Category FLIGHT and M ОТІOIM

A carrier is controlled from a tall struc­ture, similar to an airfield control tower, known as the island. The island is on the starboard (right) side of the ship, leaving most of the deck clear for airplanes.

A carrier’s airplanes are usually stored on the hangar deck, from where

they are raised to the flight deck by an elevator. Aircraft may also be parked on the flight deck. The wings of many car­rier planes can be folded to save space.

Specialized airplanes, such as the tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey and the AV-8B Harrier jump jet, have V/STOL (short for vertical/short takeoff and landing) capability, which makes them especially useful for ships. Fast jets, such as the Navy’s F-14 Tomcats and F/A-18 Hornets, are launched by catapult to boost their speed for takeoff from the short aircraft carrier deck.

The carrier heads into the wind when planes are taking off or landing so that the force of the wind provides extra lift. Some naval aircraft have extra large

wing flaps to give the pilot good control at slow speeds. Some, such as the F-14, have variable-geometry wings. The pilot takes off and lands with wings in the extended position for slow flying, then moves the wings to the backward posi­tion for supersonic flight.

Landing on a carrier can be tricky for a naval pilot, even with modern radar and computer aids. There is a lot of ocean and only a narrow strip of flattop to aim for. As the plane touches down, a tailhook on its underside catches in one of four steel cables stretched across the deck, bringing it to a stop quickly. This device, essential to landing on an air­craft carrier, is called an arresting gear. Planes usually land on an angled land­ing section of the deck, situated on the port (left) side of the ship, so they can take off again if they miss the cables.

Carriers Today

Aircraft carriers are the biggest ships in the U. S. Navy. Today’s nuclear-powered carriers are able to travel up to 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) without refueling. Other countries operate air­craft carriers, too, although some of these are medium-sized ships operating only helicopters or V/STOL jets that can take off from a short “ski-jump” ramp and land vertically.

SEE ALSO:

• Aircraft, Military • Bomber

• Fighter Plane • Helicopter • VTOL, V/STOL, and STOVL • World War II

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The first airship filled with helium was the Goodyear C7 (1921). Helium is safer than hydrogen, because it does not burn in air and cause explosions. Helium became standard on U. S. airships, for example the Shenandoah (1923). Accidents still occurred, usually caused by bad weather. Airships did not fly high enough to travel above a storm, and their slow speed made them diffi­cult to control in high winds. The Shenandoah was destroyed in a storm over Ohio in 1925. The British R-101 crashed over France in 1930 on its first flight to India, killing forty-eight of its fifty-four passengers and crew. After this crash, Britain abandoned its airship program.

The U. S. Navy ordered two Goodyear rigid airships that used helium, the Akron (1931) and the Macon (1933). The Akron carried 207 people in November 1931, a record for an airship. These eight-engine airships were flying aircraft carriers—each was equipped to carry four small fighter planes. The two were identical in size: 785 feet (239 meters) long, and they were the largest airships operated by the United States.

GRAF ZEPPELIN

Gas capacity: 3,708,040 cubic feet (105,000 cubic meters)

Length: 776 feet (236.6 meters)

Speed: about 68 miles per hour (about 110 kilometers per hour)

The most successful passenger airship was the German Graf Zeppelin, which was named for Ferdinand von Zeppelin (Graf, meaning "Count," was von Zeppelin’s title). Between 1928 and 1937 the airship carried more than 13,000 passengers without a single accident. Whenever it flew low over a city, excited crowds gathered to see the long, gray – colored shape pass slowly overhead. In 1928, piloted by Hugo Eckener, the Graf Zeppelin set a record by cruising almost

4,0 miles (6,436 kilometers). In 1929, it flew around the world in 21 days, 5 hours, and 31 minutes. The journey, cov­ering a distance of approximately 20,000 miles (about 32,000 kilometers), began and ended

Both giant airships were wrecked in accidents within two years of entering service, however. The Akron went down during a storm in the Atlantic Ocean in 1933, killing seventy-three men. Two years later, in February 1935, the Macon crashed into the Pacific Ocean.

The Zeppelins and most other big air­ships were filled with hydrogen gas. Hydrogen gas gives more lift than other gases, but it catches fire easily when mixed with air. Although hydrogen was
known to be dangerous, its lightness and cheapness made it attractive to air­ship designers.

The German airship Hindenburg, sister ship of the Graf Zeppelin, began passenger flights between Germany and the United States. On May 6, 1937, the Hindenburg exploded and caught fire while docking at Lakehurst, New Jersey. The cause was the ignition of the hydro­gen gas by sparks. Of the ninety-seven people on board, thirty-five were killed.

