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History A Bomber-Fighter Duel (II) This technical report (RM-193-PR) was published by The RAND Corporation in 1949 and was written by David Blackwell and Max Shiffman. This memorandum completes a study of a fighter-bomber duel. The duel is one in which a fighter fires a single rocket burst at a bomber, which has limited ammunition and defends itself by intermittent firing. It turns out that, for fixed accuracy and values of the bomber and fighter, the nature of the strategies depends on the amount of ammunition at the disposal of the bomber. [Taken from abstract]. This is a PDF file, so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.
no title available no description supplied A History of Aeronautics Written by E. Charles Vivian and originally published 1920 this is Project Gutenberg Release #874 (April 1997). This Project Gutenberg "etext", is distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart through the Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie-Mellon University. It is available for on-screen browsing in text format and as a downloadable zip file, from a number of specified servers. A History of Suction-Type Laminar-Flow Control with Emphasis on Flight Research This web site provides access to a NASA Dryden Flight Research Center history series publication, by Albert L. Braslow. It presents a history of suction-type laminar-flow-control research, and in particular describes the contribution made by NACA and NASA in this field. It covers early progress, as well as the principal problems that inhibited the attainment of laminar flow with either passive or active laminar-flow control. It also describes the resurgence of laminar flow control research at NASA after 1975, with a particular emphasis on the flight-research programme. The book concludes with a summary of the status of laminar-flow control technology in the mid-1990s. The full text is available online in HTML format. A Milestone of Aeromedical Research Contributions to Civil Aviation Safety: The 1000th Report in the CARI/OAM Series This technical report (DOT/FAA/AM-5/3) was published by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Office of Aerospace Medicine in March 2005 and was written by W. E. Collins and K. Wade. A historical, largely photographic retrospective is presented in recognition of the 1000th published report emanating from the FAA aeromedical research center officially established as the Civil Aeromedical Research Institute (CARI) in August 1960. The publications include 57 CARI reports (1961-1963), 1 CARI technical publication (1963), and 942 reports (1964-present) under the aegis of the (now) Office of Aerospace Medicine (OAM). The retrospective includes an historical section on the early development of civil aeromedical research. Additional, theme-related sections provide an indication of some of the varied research contributions and safety achievements of the Institute and cite some of the many individuals who contributed to the Institute’s accomplishments. [Taken from abstract]. This is a PDF file, so Adobe Acrobat software is required in order to read it. A Tale of no Tail : An Anthology of the Flying Wing This site is devoted to tailless aircraft from the earliest examples (Etrich, Dunne and others) through the 1930s, 40s and 50s (the era of the Horten Brothers, Lippisch and Northrop) and finally, the present day, where tailless designs have been adapted to the latest in ultra-miniature, pilotless aircraft, commonly known as Micro Air Vehicles (MAV). The site is part of the Lawrence Hargrave Aviation Pioneer site. Aerofiles : A Century of American Aviation Aerofiles is the Internet's most comprehensive, non-commercial, free-access web site dedicated solely to the aviation history of North America and the airplanes that have graced its skies for more than a century. This is the starting place for anywhere in the wonderful and sometimes weird world of aviation — military, civil, and commercial — in North America from 1903 to now. From comprehensive lists and information on airplanes, airlines, airports, museums, organisations to biographies and chronology this website is packed full of information. Aeronautics Learning Laboratory for Science Technology and Research This educational website includes material on the history of aeronautics, principles of aeronautics and aerospace education and careers at three different levels: Level 1 - for middle/junior high school students; Level 2 - for junior high/high school students and Level 3 - for high school/lower division college students. A teachers guide is available along with information on research projects, relevant links and a photo gallery. There is also information on how to obtain the teaching material on a CD-ROM. Aeroplanes and Dirigibles of War Written by Frederick A, Talbot and now a Project Gutenberg release 793# (January 1997). Ever since the earliest days of the great conquest of the air, first by the dirigible balloon and then by the aeroplane, their use in time of war has been a fruitful theme for discussion. But their arrival was of too recent a date, their many utilities too unexplored to provide anything other than theories, many obviously untenable, others avowedly problematical.Yet the part airships have played in the Greatest War has come as a surprise even to their most convinced advocates. For every expectation shattered, they have shown a more than compensating possibility of usefulness. [Taken from introduction]. It is available for on screen browsing in text format and as a downloadable zip file from a number of specified servers. AeroSite This is a personal interest web site concerned with civil aviation. The site contains sections covering airline logos, models, discussion forums, and links to other sites. There is a section on airline information which includes listings of airline codes, airports codes, and civil registration prefix codes. The aircraft section contains three view images and brief specification details. Air Accident Investigation Branch Bulletins The United Kingdom Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) is part of the Department for Transport (DfT) and is responsible for the investigation of civil aircraft accidents and serious incidents within the UK. This site provides access to the full text (PDF) of the monthly Bulletins which are published in order to inform both industry and the public the facts as far as they are known, of accidents and serious incidents. The previous six months' worth of bulletins are available from the menu on the page. They are available back to January 1996 on a database that is searchable by key details such as date, aircraft type, registration, and location. They include information such as type of aircraft, number of people on board, details of any injuries sustained, history of the flight, and any recommendations. Air Accident Investigation Inspector's Investigations (Formal Reports) The United Kingdom Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) is part of the Department of Transport and is responsible for the investigation of civil aircraft accidents and serious incidents within the UK. This site provides access to the full text of the Reports which are published in order to inform both industry and the public the facts, as far as they are known, of accidents and serious incidents. The six most recent reports are available in full. Air Force Magazine Online This is a digital version of Air Force Magazine, the monthly publication from the US Air Force Association, an organisation concerned with promoting public understanding of aerospace. It is available back to 1990 and the full text of selected articles can be viewed in HTML format. There is a search facility. The site also provides access to selected subjects of interest such as a chronology of aerospace power and descriptions and specifications of classic aircraft. Air Wing Media
This web site provides an introduction to a CD-ROM aimed at the aviation historian and enthusiast. AIRFORCE Technology AIRFORCE Technology is a UK based commercial aerospace directory service aimed specifically at the defence sector. The resources contained in the directory include international coverage of industry projects (military aircraft both in service and under development), military products and services (listed by equipment or service category), an A-Z company index (of military aerospace contractors and suppliers, with links to their equipment and services profiles), listings of exhibitions and conferences and careers information. Airline Handbook This resource is produced by the Air Transport Association of America, this electronic text provides an overview of the history of aviation, deregulation, airline economics, how aircraft fly, safety, airports, air traffic control, airlines and the environment and the future of aviation. It is available free of charge in PDF format. Airliners.Net : Aircraft Data and History This section of Airliners.net provides information on a large range of commercial aircrafts currently in use or under development, organised by aircraft name. It contains brief specifications (such as country of origin, powerplants, performance, weights, dimensions, capacity and production), development histories and photographs. airlines.afriqonline.com This website has a directory of airline reviews and related services including tickets booking, detailed information about airlines, description of cities and airports, etc. Each article is an impartial assessment of companies created by experts proceeding from customer testimonials and official airline information delivering you most precise opinion and detailed information including map of