Nikolai Kamanin

Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin (; 18 October 1908 – 11 March 1982) was a Soviet aviator, awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1934 for the rescue of SS "Chelyuskin" crew from an improvised airfield on the frozen surface of the Chukchi Sea near Kolyuchin Island.
In World War II he successfully commanded an air brigade, air division, and air corps, reaching the rank of Airforce Colonel General and Air Army commander after the war. It was at this time that his son, Arkady Kamanin, became a fighter pilot at the age of 14, the youngest military pilot in world history.
From 1960-1971, General Kamanin was the head of cosmonaut training in the Soviet space program. He recruited and trained the first generation of cosmonauts, including Yuri Gagarin, Valentina Tereshkova, Gherman Titov and Alexei Leonov. Kamanin was the Airforce representative to the space program, a proponent of manned orbital flight and Airforce influence over the Space Race. His diaries of this period, published in 1995-2001, are among the most important sources documenting the progress of the Soviet space program.
Early life.
Nikolai Kamanin was born in Melenki, in Vladimir Governorate (now Melenkovsky District, Vladimir Oblast). Kamanin's grandfather was a wealthy shoemaker with his own workshop; however, his father, Pyotr Kamanin, broke with tradition and joined the Bolsheviks. He died in 1919 at the age of 49; mother, Stefanida Danilovna (1876–1964) lived all her life in Melenki. Stefanida and Pyotr Kamanin had 10 children; Nikolai survived all his four brothers. Alexander Ivanovich Kamanin, Nikolai's uncle, lived a very long life, including 50 years of religious hermitage, and had a reputation of a holy elder.
According to his son, Lev Kamanin, Nikolai Kamanin was actually born in 1909 and changed it to 1908 to cheat the Army admission staff when he volunteered in 1927. He passed the airforce physical test and completed the pilots' school in Borisoglebsk in 1929, trained by legendary pilot Victor Kholzunov. Kamanin was dispatched to the site of Russo-Chinese railroad conflict in the Far East, arriving one day after cease-fire. There, he joined the legendary Lenin Air Regiment, the first airforce unit in Soviet history. Kamanin flew a two-seater reconnaissance airplane, including 11-hour endurance flights over the Sea of Japan. His crewmate, incidentally, was an ethnic Chinese.
Chelyuskin Rescue.
In February 1934, Chelyuskin steamship was crushed by Arctic ice in the Chukchi Sea. 104 crewmembers and passengers set their base on pack ice. At that time, United States grounded all arctic flights after a string of accidents, and the only rescue force on hand was Anatoly Liapidevsky and his crew of ANT-4. After 28 failed attempts, Liapidevski located the ice camp on 5 March landed and hauled out twelve of 104 survivors. A week later, on the second flight to ice camp, he crash-landed the airplane after an engine failure. The operation stalled. The Soviet government dispatched three groups of pilots from Far Eastern air bases.
The largest group of seven military and civilian reconnaissance pilots on Polikarpov R-5 biplanes, based in Primorsky Krai, was led by Kamanin (he later grounded one of the pilots for insubordination). The group sailed from Vladivostok 2 March 1934, disembarked at Olyutorka and landed at Vankarem airfield 1 April. Kamanin and Vasily Molokov flew from a temporary base in Vankarem settlement to the ice camp, saving 34 and 39 survivors. On their first flight from the ice camp, R-5 (designed as a two-seater) carried a crew of two, plus two men from Chelyuskin in the hull. The next flights added makeshift wing gondolas, carrying two more men per mission. Other pilots from the Kamanin team hauled them from Vankarem to Providence Bay seaport. The ice camp was completely evacuated 13 April 1934; Kamanin returned with the ship's bosun and eight riding dogs.
The next day, six pilots that flew to the ice camp and back (including Kamanin) and Sigizmund Levanevsky were announced as the first Heroes of the Soviet Union. Pilots who ferried survivors from Vankarem to Providence received Order of the Red Star.
World War II.
Occupation of Iran.
In 1939, Kamanin completed Zhukovsky Airforce Academy. Prior to his front-line assignments, Colonel Kamanin held a staff role in Central Asia, setting up 17 training facilities and shaping up fresh airforce units. 25 August 1941, in agreement with United Kingdom, Soviet troops crossed the border with Iran, eventually taking control over the northern part of this country. Kamanin's air brigade provided logistical and reconnaissance support for this operation. 20 July 1942, Kamanin was summoned to Moscow to organize, train and lead the newly conceived 292nd Ground Attack Air Division (292 штурмовая дивизия, 292 шад).
Division Commander: Rzhev, Demyansk.
25 July 1942 Kamanin arrived at his new command, only to find orders that the division had to send its fully manned, combat-ready aviation regiments to the front. The division was given new units only in September 1942, including the 800th, 820th and 667th Attack Aviation Regiments equipped with Ilyushin Il-2, and 427th Fighter Aviation Regiment equipped with Yakovlev Yak-1 fighters.
16 October 1942, in the days of the Battle of Stalingrad the division was assigned to front-line airfields near Andreapol, Tver Oblast and subordinated to Mikhail Gromov's Third Air Army targeted against Rzhev and Smolensk. The division entered combat 29 October. Kamanin's first personal combat sortie in World War II occurred 28 December 1942, against Velikiye Luki railroad station. The division was engaged in the Battle of Velikiye Luki and Second Rzhev-Sychevka Offensive, which ended in German evacuation of Rzhev bridgeheads at an enormous cost to Red Army. 292nd Division, credited with saving the Soviet offensive at Bely, Tver Oblast (8 December) and other tactical successes, was slowly bleeding, losing 20 pilots and 35 aircraft in two months, with no replenishments until January 1943. The refitted division served against Demyansk Pocket, 15–23 February 1943. 1 March 1943, Kamanin was summoned to Moscow again and passed command of 292nd Division to Filipp Agaltsov, future Marshal of Aviation.
Corps Commander: Kursk.
Kamanin, promoted to Major General 18 May 1943, took command of 8th Combined Air Corps. The Corps contained two ground attack divisions: 212th, later Fourth Guards (commander Colonel Georgiy Baidukov) and 264th (commander Colonel Evgeny Klobukov), the latter manned with inexperienced pilots. One of the seasoned pilots was Georgi Beregovoi, flying IL-2 since 1941. The third unit, 256th pursuit division, was in the formation stage. All units needed extensive training; however, instead of 400 tons of petrol required, Kamanin could only secure 40 tons. Another shipment of 200 tons provided 4-5 training sorties for young pilots. This brief round of training was interrupted by a fatal accident that revealed structural defects in their fleet of IL-2, and required modifications to correct the defects.
21 May 1943, the Corps relocated south, near Liski, Voronezh Oblast. Across the front line, German troops were concentrating for the Battle of Kursk. The Corps was subordinate to the newly organized Steppe Front, a strategic reserve force behind the main Soviet line around Kursk. At the end of the German offensive against Kursk, it was renamed Fifth Ground Attack Corps and dispatched to the front-line Second Air Army, targeted at capturing Belgorod. Their first combat sortie occurred at 11:00, 23 July 1943, in preparation for Operation Rumyantsev (3–23 August). 16 August 1943, the corps suffered its worse losses ever, losing 15 planes in one day. Soon, in the action around Kharkiv, Kamanin's corps, notably Beregovoy's unit, excelled in anti-tank warfare using new PTAB anti-tank bomblets.
Advancing over Ukraine.
Throughout 1943, the Corps followed advancing troops in Ukraine, but its actions were limited by fuel and ammunition rationing. In the beginning of Battle of the Dnieper, the Corps could only dispatch two active regiments to Bukrin bridgehead; the rest was grounded by fuel shortage. The situation improved when the direction of the Soviet offensive switched to Lyutezh bridgehead. Kamanin earned the Order of Suvorov for his corp's achievement in the Battle of Kiev (1943). This was followed by action against Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket in January–February 1944 and subsequent Kamenets-Podolsky pocket in March–April.
In Spring 1944, Kamanin obtained permission to fly personal missions in enemy territory and was engaged in deep reconnaissance of the Lviv area with Lieutenant Pyotr Schmigol (Hero of the Soviet Union, 1944). This information paved the road to the Lvov-Sandomierz Offensive of July 1944.
Raid on Lviv.
Lviv was defended by an estimated force of 700 German aircraft. Shortly before the battle, Ivan Konev prohibited any ground action until the air force provided reliable data on enemy formations. Instead, Kamanin proposed a combination of night-time reconnaissance with a major ground attack by IL-2 units. This plan was originally considered doomed to failure, since the IL-2 was never intended for night flight, and very few Sturmovik pilots had night flight experience. Technicians modified IL-2 exhaust pipes so that exhaust would not blind pilots completely, but otherwise the operation remained a high risk. Thus, Kamanin planned to take off at night, arrive over Lviv airfields early at dusk and return after dusk.
The first group to arrive at Lviv airfield - six Yak fighters - prevented takeoff of German defence fighters. Another group of 12 fighters patrolled along the return route. The first attack unit of eight IL-2's, protected by eight fighters, attacked the German airplanes on the ground in a 1300-meter dive. This was followed by the main force of IL-2 bombers, arriving in groups of four.
The Soviet formation of 34 fighters and 24 attack planes lost 3 airplanes. Kamanin estimated German losses at 30 twin-engined airplanes and one Focke-Wulf Fw 190 (of the 150 aircraft presumed to be on the ground) plus warehouses and other materiel. The same night, similar strikes at three other airfields effectively crippled German resistance in the air.
After completion of Lviv-Sandomierz operation, Kamanin was awarded Order of Kutuzov.
Budapest to Prague.
In September 1944, Romania changed sides and turned against Germany (see Battle of Romania (1944)). Romanian air corps, led by General Ionescu, was temporarily placed under Kamanin's command. Kamanin admitted it was a strong, well-trained force of 170 aircraft (mostly, modern German types), and the Romanians proved themselves as capable aviators.
Meanwhile, Kamanin's own force was heavily engaged over Tisza valley, flying 150-200 sorties daily, paving the road to Budapest. In December 1944, his regiments relocated to an extremely dangerous position - airfields only 10-12 kilometers behind the front line. This was, however, the only solution that could enable effective support of ground troops after an all-out offensive was launched 20 December 1944. This day, the corps flew over 1000 sorties. Kamanin's corps operations in the Battle of Budapest were limited mostly by the physical state of dirt airfields (other formations, based farther from the front line, were also limited by long approach distances). The new position happened to be placed directly on the axis of German Operation Konrad, and was key in tying up this counteroffensive.
Arkady Kamanin.
Arkady Kamanin, Nikolai's son, was born in 1928. He spent most of his childhood on the airfields and at an early age could identify most of the Soviet military airplanes by the engine's sound alone. After the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, Arkady worked at one of the aircraft plants in Moscow. Later in 1941, he was evacuated to Tashkent with his mother and younger brother Leo, where they lived until the spring of 1943. In the middle of spring of 1943 he arrived at Andreapol airfield (Kalininsky battlefront), where his father's air division was quartering. Formally enlisted at the age of 14, Arkady served as a mechanic at a liaison squadron, where he learned practical flying skills by hitchhiking rides with real pilots, whom he asked to let him steer. After he managed to land a Polikarpov Po-2 by himself when the pilot was wounded by shrapnel, he passed the official examinations for piloting the Po-2, becoming the youngest pilot of World War II at the age of 15. Soon after that he was granted his personal Po-2 with forked lightning painted on fuselage. On one of these flights, Arkady managed to save the wounded Lieutenant Berdnikov, who crash-landed his damaged IL-2 near the front line, while retrieving the plane's reconnaissance film and returning safely to the base. For his excellent service, Arkady Kamanin received two combat Orders of the Red Star, the Order of the Red Banner, the Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945", the Medal "For the Capture of Budapest" and the Medal "For the Capture of Vienna". After the war Arkady decided to enter the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy, wanting to learn to fly new types of aircraft. Arkady Kamanin died of meningitis on April 13, 1947, at the age of 18.
Space program.
Kamanin completed the General Staff Academy in 1956 and commanded the air force of Central Asian district for three years. In 1960, Chief Marshal of Aviation Konstantin Vershinin, assigned Kamanin to the Soviet space program as the military chief of the manned orbital flight program. His formal title was "Deputy Chief of Combat Training for Space" (Russian: заместитель начальника боевой подготовки ВВС по космосу), formally a step down from his previous roles of "First Deputy to Air Force Chief of Staff" and "Air Army Commander". Kamanin was assisted by Major General and Hero of Soviet Union Leonid Goreglyad, Colonel Boris Aristov (a skilled navigator with 232 combat sorties experience), and other notable war pilots. The Center for Cosmonaut Training (present-day Star City, Russia) was initially led by Colonel Karpov, Kamanin's subordinate.
Preparation to manned flight.
Kamanin's diaries, first published in 1995, start with 17 December 1960, and explain the development of the Soviet manned program and related internal politics. The diaries present at least four sides of his activities prior to Yuri Gagarin's flight, all of which continued until Kamanin's retirement:
Coordination of design bureaus developing life support systems for manned spaceflight: spacesuits, parachutes, air regeneration etc. Kamanin's diaries present hims as a risk-taker, willing to go forward with incomplete systems to beat the Americans to orbit. Later, when the space programs focused on fully automatic controls, Kamanin asserted his viewpoint in favor of human controls. At the same time, during 1962 discussions on flight duration, he was always on the conservative side, voting for no more than two day spaceflights.
