Download Bombers

Training Manual – Aerospace History: The World
4-1
Aerospace History: The World
1.
Man’s Quest to Conquer the Sky
Since the dawn of civilization, men desired to fly in the wild blue sky. The Chinese
were the first to put the kite into the air some 1,000 years BC, and also invented the
rocket during the Yuan Dynasty.
1.1 Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Italian
Da Vinci was a magnificent artist and scientist of high achievements during the
renaissance. Among his designs were the `Ornithopter’, a flapping-wing machine and
helicopter. His ideas were the first real scientific attempts to put man into flight.
1.2 Sir George Cayley (1773-1857), English
He was the founder of the modern science of aerodynamics. It was he who first really
understood how bird fly, and how heavier-than-air objects could be made to fly. He
designed the first flight of a model glider in 1804; and was credited for the formation
of many important flight theories. In 1799, Cayley engraved on a small disc a diagram
of forces involved in heavier-than-air flight, and on the reverse side, a sketch of a
glider aircraft. For his achievements, he was honored as `The Father of Aviation’.
1.3 Otto Lilienthal, German
He was the first to understand the importance of gaining practical experience in the air.
In 5 years, he made over 2,000 flights; all in hang-gliders. In August 1896, after many
tests of fixed-wing gliders, he crashed in his No. 11 monoplane and died. His last
words were `Sacrifices must be made’. Lilienthal was the foremost of the pioneers
who discovered theories about flight. He built a series of superb gliders and he made a
lot of observations and recordings in his experiments and flights that proved
invaluable to later development.
2.
Early Pioneers to Passenger Airlines
Orville and Wilbur Wright were the sons of an American Bishop. They drew much of
Training Manual – Aerospace History: The World
4-2
their early inspirations from the work of Lilienthal. They built their first large glider in
1900, a biplane with a wing span of 17 feet, and tested it at Kitty Hawk. Through
1901 and 1902, the brothers made hundreds of experiments model gliders and with
their own large gliders on which one or other of the brothers sat. They decided to
build their own engine. It weighed 152 lb., provided 12 hps and drove two propellers.
On 12 December 1903, Wilbur’s first attempt failed with the aeroplane crashed as it
was taking off. The aircraft was quickly repaired. Finally on 17 December 1903, in
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, they achieved the first controlled, powered flight in an
seaplane for 12 seconds at 500 feet. By December 1908, Wilbur made many flights’
and set up two records - he flew to a height of 360 feet and, on 31 December 1908, he
made a flight that lasted 2 hours and 23 seconds.
The work of the Wright brothers inspired many European to follow suit. A Brazilian,
Santos Dumont, gave up his interest in airships and designed a monoplane made of
bamboo and silk. In 1909, he set a world speed record of 60mph in his
tail-first-box-kite, the 14 bis. That was the first flight in Europe.
American aviator Glenn Curtiss built America’s first seaplane, and early in the
following year he produced the first of several excellent flying boat designs. One of
these, the NC-4, made the first west-to-east crossing of the North Atlantic (with stops
enroute) in May 1919.
Henry Farmam made a circular flight of 0.62 ml in 1908.
The Englishman, A V Roe, made his first successful flight in his 1909 triplane. Roe’s
later designs included the Avro 504 of 1913, one of the most famous aircraft of all
time.
Igor Sikorsky, known today as the greatest figure in helicopter engineering, built his
first aeroplane in Russia in 1909. His most outstanding pre-war design was the 1913
LeGrand.
Louis Bleriot invented the aileron--a hinged flap at the wing’s edge which gives the
machine its maneuverability stability: this replaces the Wright brother’s system of
wire-operated wrapping. On 25 July 1909, he made the first flight through the English
Channel (from Calais to Dover Castle) of his small monoplane with its 25 hps engine
and won the 1,000 pounds Daily Mail Prize.
Training Manual – Aerospace History: The World
3.
4-3
Further Development in Passenger Flights
In May 1919, Harry Hawker, a test pilot with the British Sopwith Company, and
Kenneth Mackenzie-Grieve, a former wartime navigator, decided to try to fly in the
west-east direction. They faced headwinds of 60 mph and ran into trouble which
forced Hawker to crash-land the aeroplane in the sea, 300 miles from Ireland. Most
people believed that the men had died in their attempt to be the first to cross the
Atlantic. Some days later, the ship neared land and flashed a message that the men
were safe.