routes, important notes for passengers, variety and quality of services offered by company in airport and aboard. The website has a country and city guide to help explore/plan holiday location. You can book and check flight prices off the website flight search menu. Airship Heritage Trust Airshipsonline houses the online archive of the Airship Heritage Trust, a voluntary, charitable organisation based in the UK. There is an extensive history of British Airships from 1900 to the present day. They own and are responsible for the national heritage airship archive and a large collection of airship artifact's and photographs relating to the British Airship Programme, from it's early days at the turn of the century to the Skyships of the 1980s. Archive footage of airship flights, photographs, information on airships, their bases can be found along with an online reference library, membership information and further links to related websites. American X-Vehicles : An Inventory X-1 to X-50 This is the full text in PDF format of NASA SP 2003 4531, number 31 of the Monographs in Space History series. It was written by by Dennis R. Jenkins, Tony Landis, and Jay Miller and was published in June 2003. It provides a history of US research aircraft including details where applicable such as first and last flight, total flights, sponsors, highest flight and fastest flight for each. Archives of American Aerospace Exploration (AAAE) The Archives of American Aerospace Exploration (AAAE) was founded by the Digital Library and Archives of the University Libraries of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in April of 1986. Its purpose is to find, preserve, and make available to researchers collections of correspondence, notes, photographs, written or recorded reminiscences, memorabilia, oral histories, as well as any other items that document American aeronautical and space history. The site divides its collections into: Aeronautical Engineers; Aerospace Engineers; Astronauts; Astronomers; Businesspersons; Chemists; Inventors; NASA Administrators and Project Directors; Physicists; Pilots; Virginia Tech Alumni and Faculty; Writers; and Other Interesting Sources. Each entry has a brief biography. Occasionally, there are further details, such as an inventory of the papers and a contents list. Gateways to related areas are also provided. Arrow Recovery Canada Incorporated This is the site of a non-profit organisation dedicated to finding the missing Avro Arrow (CF-105) flight test models which were designed and built in the fifties by the Canadian company A. V. Roe. The site provides a lot of detailed information about the background to the Avro Arrow, including a history, a copy of the Fourteenth British Commonwealth Lecture given by Jim Floyd (Vice President of the company) in 1958, various articles in PDF format, links and an active photograph of the aeroplane with links to more information. Australian Air Power Development Centre The Australian Air Power Development Centre [formerly the Australian Aerospace Center and Air Power Studies Centre (APSC)] was established by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in August 1989 at the direction of the then Chief of the Air Staff (now Chief of Air Force). The function of the Aerospace Centre is to promote a greater understanding of the proper application of air power within the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and in the wider community. The web site provides access to a variety of information resources including: listings of publications (including some working papers in full text, and the condensed version of the Australian Air Power Manual), events, and links to related defence sites. The site also features image and video galleries. Aviation History Online Museum The Aviation History Online Museum is a collection of aircraft images and text of some of the world's most famous and historic aircraft. It features an index of historic aircrafts that can be browsed by manufacturer. The index links to a text article, which also contains images and specifications. There is an index of airmen with short biographies of the individuals listed. Other sections are devoted to, aircraft engines and engine theory, the early years, the theory of flight and construction technology, and a photo gallery. Aviation History This electronic journal is published six times a year by the Cowles History Group, and covers the history of world aviation. Selected articles are available free of charge in full text, but to view complete issues it is necessary to pay a subscription charge, full details of this are given. Articles can be viewed in HTML format and a search engine is also provided Aviation in Peace and War Written by Sir Frederick Hugh Sykes and orginally published in 1922 this is a Gutenberg Project Release 25244# (April 2008). Since the earliest communities of human beings first struggled for supremacy and protection, the principles of warfare have remained unchanged. New methods have been evolved and adopted with the progress of science, but no discovery, save perhaps that of gunpowder, has done so much in so short a time to revolutionize the conduct of war as aviation, the youngest, yet destined perhaps to be the most effective fighting-arm. Yet to-day we are only on the threshold of our knowledge, and, striking as was the impetus given to every branch of aeronautics during the four years of war, its future power can only dimly be seen. [Taken from introduction]. It is available for on-screen browsing in text format and as a downloadable zip file from a number of specified servers. Beyond The Ionosphere : Fifty Years of Satellite Communication This provides access to the text of a NASA Special Publication, NASA SP-4217, edited by Andrew J. Butrica, The NASA History Series, 1997. The report presents a history of satellite communicationsfrom Echo 1 to the Global Positioning System, and includes many essays on satellite communications in other countries. The text is available for viewing online in HTML format from the NASA History Office web site. Black Magic and Gremlins : Analog Flight Simulations at NASA's Flight Research Written by Gene L Waltman this NASA-SP-2000-4520 Monograph in Aerospace History No 20 is available in full-text pdf format from the Dryden History website. It covers the history of the Flight Research Center (FRC) Simulation Laboratory (FSL) and describes the development of experimental flight-test simulators and the rapid evolution of the computers that made them run. The file is 8.5 MB and is available in PDF format. Boeing-727.com This is a personal interest web site concerned with the tri-jet transport. Although not an official Boeing site, it does focus on technical information. This is arranged under the following headings: Airframe, Engine, Avionics, Aircraft Systems, Checklists, Fluids and Fuel, and "727 Odds" (items that do not fit into the other sections). There is also a set of revision questions relating to the technical information. British Airships, Past, Present and Future Written by George Whale this electronic text reprint is Project Gutenberg Release #762 and was published in December 1996. This Project Gutenberg "etext" is distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart through the Project Gutenberg Association at Benedictine University. The etext is available to browse online in Text format and as a dowloadable zip file. The text can be accessed for a number of specified server sites. British Rockets and Satellite Launchers This is a personal interest web site produced by Nicholas Hill which describes the British space and rocketry programme, actual and intended, over the years from 1955 to 1971. It includes information on Black Knight, Black Arrow, Blue Streak and the Saunders Roe rocket powered interceptors. There is information available on the BK-16 rocket. There is also section with plan views, drawn to scale, of the major British rocketry projects. The site also provides access to the Newsletter of the British Rocketry Oral History Programme. Celebrating a Century of Flight The site contains the text of a NASA Special Publication, NASA SP-2002-09-511-HQ, edited by Tony Springer, the NASA centennial of flight coordinator, with input from the NASA History Office and many other organisations including the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission. The publication provides an introduction to aerospace history since the Wright brothers' historic flight in December 1903. The text can be viewed online or downloaded in PDF format, from the NASA History Office web site. CFD Zone