The terrible end of this great aircraft destroyed passengers’ faith in airship travel. Commercial use faded as airships were replaced by airplanes.

The Apollo 17 mission returned with a record amount of Moon rock—256 pounds (116 kilograms). This material, together with earlier soil samples and scientific data from the Moon landings, was eagerly studied by scientists all over the world. By the 1970s, however, the public had become less excited about manned spaceflights. Politicians also lost interest. NASA turned its attention to more practical space travel in the form of a reusable spacecraft, the Space Shuttle. Since 1972, there have been no further Moon landings.

Leftover Apollo equipment was used in 1973 in Skylab, an orbital space sta­tion used as a science laboratory. Three crews of U. S. astronauts visited Skylab, the third crew making the longest visit of eighty-four days.

The last Apollo spacecraft flew in 1975. Astronauts Tom Stafford, Donald Slayton, and Vance Brand docked in Earth orbit with a Soviet Soyuz space­craft carrying cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Valery Kubasov. This mission, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, was intended to further U. S.-Soviet collaboration in space. With this project, the Apollo pro­gram came to a positive end.

The Apollo missions captured the imaginations of millions of people around the world who watched the Apollo 11 astronauts on television, from the thrilling moment of launch to their Moon walks and final splashdown.

The Apollo program was also an immense technical and industrial achievement. Thousands of workers in dozens of companies and research insti­tutes worked together to build the necessary rockets, spacecraft, and equip­ment. The program also boosted progress in microelectronics and com­puters. This important new technology would soon come to be used in further space exploration and on Earth.

Balloons were soon flying over the ocean. Frenchman Jean – Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries flew across the English Channel in 1785. In 1793 Blanchard completed the first balloon flight in the United States, traveling from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Gloucester County, New Jersey.

Early balloonists learned to control flight upward or down­ward. By letting out air or gas, the balloonist could descend. Throwing out ballast (sand or lead weights) enabled the balloon (now lighter) to rise. The dis­advantage of a balloon is that it cannot be steered-it drifts with the wind. Sails, oars, and even paddlewheels were tried for steering, all without success.

Balloon flights became popular entertainment, but they also had serious uses. The U. S. Army’s Balloon Corps used balloons for observation during the Civil War (1861-1865). Balloonists made the first scientific researches into the upper atmosphere. In the 1930s, Auguste

Piccard, a Swiss scientist, rode in a sealed cabin beneath a hydrogen bal­loon. He rose more than 50,000 feet (15,240 meters). In 1935 American bal­loonists Albert W. Stevens and Orvil A. Anderson ascended to 72,395 feet (22,066 meters). This record remained unbroken until the 1960s, when other balloonists in the United States reached

over 100,000 feet (30,480 meters). Unmanned balloons have flown as high as 170,000 feet (51,816 meters).

Some birds have as few as 900 feathers, while others have more than 25,000. This does not make much difference in their flying skills. The secret of flying is the bird skeleton. Bird bones are very light, but very strong-many bird bones are hollow. Because the bones are also fused (joined together), a bird has an amazingly strong frame, although it weighs little. Even the world’s heaviest flying bird-a bustard-weighs only 40 pounds (18.2 kilograms).

The largest muscles in a bird’s body work the wings (although in flightless birds, such as the ostrich, these big muscles work the legs). The wing muscles are in the chest, below the wing. The muscles are attached to the upper wing by tendons that work like pulleys. This streamlined body design gives the bird a high power-to-weight ratio, just like an aerobatic airplane. Its muscles provide the engine power to drive the wings. To fuel those muscles, most birds need a lot of food every day. Birds can inhale large amounts of air very quickly, using the oxygen to help provide energy for rapid flight.

A bird’s wings are equivalent to a person’s arms, with long “finger” bones carrying flight feathers, the longest feathers. The bird wing is curved like an airplane wing-slightly rounded on top, flatter underneath. This curved shape forces air to speed up when flowing over the top surface. The faster the airflow, the less air pressure there is above the wing. Because high-pressure air always moves to fill low-pressure space, the air beneath the wing moves upward. This movement creates lift beneath the wing, and the bird flies.

Wing shapes are a clue to how differ­ent birds fly. Fast-flying birds, such

as swifts and swallows, have long, narrow wings, often swept back like a jet fighter. Soaring birds, such as vultures and buzzards, have broad wings. Gliders-the alba­tross, for example-have long, straight wings.

Birds that need rapid takeoffs (like pheasants and prairie hens) and small birds that nest in shrubs or undergrowth usually have quite short, stubby wings.