Tracking, search and recovery of landed craft, coordination and refinement of SAR efforts. For example, 9 March 1961, Vostok 3A prototype flew a flawless mission. The capsule with Chernushka and Ivan Ivanovich landed in an open field near Stary Tokmak. Kamanin and Vladimir Yazdovsky arrived on site, encircled by curious villagers, and arranged recovery of the craft. The tracking network was considerably expanded after 1965, with a special naval group and installations in Cuba.
Management of cosmonaut training squad, probably the least time-consuming activity, started with selection of Air Force Group I in March 1960. 17–18 January 1961, Kamanin chaired the Examination Committee that evaluated the first six cosmonauts prepared for the Vostok program. Kamanin rated Yuri Gagarin, Gherman Titov and Grigori Nelyubov as the best candidates. He personally developed the cosmonaut flying manual and training schedule, traveled across landing areas with flight candidates and supervised last-minute training at Baikonur. Kamanin also campaigned for early disclosure of Soviet launches, as soon as the craft is in orbit, against Vershinin's original opinion. Kamanin's view was upheld 29 March when the state commission approved the first manned launch.
Commissioner for all other space launches, including the first interplanetary space probes. He was skeptical about the value of these probes: "Venus launch is hardly a sensible endeavor: it delays manned flight and decreases Rocket Force battle-readiness" ("Пуск на Венеру - затея едва ли разумная: она задерживает полет человека и снижает боеспособность ракетных войск"). Indeed, the first Venus mission failed - the Venera spacecraft was trapped in Earth's orbit. The second Venera, launched 12 February 1961, missed its target by 100,000 kilometers, which was a success for 1961 technology.
Gagarin's flight.
By 5 April 1961, Kamanin was still indecisive, ranking Gagarin and Titov equally fit for the flight. Three days later, he recommended Gagarin, with Titov as backup. After the final training session (afternoon, 11 April), Kamanin parted with Yuri Gagarin. The next day, Gagarin lifted off in Vostok 1, made a full orbit and safely landed 23 kilometers from Saratov. Kamanin left mission control 20 minutes after launch, as soon as Gagarin reported that he is safe in orbit, and rushed to Stalingrad in Antonov An-12. Still airborne, Kamanin received a radio message that Gagarin had landed safely and was flown to Kuybyshev airport. Later, in 1966, he recorded that "As odd as it may seem, Gagarin's flight was the safest. Voskhod 2 was the most dangerous to date" ("Как это ни странно звучит, но самым надежным у нас был полет Гагарина. Самым опасным до настоящего времени являлся полет "Восхода-2").
Public relations.
14 April Kamanin accompanied Gagarin on his triumphant ride into Red Square and was the publicity mentor of Soviet cosmonauts until his retirement. In May–September 1961, Gagarin and Kamanin performed a world publicity tour, reaching countries like Iceland and Brazil.
This was followed by a near disaster in Crimea. For the first time, Kamanin reported Gagarin and Titov having serious personal problems, and attempted to repair their discipline and motivation. 4 October 1961, Gagarin injured his head in a bizarre jump from a balcony, ending up in a hospital and failing to attend the opening of 22nd Communist Party Congress. This was a political blow to the Air Force, and Kamanin personally; Kamanin had to concentrate on politics to restore his former influence. 20 October. the United States media, curious why Gagarin missed the Congress, started its own inquiries and speculations; Kamanin was called to intervene. 24 October, Gagarin, bearing fresh evidence of plastic surgery on his torn eyebrow, made a brief appearance at the Congress; he later explained the scar as a routine tourist accident.
In December, 1961, Gagarin and Kamanin flew on another tour, this time of India, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. Later, Kamanin had to persuade Vershinin to let him stay at home and concentrate on real work instead of meeting foreign dignitaries. He, however, appreciated the results of the United States tour (28 April - 12 May 1962), and the practical information released by John Glenn and Alan Shepard.
Another particularly challenging campaign followed the flight of Voskhod 1. Three cosmonauts landed 13 October 1964, the day when Nikita Khrushchev was ousted from power. Their triumphant return was compromised by uncertainty with new Soviet leadership and the accidental death of Marshal Sergey Biryuzov (19 October).
Woman in space.
Kamanin campaigned for training and launching women cosmonauts since Gagarin's flight, but the subsequent publicity assignments separated him from decision-making. However, on 25 December the Soviet government authorized selection of a second group of 60 trainees, including women. By the end of January, 1962, Kamanin collected 58 women's resumes and picked 23 who still had to pass the physical tests. 12 March, a group of five women was picked for active training; 29 March he identified Valentina Tereshkova, Irina Solovyova and Tatyana Kuznetsova as the most capable for the flight. Another set of problems he handled was the life support systems for the women, notably the female spacesuits - an unexpected problem.
The group passed cosmonauts examinations 28 November 1962 and was put on hold until the end of April 1963. Preparation to the flight was impossible without a firmly set launch date, and nobody in the government dared to give a go-ahead. On 24 April, the government finally ordered a joint flight of two available Vostok spacecraft - the only two craft in stock. Their shelf life was set at 15 June 1963 and could not be extended. Thus, the flight preparation of Valery Bykovsky and Valentina Tereshkova (approved to fly 21 May) was hurried by "use it or lose it" deadline. Kamanin and the cosmonauts relocated to Baikonur 27 May and stayed there until the launch. In fact, Tereshkova lifted off 16 June - one day past her craft's expiration date. Kamanin worked mission control shifts while she was in space and had to wake Tereshkova who, asleep, failed to respond. Both crafts landed safely but overshot the landing target by two degrees. Like Gagarin, Tereshkova bailed from the landing capsule and used her personal parachute. After the flight, Kamanin again was involved in a time-consuming publicity campaign - this time, centered around Tereshkova.
In 1965, after Voskhod 2, Kamanin proposed a flight of female crew on the next Voskhod. Gagarin and other (male) cosmonauts were strongly against it. The case was closed with cancellation of all planned Voskhod launches.
Political failures.
Kamanin was engaged in the rivalry between various powers behind Soviet space program - on the Air Force side. His personal vision of the space program was more than once cut short by this political rivalries.
Establishment of a single space agency. Kamanin realized the need to eradicate friction between the Rocket Force, the Air Force and different industrial groups (Korolyov, Mikhail Yangel, Vladimir Chelomei). His political influence alone was not enough to achieve this; the closest achievable goal was to unite all "military" space efforts under a single command. In November 1963, the General Staff proposed placing all military space projects under the Commander of Air Force; Rodion Malinovsky, minister of defence, scrapped the project. A later pro-Air Force campaign (May–July 1964) also failed. Rivalry and duplicate functions continued on lower levels; for example, the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems (established 1964) competed with the older Institute of Aviation and Space Medicine for personnel and premises, etc.
Expansion of Vostok programme. Kamanin also realized that Korolyov's Soyuz project was in the very distant future, and relying on Soyuz alone would ground his cosmonaut squad for years. Throughout 1961-1963, he campaigned for more Vostok manned launches. His calls to build 8-10 Vostok spacecraft did not materialize (at some point in 1963, he seemed to succeed with a "build Vostoks" program, but it was soon folded down). As a result, there were only three Soviet manned flights between the last Vostok (June 1963) and the first manned Apollo flight (October 1968); Kamanin was on mission control for all three, including Vladimir Komarov's fatal flight. By June 1964, Kamanin realized that the Soviet side had lost the space race; he blamed Korolyov and Mstislav Keldysh for the lack of realistic long-term plans. It's not surprising that idle time worked against personnel morale and caused even more interdepartmental politics.
Head of Training Center problems. After demotion of Colonel Karpov, the first head of Cosmonaut Training Center, Kamanin initially supported nomination of General Odintsov. Odintsov was approved 5 April 1963, and in a few weeks proved himself completely incompetent to the task - a view allegedly supported by Korolyov and Marshal Rudenko. 17 July AirForce Military Council dismissed Odintsov; Kamanin campaigned to nominate 29-year-old Yuri Gagarin, but was stonewalled by his superiors Vershinin and Rudenko. However, in September Rodion Malinovsky reinstalled Odintsov; the situation normalized in November 1963 with appointment of General Nikolai Kuznetsov. After the death of Gagarin, Kamanin (himself ultimately responsible for all cosmonaut training) blamed Kuznetsov for a sequence of errors that allowed Gagarin and Seregin to take off on their fatal flight. Replacing Kuznetsov, again, became a long bureaucratic struggle.
Disaster years: 1966-1968.
Korolyov. 1966 started with death of Sergey Korolyov. His successor, Vasily Mishin, backed by Mstislav Keldysh, started his own political campaign, targeted at capturing cosmonaut training facilities from the Air Force - which forever alienated Kamanin. In particular, Mishin promoted his own candidates into the space program; Kamanin deemed them inadequately trained to fly and insisted on Air Force candidates with a proven flight record. For some time, the future Soyuz missions had two competing crews - Air Force and OKB-1. Kamanin's cosmonauts were also assigned to the future Almaz, Spiral and two competing lunar projects. Probably as a reaction against Mishin, Kamanin rated Vladimir Chelomei and his staff very high, and his products - superior to Mishin's.
Komarov. Kamanin, as the state commissioner for the Soyuz 1 launch, was present at Baikonur throughout launch preparation that began 6 April 1967. Once the rocket lifted off on 23 April Kamanin took charge of the first mission control shift. Vladimir Komarov, on his second orbit, reported failure in solar panels - one of them failed to deploy. So far, the situation was manageable, and Kamanin dispatched Gagarin to the second mission control station in Yevpatoria. On the 13th orbit, the state commission realized there was an imminent danger and decided to land Komarov and cancel Soyuz 2. 6:45 AM, 24 April while Komarov was still alive, Kamanin boarded the plane departing to the landing area. In the air, Kamanin received the first (incorrect) news of Soyuz descending with a fully deployed parachute. He was not aware of disaster until meeting General Artamonov on the Orsk airfield. Kamanin lost an hour and half travelling to the crash site, only to see the capsule still on fire. Later, the Soyuz 1 parachute failure was linked to an insufficient pilot chute that failed to drag the main parachute from its container.
Gagarin and Seryogin. 27 March 1968, Yuri Gagarin and Colonel Vladimir Seryogin were killed on a routine training flight in a Mig-15UTI jet trainer. Enquiries continued for more than a year and did not produce a clear answer. All cosmonaut flight training was suspended. Kamanin, as the person ultimately responsible for cosmonaut training, received a formal reprimand; without Gagarin and without any prospects of winning the space race, his own influence and influence of the Air Force on the space program deteriorated - while the American lunar program was steadily under way.
Retirement.
On November 11, 1969, Marshal Kutakhov notified the 62-year-old Kamanin of his upcoming transfer to "consultancy" — a soft retirement. Two weeks later, before that paperwork was completed, Kamanin sent a bitter letter to Minister of Defense Andrei Grechko, explaining his view on military space program and rejecting as unnecessary "consultancy" employment. Kamanin continued working as usual; the string of premature deaths continued with Pavel Belyayev (10 January 1970).
In 1970, the Soviet space program re-oriented from lunar travel to orbital stations. In February 1970, Kamanin estimated first Almaz (Chelomei) or DOS-7K (Mishin) to be ready in summer 1971, at best. Selection of cosmonauts for the first orbital station, again, became a tug of war between Mishin and Kamanin, while the Air Force continued recruitment of new military pilots like Vladimir Dzhanibekov. 19 May - 19 June, Kamanin conducted the usual flight preparation and flight control sequence of Soyuz 9; health problems of cosmonauts returning from an 18-day mission caused a major redesign of future flight programs and another clash with Mishin (Mishin insisted on 30-days flights, Kamanin set for no more than 24 days).
Salyut 1 was launched 19 April 1971; initial failures of on-board fans and the scientific equipment bay were not considered a major problem. The crew of Soyuz 10, launched four days later, docked with the stations, but failed to lock the docking gasket firmly. They did not have enough fuel for a second docking and a safe return, nor the spacesuits for an EV transfer, and the mission controller aborted the flight. For the first time in Soviet space program, Soyuz 10 landed at night.
On 21 May 1971, Kamanin arrived at Baikonur for his last mission launch. Soyuz 11 lifted off 6 June, docked with the station, and completed the program, but the crew was killed by decompression on their landing run. Kamanin was at the mission control at Yevpatoria throughout their fatal descent and left his own transcript of conversation and the silence that followed.
Kamanin retired after the accident, replaced by Vladimir Shatalov.
In retirement, Kamanin acted as the leader of the Communist Party committee of his apartment building. He also continued writing books and articles, and giving public talks. He died in 1982 at the age of 74.
Kamanin in media.
Arkady and Nikolai Kamanin (played by Alexander Porokhovshchikov) are the characters of a 1978 Soviet film, "Then You Will See the Sky" ("И ты увидишь небо").