This site has been created by NASA Langley in order to introduce the ways that NASA uses computers to simulate aerodynamic problems (computational fluid dynamics). Code One Magazine Online This site provides the full text of this magazine which is published quarterly by Lockheed Martin. The magazine is concerned primarily with the F-16 and other fighter programs including the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). Archives back to 1986 list the articles that appeared in each issue, and selected articles are available in full text. Other resources available from the site include further information on the JSF, F-16 and F-22, aviation history, photographs and art and listings of pilots according to the number of fighter hours they have flown. All the information is available in HTML format. Commercial Use of UAVs This is the Laboratory for Information Systems & Telecommunications, (LIST), website. LIST is an interdisciplinary research group in the department of electrical & computer engineering at the University of Florida. It brings some information about UAVs and their use in commercial applications. It provides access to 52 UAV manufacturers and a brief history of UAVs. It also brings a project proposal on Airborne Traffic Surveillance Systems in pdf format. Computers Take Flight This web site provides access to a NASA Dryden Flight Research Center history series publication, NASA SP-4303, by James E. Tomayko. This describes the history of the F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire Project. This produced the first digital fly-by-wire aircraft to operate without a mechanical backup system. The full text of the publication is available online in HTML format. Concorde/Designing modern Britain - Design Museum One of the best-loved engineering design projects of the 20th century, CONCORDE (1976-2003) is a rare example of successful international collaboration. Its Anglo-French designers produced the world’s first supersonic commercial passenger aircraft which at its fastest flew from New York to London in less than three hours. Critical Issues in the History of Spaceflight At a May 1981 a Proseminar in Space History held at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Washington,DC, historians came together to consider the state of the discipline of space history. Twenty-four years after the 1981 proseminar, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Headquarters History Division and NASM's Division of Space History brought together another group of scholars - including historians, political scientists, sociologists, public administration scholars, and engineers - to reconsider the state of the discipline. This volume is a collection of essays based on this workshop on Critical Issues in the History of Spaceflight, held at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum on 15-16 March 2005.All these documents placed the new vision in the context of the importance of exploration and discovery to the American experience. Department of Transport : Online Digital Special Collections A digital preservation archive of special collections of interest to US Department of Transportation (DoT) researchers which includes: Civil Aeronautic Manuals, Civil Air Regulations, Historical Aircraft Accident Reports (1934-1965), FAA and CAA Research Reports amongst others. Dominion of the Air : Story of Aerial Navigation This gives access to a book written by J.M Bacon. This is a Project Gutenberg Release #861 dated July 2008. It is available for on-screen browsing in text form and, as a downloadable zip file from a number of specified servers. Early History of the Airplane : Wright Brothers Written by Orville and Wilbur Wright and now a Project Gutenberg release 25420# (May 2008). "Though the subject of aerial navigation is generally considered new, it has occupied the minds of men more or less from the earliest ages. Our personal interest in it dates from our childhood days. Late in the autumn of 1878 our father came into the house one evening with some object partly concealed in his hands, and before we could see what it was, he tossed it into the air. Instead of falling to the floor, as we expected, it flew across the room, till it struck the ceiling, where it fluttered awhile, and finally sank to the floor. It was a little toy, known to scientists as a "helicoptere," but which we, with sublime disregard for science, at once dubbed a "bat." It was a light frame of cork and bamboo, covered with paper, which formed two screws, driven in opposite directions by rubber bands under torsion. A toy so delicate lasted only a short time in the hands of small boys, but its memory was abiding" [Taken from introduction]. It is available for on screen browsing in text format and as a downloadable zip file from a number of specified servers. Experimental Aircraft Association's Countdown to Kitty Hawk The Experimental Aircraft Association are reproducing the aircraft flown in 1903 by the Wright Brothers in the first ever manned flight. It will be toured throughout the United States in 2003, culminating in a reenactment of the Wright Brothers? first flight at 10:35 a.m. on December 17th, exactly 100 years to the minute after the historic event. This site provides the technical details of the original flyer and engine and lists the places the tour will visit. Exploring the Unknown : Selected Documents in the history of the U.S. Civil Space Program, Volume IV : Accessing Space This provides access to the text of a NASA Special Publication, NASA SP-4407, edited by John M. Logsdon, with contributions by Ray A. Williamson and others, The NASA History Series, 1999. The documents selected for inclusion in this volume are presented in four major chapters. These chapters focus on the evolution toward the Saturn V rocket, the development of the Space Shuttle, space transportation commercialisation, and future space transportation possibilities. Each chapter in this volume is introduced by an overview essay. The text is available for viewing online or for downloading from the NASA History Office web site Exploring the Unknown : Selected Documents in the history of the U.S. Civil Space Program, Volume VI : Space and Earth Science This provides access to the text of a NASA Special Publication, NASA SP-4407, edited by John M. Logsdon, with Stephen J. Garber, Roger D. Launius, and Ray A. Williamson, NASA History Series, 2004. This volume covers space history and space policy in four thematic chapters. Essays discuss the solar physics from space, space physics, life sciences in space, and the Earth Observing System. The text is available for viewing online or for downloading from the NASA History Office web site. Farnborough Air Sciences Trust "FAST" is The Farnborough Air Sciences Trust. It was formed in November 1993 to save the Farnborough's historic Main Factory Site from wholesale demolition. It seemed then that the nation and the world was about to lose an important piece of aviation heritage. Where possible, surviving historic buildings would be used thus linking the past, present and future of this world famous site. FAST were keen to promote enhancing the environmental impact of the site by careful landscaping and architectural design. Farnborough International This is the official web site of the biennial international airshow and trade fare, which is organised by the Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC). The site features information about the event aimed both at exhibitors and visitors. The latter includes site plans, opening times, attraction details, and ticket prices. A list of aircraft already confirmed either for the static and / or flying display is published on the site with a note that this will be updated regularly. The Events, News and Media Centre provides online access to the Farnborough International Newsletter as well as press briefings and other news items. The Friends of Farnborough section of the web site highlights the history of the airshow and of Farnborough itself. Please note that you will be required to register to access this part of the site though there is no charge for registration. Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) Founded in 1905, the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), is the world's air sports federation. It has a number of functions including: the establishment of rules for the control and certification of world aeronautical and astronautical records; devising regulations for air sporting events; and the promotion of skill, proficiency and safety in aeronautics. The web site brings together a range of information sources including news, events, mailing lists and discussion forums. Within the framework of FAI, each air sport has an International Commission which is responsible for making the rules for competitions and which generally oversees the activies of their particular air sport. Each of the Commissions have their own sections of the web site, and these cover: ballooning (and airships); general aviation; gliding; hang gliding; aeromodeling; parachuting; aerobatics; astronautic records; human powered flight; microlight; paragliding; and rotorcraft. There are also a series of technical commissions including: aviation and space education; amateur built and experimental aircraft; air sports medicine (Comission Internationale Medico-Physiologique - CIMP); and the environment. There is a documents area which contains copies of key policy documents including the FAI's Anti-Doping Rules and Procedures, the Strategic Plan, and Code of Ethics. The site also provides access to the FAI's journal, Air Sports International. First Flight Centennial Foundation The First Flight Centennial Foundation is hosting a series of events to celebrate the centenary of the first manned flight in 1903. These will take place at the Wright Brothers National Memorial and the site provides details of these events and booking information. The main project of the Foundation is to erect a pavilion on the site which will house a number of exhibits and activities under the following themes - the Outer Banks, the precursors to flight, the Wright Brothers, glider experiments, powered flight and a century of flight - and these are described further on the web site. The Foundation was also instrumental in the project to restore the Wright Monument in 1998 and information on this is also available. First Flight Produced and maintained by the Open University, UK, this site provides a simple introduction into key events in the history of flight. It traces the development of models (including movies of how they might work) and the understanding of aerodynamics, including links to simple sites which explain the principles of flight. The stories of key flyers such as the Wright Brothers are also told. Flight Journal Air Age Publishing produces this bimonthly