At the same year, former RAF flyers John Alcock and Arthur Whitten-Brown decided
to try to fly from America to Europe. They set out from Newfoundland on 14 June
1919, flying Vickers-Vimy bomber with two Rolls-Royce engines, each generating
350 hps. Alcock and Brown flew for 15 hours and 57 minutes. On 15 June, they
landed in an Irish village and received 10,000 pounds form the Daily Mail.
The Australian brothers, Ross and Keith Smith were encouraged by the Australian
government’s offer of a prize of $10,000 to any Australian who could fly from
London to Australia in less than 80 days. The Smiths, with two companions, left
Weybridge in Surrey on 12 November 1919 and finally arrived at port Darwin on 10
December 1919.
Soon, many companies were being formed but due to the fact that there existed a
free-for-all situation and running costs were already very high, only a few proved to
be successful. Eventually, because they were unable to compete with the subsidized
French service, all the main British companies were merged into one government
subsidized organization, Imperial Airways Ltd.
In 1924, Imperial Airways was formed with 18 aircraft to provide a service over the
route explored by the early pioneers. In 1929, there was a through service to India, the
journey taking a week. In 1932, a regular service to South Africa was started, taking
ten and a half days. In 1934, the service to India was extended and flying via
Singapore and then it went on to Australia.
American pioneer flyers were very active after 1919. There was a great
trans-continental race to San Franciso and back. In 1922, James Doolittle flew from
Florida to California in just over 21 hours. In 1923, two US Army lieutenants flew
non-stop across the America continent. In 1924 some US army biplanes flew around
Training Manual – Aerospace History: The World
4-4
the world in stages. Their journey of 27,5000 miles took 15.5 days . But in general,
American authorities did not show much interest in flying as there seemed little
point in risking life in a dangerous and uncomfortable aeroplane if one could travel in
safety and comfort in a railway train.
The work of Charles Lindbergh fired the world’s imagination and earned for him the
title of `the flying fool’. In 1927, he flew a single engine monoplane `The Spirit of St
Louis’ from New York on 20-21 May. He traveled 3,600 miles from NY to Paris in
33.5 hours with primitive navigational aids.
American engineers and designers made a great contribution to the development of a
safer, larger aircraft. In 1930s the Boeing, Lockheed and Douglas aircraft companies
began producing planes with speed reaching 170 mphs. This was the plane which
became the `Dakota’ DC-3, in the Second World War.
4.
Female Pilots
Within a few years of the epic flight of the Wright brothers, a woman had taken to the
air. she was Madame Therese Peltier who on July 8, 1908, at Turin in Italy became the
first woman to be an aeroplane passenger. A short while later she became the first
woman to fly solo but she never became a licensed pilot until March 8, 1910.
Amy Johnson was one of Britain’s famous women pilots. In 1903 she flew from
Croydon to Australia in a De Havilland `Moth’. Her journey took 19.5 days and won
her the 10,000 pounds prize awarded by the Daily Mail. During the WWII, Amy
Johnson joined Air Transport Auxiliary as a ferry pilot. On Jan 5, 1942, on a routine
flight from Blackpool to Oxford, bad weather caused her to crash and die, 100 miles
off course in the Thames estuary.
Amellia Earhart, an American, flew across the Atlantic in 1928 in a Fokker seaplane,
accompanied by two companions. In 1932 she flew solo across the Atlantic, landing
in Northern Ireland just 15 hours after taking off from America. In 1937 she set out a
round-the -world trip with a companion, F J Noonan. This trip ended in a disaster as
their plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean and in spite of a careful search there
was no trace of the plane nor the flyers.
Training Manual – Aerospace History: The World
5.
4-5
War and Aviation
When the WWI broke out in 1914, most nations took interest in the aeroplane partly
because of public enthusiasm and partly because of the fear that rival countries might
be doing better in the same field. Since then most flying for peaceful purposes had
come to a dramatic halt. However, the development of aeroplanes increased
enormously.
At first aeroplanes were only used in aerial reconnaissance missions. Balloons were
also used for this purpose. Enemy aircraft could be sent out to shot down the balloons
sometimes. Hence the pilots had to be armed, and they usually carried a pistol or a
rifle. Occasionally, rival aircraft would encounter each other in the air, leading to a
dogfight. There was little chance of survival for these early airmen if their planes
were hit because parachutes were not in general use yet.
In autumn 1915, the Germans deployed a new fighter called `Fokker’. Machine-guns
were mounted in front of the plane and they were synchronized to fire through the
aircraft’s propellers. Not much later, similar devices equipped British and French
`fighters’ to combat German Fokkers.