List of airlines of Hungary

This is a list of airlines currently operating in Hungary.


Akunnaaq Heliport

Akunnaaq Heliport is a heliport in Akunnaaq, a village in the Qaasuitsup municipality in western Greenland. The heliport is considered a "helistop", and is served by Air Greenland as part of government contract.
Airlines and destinations.
Air Greenland operates government contract flights to villages in the Disko Bay area. These mostly cargo flights are not featured in the timetable, although they can be pre-booked. Departure times for these flights as specified during booking are by definition approximate, with the settlement service optimized on the fly depending on local demand for a given day. Settlement flights in the Disko Bay and Aasiaat archipelago areas are unique in that they are operated only during winter and spring. During summer and autumn, communication between settlements is by sea only, serviced by Diskoline.


Hucks starter

A Hucks starter is an auxiliary power unit, almost always a lorry or truck, that provides initial power to start up piston aircraft engines. Invented by Royal Flying Corps Captain Bentfield Hucks, for who it is named after, the device served as a mechanical replacement for the groundcrew members who would have otherwise needed to spin an aircraft's propeller by hand as a part of the starting process, on aircraft engines not fitted with starters.
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the Hucks starter was in widespread use amongst ground crews, becoming particularly useful as aircraft engines had progressively become too large to be easily started by hand. Some aircraft could only practically be started using the device. Its popularity quickly waned during the 1930s as new forms of integral starters, such as the Coffman starter, were introduced to service. While many Hucks starters were scrapped, a number have been restored and preserved for display. During the 2010s, one such preserved example, held in the Shuttleworth Collection, was restored to working order and became the first Hucks starter to actually start an aircraft in 70 years.
Operation.
The power is transmitted to the aircraft via a power take-off shaft, much like those used to run winches on tow trucks, or on agricultural machinery. The shaft of the starter fits into a special protruding hub incorporating a simple projecting claw clutch on the center of the airplane's propeller assembly. When engaged, the power of the truck's engine is transmitted to the aircraft engine until start up, whereupon the faster speed of the now-running engine disengages the clutch, and then the starter truck clears the area prior to take-off. The system presented several advantages over conventional hand-starting, being considerably less hazardous to ground personnel, requiring only two personnel to operate it, and was able to start an engine from cold within the space of 30 seconds. In comparison, hand-cranking to start engines was time-consuming and often difficult outside of ideal conditions.
The device's name comes from its inventor, Bentfield Hucks, who was a captain in the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) at the time. Early production of the Hucks starter was performed by the British aircraft manufacturer Airco. The Hucks starter was introduced to Royal Air Force service in the months following the Armistice of 11 November 1918, which had effectively brought the conflict to an end.
The RAF's Hucks starter fleet were typically based on Ford Model T trucks, which were already in widespread use and familiar to ground crews. Reportedly, ground crews developed a definitive preference for the Hucks starter over various other means of starting engines. Various period aircraft in RAF service, such as the Hawker Fury biplane, lacked an electronic starter, being practically dependent on the presence of the Hucks starter to start their engines. The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) also made extensive use of Hucks starters; they were particularly needed by aircraft such as those Avro 504s that had been reengined with the Armstrong-Siddeley Lynx. Various other operators throughout the British Commonwealth and around the world also adopted the device; NACA (the predecessor to NASA) were one known user of the Hucks starter.
During the latter half of the 1930s, the popularity of the Hucks starter diminished rapidly as a new generation of engines furnished with integral electric starters arrived in quantity in the buildup to the Second World War. Many of the devices are believed to have been scrapped at this time, metal being a particularly valuable wartime commodity. Despite being largely considered to be obsolete, a number of wartime aircraft, such as the Soviet Air Force's Ilyushin Il-2 ground-attack aircraft, were outfitted to use Hucks starters.
One original Hucks starter, built during 1920 by de Havilland, is known to survive at the Shuttleworth Collection in Bedfordshire; during the 2010s, it became the first Huckers Starter to actually start an aircraft in 70 years when it successfully started a preserved Hawker Hind. The Shuttleworth's unit has since been regularly used to start the vintage aircraft based there, while a number of working reproductions have also been built, based on original Ford Model T chassis. The RAF Museum London has a restored example, comprised both of original pieces from multiple vehicles and new-build bodywork, on permanent display.


