MILESTONES OF AVIATION

Transportation EngineeringMr. Joel BischoffOrigins: Spring 2013

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS December 17, 1903 12 seconds, 120 feet Kitty Hawk, NC Orville Wright piloted the first manned,

powered flight Brother Wilber Wright ran along side

WRIGHT BROTHERS FIRST FLIGHT

FIRST NON-STOP COAST TO COAST FLIGHT May 2, 1923- 26 hours and 50 minutes Kelly and Macready flew the Fokker T-2 Started with 737 gallons of fuel and

ended with 46 gal So heavy on takeoff they couldn’t climb

above 1000ft for 20 minutes

FOKKER T-2 TRANSCONTINENTAL

“EXTRA! - LINDBERGH IS IN PARIS” First solo transatlantic flight- Charles

Lindbergh in The Sprit of St. Louis Took off May 20, 1927 Roosevelt Field,

NY- Landed May 21, 1927 Paris, France Flight took 33 hours and 30 minutes Spirit of St. Louis has no forward

windows- removed in lieu of fuel tanks

CHARLES LINDBERGH

CLIMBING HIGHER Wiley Post reaches 50,000 feet with the

help of a self designed rubber pressure suit- April 1934

Most aircraft from the 1920’s and 30’s had a ceiling of 23,000 ft

Oxygen for the pilots and a supercharger for the engine is required above 23,000 ft

WILEY POST On the

tail of his Lockheed Vega, the Winnie Mae

FIRST OPERATIONAL JET FIGHTER German Messerschmitt Me 262 First flight- July 18, 1942 Top speed- 540mph

World War II Dates- September 1, 1939 (Europe)- September 2, 1945

THE FASTEST PLANE ON EARTH Sound Barrier (768 mph @ sea level)

broken by Chuck Yeager in the Bell X-1 on Oct. 14, 1947 Mach 1.07 (670 mph)

Bell X-15 (Oct. 15th 1958) Fastest Manned Aircraft (highest also- 314,750 ft) Mach 6.72 (4,519 mph)

NASA X-43a (June 2001) Mach 9.68 (7,546 mph)

THE FASTEST PLANE ON EARTH

THE FASTEST PLANE NOT ON EARTH The Space Shuttle

Mach 25+ (17,500mph) on reentry into the atmosphere

First orbital flight on April 12, 1981 by Columbia

Officially entered service after final test flight on July 4, 1982

END OF THE SHUTTLE PROGRAM Following the disasters of Challenger

(Jan. 28, 1986) and Columbia (Feb. 1, 2003) the Space Shuttle Program was ended on August 31, 2011

Of the five shuttles built, 3 remain: Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour. Enterprise was a test vehicle and never performed a powered flight