Recently in Historical Category

On 29 October 1998, John Glenn became the oldest person to enter space as STS95/Space Shuttle Discovery hosted him as a payload specialist.

You can read our original coverage here from the archives. A few months earlier we pondered whether his trip was for scientific purposes of just a "romantic ego trip". What did we reckon? Find out here.

Shell Aviation is celebrating its centenary at the forefront of aviation technology & innovation this year - a milestone marked by the 100th anniversary of the Blériot cross-channel flight of 1909. This video celebrates this achievement with a look at a hundred years of aviation development and Shell's contribution to it.

Earlier this month Shell and Qatar Airways achieved the first passenger gas-to-liquid flight. Read our coverage about it here and here.




Two weeks ago we showed another video Shell created to celebrates its centenary.

Next year's Gordon Bennett Ballooning Cup, or Coupe Aeronautique Gordon Bennett, will be held in the UK for the first time in the cup's history.

The cup was inaugurated in 1906 and was frequently held until WW II. It went on hiatus until the 1980s when it was revived. At the 2009 cup, Britons Janet Folkes and Ann-Ruth Rich broke the female duration world record flying for almost 70 hours covering 1,100 kms from Geneva to Madrid.

During their flight they made this excellent video that has some spectacular views.




Flightglobal regularly featured this event in the 1900s. This page from 1909 tells readers about the upcoming event. Stay tuned to Flightglobal for coverage on next year's cup.

 

In 1909 Louis Blériot made history when he flew over the English Channel on Shell fuel. 100 years later Swedish pilot Mikael Carlson marked the event in a restored Blériot XI plane, also fuelled by Shell.

This video captures that flight, which was recreated to mark Shell Aviation's Centenary Year.

KLM is celebrating its 90th anniversary today. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines was founded on 7 October 1919 and still operates under its original name.

KLM is hosting a European "Tour of Inspiration" visiting 29 European cities in 45 days including London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle.

The tour has been designed to celebrate and showcase KLM's products and services including the recently launched "Economy Comfort" seating zone.

KLM's 90th anniversary celebrations kicked off on 1 January with a celebration flight of a Boeing 737-800 over Holland which was painted in KLM's old livery especially for the occasion.  

Flight International's coverage of KLM matters

Building an image (1995)

BA & KLM confirm merger talks (2000)

BA & KLM merger talks colllapse (2001) 

 

70 years ago today Britain declared war on Germany. Flight recorded the event of course, by saying in its editorial on it's front page:

"The complete suppression of Czechoslovakia followed as a matter of course, and other examples of Nazi bullying have succeeded. The time had to come when Britain and France must make a stand, and that time has now arrived. Our only regret is that we could not have made our stand in time to save the gallant Czechs. We must hope that the result of this war will see their country set free again, If last year we were weak, now we and France are very strong, on the sea, on the land, and in the air."

Continue reading this article and flick through the archive pages to see the rest of the issue... including an account of Poland's air force... "although for obvious reasons it is impossible to discuss authoritatively the strength and detail organisation..."

This week marks the centenary of the La Grande Semaine d'Aviation de la Champagne held at the current site of the Reims Airbase BA112, according to Flightglobal user Stephen Wolf on 22-29 August 1909.

Flight wrote a pre-show report it in its 14 August issue, in which it said: "The Grand Semaine de Champagne will commence [22 August], and in view of the long list of prominent aviators who have promised to take part in the various contests, this will go down to history as the first great meeting of aeroplanes. Its most prominent event will be the first contest for the Gordon-Bennett Aviation Trophy."

There was to be a race in which competitors must cover two circuits of the 10km course. "The one who covers it in the fastest time wins a £500 trophy for his club and £1000 for himself."

Great Britain was to be represented by Mr. G. B. Cockburn on a Farman biplane, and America by Mr. Glenn Curtiss on a machine of his own design.

In Flight's 28 August issue, its leader piece said: "The Rheims meeting marks an epoch in the history of mechanical aerial locomotion. It is the first occasion on which a wide variety of machines has been brought together, and on which one has been pitted against the other day after day..."

Mr Wolf said: "The joy of flying was captured in the displays, and was a fitting tribute to those brave pioneers of 100 years ago, where every flight was an adventure destined for the record books.....

"I hope this centenary will get a mention on the FlightGlobal website, particularly as there are some great articles on the event in the annals of Flight."

Pictures of the Rheims 1909 aviators

 

USAF doctor, Maj. David Simons reached a record height of 100,000ft (over 19 miles) by balloon, to test human reactions under artificial conditions at the edge of the earth's atmosphere. The flight lasted 32 hours, according to Flight International in its issue dated 30 August 1957.

We reported at the time: "Maj. Simons was accommodated in an aluminium gondola 7ft high and 3ft wide beneath a helium-filled plastic envelope designed to expand to a diameter of 202ft and began his ascent from Crosby, Minn, at 9.30 a.m. (2.30 p.m. G.M.T.) on August 19...

"The flight constitutes a record (so far as the F.A.I. is concerned, at present unofficial) both for altitude--variously reported as 102,000ft and 118,000ft--and for duration.

In the pdf archive:

Issue dated 25 October 1957 - The Astronautical Congress: Flight reported that Maj. Simons "spoke of the importance of the balloon system in simulating many of the conditions that must be faced in a manned satellite, providing as it does an invaluable tool for gaining an insight into the human factors involved.

"These include a sealed cabin atmosphere, isolation, radiation heat balance, and an opportunity to observe the earth and sky from above 99 per cent of the earth's atmosphere."

1911 The hydrogen balloon

1912 Revival of ballooning

1914 The Parseval-Sigsfeld kite balloon

1920 Principle of the captive balloon

1922 The Gordon Bennett Balloon Race

1948 Joys of ballooning revived 

 1950 Piloting a free balloon: translating aerostatic principles into practice - what the efficient aeronaut must know...

1979 Balloon fiesta (in Alberquerque) breaks all records

1996 Technology challenge 

More balloons elsewhere on Flightglobal -

APG Photography gallery

 

Alexander Yakovlev, famous for designing the Russian Yak fighter aircraft, died on this day in 1989.

Yakovlev made up part of a feature in Flight International in 1943 about Russian aircraft designers.

In 1966 he was awarded the Order of Lenin for creating new aircraft.

Flight wrote: "Under his guidance Soviet engineers have created dozens of new types of planes and helicopters, mainly piston-engined and jet fighters and fighter-interceptors."

 

 

Vanguard Airlines last week became the second US carrier to shut down this summer, after Midway Airlines' decision to ground itself at least until October. Vanguard had failed four times since the 11 September attacks to win US government loan guarantees.

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