List of Copa Airlines Colombia destinations

Copa Airlines Colombia provides service to 8 cities in Colombia and 9 international destinations.


Aft pressure bulkhead

The aft pressure bulkhead or rear pressure bulkhead is the rear component of the pressure seal in all aircraft that cruise in a tropopause zone in the earth's atmosphere. It helps maintain pressure when stratocruising and protects the aircraft from bursting due to the higher internal pressure.
Design.
Aft pressure bulkheads can either be curved, which reduces the amount of metal needed at the cost of reducing the usable space in the airliner, or flat, which gives more internal space but also more weight. Patents have been filed that propose deliberately creating cavities within the rear bulkhead with the purpose of providing more usable cabin space. On several airliners, production of the rear pressure bulkhead has been outsourced to third party manufacturers. While typically being a time-consuming and somewhat uncommon process, an aircraft's aft pressure bulkhead can be wholly replaced.
During the twenty-first century, various parties became increasingly interested in developing aft pressure bulkheads composed from composite materials, seeking benefits such as lower manufacturing costs, easier sealing, elimination of corrosion risk, along with weight and part count reductions. During the early 2000s, Airbus Group developed the largest manufactured resin film infusion structure then in production to function as the aft pressure bulkhead for their double-decker A380 airliner. the German aerospace supplier Premium AEROTEC, which successfully manufactured the world's first thermoplastic-based rear pressure bulkhead during the 2010s; according to the firm, the new unit had reportedly resulted in a 75% reduction in processing and assembly time as well as a noticeable weight saving over traditional aluminium counterparts.
Failure incidents.
Multiple instances of damage to the aft pressure bulkhead have occurred; while a few cases have led to serious failures leading to aircraft losses, others have proven to be survivable. Aviation certifying authorities have often mandated inspections of an aircraft's aft pressure bulkhead in the interest of safety. Various techniques have been devised to determine the integrity of the rear pressure bulkhead; these have been used not only to inspect in-service examples but also in the design process, helping to design efficient bulkheads that possess sufficient strength to ensure a safe operational life.
In 1971, British European Airways Flight 706 crashed in Belgium, killing all 63 on board; the cause was determined to be corrosion of the rear pressure bulkhead by fluid contamination, perhaps from the lavatory. The corrosion was not detectable by the inspection techniques at the time.
In 1985, Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashed after a catastrophic failure of the aft pressure bulkhead. The failure occurred due to faulty repair of the bulkhead after a tailstrike seven years earlier, when a single repair patch plate was incorrectly cut in two "to make it fit". Failure of the bulkhead damaged hydraulic pipes passing through. Boeing later calculated that the incorrect installation would be expected to fail after approximately 10,000 pressurizations; the repaired aircraft accomplished 12,318 successful flights before the crash.
During 2013, National Airlines Flight 102 crashed after loose freight on the main deck is believed to have penetrated the aft pressure bulkhead and caused damage to control systems in the vicinity of the bulkhead.


Carl-Heinz Greve

Carl-Heinz Greve (17 October 1920 – 21 May 1998) was a German general in the Bundeswehr. During World War II, he served in the Luftwaffe and was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany.


Timofey Khryukin

Timofey Timofeyevich Khryukin (; , in Yeysk19 July 1953, in Moscow) was a Soviet aviator, Spanish Civil War volunteer, and colonel-general of the Soviet Air Force. Emerging from an impoverished working-class background, he rose to command the 8th Air Army and 1st Air Army during the Second World War, being twice decorated as a Hero of the Soviet Union before his death following a period of illness caused by a road accident.
Early life.
Khryukin was born on in the southern town of Yeysk in the Kuban Oblast (present-day Krasnodar Krai) of Imperial Russia into a poverty-stricken family. Khryukin's father worked a mason; his mother assisted supporting the family as a laundrywoman working for petty wages. At the age of eight he began working for well-off cossacks, but due to abuse he eventually ran off, spending several years wandering the countryside in the years preceding the Bolshevik Revolution. His formal education did not began until at age 15 in the midst of the socialist campaigns to eradicate illiteracy; around that time he found employment in various jobs involving manual labor, including as a porter and railway depot employee.
After joining the Komsomol in 1926, he made his way to regional secretary of the organization and joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1929. Following a brief stint at an agricultural school, he joined Soviet military and entered flight school in 1932.
Military career.
Having joined the military in 1932, he was sent to for training at the Voroshilovgrad Military Aviation School of Pilots in Luhansk, which lasted eight months. Khryukin went to Spain as a volunteer for the Spanish Republican Air Force in August 1936. There he participated in the Spanish Civil War as a Tupolev SB bomber pilot, remaining until March 1937 and receiving the Order of the Red Banner upon his return to the Soviet Union.
The following year he went to China to lead a squadron of Soviet-piloted Tupolev SB-2 with the Chinese Air Force, sent by the Soviet Union to aid the Chinese forces in the Second Sino-Japanese War. Khryukin received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on 22 February 1939.
He served as the Air Forces commander of the 14th Soviet Army during the Soviet Army's Finnish campaign in 1939-1940 before being named Assistant General Inspector of the Air Force in 1940.
In May 1940 Khryukin was promoted to division commanderbecoming Major-General Khryukin of the Air Force when the classic generals' ranks, abolished following the October Revolution, were brought into the Red Army the following month.
World War II.
Khryukin was appointed commander of the Air Forces of the 12th Soviet Army (based in Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic's Kiev Special Military District) on 27 May 1941, twenty-six days before to the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Khryukin was placed in charge of the air units attached the Karelian Front in August 1941: these were tasked with securing the Murmansk Railway and the Kirov Railway, significant to the Soviet military and war effort as the connection between Karelia and the rest of the European territory of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. In June 1942 he was reassigned to the Southwestern Front, just in time for the Nazi advance against Stalingrad. The Air Force units of the Southwestern Front were subsequently reformed as the 8th Air Army under Khryukin, as announced by the People's Commissar for Defense on 9 June.
Khryukin's Eight Army participated in the Battle of Stalingrad from the very beginning of the German assault. Stalin personally ordered General Vasily Gordov of the Stalingrad Front to instruct Khryukin to launch a massive aerial assault against the Germans to the right flank of the Soviet forces during a conversation by direct wire on 23 July 1942. A less-than-desirable number of aircraft translated into insufficient resources for aerial reconnaissance, while Il-2 Shturmovik units had to fly without fighter escort. Although it could not stop the German forces from advancing into the city, the 8th Air Army would continue to provide key support during the Battle of Stalingrad until the battle turned in the Soviets favor. In early October Khryukin decided to form a regiment within the 8th Air Army composed of elite fighter pilots, to be led by World War II ace Lev Shestakov, a fellow Spanish Civil War veteran; the unit became the prestigious 9th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. By the end of 1942, Khryukin increased the count of enemy aircraft pilots had to destroy in order to attain the status of ace; simultaneously, he promised a recommendation for the Hero of the Soviet Union title to each of those who could succeed in doing so. On 30 December 1942 the 8th Air Army became part of the Southern Front; Khryukin’s efforts turned in the direction of Rostov and the Donbas, where major Soviet victories followed the surrender of Germany's Stalingrad forces after the success of the Soviet counterattackOperation Little Saturnin early 1943.
With successful Soviet advances in the Donbas, Khryukin's airmen won praise from Stalin, who called for artillery salvoes to commemorate the Soviet triumph in Moscow in September 1943. After supporting the Red Army on the Mius River and in the retaking of the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, the 8th Air Army lent air superiority to the Soviet offensive in Crimea in April 1944.
Khryukin took charge of the 1st Air Army from Colonel-General Mikhail Gromov's command in July 1944, following his promotion to colonel-general in May. Its performance under the freshly transferred Khryukin during Operation Bagration in Belarus was noted as "excellent" by Marshal of the Soviet Union Vasilevsky, an eyewitness, in his memoirs, "The Matter of My Whole Life" (1973). Khryukin commanded the 1st Air Army for the remainder of the war, leading it for the remainder of the war and commanding it during the key Battle of Königsberg in the last stages of the war (6–9 April 1945). His second Hero of the Soviet Union title was awarded on 19 April 1945, ten days following the Soviet victory in the offensive.
Postwar.
Khryukin remained in command of the 1st Air Army until July 1946 before appointed as deputy commander of training of the Soviet Air Force from 1946 to 1947; after that he commanded the 7th Air Army. In 1950 he graduated from the Voroshilov Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR. His health was seriously undermined by a car accident after the war, although his life was saved by a successful surgery. He died of progressive nephritis on 19 July 1953 and was buried in Novodevichy Cemetery.


Air Dispatch


Harold A. Terris

Harold Allison Terris (December 11, 1916 – April 22, 2001) was a military pilot, civil servant, and politician in the province of New Brunswick, Canada.
Terris was born in Hillsborough, New Brunswick in 1916. During World War II, Harold Terris served overseas as a Spitfire pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force. After the War, he worked as a civil servant for the province of New Brunswick. In 1987 he was the successful Liberal Party candidate for the riding of Albert, defeating incumbent Malcolm MacLeod. Terris chose not to seek reelection in 1991.
He married Arleen M. Betts (1921–2008) of Doaktown, New Brunswick. The couple had a daughter, Susan, and a son, James.


Italian destroyer Francesco Crispi

Francesco Crispi was one of four s built for the (Royal Italian Navy) in the 1920s. Completed in 1927, she served in World War II.
Design and description.
The "Sella"-class destroyers were enlarged and improved versions of the preceding and es. They had an overall length of , a beam of and a mean draft of . They displaced at standard load, and at deep load. Their complement was 8–9 officers and 144 enlisted men.
Unlike the Parsons geared steam turbines used by her sister ships, "Francesco Crispi" used a pair of Belluzzo turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam supplied by three Thornycroft boilers. The turbines were rated at for a speed of in service, although the ship reached a speed of from during her sea trials while lightly loaded. The "Sella"s carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at a speed of .
Their main battery consisted of four guns in one twin-gun turret aft of the superstructure and one single-gun turret forward of it. Anti-aircraft (AA) defense for the "Sella"-class ships was provided by a pair of AA guns in single mounts amidships and a pair of machine guns. They were equipped with four torpedo tubes in two twin mounts amidships. The "Sella"s could also carry 32 mines.
Construction and career.
"Francesco Crispi" was laid down by Pattinson at their Naples shipyard on 21 February 1923, launched on 12 September 1925 and commissioned on 29 April 1927.