subscription magazine, which is aimed primarily at the aviation enthusiast. In addition to providing subscription details, the web site does contain a range of information resources including: an image gallery; aviation museum directory; discussion forums; and contents listing of past issues of the magazine. It is possible to search and browse articles from past issues. A number of aircraft profiles are included in the Great Planes section. These cover historic types such as the Hawker Hurricane, P-47, P-51, Me 109, Fw 190, and B-17, as well as several current designs such as the F-16C Fighting Falcon and the AH-1W SuperCobra. The profiles contain, text, photographs, drawings and brief specifications. Flight-History.com This service is a division of Ghosts of Aviation Inc. in Canada and it aims to develop an archive of aviation history. It currently focuses on the pre-jet era, but will be extended. The key features of the site include a story archive which provides histories of planes and pilots, photograph archives organised by category, and plane statistics organised by manufacturer. Flights of Inspiration 'Flights of Inspiration' was created by The Franklin Institute Science Museum and the Science Museum, London. The site contains features on the Wright Brothers and also the first non-stop transatlantic flight of Alcock and Brown. It also contains a section which attempts to explain the forces of flight. There is also a section devoted to teachers which shows how the site can be used to enhance learning about aeronautics and flight. There is another section dedicated to understanding the forces and challenges of flight in order to design a model aircraft. Flying Machines : Construction and Operation This provides access to a book written by W.J. Jackman and Thomas H Russell, with an introductory chapter by Octave Chanute. This is a Project Gutenberg Release 907 dated July 2008. It is available to browse on-screen and, as a downloadable zip file, from a number of specified servers. Gallery of Classics : A Flock of Warbirds from the Air Force's Past Provided by the Air Force Magazine, the monthly publication of the Air Force Association (AFA) this site provides details of 'classic' aircraft from the US Air Force. Categories of aircraft covered include bombers, fighters, attack/observation, special duty/gliders, experimentals, transports, trainers, helicopters and missiles. Each aircraft is described and a short history given. In addition some specifications are available such as powerplant, weight and dimensions. Great Images in NASA (GRIN) Provided by NASA, this is a collection of over 1000 images of historical interest which is aimed at the media, publishers and the general public. The images have been scanned at high resolution and in several sizes. They can be found by browsing by subject then selecting the relevant category, searched by keyword and date, or browsed by the centre that produced the image. The photographs are not protected by copyright, unless it is stated, and NASA must be acknowledged as the source of the image. Guide to the Collections of the National Air and Space Museum Archives The information contained on this web site is adapted from a general 23-page guide, Archival, Manuscript, and Special Collection Resources, which was published by the Smithsonian Institution in April 1988. It describes 20 major collections, covering most of the Institution's subject interests. This section describes a selection of the archive collection relevant to aviation and aerospace. The listing is selective and by no means comprehensive. Among the collections described are: papers and correspondence relating to Samuel Pierpont Langley; Stephen Marius Balzer; Octave Chanute; Glenn Hammond Curtiss; Robert Hutchings Goddard; Charles Lindbergh, and Wilbur Wright. Igor I. Sikorsky Historical Archives, Inc. This Foundation is dedicated to acquiring, preserving and protecting the historical materials that chronicle the aviation careers of Igor Sikorsky, the companies he founded and the accomplishments of its employees. The collection dates from the latter part of the nineteenth century to the present. It consists of approximately 5,000 cubic feet of Sikorsky historical documents, blueprints, photographs, engineering wind tunnel and watertest models of Sikorsky's three different aeronautical accomplishments; fixed winged and multi-engined aircraft, transoceanic flying boats and helicopters. Also included are several books that Mr. Sikorsky authored and many personal artifacts. The web site provides a chronological listing of significant achievements, honours and awards. The site features images illustrating Sikorsky's life and works. The articles contained on the site include a brief history of helicopter development, illustrated descriptions of Sikorsky's designs and a history of Igor Sikorsky in two parts. Imperial War Museum Duxford The Imperial War Museum (IWM) at Duxford has over 180 aircraft on display. While the majority are static exhibits, a number of Duxford based historic aircraft are flown regularly in demonstrations and displays. The museum's web site offers information and advice on the history of the airfield, visit planning, descriptions of the various collections and displays, and details of air shows and other special events. The site provides access to a number of online exhibitions, including one for example on the Battle of Britain. The site also has an eduction section which provides information on courses, special interest days, and includes a range of aviation and military history learning objects and materials for teachers and learners such as quiz sheets, reading lists, lesson plans, and an educational resources online catalogue. International Vertical and/or Short Take-Off and Landing Aircraft (V/STOL) Historical Society The site brings together links to V/STOL related web resources that have been created by, or feature significant contributions, from IVHS members. The V/STOL Encyclopedia Series include a number of presentations: German V/STOL Concepts in the Twentieth Century (fighters, rotorcraft, and transports), and French V/STOL Rotorcraft and Propellercraft. The site describes and where possible provides links to relevant V/STOL publications including: VTOL UAV's 'Come of Age: US Navy Begins Development of VTUAV' by Michael W. McKee, Ph.D., American Helicopter Society, Vertiflite, Summer 2000; and 'Bell Designs Are Accelerating at Full Tilt', by Michael Hirschberg, American Helicopter Society, Vertiflite, Fall 1999. Internet Airship Links Maintained by the Airship Heritage Trust at Airshipsonline here are some useful links to historical sites, museums, associations, manufacturers and other interesting web sites on lighter than air airships. Introduction to the Aerodynamics of Flight The web site provides access to NASA Special Publication, NASA SP-367, by Theodore A. Talay, published in 1975. This is very much an aerodynamics primer. Its content includes: a short history of flight, background information, fluid flow, subsonic flow effects, transonic flow, supersonic flow, beyond the supersonic, performance, stability and control, appedices and bibliography. The full text is available online in HTML format. Inventing Flight : Dayton 2003 "Inventing Flight" is the umbrella name for a calendar of events to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first manned flight, ranging from the present to the end of 2003. This Wright State University site provides a calendar of events, a list of Committee members and links to other Wright Brothers related Sites. Joe Baugher's Encyclopedia of American Military Aircraft This is a personal interest page. The site takes the form of a browseable collection of articles on American military aircraft. The articles cover designs dating from the early 1920s to the modern era. Each aircraft is described and its specifications given. Some historical information is also available. Attack aircraft, bombers, fighters and transport aircraft are all included. The sources which have been used to collect the information are also provided. Many of these articles originally appeared in the sci.military.moderated and rec.aviation.military newsgroups on USENET. Kite Balloons to Airships : the Navy's Lighter-than-Air Experience This online monograph is available from the web site of the US Naval Historical Center. The publication includes a cover, table of contents, introduction and a number of full text chapters covering the US Navy's lighter-than-air history from the the early days, through two world wars, to more recent developments. The text is presented as a series of PDF files. Lawrence Hargrave : Australian Aviation Pioneer The site is intended to highlight the work and legacy of a number of Australian aviation pioneers including Lawrence Hargrave, John and Reginald Duigan, and Keith Meggs. It is the work of two academics from Monash University. The site contains biograhical notes, an extensive bibliography, a gallery of images, timelines, and a listing of Hargrave's papers, some of which are available online. A number of technologies of current interest are also highlighted including tailless aircraft (flying wings) and Micro Air Vehicles. The MAV pages in particular provide a very extensive set of links to related web resources. These cover the following topics: Bird and Insect Flight Ornithopters; Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) and related projects; Blimps and Other Flying Objects; Miniature Engines; and Minature Robotics. The site also provides an anthology of aviation pioneers. Learning to Fly : Practical Manual Ths gives access to a book written by Claude Graheme-White and Harry Harper and is a Project Gutenberg