

airliner.

It

can accommodate between 26 and

28 passengers hull enables

operations.

It is

it

cabin, and

to undertake

its

sealed

amphibious

powered by two 1,500-shp

General Electric

122

in its

CT58

Turboshaft engines.

Tail

boom

five-blade

supports tail

rotor

970-2000 HELICOPTERS Champion weight Far and

away

lifter

the largest and most powerful

helicopter ever built

was

the Soviet Union's

Mil V-12 of 1967. This heavy-lift generalpurpose helicopter was equipped with two 6,500-shp Soloviev

D-25VF

turboshaft

engines at each wingtip, driving

two

five-

bladed rotors of 115-ft (35-m) diameter.

With

mph

a top speed of 160

(260 km/h),

the V-12 set several world records for weight-lifting in 1969, lifting well over

88,000

lb

(40,000 kg) on one

flight.

Ambulance chopper Tail rotor counteracts

torque of main rotor

Used

for tactical assault

and troop transport,

the Westland/Aerospatiale

Puma

HC Mk

1

was developed from the French SA 300, which made its maiden flight in 1965. {left)

Entering service with the the

RAF

in

mid-1971,

Puma can

carry up

to 16 troops, or four

stretchers

and four

seated casualties.

Attack Apache

Stallion power The

first

prototype of Sikorsky's

twin-engined design,

and

this

made

its

CH-53

maiden

Developed by Hughes Helicopters, which

1964,

became McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Co. in 1984, the AH-64 first flew in 1975. The

heavy-duty, multipurpose version, the

53E Super

Stallion {right),

was produced

Navy and US Marine Corps it

CHUS

to meet

requirements. Powered

by three 4,380-shp General Electric engines,

family, a

flight in

T64

turboshaft

can carry up to 55 troops or seven cargo

pallets.

The US Navy model,

Dragon, serves

in a

the

MH-53E

mine-countermeasures

Sea

role.

AH-64A Apache service with the

prime role night, in

with a

is

{above) entered operational

US Army two

years

later. Its

anti-armor attack by day or

any weather, and

30-mm M230

it is

equipped

chain gun under

nose and rocket pods on

its

its

stub wings.

123

THE NEW TECHNOLOGY

AH- IS Cobra

Bell

I970-2000

The major antiarmor helicopter of the US Army in the 1980s, the Bell AH-IS began life as the Model 209, first flown on September

1965. The design at

7,

first

85 percent of the components used in the UH-1 utility and troop transport helicopter, including

power

transmission, and

plant.

incorporated

HueyCobra its

The AH-1 proved

rotor, its

worth

hands of the Assault Helicopter Companies in Vietnam, and many of them subsequently served in Europe. in the

Specification Engine 1,800-shp Avco Lycoming

Three barrels of

fire

T53-L-703 turboshaft engine

Rotor diameter 44

Max. length 53 Height 13

ft

ft

lb

m)

The example above

ft (1 1

in

5 in (4.09

Weight 10,000

(16.18 m)

The AH- IS has redesigned, composite rotor blades and an uprated, 1,800-hp Avco Lycoming T53 turboshaft engine.

3.4 m)

(4,536 kg)

Top speed 141 mph (227 Initial

rate of climb

Service ceiling

ft

Armament One 20-mm eight BGi\/l-71 rockets

Crew

ligs constructed separately

^ivioa^r^ 4KaBS^^

display and, beneath the heads-up display.