List of airlines of Tunisia

This is a list of airlines currently operating in Tunisia.
Defunct airlines.
This is a list of defunct airlines of Tunisia.


William Y. Smith

William Young Smith (August 13, 1925 – January 19, 2016) was a United States Air Force four-star general who served as Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (COFS SHAPE) from 1979 to 1981 and as Deputy Commander in Chief, U.S. European Command (DCINCEUR) from 1981 until his retirement from military service in 1983.
Life and career.
Smith was born in 1925, in Hot Springs, Arkansas, where he graduated from high school in 1943. He spent one year at Washington and Lee University, then entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He graduated in 1948, among the first academy graduates commissioned directly into the newly established Air Force. He received a master of public administration degree in 1954 and a doctorate in political economy and government in 1961, both from Harvard University. He completed Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, in 1959 and National War College, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., in 1965.
His first assignment was training recruits at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. Subsequently, he went through flight training at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, and Williams Air Force Base, Arizona, receiving his pilot wings in September 1949. He then served as a pilot with the 20th Fighter-Bomber Group at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina.
In March 1951 Smith was assigned to the 27th Fighter Escort Group at Itazuke Air Base, Japan, and flew combat missions over Korea in F-84 Thunderjets. He spent two months as a forward air controller with the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division. He next joined the 49th Fighter-Bomber Group and served as operations officer for combat crew training at Itazuke, then as assistant group operations officer at Taegu Air Base, South Korea, flying combat missions until hit by flak and wounded on his 97th mission.
After prolonged hospitalization, Smith attended Harvard University for graduate study in preparation for a teaching assignment with the department of social sciences at the U.S. Military Academy.
From August 1954 to July 1958, he taught government, economic and international relations, and attained the rank of associate professor at the U.S. Military Academy. He attended the Air Command and Staff College from August 1958 to June 1959. He spent that summer on special assignment with the president's committee to study the U.S. Military Assistance Program, the Draper Committee. In the fall he became a planning and programming officer with the deputy director of war plans in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Plans and Programs, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.
In July 1961 he moved to the White House as Air Force staff assistant to General Maxwell D. Taylor who was then military representative to President John F. Kennedy. When General Taylor became chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1962, Smith worked in a dual capacity as an assistant to the chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and as a staff member on the National Security Council under McGeorge Bundy. As a major, he became the first military person to serve simultaneously In these two positions.
Smith went to the National War College in August 1964 and after graduation in June 1965, was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Lindsey Air Station, Germany. He worked first in the Policy and Negotiations Division and later as chief, War Plans Division, both under the deputy chief of staff for operations. In July 1967 he became commander of the 603rd Air Base Wing at Sembach Air Base, Germany.
Following his return to the United States in July 1968, he became military assistant to the secretary of the Air Force, serving first with Secretary Harold Brown and subsequently with Secretary Robert C. Seamans Jr. In this position it was Smith's job to advise and assist the secretary on matters of substance, particularly operational, budgetary, joint-service and system acquisition matters. In addition he carried out special projects for the secretary.
He was appointed vice commander of the Oklahoma City Air Materiel Area, now the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center in August 1971, and become commander in June 1972. The center provided logistics support for U.S. Air Force weapon systems that includes B-52s and associated missiles, A-7D's, C-135s and its configurations ranging from tankers to airborne command posts, command control communications systems, aircraft engines for Major Air Force combat and airlift aircraft, and component parts for various Air Force equipment.
In October 1973 Smith transferred to Air Force headquarters and served as director of doctrine, concepts and objectives in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Plans and Operations. In July 1974 he was appointed director of policy plans and National Security Council affairs, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. He became assistant to the chairman, Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in September 1975.
He returned to Europe in July 1979 as chief of staff for Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, Belgium, and became Deputy Commander in Chief, U.S. European Command in June 1981.
His military decorations and awards include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Distinguished Service Medal (Air Force) with oak leaf cluster, Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters, Joint Service Commendation Medal and Purple Heart.
He was promoted to general July 1, 1979, with same date of rank and retired on July 31, 1983. In retirement from the Air Force, he became a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and later served for five years as President of the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), a federally funded research center. Smith was also President of the Air Force Historical Foundation and a board member of the National Security Archive. He also participated in a number of oral history projects on nuclear deterrence and arms control. He died on January 19, 2016, of congestive heart failure.
Smith co-authored "Operation Anadyr: U.S. and Soviet Generals Recount the Cuban Missile Crisis" with former Soviet Union General Anatoly Gribkov, published in 1994, about their experiences on opposite sides of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
In 2004, Smith was among 27 retired diplomats and military commanders who publicly said the administration of President George W. Bush did not understand the world and was unable to handle "in either style or substance" the responsibilities of global leadership. On June 16, 2004 the Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change issued a statement against the Iraq War.
General Smith was inducted into the Arkansas Aviation Historical Society's Hall of Fame in November, 2017.


Airbourne Freight Company


William C. Marshall

William Cyril "Bill" Marshall DFC SCM (14 August 1918 – 1 November 2005) was a Thoroughbred horse racing trainer and owner who had the distinction of being the only person to have saddled winners from stables on four different continents.
Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Bill Marshall was raised on a farm near Chichester where he developed his love of horses. In his early teens, he left home and made his way to Australia where he worked as a jockey for a short time before turning to training. While still only seventeen years old he headed to South Africa where he operated his own stable for a few years until the outbreak of World War II. Marshall returned to his native England and joined the Royal Air Force. In the war, Marshall, while flying back from a mission over France, realised that he was going to be very late for a date in Buckinghamshire. He was supposed to land at Tangmere, in Sussex, but diverted to Marlow, where his date awaited him in the Compleat Angler Inn. His daredevil act of flying his Spitfire under Marlow Bridge (headway Marlow Bridge = 3.86 metres, Spitfire height = 3.86 metres) and performing a roll impressed his girlfriend, but not an air commodore who happened to be in the bar. A report was filed, but Marshall escaped a court martial because it was wartime. As a pilot, he fought in the Battle of Britain thence served with 253 squadron in North Africa before returning to England to serve in the famous 91 'Nigeria' Squadron. By the time the war ended, Marshall had been shot down twice and was the recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross as well as mentioned in dispatches. Discharged from the military, Marshall remained in England and began training National Hunt horses then Thoroughbreds for flat racing.
In 1972 a small plane carrying Marshall and his wife Pamela, along with jockey Joe Mercer and racehorse-owner John Howard, crashed after taking off from Newbury Racecourse. The pilot died in the crash but although they were seriously injured, Marshall and his wife and the other passengers survived.
In 1981, the sixty-three-old Marshall and his wife Pamela moved to Barbados where he would become one of the most important figures in that country's horse racing industry. Among his successes at Garrison Savannah Racetrack, Bill Marshall was a seven-time winner of the island's most prestigious race, the Barbados Gold Cup and a nine-time winner of the Barbados Derby. In 1989 he conditioned Barbados Triple Crown champion, Coo Bird, who would win more races in his career than any other Thoroughbred in Barbados horse racing history. In all, Marshall won twenty-two Barbadian Triple Crown races and earned champion trainer honors eleven times.
In 1994 "The Art and Science of Racehorse Training: the "Bill" Marshall Guide" by Michael W. Marshall was published by Keepdate Publishing, with an introduction by Jack Berry. In 2003, Bill Marshall's biography titled "You Win Some, You Lose Some" was published. That same year, the government of Barbados honored his contribution to horse racing with the Silver Crown of Merit.
Bill Marshall remained active in racing and was still winning at the time of his death in 2005 at the age of eighty-seven.
References.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1501998/Bill-Marshall.html


Kogula Airfield

Kogula Airfield () was an airfield in Saare County, Estonia.
The airfield was built before 1941. During WW II the airfield was used by Soviet Naval Air Force to bomb Berlin.


923d Expeditionary Air Refueling Flight

The 923d Expeditionary Air Refueling Flight is a provisional United States Air Force unit, assigned to Air Combat Command to activate or inactivate as needed.
The squadron was first activated during World War II as the 23d Air Corps Ferrying Squadron at Morrison Field, Florida in 1942. In October 1943 the squadron and its parent group were disbanded and replaced as the Air Transport Command unit at Morrison by Station 11, Caribbean Wing, Air Transport Command.
The squadron was reconstituted in 1954 as the 23d Air Transport Squadron, Medium, a Douglas C-54 Skymaster unit, at Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina. The squadron was inactivated in 1955.
The 923d Air Refueling Squadron operated Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers at K. I. Sawyer Air Force Base, Michigan from 1960 to 1961, when its mission, personnel and equipment were transferred to the 46th Air Refueling Squadron.
In September 1985, the 923d and 23d squadrons were consolidated into a single squadron. The 923d was converted to provisional status as the 923d Expeditionary Air Refueling Flight and assigned to Air Mobility Command to activate or inactivate as needed.
History.
Airlift operations.
The squadron was first activated during World War II as the 23d Air Corps Ferrying Squadron at Morrison Field, Florida in 1942. The squadron ferried aircraft between Florida and points in western Africa. From 1943, the unit then focused on the air transportation mission as the 23d Transport Squadron. Although the squadron was stationed at Morrison, its personnel were also used to man other stations of the Caribbean Wing. After a little more than a year of trying to use traditional Table of Organization units like the 23d, Air Transport Command (ATC) found them too inflexible for its operations. It, therefore, decided to replace its groups and squadrons and assign personnel directly to each of its stations, based on the needs of the station. Accordingly, in October 1943 the squadron and its parent group were disbanded as ATC combined its units at Morrison into Station 11, Caribbean Wing, Air Transport Command.
The squadron was reactivated in March 1954 at Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina as the 23d Air Transport Squadron with the responsibility of transporting personnel, materiel, mail and other strategic cargo for the Army, Navy and civilian agencies. The squadron was assigned to the 1608th Air Transport Group, which had been activated two months earlier. However, shortages of personnel and equipment delayed the group from reaching operational status upon activation. The squadron operated Douglas C-54 Skymaster aircraft, flying missions to Europe and North Africa until inactivating in July 1955.
Air refueling operations.
The 923d Air Refueling Squadron was activated on 1 May 1960 by Strategic Air Command (SAC) at K. I. Sawyer Air Force Base, Michigan, where it was assigned to the 4042d Strategic Wing. The 4042d wing was established by SAC in a program to disperse its Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers over a larger number of bases, thus making it more difficult for the Soviet Union to knock out the entire fleet with a surprise first strike. SAC bases with large concentrations of bombers made attractive targets. SAC's response was to break up its wings and scatter their aircraft over a larger number of bases. The squadron was initially nominally manned, but it received its first Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker on 5 August.
The squadron provided air refueling support to USAF units as directed. The squadron became fully operationally ready by March 1961 and one third of the squadron's aircraft were maintained on fifteen-minute alert, fully fueled and ready for combat to reduce vulnerability to a Soviet missile strike.
The squadron inactivated a little less than a year after being activated when its personnel, equipment and aircraft were transferred to the 46th Air Refueling Squadron. In 1985 the 23d Air Transport Squadron and the 923d Air Refueling Squadron were consolidated into a single unit. In 2004, the squadron was redesignated the 923d Expeditionary Air Refueling Flight and assigned to Air Mobility Command as a provisional unit to activate or inactivate as needed.
Lineage.
23d Air Transport Squadron
923d Expeditionary Air Refueling Flight
References.
Notes.
Explanatory notes
Footnotes


