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A centenary is soon upon us but this event had been overshadowed by a tragedy which shares the same anniversary month.

Harriet Quimby was the first female aviator to fly an aeroplane solo across the English Channel from an airfield at Whitfield to land near Boulogne Sur Mer on the 16th April 1912.

But this pioneering and inspirational achievement by a female aviator was overshadowed by the Titanic disaster, which filled the newspaper headlines back then.

Martin Young, chairman of The Harriet Quimby Centenary Project, wants to ensure that the centenary is not overshadowed by the Titanic disaster once again.

He notes that pioneers Louis Bleriot, Matthew Webb and Charles Rolls have monuments to their pioneering achievements in the Dover area, Quimby is still forgotten, not only in Dover, but across Great Britain.

Young discovered Quimby three years ago while researching system failures, when he read her story in one of the local papers. 

The Project has obtained considerable funding from Kent County Council and the Lottery Heritage Fund but funding for a commissioned sculpture (made of stainless steel and standing at 2.7m high, to grace the cliffs above the Eastern Docks at Dover, to catch and reflect the rising and setting sun) is currently causing problems, and Young warns "we will not be able to get it financed, made and erected by the Centenary weekend unless sufficient funds become available soon."

Additionally the Project is set to commission an educational DVD and website, about Harriet's life and achievements, the Bleriot XI aircraft and its flying characteristics, Dover's history of early aviation, the airfield at Whitfield, and how the sculpture was made.

The Project plans to celebrate during the centenary weekend in Dover on 14th and 15th April with exhibits including a manniquin (or even a young lady) dressed in a replica purple satin flying suit - which he says was Harriet's trademark, a full size Bleriot XI, and a scale model of a Bleriot XI which will be donated to Dover Museum, to replace a model made in 1914, but destroyed in WW2.

The Project will be promoting its cause to highlight Quimby's story at the 'Women in Aviation event in March at Headcorn airfield.

Flightglobal's archive

20 April 1920 Miss Quimby flies the channel  

In it's final issue of 1912 in December Flight summarised aviator achievements in which it afforded a couple of lines mentioning Harriet Quimby.

Harriet Quimby in the Flightglobal Image Store  

By Abbie Ridge

Let's hear it for the 'Beluga', the whale-shaped aircraft that today is celebrating 17 years since its first flight.

Love it or hate it, the Airbus A300-600ST certainly has character, its eye-catching design allowing it to transport key aircraft components from all over Europe to Toulouse and Hamburg for final assembly.

Built to replace  four modified 'Super Guppies', this aircraft flew from Toulouse for four hours, with Gilbert Defer and Lucien Bernard piloting and key engineers Jean-Pierre Flamant and Didier Ronceray also on-board. The A300-600ST was certified in October 1995, after 335 test hours and went into service in January 1996. 

Since the two aircraft ploughed into the twin towers in New York and other attacks on the US Pentagon, airport and airline security has had to change to prevent hijacks and ground attacks. But it has affected the ease of people travelling.

Flight has reported on developments from the security industry including a Honeywell device to be fitted to Boeing 787s and Airbus A350s called the pilot override system that works as a recovery system using the automatic flight control system in fly-by-wire airliners to override pilots who set a course that would enter restricted airspace or intentionally collide with buildings.

Another article headlined USA acts to avoid 9/11 repetition with temporary flight restrictions, one of which includes a a 30 minute which involves a "30min seat rule" on commercial flights where passengers will be required to remain seated for 30min after take-off and prior to landing, and limiting general aviation flights.

Have new measure been effective? This article was published in 2006 in which Safety and operations editor David Learmount concluded that there had been no hijack attempt since September 2001, "with the exception of an event in Colombia where lawless elements dominate some parts of the country. But even then the aircraft and its passengers survived."

• What are your views on airport and airline security?
• Is there less of a threat of terrorism now which should lead to rules and regulations being relaxed?
• Have the security measures put in place been a success? 

See a whole host of other security related features post 9/11 in the Flightglobal Historic pages to see how the industry has changed.
 

• Security concerns cockpit lock  
• AAR cockpit security attracts strong interest
• Air Canada Jazz pilot trapped on 'wrong side' of cockpit door incident re-opens security questions
• On Board defences   
• USA pilots speak
• Eye-in cabin 
• Winning passengers confidence of security back 
• Industry upturn after 9/11 
• Beating the Bombers
• Table of illegal interference with aircraft since 9/11
• Slump since 9/11
• 9/11 not cause of downturn
• 10 year anniversary pushes security
• Short Term and long term effects

 

Image credit AirTeamImages.com

BAe (British Aerospace) 146 performed its first flight on 3 Septmeber 1981 but the aircraft design is based on the Hawker Siddely HS 146 as described in an article in 1973. See also the cutaway drawing in the piece.

In the article BAe 146 described, published in the 2 May 1981 issue of Flight International, the aircraft would be able to fly 12-15 sectors a day. 165 miles in North America and 120 miles in Europe. It would chalk up 2,750 flying hours in a year and likely to be kept for 12-15 years before being sold.

BAe was asking for $10.5m for an 82-seat 146-100 and $11m for the 146-200. Read more about the benefits of the aircraft's design including the wing design and the benefits of its t-tail.

It had 100, 200 and -300 variations. The equivalent Avro RJ versions are designated RJ70, RJ85, and RJ100.

The RJ85 was the first RJ development of the BAe 146 family, features an improved cabin and used more efficient LF 507 engines. Deliveries of the RJ85 began in April 1993.