Release 27557# dated December 2008. It is available for on-screen browsing in text format and, as a downloadable zip file from a number of specified servers. Looking Backward, Looking Forward : Forty Years of U.S. Human Spaceflight Symposium This is the text of a NASA report, NASA SP-2002-4107, edited by Stephen J. Garber, 2002. It contains the proceedings of a conference organized by the NASA History Office and held at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. in May 2001. The conference provided the opportunity for a retrospective look at human spaceflight, the experience of spaceflight by astronauts, and a look forward towards the future of human spaceflight. Speakers included John Logsdon, Buzz Aldrin, Charles Murray, Neil de Grasse Tyson, and Bill Shepherd. The text of the report is available for viewing online or for downloading in PDF format from the NASA History Office web site. Lord Kings Norton Archive Lord Kings Norton was the first Chancellor of Cranfield University who made a great contribution to the development of aeronautics throughout his lifetime. The Archive was received by Deed of Gift from Lady Kings Norton in 2000 and is held within the Cranfield University Library that bears his name. It contains papers, letters, photographs and a host of other documents and items of ephemera, covering the whole period of Roxbee's life and works. Many of the letters that he wrote to his mother survive, containing a mix of personal news, insights into his work, and humorous sketches, tracing his early career until her death in 1948. This Web site is intended to celebrate the life, achievements and personality of Lord Kings Norton by providing access to a sample of the materials held within the Archive. The sample includes letters, sketches, reports and other documents, all of which have been digitised to ensure that the material can be made available to a wider audience. Luftwaffe Maritime Operations in World War II: Thought, Organization and Technology This is the full text of a thesis by Major Winston Gould which was presented to the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) in 2005. The development of airpower can be traced to three key elements: thought, organization and technology. The Luftwaffe of World War II is no different. This paper will examine the Luftwaffe’s thought, organization and technology as it pertains to maritime operations, or as the modern United States Air Force (USAF) calls it, Countersea Operations. These maritime operations will include direct support of the Kriegsmarine and independent Luftwaffe operations against the Allies. Luftwaffe thought will show that doctrinally the Luftwaffe was not as prepared for the maritime role its leaders thrust upon it, but flexibility and the application of the tenets of airpower provided the basis for adaptation. Also included will be an examination of the fierce rivalry between the Luftwaffe and Kreigsmarine senior leadership and how this interfered with the conduct of countersea operations. Luftwaffe organization during World War II provided a more than adequate basis for conducting the countersea campaign. The adaptability of the operational and support structure allowed the Luftwaffe to accomplish a variety of missions, even as their aircraft and weapons were proving deficient. Finally, the Luftwaffe was at the forefront of innovation in the field of aviation technology, including airframe and weapon development. Once again, interference by senior leadership and equipment teething problems combined with increasing Allied attacks cost the Luftwaffe precious time. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available in PDF format and is provided by the Air University ResearchWeb site. Mastery of the Air This provides access to a book by William J. Claxton. This is a Project Gutenberg Release 777# dated November 2009. It is available for on-screen browsing in text format and, as a downloadable zip file from a number of specified servers. NASA Dryden History Home Page This page contains information about the history of what is now called the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. It provides access to a number of full-text books that illustrate different aspects of the Center's history. These include, "On the Frontier", an authoritative history of flight research at Dryden from 1946 to 1981, and "Hugh L. Dryden's Career in Aviation and Space", a biography of Hugh L. Dryden from 1898 to 1976. The Milestones in Dryden History provides an overview and highlights. In the Publications section are a variety of publications with detailed information about the history of the Center. NASA History Division The NASA History Program was first established in 1959, and its responsible for documenting and preserving the agency's history and development. The web site provides a brief historical outline and has a Hot History Topics/Frequently Asked Questions section. The site has separate sections devoted to the history of aeronautics and astronautics at NASA. The site contains technical diagrams and drawings covering: Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, and Space Shuttle. The various information resources on the site can be accessed using an alphabetic topic index or by keyword search. NASA Image eXchange (NIX) The NASA Image eXchange (NIX) provides a single point of entry to various photographic databases of six NASA centers (Langley, Lewis, Ames, Dryden, Goddard and Johnson). Search capabilities of NIX include simple searches, complex searches, and browsing. NIX returns thumbnail sized images, textual descriptions, image numbers, links to higher resolution images, links to more information, and links to the NASA Center that stores each image. NIX also provides tips to users on searching, copyright information, and a comments section. NIX is currently being expanded to include additional photos from the remaining centers. NASA's Nuclear Frontier : The Plum Brook Reactor Facility This file provides the full text of a book in PDF format entitled 'NASA's Nuclear Frontier : The Plum Brook Reactor Facility'. Written by Mark D. Bowles and Robert S. Arrighi in 2004, it is No. 33 in the Monographs in Aerospace History series, NASA SP-2004-4533. This book provides a visual history of the Plum Brook Reactor, which became one of the primary research facilities to test materials for the nuclear rocket, a project which was shelved in 1973. The reactor was shut down and the site remained on standby until 1998 when a decommissioning plan was formulated. National Air and Space Museum (NASM) The Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum (NASM) maintains the largest collection of historic air and spacecraft in the world. It is also a centre for research into the history, science, and technology of aviation and space flight. The museum includes among its exhibits the original Wright 1903 Flyer, "Spirit of St. Louis," and the Apollo 11 command module. The web site provides descriptive and visitor information about the museum's buildings, facilities, collections and services and a section which explains the various ways to become involved in the museums's activities. There is a news and events section for information on special exhibitions, films, and lectures as well as resources such press releases, press kits, still images and QuickTime Movie tours of special events. The site includes online summaries of past, present and future exhibitions. The various collections of aircraft, spacecraft, imagery and artwork are described together with the museum's archive and restoration functions. Others sections of the site focus on the NASM's educational and research activities. A number of guides and lesson plans are available online. The research section contains a listing of NASM publications and two collections of online resources: Black Wings the story of African American pioneer aviators; and, Women In Aviation and Space History National Aviation Hall of Fame Based in Dayton, Ohio, the National Aviation Hall of Fame is a private organisation dedicated to celebrating those American individuals who have been involved in air and space advancement. These include designers, pilots, commercial entrepreneurs, record-setters, daredevils, military strategists and civilian innovators. The site provides biographies of these men and women under the headings of Early years, World War I, the Golden Age, World War II, the Jet Age and the Space Age. There is also an Enshrinee List, which lists the individuals alphabetically by name. National Park Service : Wright Brothers National Memorial The Wright Brothers National Memorial is located in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina and this site provides information on how to visit it. It includes travel basics (such as how to get there and the Park's opening times), possible activities, available facilities and details of entrance fees. The site also contains a lesson plan for teachers and provides access to the full text of a historic resource study Naval Aviation History Office : Publications Established in 1942, the Office is concerned with US naval aviation history from 1911 to the present. This site provides full text access to a large collection of full text materials in HTML format. Of particular note, monographs entitled 'Naval aviation in World War 1' and 'US naval aviation in the Pacfic' are made available. Other material of interest includes 'The first flight across the Atlantic', 'Evolution of aircraft carriers', 'Space and the United States Navy', 'Pistons to jets', 'US Marine Corps aviation' and 'Naval aviation 1911-1986 a pictorial study'. Naval Historical Center : Naval Aviation History Office Established in 1942, the Office is concerned