a screen for infrared imagery. firing

.^KM£&^ >^^^Bi0S1BiM

for one

F-1 17's single-seat cockpit includes a

LOCKHEED F-117A

its

^^

its lift

^

1

Royal Canadian Air Force, 83 Royal Flying Corps

54

17

fighters,

Royal Australian Air Force, 83

Bristol F.2B fighter,

.^^ P^

97

Star,

Empire Class monoplanes, 14

15

1

bombers, 17, 133

162

12,51

XIX, 95

"Spruce Goose",

Stalin, Joseph,

Proteus high-altitude long

Roe,

84-5

Staaken R.VI, 12

136

Shooting

79,

Mk

Seven Seas, 101

Vickers Wellesley bomber, 77

W

V,

PR

Sentry,

private planes, 17, 130-1

11

Mk

Spitfire

Supermarine Swift, 82

"V-bombers", 105

Puma

Spitfire

Supermarine Stranraer, 83

Prevost, Maurice, 29, 62

Pulqiii

bomber, 133

14,82,86,87

Whitney Wasp Junior, 75

Pratt trusses,

and Lawrence

of St. Louis, 59

Spirit stealth

Ciel (Sky Louse), 130

&

90

Burst, 163

137

helicopter,

Short Stirling bomber, 89 Spitfire

III,

seaplanes,

87

81, 86,

in-flight-refuelling tankers,

Potez25, 160 Potez,

Tiger

Sea Dragon helicopter, 123

Fighter

Rheinhold, 160

Platz,

D.H.82A

Moth, 130

gliders, 22, 23, 131

Pixton,

Schreck, Louis, 36

helicopters, 122

de Havilland

Sopwith,

Sir

49

Thomas Octave

Murdoch, 48, 162

87

84-5

XIX, 95

Super Mystere, 16 Super Sabre,

16,

104

supersonic aircraft, 16

Concorde,

i, 17,

118-19

"sound barrier", 96

Super Stallion helicopter, 123

SB bombers, 14

South African Airways, 101

Super

Scaled Composites, 141

Southern Cross, 59

support

Schneider, Jacques, 62

Soviet Air Force, 95, 132

Surcouf, Edouard, 161

Schneider Trophy, 11, 13,48,

Sowter Barnwell, Captain Frank, 42

swept-wing

SPADS.XIII, 12,41

Swift, 82

Savoia Marchetti S.55, 64

62-3, 76, 82, 83

VC

10, 137

aircraft, military,

jets,

16

136-7

7

6

1

1

INDEX swing-wing Swissair,

16-17

aircraft,

128

Vertiiet,

United States Air Force (USAF)

Verville, Alfred Victor,

Boeing 707, 136

Swordfish, 5^

Boeing B-52H Stratofortress, 110

Convair B-36 bomber, 16

T

bombers, 14-15, 79, 86-9, 92-3

V.C.I Viking, 100

II,

105

reconnaissance planes,

Thuau,

Victor,

A 10),

132

Wellesley bomber, 77

Flyer

10, 103,

B,

Type A, 26

Vietnam War, 105, 124

Wright, Howard, 162

Viking, 100

Wright, Wilbur and Orville, 145,

United States Army, 124

Vimy bomber, 13, 51, 58, 59 Vimy Commercial, 13, 56

United States

Army

1

Air Force

152, 157, 165

Chanute and, 147

powered

Viscount, 5, 15, 102

first

Lockheed P-38 Lightning, 15

VisionAire, 140

gliders, 22,

Lockheed P-80 Shooting

Star,

97

United States Defense Advanced

"Tin Goose", 60

Research Projects Agency, 141

United States Marine Corps, 95,

Tornado, 17, 121, 137 tractor biplanes,

II,

15

Navy

Vought F4U 70

Tri-Motor (Ford), 60-1

McDonnell Douglas F-4

VTOL

Trippe, Juan Terry, 164

Phantom

Vulcan, 105

Sikorsky

II,

fighter,

105

MH-53E

Sea Dragon

114-15

Vultee, Gerard, 73, 159

VS-44 seaplane, 65

Pe-8, 89

World War

11,

Yak-9, 15,95

United States Strategic Air

1

Command, 110

\A/ Wallace,

Tu-104, 15, 102

vV

Tu-160, 17

96-7

airliners,

15-16, 102-3

Typhoon, 133

flying

bombs, 15,97

Valiant, 105

jet,

140

aircraft

Air Vehicle

1

helicopter,

66

7 ^

G.