Rand Airport

Rand Airport is an airport in Germiston, South Africa. It was constructed in the 1920s as the main airport for Johannesburg, but the city outgrew it and replaced the airport with Palmietfontein Airport in the late 1940s (itself replaced by Jan Smuts International Airport in the 1950s).
History.
Before World War II.
In 1917, Major Allister Miller landed on Germiston Golf Course and thought the area close by would be suitable as an airfield due to its location near to Johannesburg, the landmark of Victoria Lake and the well-drained land. But it would take until February 1929, for the three interested parties to agree for of land to be set aside for what was called the Germiston Public Aerodrome. The three parties were the Germiston Town Council, Elandsfontein Estate Company and the Rand Refinery. Later that year, the Germiston Town Council gained full control and further plans were developed for the aerodrome when Imperial Airways was thinking of adding South Africa to their flight schedules. After the involvement of the South African government, they were able to convince the airline that Johannesburg, with its mining and industry, should be their base rather than Cape Town, with Rand Refinery seeking to export its refined gold by air.
Imperial Airways received a £400,000 () subsidy from both the South African and UK governments over five years. In November 1929, the Germiston Town Council bought a further of land for £14,000, after permission was given by the Mining Commissioner, as the land was owned by the Simmer and Jack mine with the understanding that the land could be reacquired as a mining area. In order to proceed with the development, the Johannesburg and Germiston Town Councils formed a joint committee on 14 November 1930 and £85,000 () was set aside for infrastructure. This would consist of a large and small hangar, administrative buildings, a workshop, floodlights and cottages.
The airport was officially opened on 21 December 1931 by the Governor-General Earl of Clarendon and owned jointly by the Germiston and Johannesburg Town Councils. In 1932, Captain Roy Makepeace became its manager. It became the headquarters of South African Airways (SAA) when the airline's head office was moved from Durban to Rand Airport on 1 July 1935. By 1938, the development costs had reached £200,000 () and losses of £20,000 (), a cost the Germiston Town Council could no longer afford and so sold its share to the Johannesburg City Council for £106,498, with of land not used resold to the former and land provided for a future highway to connect to the Heidelberg road. The final transfer took place in 1944.
In early 1939, the Union Defence Force took control of Rand Airport and by May 1940, all commercial flights ended. The training schools based there trained pilots for the war effort and the facilities were extended with fifteen additional hangars built. By 1944, a limited number of internal commercial flights resumed from the airport.
After World War II.
SAA moved its headquarters to Palmietfontein Airport in 1948 because of runway length constraints. Nevertheless, Rand Airport grew quickly after World War II ended because of the influx of former air force pilots. In 1975, with 133 135 recorded aircraft movements, Rand Airport was the busiest airport in the southern hemisphere.
The ownership of the airport originally consisted of 23 private shareholders and there has been very little change. Most of the re-sales have been taken up by existing owners under new company names so there has been a small increase to the current 25 owners, plus the Mayondi BEE consortium and Ekurhuleni Town Council.
Rand Airport today.
Today, the airport hosts air charter operators, flying schools and a number of aircraft maintenance organisations, as well other aviation-related enterprises. Charter operator Phoebus Apollo Aviation has its headquarters at Rand; the airport is also home to the Flying Lions Aerobatic Team.
South African Airways donated a Boeing 747-200 and a Boeing 747SP to the South African Airways Museum Society which are on display at the airport. The museum also owns a Boeing 737-200, two DC-4s, a DC-3, Vickers Viking, Lockheed Lodestar, Lockheed L1649 Starliner, DH Dove and numerous other exhibits. The airport also hosts an annual air show. Aircraft General Spares (Pty)Ltd was started in November 2018, they supply parts to the light aircraft Industry. Situated in building B7.
Airlines and destinations.
There are no scheduled operations from the airport.
Hot and high conditions.
Rand Airport is notorious for its hot and high conditions and relatively short runways. Situated at an altitude of above sea level, the density altitude is as high as when the outside air temperature (OAT) is 30 °C. Special consideration must be given to flight planning in the summer when the ambient temperature is that high; there have been many accidents at this airfield as a result of reduced aircraft performance under these extreme conditions. A compounding factor is the lack of forced landing fields or areas, as the airport is surrounded by urban sprawl.


Tiny Broadwick

Georgia Ann "Tiny" Thompson Broadwick (April 8, 1893 in Oxford, North Carolina – 1978 in California), or Georgia Broadwick, previously known as Georgia Jacobs, and later known as Georgia Brown, was an American pioneering parachutist and the inventor of the ripcord. She was the first woman to jump from an airplane, and the first person to jump from a seaplane.
Biography.
Born to parents George and Emma Ross on April 8, 1893, Georgia Ann Thompson weighed only 3 pounds. The last of seven daughters, Georgia was given the nickname "Tiny" due to her small size, as she weighed only and was tall. At age 12, Tiny Broadwick had married and, at 13, had a daughter, Verla Jacobs (later, Poythress) (1906–1985). Tiny Broadwick was an abandoned mother working in a cotton mill, aged 15, when she saw Charles Broadwick's World Famous Aeronauts parachute from a hot air balloon and decided to join the travelling troupe, leaving her daughter in the care of her parents. She later became Broadwick's adopted daughter, to ease travel arrangements, though she has also been referenced as his wife (with her own family later unclear on the relationship). Although she would eventually make her jumps from airplanes, in her early career she jumped from balloons.
Billed as "the doll girl," Tiny Broadwick began performing aerial skydives and stunts while wearing a "life preserver," or parachute, designed by her adopted father, making her first jump out of a hot air balloon on December 28, 1908. The skydiving family traveled around and performed at fairs, carnivals, and parks. The appeal of the Broadwick flying troupe, according to Tiny Broadwick, was that "it was a very neat and fast act."
Among her many other achievements, she was the first woman to parachute from an airplane, which she is sometimes credited with accomplishing over Los Angeles on June 21, 1913, with aviator Glenn L. Martin as the pilot. However, she previously made at least two jumps from Martin's plane during an exhibition in Chicago's Grant Park the week of September 16, 1912. These early jumps included a well-publicized jump on January 9, 1914, from a plane built and piloted by Martin, 1,000 feet over Griffith Park in Los Angeles.
In 1914, she demonstrated parachutes to the U.S. Army, which at the time had a small, hazardous fleet of aircraft. The Army, reluctant at first to adopt the parachute, watched as Tiny Broadwick dropped from the sky. On her fourth demonstration jump, the static line became entangled in the tail assembly of the aircraft, so for her next jump she cut the static line short and did not attach it to the plane. Instead, she deployed her chute manually by pulling the shortened, unattached line while in free-fall in what may have been the first planned free-fall jump from an airplane. This demonstrated that pilots could safely escape aircraft by using what was later called a ripcord.
Also in 1914, Broadwick jumped into Lake Michigan, becoming the first woman to parachute into a body of water.
In 1912, Tiny Broadwick married Andrew Olsen, divorced, then, in 1916, married Harry Brown, and stopped parachuting for four years. That marriage also ended in divorce; she retained the name Georgia Brown thereafter. She also severed relations with Charles Broadwick, and considered Broadwick to be her stage name. She returned to jumping again in 1920 for two more years, retiring from jumping in 1922 due to problems with her ankles. She was then said to have made over 1,100 jumps. Although she was not a pilot, she was one of the few female members of the Early Birds of Aviation.
Tiny Broadwick appeared on "You Bet Your Life" episode 55–07 on November 10, 1955, on "To Tell the Truth" on March 30, 1964 and on "Mysteries at the Museum" season 11, episode 33.
In 1964, Tiny Broadwick donated a parachute, handmade by Charles Broadwick of 110 yards of silk, to the Smithsonian Air Museum, the precursor to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.
Broadwick died in 1978 and was buried in Sunset Gardens in Henderson, North Carolina.
Legacy.
In February 2006, Vance County, North Carolina, commissioners decided to name a portion of the Henderson Outer Loop highway after her. Additionally, Broadwick Street in Rancho Dominguez, California, is named for her.


SS Prins Olav


General Electric AN/CPS-6 Radar

The AN/CPS-6 was a medium-range search/height finder Radar used by the United States Air Force Air Defense Command.
The AN/CPS-6 was developed during the later stages of World War II by the Radiation Laboratory at MIT. The first units were produced in mid-1945.
General Electric developed and produced the A-model and subsequent B-model at a plant in Syracuse, New York. The unit consisted of two antennas. One of the antennas slanted at a forty-five degree angle to provide the height-finder capability.
Initially, the radar was designed to detect fighter aircraft at 100 miles and 16,000 feet. The radar used five transmitters that operated at S-band frequencies ranging from 2700 to 3019 MHz. It took twenty-five people to operate the radar.
An AN/CPS-6 radar was installed as part of the Lashup Radar Network at Twin Lights, New Jersey, in 1949 and proved capable of detecting targets at ranges of eighty-four miles. The first units of the follow-on 6B radar set were ready for installation by mid-1950. Fourteen 6B units were used within the first permanent network.
A component designed to improve the radar's range was added in 1954. Initial tests showed the 6B unit had a range of 165 miles with an altitude limit of 45,000 feet. One radar unit and its ancillary electronic equipment had to be transported in eighty-five freight cars. The Air Force phased out the 6B model between mid-1957 and mid-1959.
The AN/FPS-10 unit was essentially a stripped-down version of the AN/CPS-6B. Thirteen of these units served within the first permanent network.