with US naval aviation history from 1911 to the present. The web site provides access to a wealth of information including: a chronology of significant events; naval aviation involvement by conflict; historical data on US aircraft carriers; data on current aircraft in the US Navy inventory; data on historical aircraft; squadron histories and details of publications, records, special collections and repositories. The site provides on-line access to the full text of many publications including monographs and articles. Notes on Antarctic Aviation This provides access to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) Report 93-14, by Malcom Mellor, dated August 1993. It describes the history of aviation in Antartica, the types and characteristics of existing and proposed airfield facilities, and the characteristics of aircraft suitable for Antarctic use. The full text of the report is available in PDF format (12.8 MB) and is part of the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory Virtual Library. Nurflugel Page This is a personal interest page devoted to flying wing designs. The site provides links to information on designs by Alexander Lippisch; Walter Horten; Northrop, and Charles Fauvel. There is a section on lifting bodies. A number of full-text technical papers are available including: Reimer Horten's 'Toward the theory of flying wings'; and Jack Northrop's 'The development of all-wing aircraft', 35th Wilbur Wright Memorial Lecture, dated May 29, 1947. In addition to full-text papers, the site also contains a list of recommended books. There is also a link to the new H-3000 flying wing design. Opportunities in Aviation This gives access to a book by Arthur Sweetser and Gordon Lamont and is a Project Gutenberg Release 23581# dated November 2007. It is available for on-screen browsing in text format and, as a downloadable zip file from a number of specified servers. Orders of Magnitude : A History of the NACA and NASA 1915-1990 This is part of the NASA Histories On-Line web site. The text by Roger E. Bilstein, was published orginally as NASA SP-4406, 1989. It presents a general history of NACA and NASA from the origins of NACA in 1915, through to the period of change at NASA since the Challenger disaster, and the publication of the Rogers Commission report in the spring of 1986. The full text is available online in HTML format. Orville Wright - How we made the first flight This page provides the full text of Orville Wright's own account of the Wright Brothers' first flight. It is available in HTML format. Plane Writing The site provides a selection of quotes from vintage writing about flying and short biographies of early aviators. It includes an alphabetical listing of authors, and keyword searching. You can also join the Aero Ring, a linked list of aviation web sites. Progress in Flying Machines Written by Octave Chanute and originally published in 1894, this full text version has been produced by Cory Kotowsky and Gary Bradshaw. Please note that although the full text is online, only about two-thirds of the pictures have been scanned. The text is presented in a series of sections that reflect the 27 articles that Chanute wrote for The Railroad and Engineering Journal. This is contained in the Digital Library of the the Invention of the Airplane, which is one of the resouces availalable as part the Virtual Museum of the Invention of the Airplane. Quest for Performance : The Evolution of Modern Aircraft This provides access to a NASA History Office publication, NASA SP-468, by Laurence K. Loftin, Jr, NASA Scientific and Technical Information Branch, Washington, D.C. 1985. It traces the technical development of the airplane since World War I. It describes significant aircraft that incorporated important technical innovations and served to shape the future course of aeronautical development, as well as aircraft that represented the state of the art of aeronautical technology in a particular time frame or that were very popular and produced in great numbers. Primary emphasis has been placed on aircraft originating in the United States. The discussion is related primarily to aircraft configuration evolution and associated aerodynamic characteristics and, to a lesser extent, to developments in aircraft construction and propulsion. The material is presented in a manner designed to appeal to the nontechnical reader who is interested in the evolution of the airplane, as well as to students of aeronautical engineering or others with an aeronautical background. The full text is available in HTML format. Re-Living the Wright Way This site is produced by NASA and describes the invention process undertaken by the Wright Brothers in creating the flyer used in the first manned flight. It includes their intital investigations into how things flew, theory testing, the development of flight control systems, propulsion systems and test pilot skills, the first flight and subsequent flight development. There is also a summary of the Wright Brothers' main discoveries. Simulations, webcasts, presentations, video clips and activities are provided as well, as are lesson plans for teachers. This site was created to celebrate the centennial of flight in 2003. Realizing the Dream of Flight These essays in celebration of the Wright brothers’ first flight 100 years ago grew out of presentations by a group of prominent scholars in 2003 at a conference sponsored by the NASA History Division and held at the Great Lakes Sience Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The volume focuses on the careers of some of the many men and women who helped to realize the dream of flight both through the atmosphere and beyond. Redstone Scientific Information Center The Redstone Scientific Information Center (RSIC) is a comprehensive scientific and technical library serving researchers and engineers at the U.S. Army Missile Command (MICOM ), Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC-- NASA ), and their contractors. RSIC's Scientific and Technical Information Library Automation System (STILAS) lets you browse over 320,000 books, journals, and government technical reports. Login by using "guest" in the "alt-id" field with "GUEST" as the PIN (only available to US citizens) . Note in addition to its collection of books, journals and technical reports, RSIC also has a collection of technical reports and papers created by German Scientists at Peenemunde during World War II. Reliability of Progress Curves in Airframe Production This technical report (RM-260-1) was published by The RAND Corporation in 1950 and was written by Armen Albert Alchian. This report presents a statistical study of the reliability of a given function for certain types of estimates in the aircraft industry and Air Force. It is indisputable that lower direct labor costs occur as the number of items produced increases. Questions can be raised, however, about the specifics of planning, estimating, and forecasting using this function. [Taken from abstract]. This is a PDF file, so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it. Russian Aviation Museum This is a personal interest page concerned with Russian aircraft and engine design. It currently contains information on over 1300 designs. The Catalog Room provides a range of access points including by: designation function; designer bureau; old and odd names; list of engines; by year; and by NATO designation. Each entry typically contains an illustration as well as brief description and specifications. The site also contains a list of recommended further reading and an extensive set of links. Speedbirds - By Concorde fans FOR Concorde fans Concorde - to-date the world’s only supersonic commercial aircraft, is both a work of art and a triumph of engineering. Concorde’s unique style incorporating its marriage of aesthetics and sophisticated engineering, its reputation for comfort and unfaltering efficiency, have assured its landmark status. Indeed its unprecedented ability to sustain a cruising speed of mach 2 for up to three hours remains unchallenged. SR-71 Online : An Online Aircraft Museum The SR-71, nicknamed the "Blackbird", was developed as a long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft which entered service in 1966 and was officially retired in 1990, although a few were still in operation until recently. This personal site provides a Blackbird archive, including the SR-71 flight manual (available in HTML format), background information and history, images and videos, flight hours, flight logs, equipment information and the dispositions of all remaining Blackbirds. The SR-71 Flight Manual, as well as the Functional Check Flight Procedures Manual for SR-71A and SR-71B have both been made available online. The site also contains fact sheets, specifications and historical narratives on more than a dozen other popular military aircraft including the A-10 Thunderbolt II, the B-1 Lancer and the F117A Nighthawk. State Capitalism and Working-Class Radicalism in the French Aircraft Industry This provides access to a University of California E-book published in 1990 and written by Herrick Chapman. During the 1930s aircraft workers emerged from obscurity to become a vanguard of the French labor movement. Virtually unorganized in the early thirties, these workers suddenly occupied their factories in May 1936, launching what turned out to be the largest strike wave of the Third Republic. Communist militants soon became prominent in aircraft unions, and from 1937 through the late 1940s the aircraft industry remained one of the most hotly contested arenas of labor reform in France. Throughout this period the industry remained in the limelight as workers, employers, and government officials