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Aviation News & InformationAviation Week and Space Technology magazine is the top provider of aerospace news.Federal Aviation Administration Aero-News Network - Aircraft Shopper Online - AV Buyer Military AviationThe National Museum of Naval Aviation web site includes photos and information about all aircraft at the museum. Their website has been completely done over with fancy flash animation and sound, and their search engine is hidden here.US Air Force Images is a gallery of USAF photos, concetrating on recent activities. The F-16 is the most widely used western fighter aircraft in the world today, and Three-Four-Nine F-16 bills itself as 'the ultimate F-16 reference', with a gallery of over 8,000 photos of F-16's of many nations, a complete reference to all 'block' versions of the F-16, F-16 news, and more. US Air Force Museum Search: The USAF Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB has photos, specs, and historical info on scores of aircraft, and their website's pages are very fast-loading. Also see the Edwards AFB Gallery. More Aviation History"How We Made The First Flight", by Orville Wright, illustrated with photos, on the "Aviation Enthusiast's Corner" website. The site also includes browsable listings of historic aircraft and air museums, information on air shows, and other aviation history items.Historic Wings has exhibits about famous aircraft and aviation history, from the Wright brothers to the Gulf War and beyond. Airship Photos features photos of the Hindenburg, Graf Zeppelin, Akron, and other famous airships. The Luftwaffe that almost was, Luft '46 is loaded with descriptions of German aircraft projects under development at the end of WWII, illustrated with three-view drawings, model photos and custom color artwork. You can link to the Luftwaffe Web Ring from here. NASM Collections lists all of the aircraft and spacecraft collected at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Armstrong Flight Research Center Photo Gallery has hundreds of photos of experimental aircraft tested at NASA's Armsttrong Flight Research Center. The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was the precursor to NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This searchable online digital library contains NACA technical reports on aerodynamics and aircraft design from 1917 to 1958. Also see the UIUC Airfoil Data Site and NACA Airfoils, shareware Windows PC software for printing out standard "NACA" airfoil shapes. X-15 Research Results is a well-illustrated, interesting summary of the research results of 119 X-15 flights from 1958 to 1964. The famous rocket planes flew to over 300,000 feet, and exceeded Mach 6 (while exceeding Mach 5 50 times). More Aviation PhotosSubtitled Some Not Pretty, Unusual Aviation Pictures this is a gallery of photos of aircraft crashing and crashed, and in various states of distress.Aviation Photo Search: Airliners.net has the largest gallery of aviation photos online, with over 843,000 aviation images in their database. The images are of all kinds of aircraft, not just airliners (a search for "F-16" produces 3,921 results). You can send the images as email postcards if you wish. Airliners.net also has an aviation forum, civil aircraft data and history info, and aviation news and articles. HelicoptersJust Helicopters has news of all kinds about helicopters, including rescues, crashes, fuel prices, and airport issues.Airport InformationAirNav airport information search-- enter city name or three letter airport code and get a map of the airport, radio frequencies, runway and area obstructions information, traffic statistics, etc.Enter Airport Identifier Code, Name, or City: Airline Flight TrackingFlightradar24 "is a flight tracker that shows live air traffic from around the world. Flightradar24 combines data from several data sources including ADS-B, MLAT and FAA. The ADS-B, MLAT and FAA data is aggregated together with schedule and flight status data from airlines and airports."FlightAware Real-Time Flight Tracking gives you instant easy access to real-time airline flight tracking information. See where any US flight is along its path, what altitude and groundspeed, departure time and estimated time of arrival. Live ATC provides online streams of live air traffic control audio from all over the world. Aeronautics, Aircraft Design, Homebuilt AircraftFAA Aircraft Handbooks & ManualsTheory of Flight, from Aviation History, is a collection of short articles that serve as an introductory tutorial to the theory of flight. The site also has an image gallery, and articles about aircraft, engines, aviators, and more. The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) explains what homebuilt aircraft are all about. Aircraft Conceptual Design Drawings & Pictures from AircraftDesign.com features drawings, sketches, and photos of the earliest stages of aircraft design, many of aircraft that were never built. This site, by aircraft designer Daniel Raymer, also markets PC software for and classes in aircraft design and analysis, has a list of links for aircraft designers, and more. Sea and Sky Aviation is a up-to-date 1-page list of many aviation links, including Homebuilt Aircraft Links. Ultralights, Hang Gliding, SkydivingEAA: UltralightsUS Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association Lookout Mtn Flight Park & Training Center's HangGlide.com provides hang gliding instruction. Their website has lots of information, including articles and links. United States Parachute Association (USPA) has a membership of more than 34,000, who, with other first-time jump students, make approximately 3,250,000 jumps per year. |
Air Shows: Paris, France • Farnborough, England • Aviation Nation (Las Vegas) Canadian (Toronto) • Dayton • EAA AirVenture (OshKosh) • calendar  SR-71A #844 approaches the tanker to refuel on Feb. 4, 1997 |
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TIME Magazine, September 15, 1952, p. 57: SCIENCE: Death at Farnborough Four years ago, Test Pilot John Derry became the first Briton to pass the speed of sound and live to tell about it (TIME, Sept. 20, 1948).* Last week, at Britain's annual Farnborough Air Show, Derry was flying a De Havilland DH-110, a twin-jet, all-weather fighter. Before 120,000 spectators, including his young wife, Pilot Derry climbed to more than eight miles and dived, jets screaming, straight toward the crowd. Down he flashed at more than 700 m.p.h. When he leveled off, the double thunderclap of his shock waves--palpable as ocean breakers--crashed against the crowd's bodies and ears. Derry turned again to make a low pass. Then the crowd saw disaster: in eerie, total silence, the DH-110 disintegrated. The fighter floated apart leisurely, as in a slow-motion movie. Light pieces fluttered to earth. The nose and part of the fuselage skidded through a wire fence lined with spectators. The two jet engines, weighing a ton each, curved across the field in an awesome arc. Tumbling over & over and whistling faintly, they headed for a little hill packed with picnicking families. The great crowd stood in stunned silence, watching the hurtling engines. Over the public-address system, the announcer shouted: "Look out!" The engines soared for about a mile. One of them missed the hill, tore through a radio truck and smashed two motorcycles. The other engine, flying lower, broke in two and plowed two bloody furrows through the churning crowd. Besides Pilot Derry and his observer, Tony Richards, 28 people were killed, 63 injured... * Geoffrey de Havilland [Jr.] may have passed Mach 1 in 1946, but his plane went to pieces and he was killed (TIME, Oct. 7, 1946). The first man to break through the sonic wall in level flight: the U.S. Air Force's Captain "Chuck" Yeager, on Oct. 14, 1947, in his rocket-powered X-1. |