Dynali H2S

The Dynali H2S is a Belgian helicopter, designed by Jacky Tonet and produced by Dynali of the Thines district of Nivelles. When it was available the aircraft was supplied as a kit for amateur construction or fully assembled, supplied ready-to-fly.
By December 2017 the design was no longer advertised on the company website and production has most likely ended.
Design and development.
The H2S was designed to comply with the amateur-built aircraft rules, but a light-sport aircraft category version, the Dynali H3, is also being developed. It features a single main rotor, a two-seats-in side-by-side configuration enclosed cockpit with a windshield, skid-type landing gear and a four-cylinder, liquid cooled four-stroke, Subaru EJ25 automotive conversion engine.
The aircraft fuselage is made from a combination of aluminium tubing and welded stainless steel, covered with a polycarbonate fairing. Its diameter two-bladed rotor has a chord of and employs composite main rotor blades. The tail rotor is of an enclosed Fenestron type with eight blades. The aircraft has an empty weight of and a gross weight of , giving a useful load of . With full fuel of the payload is .
Like many helicopters designed in France and Russia, the main rotor blades advance to the left.


78th Air Refueling Squadron

The 78th Air Refueling Squadron is part of the 514th Air Mobility Wing at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey. It operates the KC-10 Extender aircraft conducting aerial refueling missions as a reserve associate of the 305th Air Mobility Wing.
The unit was first activated as a Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport unit that saw combat with the 435th Troop Carrier Group in Western Europe. The squadron flew paratroopers on airborne assaults on Normandy (Operation Overlord); Southern France (Operation Dragoon); the Netherlands (Operation Market Garden), and Germany (Operation Varsity). It also flew combat resupply missions in the relief of Bastogne in 1945. The 78th was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation for its actions during the Normandy invasion.
The squadron was activated in the reserve in 1947. It was called to active duty in March 1951 for the Korean War, serving at its home station, Miami International Airport. It returned to reserve duty in December 1952, but it was activated in 1954. The squadron was activated again in 1955 as part of a program to improve recruiting by spreading reserve units to smaller population centers.
History.
World War II.
The squadron was first activated at Bowman Field, Kentucky in February 1943, as one of the original squadrons of the 435th Troop Carrier Group. The group used Douglas C-47 Skytrains and Douglas C-53 Skytrooopers in preparing for duty overseas with Ninth Air Force.
The 78th left the United States in October 1943, arriving at RAF Langar, England, in early November. On arrival, it began training for participation in the airborne operation over Normandy. The squadron flew its first combat missions on D-Day by dropping paratroopers of 101st Airborne Division near Cherbourg. The unit towed Waco CG-4A and Airspeed Horsa gliders carrying reinforcements to the same location that afternoon and on the following morning. The squadron received a Distinguished Unit Citation for its part in Operation Overlord, the Normandy invasion.
The squadron began transport services following the landings in France and intermittently engaged in missions of this type until V-E Day In these operations the 78th hauled supplies such as serum, blood plasma, radar sets, clothing, rations, and ammunition. It also evacuated wounded personnel to Allied hospitals.
The squadron interrupted these supply and evacuation missions to train for and participate in three major airborne assaults. It was part of a detachment of three squadrons from the 435th Group that moved to Tarquinia Airfield, Italy in July 1944 for Operation Dragoon, the invasion of Southern France. The detachment dropped paratroopers over the assault area on 15 August and also released gliders carrying troops and equipment such as jeeps, guns, and ammunition. The following day it flew a resupply mission over France, then transported supplies to bases in Italy before returning to England at the end of the month.
In September 1944 the squadron participated in Operation Market Garden the unsuccessful airborne operation intended to seize bridges across the Meuse River in the Netherlands, dropping paratroops of the 82d and 101st Airborne Divisions and releasing gliders carrying reinforcements. During the Battle of the Bulge, the unit delivered supplies to isolated combat positions of the 101st Airborne and 7th Armored Divisions in Bastogne and Marcouray, Belgium.
The unit moved to Bretigny Airfield, France in February 1945 to prepare for Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine River. Each squadron aircraft participating in this operation towed two gliders transporting troops and equipment to the east bank of the Rhine near Wesel on 24 March. The unit then flew resupply missions to Germany in support of ground forces.
The squadron transported supplies to occupation forces in Germany and evacuated Allied prisoners of war after V-E Day. The squadron and the 435th Group returned to the United States in August and the group was inactivated on 15 November 1945.
Reserve troop carrier operations.
The squadron was once again activated as a reserve unit under Air Defense Command at Imeson Field, Florida on 17 July 1947. It was again assigned to the 435th Troop Carrier Group, located at Morrison Field, Florida. The squadron was nominally a Curtiss C-46 Commando unit, but it is not clear to what extent it was equipped with tactical aircraft while at Imeson.
In June 1949, Continental Air Command, which had assumed the responsibility for training reserve units from Air Defense Command in 1948, reorganized its reserve units under the wing base organization system. As part of this reorganization and unit reductions required by President Truman's reduced 1949 defense budget, the 435th Group and its squadrons moved to Miami International Airport, where it was assigned to the newly formed 435th Troop Carrier Wing and formed its cadre from elements of the inactivating 100th Bombardment Group. Air Force flying operations at Imeson came to a temporary end. The squadron was manned at only 25% of the strength of a regular unit.
At Miami, the squadron trained with C-46s under the supervision of the active duty 2585th Air Force Reserve Training Center. The squadron was ordered into active service in March 1951 as a result of the Korean War. Along with other reserve troop carrier units called to active duty, it formed Tactical Air Command's Eighteenth Air Force. The squadron's initial function was to train C-46 aircrews for service in Korea. The 78th also trained with Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcars. Although it remained at Miami, the unit deployed twice while on active duty: to Laurinburg-Maxton Airport, North Carolina from 21 July until 1 September 1951 and to Grenier Air Force Base, New Hampshire from 2 January to 3 March 1952. It was relieved from active duty and inactivated on 1 December 1952 and its mission, personnel and equipment were transferred to the regular 746th Troop Carrier Squadron, which was activated the same day.
The squadron was activated as a reserve unit the same day at the same station, but with the personnel and equipment of the inactivating 814th Troop Carrier Squadron. In the reserve, the squadron once again flew the Curtiss Commandos.
Reserve airlift and air refueling operations.
August 1962 – March 1972, during which times it often augmented Military Airlift Command's strategic airlift operations worldwide and took part in domestic training exercises. The squadron also served in an active status from, March 1951 – December 1952 and October 1961 – August 1962. Between April 1972 and October 1973, it performed a special operations role. In November 1981, the 78th began strategic aerial refueling and airlift operations. In December 1989 it refueled aircraft on way to Panama during Operation Just Cause. During Operation Desert Shield in 1990, its crews refueled more than a hundred aircraft on their way from the United States to the Persian Gulf area and delivered passengers and cargo.


List of airlines of Togo

This is a list of airlines currently operating in Togo.


John Francis McLaren

John Francis McLaren (19 June 1919 – 23 March 1953) was a Royal Air Force officer. He was the younger son of Henry McLaren, 2nd Baron Aberconway and Christabel MacNaghten.
Career.
Educated at Eton College, McLaren became an RAF Squadron Leader during World War II, first serving as a Mosquito pilot and later as a flight instructor. After the war, he became a barrister of the Inner Temple in 1946. He was made High Sheriff of Denbighshire in 1952, but died in 1953.
Family.
On 3 April 1940, he married Lady Rose Mary Primrose Paget (1919–2005), a noted beauty and the daughter of Charles Paget, 6th Marquess of Anglesey. They had two daughters, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren:


Aeromonterrey


HMS Bradman

HMS "Bradman" (FY 189) was a 452-ton anti-submarine warfare trawler of the Royal Navy. She was named in honour of the Australian cricketer Don Bradman. She was built by Cochrane & Sons, Selby and was launched on 31 October 1936. Requisitioned by the Admiralty on 26 August 1939 and commissioned in October under the command of Lieutenant Arthur Blundell.
Fate.
"Bradman" was sunk by German aircraft off Norway on 25 April 1940.


Augustine Kelly

Augustine Patrick Kelly MC (1 January 1894 in Dublin, Ireland – 12 May 1960 in Hackney, London, England) was an Irish cricketer. A right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper, he played 25 times for the Ireland cricket team between 1920 and 1930 including thirteen first-class matches. He also played first-class cricket for Dublin University.
Biography.
Educated at Ampleforth College and Dublin University, Kelly served in the First World War as a Lieutenant with the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force (originally as an observer, but later as a pilot) and was awarded the Military Cross, before returning to Dublin University to complete his degree in 1919, eventually becoming a barrister.
He made his debut for Ireland the year after leaving university, playing against Scotland in a first-class match in July. Matches against the Irish Military and Scotland followed in 1921, and he began to become a more regular member of the Irish side in 1923.
He still played the occasional match for the University, playing against the West Indies in 1923 and a first-class match against Essex in 1922. He played matches for Ireland against Scotland and Wales in 1923, and against Scotland and the MCC in 1924.
He continued as a regular in the Irish team over the next six years, playing internationals against Scotland, Wales and the West Indies in addition to several matches against the MCC. His last first-class match was in June 1930 against Scotland and his last match for Ireland was in August 1930 against the MCC.
Statistics.
In all matches for Ireland, Kelly scored 808 runs at an average of 21.26, scoring four half-centuries, the highest of which was an innings of 82 against Wales in August 1923. He took 28 catches and 14 stumpings. He bowled just two overs, against Julien Cahn's XI in his penultimate match for Ireland.