grappled with major issues—from nationalization, the forty-hour week, and shop floor control to the repercussions of the Marshall Plan. People who built airplanes, moreover, found themselves faced time and again in particularly poignant ways with questions that made these years painful for the French in every walk of life—how to revive a depressed economy, prepare for war, cope with an enemy occupation, and, eventually, rebuild a broken nation after years of corrosive internal conflict. For the aircraft industry, as for many other institutions in France, the era proved to be as pivotal historically as it was difficult for the French to live through. During nearly two decades of civic strife and international crisis the men and women who worked in the factories and design offices of the aircraft industry, who sat in corporate board rooms and in the bureaus of government ministries, fought over fundamental choices in industrial policy and thereby transformed the relationship between labor, business, and the state. In addition, what happened in aviation conformed to a pattern of institutional change in many other sectors of the French economy. This book explores this transformation by probing inside the workings of a single industry to examine what people experienced, what they hoped for, and why they responded as they did to the most turbulent period in the history of France since the revolutions of the previous century. The aircraft industry also provides a setting in which to investigate just why France emerged from the 1930s and 1940s with its peculiarly volatile style of industrial conflict. Since the end of the Second World War France has stood out, in comparison with most other Western nations, for the radicalism of its workers and the size and frequency of its industrial strikes. In no other advanced capitalist society have workers so consistently questioned the legitimacy of capitalist enterprise. For thirty years the major trends in the postwar labor movement—the survival of the Communist-dominated Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT) as the largest labor confederation in France, the weakness of its anti-Communist counterpart, Force Ouvrière, and the evolution of the Catholic Confédération Française des Travailleurs Chrétiens (CFTC) into the radical Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail (CFDT)—all suggest that workers continued to take class antagonisms and left-wing principles seriously in postwar France. Surveys even as recently as the 1970s suggest that workers in France, especially in comparison to their counterparts in Britain, have been more likely, as Duncan Gallie has argued, "to see the resolution of their work grievances as dependent upon the outcome of wider social conflicts." Likewise, French employers have been slower than their counterparts abroad to accommodate unions. The so-called corporatist arrangements that enabled trade unions and business organizations to negotiate wide-ranging agreements on a regular basis in much of the rest of Europe failed to emerge in postwar France.Not that France failed to stabilize after the Second World War in its own way. Despite the traumas of colonial war, the collapse of the Fourth Republic, and the rebellions of 1968, postwar France never encountered a revolutionary crisis nor faltered (at least until the 1970s) in maintaining a remarkable pace of economic growth. And indeed, since the late 1970s industrial conflict has diminished to a degree, especially as the CGT and the Communist Party have declined and as the labor movement generally, in France as elsewhere, has fallen on hard times. Still, for more than three decades following the war France displayed a peculiar blend of social conflict and institutional stability—a capacity both to meet the industrial challenges of the postwar era and to sustain a radical politics. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available from the website of UC Press E-Books Collection, 1982-2004. Super70s - The Concorde Truly faster than a speeding bullet, the Concorde was both extremely elegant and incredibly expensive. It had an equally interesting history involving environmentalists, an economic crisis, and espionage. The battle began in 1962, the year French President Charles de Gaulle called on Anglo-Franco cooperation in building aircraft to curtail what he termed the "American colonization of the skies." The Boeing 707 had not only taken the lead in the jet age, but was starting to dominate (along with the American Douglas DC-8) and Boeing's short-haul versions (the 720 and 727) were giving the Americans a family of aircraft to sell to the world. If the Europeans had lost this round, perhaps they could win the next one. It was believed that the future belonged to supersonic transport (SST) aircraft and the Europeans wanted to ensure they would dominate - or at least compete in - the SST market. Neither France nor Britain had the resources to develop such an advanced plane if the other did too and crowded the market. By cooperating, they believed they could beat the Americans in the SST race. The Aeroplane Speaks This provides access to a book written by H. Barber. This is a Project Gutenberg Release 818# dated July 2008. It is available for on-screen browsing in text format and, as a downloadable zip file, from a number of specified servers. The Australian Aviation Industry : History and Achievements Guiding Defence and Aviation Industry Policy This is Australian Air Power Development Centre (formerly the Air Power Studies Centre), Working Paper Number 12, by Air Vice-Marshal Brian Weston, September 2003. The aircraft manufacturing industry was a key vehicle in the industrialisation of Australia and its development largely parallels the maturing of the country as an independent nation. This paper traces the development of the Australian aircraft manufacturing industry from its commencement at the RAAF Experimental Station at Randwick, through the establishment of the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation, the Beaufort manufacturing project, and many significant post war aircraft manufacturing projects up until 1985. The text of the paper is available in PDF format. The Birth of NASA This is the diary of T. Keith Glennan, when he was appointed as the first Administrator of the newly authorized National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on 19 August 1958. Glennan's move from CIT to NASA came about because of the Soviet Union's successful launch of Sputnik I on 4 October 1957, as part of the scientific activities associated with the International Geophysical Year (IGY). Glennan headed NASA from its inception until the change of presidential administrations in 1961. This document is available in HTML format. The Boeing 737 Technical Site This is a personal interest web site created by Chris Brady. It is written by and for 737 pilots and engineers. The site includes: a contents and what's new listing, a site map, news stories, orders and deliveries, questions and answers, accidents and incidents, and related links. A section of the site covers the aircraft systems in detail. There are also sections containing pilot notes, technical photographs, FAA AD's, NTSB press releases, and stories and articles written by other 737 pilots. The Concorde project - Restoring Concorde G-BBGD at Brooklands Museum After British Airways retired their Concorde fleet on October 24th 2003, Brooklands Museum in Weybridge, Surrey, made an unsuccessful bid to acquire one of the seven retired BA Concordes. More than 30% of each of the 20 Concorde airframes were manufactured by the British Aircraft Corporation at Brooklands during the 60s and 70s and the site's unique historical association with the type was the prime reason for the museum's ambition to acquire an example for its aviation collection. Soon after their failed bid, however, it was announced that they were in negotiations with BA to have Concorde G-BBDG (c/n 202) loaned to the museum instead. The Fighter Collection The Fighter Collection operates, rebuilds and maintains Europe's largest collection of airworthy WWII aircraft and is based at Duxford Airfield. These are available for air shows, films and television and the Web site gives booking details. The site also provides a news archive, information about airworthy aircraft including photographs and links to related news items, as well as details of current restoration projects. The parts of an airplane and its soaring history This site provides a brief overview of the history of aeroplanes and flight and provides a comprehensive list of links to other relevant sites. The Whittle Exhibition This exhibition commemorates aspects of the life and work of Sir Frank Whittle, the pioneer of jet propulsion. It contains biographical details and references. It outlines the birth of an idea and details the first three models and then the first flight engine. Other engines and aircraft are also described. A section is provided on progress in jet propulsion, along with an historical note on centrifugal- versus axial-flow compressors and the first British flight axial-flow engine. An appreciation by Sir Melvill Jones is given, together with an outline of the Whittle Laboratory. Further reading and Internet and other references/links are also available. The Wright Experience Produced by the Discovery of Flight Foundation in Warrenton, Virginia, this site is intended to be a "living classroom" which rediscovers the Wright Brothers experimentation, discovery, and methodology in designing the first powered, manned flight. Little original documentation survives and the Foundation are in the process of recreating the research and documentation carried out by the