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Short Springbok
The Short Springbok was a two-seat, all-metal reconnaissance biplane produced for the United Kingdom, British Air Ministry in the 1920s. All together six aircraft of the Springbok design were built but none entered service with the armed forces. Design The Springbok fuselage was of streamlined monocoque construction mounted onto the lower wing and almost filling the gap between the upper and lower wings. The wings were single-bay, of unequal span and unequal chord, constructed of steel spars with an aluminum (S.3/3a Springbok) / fabric covering (S.3b Chamois). The ailerons were on the upper wing only. The crew of two sat in tandem open cockpits, with a cutout in the upper mainplane for the pilot's head; the observer/gunner sat behind the pilot, just behind the upper wing. The tail unit comprised a braced monoplane tail near the fuselage top with a single fin and rudder. The Landing gear, undercarriage was of the cross-axle type, situated under the nose and complemented by a tails ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Short Brothers
Short Brothers plc, usually referred to as Shorts or Short, is an aerospace company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Shorts was founded in 1908 in London, and was the first company in the world to make production aeroplanes. It was particularly notable for its flying boat designs manufactured into the 1950s. In 1943, Shorts was Nationalization, nationalised and later denationalised, and in 1948 moved from its main base at Rochester, Kent to Belfast. In the 1960s, Shorts mainly produced turboprop airliners, major components for aerospace primary manufacturers, and missiles for the British Armed Forces. Shorts was primarily HM Government, government-owned until being bought by Bombardier Inc., Bombardier in 1989 and, in 2007, was the largest manufacturing concern in Northern Ireland. In November 2020, Bombardier sold its Belfast operations to Spirit AeroSystems. The company's products include aircraft components, engine nacelles and aircraft flight control systems for Bomba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armstrong Whitworth Atlas
The Armstrong Whitworth Atlas was a British single-engine biplane designed and built by Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. It served as an army co-operation aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the 1920s and 1930s. It was the first purpose-designed aircraft of the army co-operation type to serve with the RAF. Development The Armstrong Whitworth Atlas was designed by a team led by John Lloyd, chief designer of Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft, as a private venture, to replace the Airco DH.9A, DH.9A and Bristol F.2 Fighter, Bristol Fighter as an army co-operation aircraft for the RAF, in parallel with a very closely related design, the Armstrong Whitworth Ajax, intended for more general purpose roles. While the two types were private ventures, relevant Air Ministry requirements included List of Air Ministry Specifications#1920-1929, Specification 8/24, 30/24 and 20/25. The prototype Atlas (''G-EBLK'') was built as a private venture, first flying on 10 May 1925. It was delivered to t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lympne Airport
Lympne Airport was a military and later civil airfield , at Lympne, Kent, United Kingdom, which operated from 1916 to 1984. The airfield was built out of necessity in the First World War. During the World War I, First World War RFC Lympne was originally an acceptance point for aircraft being delivered to, and returning from, France but was later designated as a First Class Landing Ground, RAF Lympne. It became a civil airfield in 1919 and saw the operation of early air mail services after the 1918 armistice. It was one of the first four airfields in the United Kingdom with customs facilities. Lympne was also involved in the evolution of air traffic control, with facilities developing and improving during the 1920s and 1930s. A number of record-breaking flights originated or ended at Lympne. During the 1920s Lympne was the venue for the Lympne light aircraft trials from which a number of aircraft types entered production. Air racing was also held at Lympne. Just before the Wor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vickers Machine Gun
The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a Water cooling, water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was operated by a three-man crew but typically required more men to move and operate it: one fired, one fed the ammunition, the others helped to carry the weapon, its ammunition, and spare parts. It was in service from before the First World War until the 1960s, with air-cooled versions of it on many Allies of World War I, Allied World War I Aviation in World War I, fighter aircraft. The weapon had a reputation for great solidity and reliability. Ian V. Hogg, in ''Weapons & War Machines'', describes an action that took place in August 1916, during which the British 100th Company of the Machine Gun Corps fired their ten Vickers guns to deliver sustained fire for twelve hours. Using 100 barrels, they fired a million rounds without breakdowns. "It was this absolute foolproof reliability which endear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spar (aeronautics)