Puma

HC Zeppehn,

123

Whitcomb, Richard

Travis,

164-5

White, Ted, 92

C'ommodore

Sir

Wibault-Penhoet 283.T12, 73

vertical takeoff

wide-bodied

VTOL

and landing, see

aircraft

LZ 129

Hindenhurg, 54

Staaken

R.III,

51

Zeppelin, Count von,

149-50

8,

Zhukovskii, Nikolai, 164

Wibault, Michel, 73

Venom,

Versailles, 8

149

Zero, 15,94

Frank, 165

Vedrines, Jules, 149 97, 99

12,

Graf Zeppelin, 55

Westland Dragonfly, 5

Whittle, Air

"V-bombers", 105

106

Seiji,

83

Conrad, 108, 146

Mk

Varig, 103

Combat

33

^_

Commander

Westland/Aerospatiale

Vampire, 99, 149

swing-wing

I

Yoshihara, Lt. S.N.,

Wels, Franz, 151

variable-geometry aircraft see

11 v^

Peril",

York bomber, 15

Wellesley bomber, 77

Vantage business

(UCAV), 140

Dwane, 147

Westervelt,

VI

turbofan engines, 17

16,

("Chuck") Elwood, 165

Webster, Flight

Tupolev, Andrei, 154, 163, 164

U-2 spyplane,

Yeager, General Charles

Walrus, 83

m m

turbojet engines,

165

V

"Yellow

Tu-95, 16

Uninhabited

w

W

Tu-16, 16

Tu-144, 17

1

Yakovlev, Aleksandr Sergeyevich,

United States Signals Corps,

Tu-114, 102

Y

jr

Yak-36, 114

15

SB bombers, 14

Tu-22M, 132

and experiments, 10

Yakovlev

Vought F4U Corsair, 95

ANT-6, 14

turboprop

aircraft, 16, 17,

Vultee V-IA, 73

123

helicopter,

Tupolev

trials

149

1

Wulf, Georg, 152

%

Corsair, 95

Vought-Sikorsky VS-44, 65

Boeing F4B-3

126

military aircraft,

Voisin, Gabriel, 10, 11,29, 145,

26-7

Voss, Lt. Werner, 45

55

airships,

troop carriers, 136

legal case against Curtiss,

Voisin, Charles, 11,29, 145, 164

Trident, 17

TriStar, 17,

aircraft, 10,

26-7

164

United States

War

126

Airlines,

Voisin box-kite biplane, 34

123

28

transport aircraft. World

Vnukovo

26

Model H, 27

137

105

CurtissP-40, 15

Tomcat, 17

R),

26

79,95 Tigercat, 4-5 Moth, 130

(Model

10

III,

Model

racer

27

Thunderbolt (Republic P-47B), 15,

Tiger

82-7, 90-1, 94-5

United States Air Service, 58

stealth technology,

37

Thunderbolt (Fairchild

Baby Wright Flyer, 10,

Victor,

1

14,86-7,90

Wright

Viscount, 5, 15, 102

VC

Sabre, 104

Taylor, Molt, 130

58, 59

Vickers Armstrong

F-1 00 Super

II,

fighters, 14, 79,

Vimy bomber, 13, 51, Vimy Commercial, 56

North American

Their

14-15,79-95

Valiant, 105

North American F-86 Sabre, 105

in

posters, 3^'

World War

Lockheed F-1 17A Nighthawk,

Taube monoplane, 32

Men

40-3, 46-7

Battle of Britam,

Phantom

Flying Machines, 33

50-1

12, 39,

fighters, 39,

FB.5 Gunbus, 41

Tank, Kurt, 94, 152, 163-4

Those Magnificent

bombers,

Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, 137

McDonnell Douglas F-4

94

12-13, 39-51, 53

1,

1

CCIO, 17

tandem-wing designs, 141

Series 2,

1,

aircraft carriers, 12

Vickers

138

V

164

115

Lockheed SR-71 A, 107

Tempest

14

F-22 Raptor, 140

1

Tabloid seaplane, 48, 62

1

VFW-Fokker VAK 191B VTOL,

Swiss Air Force, 97

^HH

World War

United Airlines, 127

airliners, 17,

126-7

Wiess,Jose, 159

Winnie Mae,

1

60

175

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Author's acknowledgments I would like to thank the following for their assistance and cooperation in the preparation of this volume: Michael Oakey, Tony Harmsworth, and Lydia Matharu of Aeroplane Monthly; Michel Ledet of Avions Magazine; Bill Gunston; Kim Hearn of the Flight Collection; Alex Imrie; Carol Reed and Debra Warburton of Flight International; Richard Simpson of the RAF Museum; Alex Revell; and the staff of TPR Photographic Laboratories Ltd. Finally, and most importantly, I thank my copilot, Marilyn Bellidori, for her amazing and often sorely tested tolerance of my obsession with things aeronautical, and for her unhesitating assistance whenever things seemed to be