brothers in order to reconstruct their early prototype developmental aircraft. The site provides updates on the progress made in the project as well as images of artefacts and educational resources. Theses Canada Portal This is the central access point for locating informating relating to theses produced at Canadian Universities. A national programme to make theses and dissertations that have been accepted by Canadian universities easily accessible to researchers has been operating since 1965. The portal provides access to AMICUS, Canada's national online catalogue, containing metadata (bibliographic details) of all theses contained in Library and Archives since the establishment of the programme. It also provides free access to full text versions of theses and dissertations digitized between 1998 and 2002. In April 2004 a pilot project was started with University of Laval and the University of Waterloo to harvest theses metadata and electronic theses in PDF format. The option to submit electronic theses directly to Theses Canada should be available to universities with electronic theses submission programmes by the end of 2004. Toward Mach 2 : The Douglas D-558 program This web site provides access to a NASA Dryden Flight Research Centre history series publication, edited by J. D. Hunley. The publication is based on the proceedings of a symposium on the D-558 programme, held at Dryden, February 4, 1998. The publication includes an appendix containing brief technical specifications of the D-558 aircraft, as well as links to a number of other related documents. The full text is available online in HTML format. Transiting from Air to Space : The North American X-15 The web site provides access to a chapter written by Robert S. Houston, Richard P. Hallion, and Ronald G. Boston. This is an excerpt from, The Hypersonic Revolution: Case Studies in the History of Hypersonic Technology, published by the Air Force History and Museums Program, 1998. The text recounts the development of the X-15 research aircraft and its flight test programme. The full text is available online in HTML format. U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission : Celebrating a Century of Wings The Centennial of Flight Commission has been established in order to promote awareness of the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first powered flight which took place in December 1903. The site provides a calendar of celebratory events in addition to the historical background of flight and the Wright Brothers themselves. Movies, images and sound files are also provided. United States Air Force (USAF) Museum This site provides information about forthcoming events that will take place at the USAF museum, based at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. It also provides aircraft and special galleries which contain images and videos of aviation and Air Force history. Examples of the themes used are air power, space flight, presidential aircraft, people, weapons, engines and uniforms. Virtual Museum of the Invention of the Airplane This is a personal interest site, produced by an academic at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois. It contains a digital library that includes numerous books and articles, mostly dating to the turn of the century. A photo gallery contains video clips of early craft in flight, and numerous photographs of early planes. The Tale of the Aeroplane provides a brief account of how the airplane was invented. The plane database provides details of several early aircraft. The inventor's gallery contains a description of various personalities who worked in the field. Warbird Index The site is intended to be an international forum for Warbird enthusiasts and promotes the international register of historic warbird aircraft. The site features news and information on aircraft preservation and rebuild projects, a discussion forum (WIX Hanger)and a large collection of links to related sites of interest. Women in Aviation Resource Center (WIARC) This site is devoted to the topic of women in aviation. It is maintained by Henry M. Holden, who is an aviation historian and writer. The site takes the form of a browseable catalogue of Web sites with descriptions and links. A mailing list is also available which provides information on site updates and issues related to women in aviation. There are also links to the latest industry headlines. Wonderful Balloon Ascents (Conquest of the Skies : History of Balloons and Ballon Voyages) This is provides access to a book written by Fulgence Marion released for publication as an Ebook by Project Gutenberg. PART I. The Conquest of the Skies (1783) Chapter I. Introduction.The title of our introduction to aeronautics may appear ambitious to astronomers, and to those who know that the infinite space we call the heavens is for ever inaccessible to travellers from the earth; but it was not so considered by those who witnessed the ardent enthusiasm evoked at the ascension of the first balloon. No discovery, in the whole range of history, has elicited an equal degree of applause and admiration--never has the genius of man won a triumph which at first blush seemed more glorious. The mathematical and physical sciences had in aeronautics achieved apparently their greatest honours, and inaugurated a new era in the progress of knowledge. After having subjected the earth to their power; after having made the waves of the sea stoop in submission under the keels of their ships; after having caught the lightning of heaven and made it subservient to the ordinary purposes of life, the genius of man undertook to conquer the regions of the air. Imagination, intoxicated with past successes, could descry no limit to human power; the gates of the infinite seemed to be swinging back before man's advancing step, and the last was believed to be the greatest of his achievements. [Taken from introduction]. It is available for on-screen browsing in text format and as a downloadable zip file, from a number of specified servers. Wright Air Development Center Digital Collection Wright-Patterson Air Force Base has been a major centre of aeronautical and aeorspace design and development for many years. The purpose of this site is to document various aspects of the Wright Air Development Center (WADC) period in this long history. The site, which is hosted by the Galvin Library at Illinois Institue of Technology, provides access to a range of information resources. The history section includes a timeline of important events; image gallery, an overview of WADC's association with Illinois Institute of Technology; and features on the Center's involvement in both the "space race" and the Roswell incident. The reference shelf contains a linked bibliography of historical sources relating to the Wright Air Development Center. Some of these publications, such as, Birthplace, Home and Future of Aerospace... The Evolution of Aeronautical Development at the Aeronautical Systems Center, are available in full text (pdf format). The Digital Collection provides access to WADC technical report information. The collection can be browsed by report number, date, author or corporate author. Many of the reports are available in full text. A full bibliography of reports is also available in pdf, MS Excel, or interactive (requires Internet Explorer v. 4.01 and Microsoft Office Web Components) formats. Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company and Museum of Pioneer Aviation The site provides access to a "virtual museum" which documents the story of Wilbur and Orville Wright. The information within the site is arranged under four sections: the History Wing; the Adventure Wing; Expeditions; and the Information Desk. In addition to recounting the Wright's story, the History Wing also provides a history of the aeroplane, and an almanac of early aviation facts. The Adventure Wing describes the building of models, replicas and other educational materials. Expeditions is intended to provide links to other related sites of interest. The Information Desk offers reading lists, and access to The West Side News, an online newsletter, concerned with information on early aviation history. There is also an About section, and "Museum Guide" to assist with navigation around the site. X-15 First Flight 30th Anniversary Celebration Proceedings of the X-15 First Flight 30th Anniversary Celebration, NASA Conference Publication 3105; Proceedings of an anniversary celebration held at NASA Ames Research Center, Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, California June 8, 1989. These proceedings include comments by historians, pilots, and others with keen insights on the historic X-15 program that bridged aeronautics with astronautics during NASA's first decade. The full-text of the papers are available in HTML format. X-15 Research Results With a Selected Bibliography This web site provides access to a NASA Dryden Flight Research Center history series publication, NASA SP-60, by Wendell H. Stillwell, 1964. This covers the history of the X-15 between 1959 and 1964, and was written halfway through the programme. It includes a chronology and bibliography. The full text is available online in HTML format. X-Planes Data Site This is a personal interest web site devoted to the X-series of experimental aircraft. The site provides an X-Planes quick list. The site features "classic" X-planes, such as the Bell X-1 and the North American X-15. More modern designs including the X-21a, the X-29A, and the X-32A/X-32B are also included. The site provides a guide to various non-linkable X-Plane resources, as well as links to other X-planes and related web sites. |
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