A `Flying Ace’ is a pilot who shot down 5 or more enemy aircraft. The most famous
of all aces in WWI was German Baron Manfred von Richtofen ( the Red Baron) who
shot down between 60 to 80 enemy planes before he himself was shot down by a
British fighter. French Captain Georges Guynemer shot down 54 German planes but
was killed in 11 Sept. 1917. Canadian Major W A Bishop shot down at least 50
German planes and was awarded Victoria Cross, Distinguished Service Order and
Military Cross.
In the early WWI, aircraft’s role was limited only to reconnaissance. Later in the war,
some of them were modified to become `fighters’ or even `bombers’ to project
different aspects of air power. By the outbreak of the war, all major powers were
equipped with warplanes which had come a long way in terms of function, speed and
weapons installed when compared to their WWI forerunners.
Functions of warplanes:
(a) fighters to combat the enemy planes in the air and attack enemy troops on the
ground
(b) tactical bombers to attack enemy troops on the ground in direct support of
Training Manual – Aerospace History: The World
4-6
friendly force, to disrupt enemy transportation and strike their facilities.
(c) strategic bombers to attack enemy cities, carrier-based aircraft were designed to
operate from aircraft carriers.
Speed of warplanes increased greatly with the creation of powerful piston engines.
5.1 Weapons and armor
Early in the war, planes were only made of canvas and installed with machine guns.
But as the war went on, protection was accorded to flyers by means of adding
aluminum armor plates and installed with various weapons such as rockets, bombs
and machine cannons.
5.2 Some examples of famous warplanes in WWI
Bombers
B17 Flying Fortress (USA)
B24 Liberator (USA)
B29 Superfortress (USA)
Lancaster (UK)
Mosquito (UK)
Fighers
Spitfire (UK)
Hurricane (UK)
Me 109 (Germany)
Me 262 (Germany)
Zero (Japan)
P-40 Kittyhawk (USA)
P-38Lighting (USA)
P-47 Thunderbolt (USA)
P-51 Mustang (USA)
P-6F Hellcat (USA)
F-4U Corsair (USA)
By the end of WWI, hundreds of men had flown and there were many skilled pilots
and unwanted planes available for commercial flights. More importantly, people were
reassured that flying was not as dangerous as it had been in the past.
6.
Invention of Gas Engine & Jet Engine
In 1872, a German engineerer, August Otto, invented a gas engine which was the
forerunner of all internal combustion engines.
In Sept. 1937, German scientists Ernst Heinkel and Von Ohain successfully built and
tested the world’s first hydrogen fuel turbojet engine. Through this experiment, a new
concept on engine design came into being.
Training Manual – Aerospace History: The World
4-7
On 27 Aug. 1939, the first turbojet powered aircraft had its maiden flight in Germany.
The aircraft was named He 178 to honor the contribution of Ernst Heinkel.
Three years later on 18 July 1942, a new jet fighter-bomber, Messerschmitt Me262,
took its first flight. Me 262 fighters were later put into operation on 3 Oct 1944 by
Luftwaffe, the German Air Force.
Despite the success Germans enjoyed for their achievements in the aircraft field, the
first aircraft jet engine was created by an Englishman, Sir Frank Whittle. He did the
initial test on his engine on 12 Aug. 1937 and a contract was awarded by Air Ministry
to him in March 1938.
On 3 Feb. 1940, the first British jet fighter made its maiden flight over London from
RAF Cranwell. The jet `Meteor’ later equipped the 616 Sqn on 5 March 1943.
Today, more than 40 years after WWII, the development of jet aircraft is still
on-going.
7. Invention of Helicopter
During the Renaissance, Leonardo Da Vinvi designed a helicopter like machine. He
wrote that `if this instrument is well constructed and the helix (aircrew/propeller) is
turned with great speed, it should be able to screw itself up in the air and rise high.’
Unfortunately there was then no engine that could turn the screw sufficiently quick.
sir George Cayley later built a model with rotating wings in 1800 which rose as high
as 90 feet in the air.
On 13 Nov. 1907, Cornu the Frenchman made a machine which lifted him and a
passenger 50 feet into the air where they hovered for over a minute. A 24 horse power
engine was used to drive the two rotors of his machine. In 1909, Sikorsky made his
first machine but when it proved to be too heavy for the engines, he turned to
designing conventional aircraft. In Dec. 1941. Leonardo made his first real rotorcraft
and performed a successful demonstration to American Military officers.