New

Mexico; Tracy Curtiss-Taylor

at the Fighter Collection,

Maxham,

Director of the US Army Museum, Fort Rucker, Alabama; Katie McGuigan and Tom Coe at Qantas; Sean Penn and the staff at the Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon; EUy Sallingboe; Russell

Duxford Air

Field; Steve

Aviation

C. Sneddon and Dolly for

all

their help at the Air Force

Armament Museum, Eglin Air Base, Fort Walton Beach, Florida; Mike Stapley; Chris Thornton at Flight International magazine. Dorling Kindersley would also their kind permission to

like to

thank the following for

reproduce their photographs:

t?=above; ^=below; c=center; /=left; r=right; /=top

entering into an irrecoverable flat spin.

Aviation Picture Library: Austin

Mark Hamilton, Dave

Additional photography by

King,

Peter Chadwick, Peter Anderson, Martin Cameron, James Stevenson, and Dave Rudkin.

Mike Dunning,

Brown

39b,

2tr, 31cr, 34tr,

40br, 41br, Aid, 86br, 94tr, 94c/, 97tr, 976/, 103cra, 103/?/, I04tr, 104cr, lOStr, 105c, 108-9, ll5tr, 118-19, I19cb,

nib, \13bc,

lllcrb, \17t, 130c/, \3\tl, \3\cr, \31br,

John Stroud Collection S8tr; Stephen Piercey 101c, lOlbr; Derek Cattani 130-lc; Aviation Images: Mark Wagner 1, 17tc, 105 br, \16cl, 117 br, I37cr, 138c/; Defence l'64bl, \64bl;

Publisher's

acknowledgments

Dorling Kindersley would Peter

like to

thank:

Adams, Mary Lindsay, and Nicola Munro

editorial assistance;

Adam

Powers

Emma

Picture Library: 113crb; Paolo Franzini: 76b; Imperial

for

Museum:

Ashby, Christine Lacey, and

Melanie Simmonds Tyrone O'Dea and Simon

for design assistance;

for picture library research;

Pentelow for photography assistance; Christopher Gordon for administration; Hilary Bird for the index. Also, a special thanks to Philip Jarrett for access to his extensive library of photographs.

their help with

also like to thank the following for

© Crown

NASA

141cr;

Copyright Reserved: 115c/, 122-3; Richardson 55br; Skyscan: Colin Smedley 118-19; Peter Society of 'British Aerospace Companies Ltd: 120; TRH Pictures: 86-7, lilt; Northrop 133cr; Tim Senior 86/?/, 132/?/. Jacket: Aviation Images Mark Wagner (back below); Official

1986 Mark Meyer

(spine);

W

Dan

Patterson (front).

All other photographs: Philip Jarrett.

photography:

Vern Blade and Robert Pepper

176

Picture Library: 140^r, 140-1, 141tl, \41br;

©

Picture credits

The publishers would

Vines 59tl;

RAF

War

Lockheed Martin: 139tr; Photo Link: Mike Popperfoto: 54-5t; Reuters 114tr; Quadrant

39, 78;

at

Holloman Air Force

Base,

FRONT JACKET IMAGE: NORTH AMERICAN MUSTANG F-6D, PHOTORECONNAISSANCE VERSION OF P-51D

"^

629.133 JARRET Jarrett, Philip. Ultimate aircraft

/

Philip Jarrett

was

assistant editor

of Aeroplane Monthly magazine

from

its

foundation

in

1973

until

1980, before serving ten years as

production editor of Flight International magazine.

Now

a

freelance writer and editor, he has

produced countless

articles

and

papers on a wide variety of aeronautical subjects, as well as lecturing on aviation topics.

Author of Another Icarus: Percy Pilcher and the Flight, published by the Smithsonian Institution

Quest for in

1987, he

is

currently series editor for the authoritative

Putman History of Aircraft volumes.

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