Flightglobal's Commercial Aircraft Directory noted that on "27 November 2001, BAE Systems announced the cancellation of the entire RJX programme, citing the poor sales prospects for the type in the aftermath of the "9/11" attacks in the USA. When the last Avro RJ off the Woodford production line was delivered to Air Botnia in November 2003, total Avro RJ production had reached 173, of which 87 were RJ85s."

In the archive: /.....BAe 146

BAE test RJ waters

Bae 146 described

Milestones

Cutaway BAe 146-200

Profile in commercial aircraft directory BAe 146-100 Flightglobal Image Store

http://www.flightglobalimages.com/dmcs_search.html?find=bae+146

BAe 146 on AirSpace

RJ85 on AirSpace

The UK Royal Air Force will complete its first 10 years of flying Boeing's C-17 transport, with its use of the type continuing to run well above planned rates.

Seven of the tactical heavy airlifters are now assigned to 99 Sqn and flown from the RAF's transport super-base at Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

The unit's final example, ZZ177, arrived at the site in mid-January, and has already completed its first missions into the UK's current main point of focus for military operations: Afghanistan.... More...

The RAF's site has this to say: "In Nov 2000, 99 Squadron (situated at RAF Brize Norton) was reformed to operate the C-17 Globemaster III aircraft.

The first of the squadron's four initial C-17s was delivered to the RAF The C-17 has become an essential component of the UK Strategic Airlift requirement and the original 4 leased aircraft were bought by the Ministry of Defence in 2008 along with an additional 2 identical platforms. The fleet will be complimented by a seventh aircraft in Dec 2010."

More from Flightglobal's recent archive using C-17 and 99 Sqn as search terms where you will see a list of articles reporting on C-17 aircraft deliveries and this story:

PICTURES & VIDEO: RAF C-17 fleet reaches 50,000h milestone

 

Have a look at our Flightglobal Image Store and see the C-17 Cutaway drawing which you can buy in a range of formats, as a print, on canvas, on a t-shirt or mug or even a jigsaw puzzle.

 

The RAF museum in Hendon, London, will be hosting special events for children to celebrate St George's Day and ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Day on the weekend of April 23 to 24.

 

Children will be able to make their own dragon, which they can take home at the end of the day, as well as learning about the RAF. There will be English RAF personnel to explain the history to them, as well as a display of RAF heroes.

An additional display of notable pilots from Australia and New Zealand who contributed to the development of aviation will also be a feature for the weekend.

Session times are 11-1 and 2-4.

This entry was written by Danielle Richardson (@danielle_r) our intern for this week

Picture credit tataquax

The US Navy has given a collection of military aircraft some decorative retro designs in honour of the 2011 Centennial of Naval Aviation celebration next month.

Each squadron has adorned their aircraft with logos and symbols inspired by an historical aircraft or helicopter.

Some examples of the new paint work include a TC-12B Huron from Training Squadron 35, Corpus Christi Naval Air Station in Texas.

With red and white stripes and a star on the tail, it has been painted in the design of a Douglas SBD Dauntlesses, as used in the 1942 Battle of the Coral Sea.

There is also a MH-60S Knighthawk used by Helicopter Sea Combat Support Squadron 2, Norfolk Naval Station, which features a star flanked by red and white stripes as used on the Korean War-era Sikorsky HO3S helicopter.

In total, 27 aircraft will be decorated with vintage paintwork, and will then be showcased at various air shows throughout the year as a tribute to a bygone military era.

This entry was written by Danielle Richardson (@danielle_r), our intern for this week...

Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin orbited Earth in 108-minute flight on this day in 1961. This is how Flight recorded the event. 

But he never made a second spaceflight, the world-wide impact of his pioneer achievement was so great that he retired there and then... Gagarin died in a training flight in March 1968.

Flight reporter Maurice Smith wrote: "When I had the pleasure of meeting him I had an immediate impression of warmth and humour... I think a great many people everywhere will feel a personal loss, rather as they did for President Kennedy..."

The British Council (@BritishCouncil) is currently tweeting updates sent, in real time, 50 years after they were first recorded. At the time few details were divulged.

Some biographical details of Yuri Gagarin and why he was chosen to perform the first human spaceflight 

The details of the spacecraft Vostok were revealed in April 1965 for an exhibit in the Soviet Economic Achievement Exhibition.

Earls Court Cosmos - see pictures of the blackened Vostok I capsule, from an exhibit in August 1968. 

Celebrity tour brings him to the UK: Yuri Gagarin comes to Britain

The Year of the Astronauts including a profile on Yuri Gagarin.

Missing cosmonauts named (3 May 1986)

Where were you on this day 50 years ago? Share your memories of this pioneering achievement.  

As the 50th anniversary of Alan Shepard's first American manned spaceflight approaches on 5 May, the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) decided it was time to recognise the achievement of the McDonnell Aircraft team of retired engineers and technicians who designed and built the Mercury spacecraft that took Shepard to space, and set the US on course to the first Moon landing eight years later.

Speaking on 25 February in St Louis, where McDonnell - later McDonnell Douglas and, today, Boeing - built the capsules, IEEE president Moshe Kam told an audience largely made up of retired Project Mercury engineers that time had not forgotten their contributions:

"The often nameless, the often somewhat forgotten technicians, engineers, physicists, mathematicians and other thinkers and doers from whose imaginations and minds enhance this spectacular achievement - we came today to acknowledge what you have done and to commemorate it."

Kam left Boeing with an IEEE Milestone award in electrical engineering and computing for the Mercury spacecraft; this video charts the day, and looks back at the Mercury project.

By Dan Thisdell, Flightglobal's business editor