In a fixed-wing aircraft, the spar is often the main structural member of the wing, running spanwise at right angles (or thereabouts depending on wing sweep) to the fuselage. The spar carries flight loads and the weight of the wings while on the ground. Other structural and forming members such as ribs may be attached to the spar or spars, with stressed skin construction also sharing the loads where it is used. There may be more than one spar in a wing or none at all. Where a single spar carries most of the force, it is known as the main spar. Spars are also used in other aircraft aerofoil surfaces such as the tailplane and fin and serve a similar function, although the loads transmitted may be different from those of a wing spar. Spar loads The wing spar provides the majority of the weight support and dynamic load integrity of cantilever monoplanes, often coupled with the strength of the wing 'D' box itself. Together, these two structural components collectively provide the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vickers Vespa
The Vickers Vespa was a British army cooperation biplane designed and built by Vickers Limited in the 1920s. While not adopted by Britain's Royal Air Force, small numbers were bought by the Irish Free State and Bolivia, the latter of which used the type during the Chaco War. One modified Vespa was used to set a world altitude record of 43,976 ft (13,407 m) in September 1932. Design and development The Vespa was designed by Vickers as a private venture to meet the requirements of Air Ministry Specification 30/24. The first prototype, the Vespa I, was flown in September 1925.Mason 1994, p.173. The Vespa, which was a single-engine biplane with a slim fuselage suspended between closely spaced and highly staggered two-bay wooden wings, was delivered for evaluation by the Royal Air Force, but crash landed owing to engine trouble on 24 June 1926 and was badly damaged.Andrews and Morgan 1988, p.200. It was then rebuilt with steel, fabric-covered wings as the Vespa II, but t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isle Of Grain
Isle of Grain (Old English ''Greon'', meaning gravel) is a village and the easternmost point of the Hoo Peninsula within the unitary authority, district of Medway in Kent, south-east England. Once an island and now forming part of the peninsula, the area is almost all marshland and is a major habitat for diverse wetland birds. The village constitutes a civil parishes in England, civil parish, which at the 2011 census had a population of 1,648, a net decrease of 83 people in 10 years. History Extract from the ''Topographical Dictionary of Great Britain and Ireland'' by John Gorton (writer), John Gorton, 1833: "GRAINE, ISLE OF, co. Kent'' "A parish in the Hundred of Hoo, lathe of Aylesford, opposite to Sheppey at the mouth of the Thames; it is about three miles and a half long, and two and a half broad and is formed by Yantlet, Yantlet Creek running from the Medway to the Thames. The Creek was filled up, and had a road across it for 40 years until 1823, when the Lord Mayor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Lankester Parker
John Lankester Parker OBE FRAeS Hon. MSLAE (1896 – 22 August 1965) was Chief test pilot, Test Pilot for Short Brothers from 1918 until his retirement in 1945. He joined Shorts in 1916 in aviation, 1916 as a part-time test pilot and assistant to then Chief Test Pilot Ronald Kemp, having been recommended for the post by Captain (Royal Navy), Captain, later Admiral Sir, Murray Fraser Sueter, Murray Sueter, RNAS. By the time he retired he was a director of the company. First flying experience He gained his first flying experience as a pilot and instructor flying for the Lakes Flying Company, Northern Aircraft Company's Seaplane School based in Windermere, Cumbria (town), Windermere, where he flew, first as a pupil and then as an instructor, between 1914 and 1916. It was during this time that he made the acquaintance of Murray Sueter, Ronald Kemp and Oscar Gnosspelius, all of whom would figure later in his work at Shorts. In 1916, he joined the Prodger-Isaacs Syndicate of freelan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Test Pilot
A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testing of the Airplane.'' American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., 1996, p. 265 History Test flying as a systematic activity started during the World War I, First World War, at the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) in the United Kingdom. An "Experimental Flight" was formed at the Central Flying School. During the 1920s, test flying was further developed by the RAE in the UK, and by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in the United States. In the 1950s, NACA was transformed into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA. During these years, as work was done into aircraft stability and handling qualities, test flying evolved towards a more qualitative scientific profession. In the 1950s, test ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