In the late 1960s, Boeing produced new jet airliners for short – or medium-range flights—the 727 (1964) and the 737 (1968). These were smaller aircraft that were economical for airlines and able to operate from smaller airports.

After failing to win a government contract for a very large military trans­port, Boeing switched to building a giant passenger carrier. This new plane, the 747, had a distinctive “bubble” front, providing an upper deck for first-class passengers. It could seat about 400 passengers in its spacious main cabin, which was 185 feet (56 meters) long and 20 feet (6 meters) wide.

The 747 made long-haul flying much cheaper. Two 747 flights could replace up to ten flights by smaller airliners. Airport passenger handling facilities were strained at first, however, when

TECH*fcT ALK

BOEING AIRLINERS

Boeing’s family of commercial aircraft is designed for different routes. The vari­ous aircraft have ranges of between

2,0 miles (3,220 kilometers) and 9,000 miles (14,480 kilometers). A 777 can fly nonstop from New York to Jakarta in Indonesia. The seat capacities of recent Boeing models are:

• 737 up to 180 seats.

• 747 up to 416 seats.

• 767 up to 245 seats.

• 777 up to 368 seats.

• 787 up to 330 seats.

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two or three 747s landed at about the same time, unloading more than 1,000 passengers within minutes.

Boeing continues to build new airlin­ers. The 757, 767, and 777 were followed by the 787, the latest addition to the line. Each aircraft is designed to fit into a niche in the world air transportation market. Boeing also continues its research into new areas of aerospace through experimental aircraft, such as the X-43 hypersonic airplane.

SEE ALSO:

• Aerospace Manufacturing Industry

• Aircraft, Commercial • Aircraft, Experimental • Aircraft Design

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Dates of birth: Leila Marie: unknown; Samuel: March 6, 1867.

Places of birth: Leila Marie: unknown; Samuel: Davenport, Iowa.

Died: Leila Marie: February 5, 1939; Samuel: August 7, 1913.

Major contributions: Leila Marie: first woman to pilot a heavier-than-air craft; Samuel: inventor of the man-lifting kite and first person to fly an airplane in Britain.

amuel Franklin Cody was born Franklin Samuel Cowdery. He learned how to ride, shoot, and rope, and he joined a Wild West show soon after he turned twenty. About that time, he changed his name to Samuel Franklin Cody.

In 1890 Cody went to Europe to per­form. Soon after, he met Leila Marie Davis. By the late 1890s, Samuel and Leila Marie and her children—whom Cody adopted—were touring together. Leila Maire and her children took Cody’s name, and the couple worked together as partners in demonstrations of trick riding and sharp shooting.

At some point, Cody became inter­ested in flying kites. In about 1900 he developed a system he called his “man­lifting kite.” It included a pilot kite mounted at the top of a long cable; sev­eral lifter kites spaced along the cable; and a carrier kite, from which dangled a basket that could carry a person.

FALSE CLAIMS

By changing his name, Samuel Franklin Cody tried to advance his career by linking himself to William "Buffalo Bill" Cody, who led the most famous of all Wild West shows. He even claimed to be the famous Cody’s son until Buffalo Bill’s lawyers forced him to stop. Cody invented many stories about his early life to appear more colorful. Although widely accepted at the time, they are now known to be fictitious.

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Cody told the British army that his kites could be used to send officers into the sky to make observations of enemy troops. As a demonstration, Leila Marie Cody bravely went up in the kite in 1902, making her the first woman pilot of a heavier-than-air craft. Samuel Cody’s kite ascents finally convinced the army—it hired him as its chief kite instructor in 1905. Working at a military base, Cody continued his flights. In one ascent, an army officer was lifted more than 3,300 feet (1,006 meters) above the ground.

Cody also developed an interest in other kinds of flying. In 1905 he built a glider that traveled more than 740 feet (226 meters). Next he tried putting a motor on a kite, but that effort failed. Cody then worked with Colonel John Edward Clapper to build an airship. On

September 30, 1907, they had a successful 12-mile (19 kilo­meter) flight. Five days later,

Cody and Clapper flew the airship to and around London, thrilling thousands of onlookers.

Samuel Cody’s first air­plane flew on October 16,

1908. Although the flight lasted less than half a minute,

Cody became the first person to fly a plane in Britain and an instant national hero.

Cody continued experi­menting with aircraft, trying out new designs each time one of his flying machines crashed. He became a British citizen so that he could partici­pate in exhibitions and races open only to British citizens. On a 1910 flight, he set a record for the longest British flight in terms of both time (almost 5 hours) and distance—more than 185 miles (298 kilometers).