Nowadays, helicopters have become a kind of high-tech compact machines which not
only perform vertical take off and landing but also meet or beat aeroplanes in terms of
maneuverability. But the basic function remains the same, i.e. to get to location
Training Manual – Aerospace History: The World
4-8
otherwise inaccessible to conventional aircraft. Moreover, military helicopters have
become one of the most powerful fire supporting machines to ground troops.
8.
Space History
Exploring the universe, the final frontier, was only a dream in the past until space
rockets were invented. Satellites were launched to look at it and eventually men went
to explore the strange new dimension.
On 4 Oct 1957, the first artificial satellite was successfully launched by Russians. The
`Sputnik’ was a small ball-like structure with three antennae protruding out from its
rear. The Space Age was inaugurated.
On 6 Dec 1957, USA tried but failed to launch a three-stage Vanguard rocket at Cape
Carnaval.
On 1 Feb. 1958, USA succeeded in launching the satellite Explorer I by Junol rocket.
The satellite swung around the earth in a wide, oval orbit and discovered that the earth
is girdled by electrically charged particles from the sun, trapped by earth’s magnetic
field.
On 12 April 1961, Russia placed the world’s first spaceman Yuri Gargarin into orbit.
On 5 May 1961, USAF Capt. Alan Shepard was sent into space as America’s first
astronaut. On 20 Feb. 1962, US Marine Lt. Col. John Glenn became the first
American to have made orbital flight onboard the space capsule Mercury.
Men’s journey on the road to the stars reached milestone on 20 July 1969 as Neil
Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin took a giant step for mankind and became the first men
on the Moon. Apollo 11 was the third US manned spacecraft to fly to the moon
(preceded by Apollo 8 and 10), but first to land.
The two astronauts performed many research work on the moon in spite of limited
time. They were flown back to earth leaving a metal plague on the lunar surface:
`HERE, MEN FROM PLANET EARTH FIRST SET FOOT UPON THE MOON,
JULY 1969 AD , WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND’.
By the end of 1972, five more Apollo spacecraft were launched and 12 astronauts had
Training Manual – Aerospace History: The World
4-9
set foot on moon. The Apollo project was not all the US space programme. Other
exploration programmes were also launched in a bid to explore other planets and
outer space.
The Mariner series of space probes were designed to visit other planets within the
solar system.
The Pioneers and Voyages were aimed at exploring the outer space and the galaxy.
They were planned to leave the solar system by the end of 80’s. They carried out their
mission which was ‘to explore strange new world, to seek out new civilizations and to
boldly go where no man has gone before.’ It was hoped that someday one of these
deep space probes would greet the extraterrestrial somewhere in the galaxy.
9.
The Space Shuttle
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is famous for most of
the brilliant achievements which have taken man to the stars. The introduction of
space rockets had accorded man the ability to transform the dream of space
exploration into reality. Many rockets were built to put satellites and spacecraft into
orbit and finally to the moon. As the US space programme went in full swing, some
the best minds started to think of a reusable spacecraft which could transport materials
and people between the earth and the orbiting stations. The brainchild of such
researches is the Space Shuttle Orbiter.
Before the space shuttle programme, NASA had originally a X-plane high-supersonic
aircraft programme on which the space shuttle concept was based. The X-15 and X-24
were prototypes of the space shuttle. In 1976, the first space shuttle `Enterprise’ was
manufactured.
The space shuttle Orbiter is about the size of a DC-9 aeroplane and weights about
556,000 pounds. The name Enterprise is in commemoration of the space vessel
featured in the famous TV science fiction series `Star Trek’. On 12 August 1977,
Enterprise was put over a specially modified Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet to carry out the
Approach and Landing Test.
After an exhaustive series of tests, the space shuttle Columbia with an external fuel
tank and two powerful solid fuel rocket boosters were launched into space on 12 Jan
Training Manual – Aerospace History: The World
4-10
1981. John Young and Robert Crippen were at the helm for 53 hours in this first ever
space shuttle mission.
Since Columbia’ first flight, the Orbiter fleet - Enterprise (prototype), Columbia,
Challenger (later destroyed in an accident), Discovery, Atlantis, Endeavor, have
carried out thousands of experiments in the space. Many countries have been involved
in these experimental work including the European Space Agency (ESA) which has
on it own created the Arian rocket to compete with the US Orbiters.
Without doubt the space shuttle is one of the greatest inventions of mankind.
Colonization of space will become reality in time. Synthetic materials otherwise
unavailable to man can be fabricated in the zero gravity environment in space.