Cody’s next challenge was the reward offered by the Daily Mail news­paper to the first person to fly a circle around Britain, a distance of more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers). In 1911, Cody beat eight other pilots to finish first.

In 1913 Cody began designing a sea­plane that he flew successfully. On a later flight, however, the plane ran into mechanical problems. It plunged to the ground, and Cody and a passenger were killed. Britain mourned the loss of their hero, and the army offered to bury him in a military cemetery. Tens of thou­sands of people lined the roads as Cody’s coffin passed to his final resting place. Leila Marie Cody died in 1939.

When America went to war in 1941, the DC-3 became even more valuable as the C-47 military transport. During World War II, the airplanes were built at three plants: in Long Beach and Santa Monica, California, and in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

In its military role as the C-47 and other models, the DC-3 underwent internal changes. For troop carrying, the passenger cabin was refitted with utility seats that were set along the sides facing inward. The C-47 had twin radial engines, giving it a cruising speed of 207 miles per hour (333 kilometers per hour), and it had a range of 2,125 miles (3,420 kilometers). It could carry
up to 6,000 pounds (2,725 kilograms) of freight or twenty-eight fully equipped paratroopers. It was known as the Skytrain, the Skytrooper, and the “Gooney Bird.”

The C-47 proved to be an outstand­ingly successful troop carrier and was also widely used to drop paratroopers and tow gliders. C-47s, known in Britain as Dakotas, flew secret missions, often at night, over Nazi-occupied Europe. They dropped Allied agents, guns, and sup­plies by parachute to Resistance fighters. The aircraft also became a familiar sight to troops fighting on the Pacific and Southeast Asian battlegrounds. C-47s flew over the Himalayas between India and China and dropped ammunition,

food, and fuel to soldiers in jungle clear­ings in Burma or on small Pacific islands.

C-47s took part in the D-Day inva­sion of German-occupied northern France in June 1944. They also dropped Allied airborne troops during the Arnhem and Nijmegen assaults (in the Netherlands) in September 1944. Douglas supplied more than 10,000 C-47s to the Allies during the war, and a further 2,000 were built in Russia for use on the Eastern Front.

There were even DC-3s flying on the other side in World War II. The Japanese had bought twenty DC-3s in 1939 and had acquired a license to manufacture the plane. During the war, more than 400 Japanese DC-3s were used by the Imperial Japanese Navy. These planes, known as Showa L2Ds, were used main­ly as personnel transports.

An engine is a machine that changes heat into motion. Powered aircraft are propelled through the air by at least one engine. Several different types of engines are used in aircraft. An engine used for flight needs to be relatively lightweight, small, powerful, and reliable.

The First Aircraft Engines

The first engines used in the earliest attempts to build powered aircraft were steam engines. They were powerful engines, but they were also very heavy. They did sometimes manage to lift an aircraft off the ground for a few seconds, but it soon became clear that a different sort of engine was needed.

When the Wright brothers looked for an engine to power the world’s first air­plane, they were unable to find anything suitable, so they decided to build their own engine. It was a small gasoline-

О Four basic types of turbine engines are used today: the turbojet, the turboprop, the turbofan, and the turboshaft.

more powerful engines. These large, powerful piston engines produced a lot of vibration. One way of smoothing out the shaking was to fit a heavy metal wheel, called a flywheel, to the engine. The spinning wheel evened out the pul­ses of power produced by the cylinders.

Amphibians, designed to land on both water and dry land, are more versatile than regular seaplanes and land-based planes. They are useful in remote regions such as northern Canada and Siberia in Russia, where there are plenty of bays, lakes, and rivers but few cities with airports. Amphibians were as pop­ular as land-based planes during the early years of aviation.

Amphibious airplanes continue to be useful for many tasks. One of the most enduring designs was the Canadian – built Noorduyn Norseman (1935), which is basically a very tough, high-wing
monoplane that could be fitted with wheels, floats, or skis (for snow and ice). Canada also produced the Canadair CL-215 (1966). This aircraft, still used today, was designed as a firefighting amphibian. It has two 600-gallon (2,271- liter) tanks for water scooped up while flying low over a lake or river and then dumped over wildfires. The Grumman Albatross (1947) also has enjoyed a long career as an amphibian, used by the U. S. Air Force and U. S. Coast Guard.

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SEE ALSO:

• Aircraft, Commercial • Aircraft, Military • Curtiss, Glenn • Hughes, Howard • World War II

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