South Carlton Airfield


Droop nose (aeronautics)

The droop nose or drooped nose is a feature that a handful of aircraft, the majority of these being also equipped with delta wings and capable of supersonic speeds, have been fitted with.
It is typically fitted upon an aircraft that possesses a sharp nose-up attitude during the takeoff and landing phases of flight, which would result in a conventional nose cone obscuring the flight crew's view of the runway and ground alike. On an aircraft fitted with a droop nose, the pilot is able to lower the nose cone, thereby improving visibility. Throughout the majority of a flight, the nose would be kept in the raised position for greater aerodynamic efficiency. Droop noses have typically been installed on supersonic airliners, such as Concorde and the Tupolev Tu-144, and high speed experimental aircraft, such as the record-breaking Fairey Delta 2 and the Sukhoi T-4 strategic bomber.
History.
The first supersonic delta to receive a drooped nose was the Fairey Delta 2, a British experimental high speed aircraft. The Delta 2 featured a relatively long tapered nose, which smoothly flowed into its cylindrical cross-section fuselage, to generate a high level of aerodynamic efficiency. It was recognised that such a lengthy nose would negatively impact the pilot's forward vision during landing, take-off and ground movements; thus, to retain the aerodynamically-optimised nose cone while also providing adequate downwards visibility, the drooped nose was devised. Accordingly, the nose section of the Delta 2, including the cockpit, could be drooped by 10° using a hydraulically-actuated mechanism. A similar arrangement was subsequently adopted on Concorde.
The Delta 2 soundly demonstrated its favourable high speed performance qualities during flight testing; rapidly proving to be faster than any other British-built aircraft in existence of that time. On 10 March 1956, the Fairey Delta 2 broke the World Air Speed Record, raising it to 1,132 mph (1,811 km/h) or Mach 1.73. Thus, the Delta 2 became the first aircraft to exceed . Around this time, Fairey sought to produce a straightforward fighter derivative of the Delta 2 that retained many of its features, with efforts largely centering around Operational Requirement F.155. On 1 April 1957, Fairey were informed by officials within the Ministry of Supply that their proposals were the favourite to meet Operational Requirement F.155. However, on 4 April 1957, Duncan Sandys, the Minister of Defence, announced the effective termination of nearly all fighter aircraft development for the RAF, instantly removing the F.155 requirement.
The Delta 2 became a key development platform for what would later be known as Concorde, an early supersonic airliner, which harnessed a cutting-edge ogee or ogival delta wing design. It was decided to convert one of the two Delta 2 aircraft into a testbed for the ogival wing shape. Re-designated as the BAC 221, much of the airframe apart from the wing remained unaltered, the droop nose being one of the features that was carried over. The BAC 221 was used for varied flight testing from 1964 until 1973, after which it was placed on public display.
Concorde was furnished with a droop nose, which was developed and manufactured under contract by Marshall's of Cambridge by a team led by Norman Harry OBE. Needing to endure temperatures in excess of at supersonic flight, the nose window and visor glass were developed by Triplex. The droop nose enabled the airliner to switch between being streamlined to reduce drag for optimal aerodynamic efficiency and not obstructing the pilot's view during taxi, take-off, and landing operations.
Concorde's droop nose was accompanied by a moving transparent visor that retracted into the nose prior to being lowered. When the nose was raised to horizontal, the visor would rise in front of the cockpit windscreen for aerodynamic streamlining. A controller in the cockpit allowed the visor to be retracted and the nose to be lowered to 5° below the standard horizontal position for taxiing and take-off. Following take-off and after clearing the airport, the nose and visor were raised. Prior to landing, the visor was again retracted and the nose lowered to 12.5° below horizontal for maximal visibility. Upon landing, the nose was raised to the 5° position to avoid the possibility of damage. There was also a standby droop system if the main system failed, operated from the cockpit centre console, and as a last resort if both hydraulic systems failed, a lever could be pulled in the cockpit which released the mechanical latches, allowing the nose to fall under gravity to the 12.5 degree position.
The Tupolev Tu-144, a contemporary counterpart to Concorde that was developed by the Soviet Union, also featured a droop nose. Its configuration was not identical to that of Concorde however, the visor of the Tu-144 was fixed to the nose and was capable of retracting. The Tu-144 exhibited a noticeable tendency for the nose to pitch downward, which was cancelled out via the addition of retractable canards that would deploy when the nose was lowered; the landing speed of the Tu-144s was around , which remained higher than that of Concorde.
The Soviet Union also developed a prototype Mach 3 strategic bomber, the Sukhoi T-4, that functioned as the Soviet counterpart to America's North American XB-70 Valkyrie. The T-4 featured a sizable droop nose, which completely covered the cockpit windscreen when raised; a periscope was provided for the pilots to obtain forward visibility.


AZX (airline)


Zeppelin (film)

Zeppelin is a 1971 British World War I action-drama directed by Étienne Périer in Panavision and Technicolor. The film stars Michael York, Elke Sommer and Anton Diffring. "Zeppelin" depicts a fictitious German attempt to raid Britain in a giant Zeppelin to steal or destroy "Magna Carta" from its hiding place in one of Scotland's castles.
Plot.
in 1915, during the First World War, Geoffrey Richter-Douglas (Michael York), a Scotsman of German descent, is a lieutenant in the British Army. He meets Stephanie (Alexandra Stewart), a German spy to whom he is attracted. She suggests that he escape to Germany, where the other members of his family and his friends are. He reports this contact to his commanding officer, Captain Whitney, who also wants Geoffrey to go to Germany, but on a secret mission to steal the plans of the "LZ36", a new type of Zeppelin under development at Friedrichshafen.
Geoffrey pretends to be a deserter and travels to Germany, even getting shot in the arm by fellow British agents to sell the Germans the ruse. At Friedrichshafen, he meets his long-time friend Professor Altschul (Marius Goring), who lives with his beautiful and much younger wife, Erika (Elke Sommer), both of whom are scientists working on the new airship. Erika suspects that Geoffrey may be up to something, but keeps her suspicions to herself.
Geoffrey quickly learns that German Intelligence recruited him to travel to Germany for a specific military purpose. Following a meeting with Intelligence Colonel Hirsch (Anton Diffring), he is assigned to the "LZ36" on its maiden test flight. As soon as it is declared airworthy, to maintain absolute secrecy without first returning to base, the airship is to take part in a military operation to steal or destroy British historical documents, including the copy of "Magna Carta", from Balcoven Castle in Scotland. Geoffrey is to play a key role in the mission, using his knowledge of the Scottish countryside to guide the airship very close to the castle at night while the craft is gliding with its engines off. After leaving Germany, the zeppelin lands on a fjord in Norway to refuel and take on board a specially trained unit of soldiers.
Geoffrey misdirects the craft's wireless operator just long enough to send a message about the LZ36's location to British intelligence. The wireless operator returns and, upon hearing the reply and realizing what Geoffrey had done, engages him in a fight. Geoffrey manages to knock him out, and then throws him out an open window, telling the captain the wireless operator had fallen while scraping ice off the airship, as many craft personnel had been ordered to do. The explanation is believed, but Geoffrey does not have a chance to send any more information because Erika comes on the scene and removes an important radio component. The airship proceeds to Balcoven Castle.
Under cover of darkness, Geoffrey navigates the airship on its final approach to the castle. A local farmer hears the sound of the airship's engines just before they are cut, and raises the alarm with the local military base, but he is not immediately believed. Geoffrey has no option but to participate in the assault, but manages to slip away to try to raise the alarm. He persuades a sceptical radio operator to contact London, but after being wounded by German soldiers, the dying operator mistakes Geoffrey for a German spy and shoots him in the arm. The Germans launch an attack on the castle, but the historical documents they seek are in vaults inaccessible to them.
Meanwhile, alerted by the farmer's report and the radio operator's chaotic call, the British Admiralty scrambles several aircraft squadrons and dispatches ground troops. The British troops engage the Germans in a firefight, who withdraw empty-handed rather than risk losing the Zeppelin. The airship manages to slip away in the dark with a much depleted complement, but shortly after first light is caught by pursuing British aircraft. Several aircraft are shot down in the ensuing dogfight, but the Zeppelin is badly damaged. Despite desperately lightening the airship in an effort to stay in the air, the survivors are forced to crash-land near the coast of the neutral Netherlands. Geoffrey, Erika and the few remaining crew members make their way ashore just as the Zeppelin explodes.
Production.
Written by producer Owen Crump, the story of "Zeppelin" is set in mid-1915, during the First World War. The mission depicted is fictitious. Principal photography for the production began in late 1970.
J. Ronald Getty was an executive producer through his GMF Picture Corp. The movie was to be the first of a three-picture deal between GMF and Warner Bros. Filming took place at Malta. Peter Carsten was injured shooting bayonet scenes in the film.
The airships seen in the film include a models based on the plans of the "R33" class of British rigid airship, which was itself based on the German "LZ76", captured intact in September 1916. A replica of the control car was constructed for closeups and interiors, copied from the intact control car of the "R33" held at the Royal Air Force Museum London; other interiors were built from plans held by the museum.
Exterior shots using the model were filmed over a large water tank in Malta; scenes showing the sheds in which the Zeppelin was housed were filmed at the historic "R100"/"R101" airship sheds at Cardington, Bedfordshire, in England. Photographs taken from the air to depict the fictional Glen Mattock and Balcoven Castle were shot over Carreg Cennan Castle in Wales.
The air combat scenes were filmed using Lynn Garrison's collection of World War I replica aircraft, originally assembled for 20th Century Fox's "The Blue Max" (1966). During the aerial filming, one of the S.E.5a replicas flown by Irish Air Corps pilot Jim Liddy, collided with the Alouette helicopter used as a camera platform. Five people were killed, including aerial photographer Skeets Kelly and Burch Williams, brother of Hollywood producer/director Elmo Williams.
Reception.
"Zeppelin" was well received by the public, who viewed the Zeppelin airship as the real "star", but critical reaction was not positive. The review in "Variety" noted, "Zeppelin settles for being just another wartime melodrama, with some good aerial sequences and a powerful, brisk raid sequence in the finale." In his review, A. H. Weiler of "The New York Times" wrote, "... the storied, giant, silver, cigar-shaped dirigible is carrying a flimsy, lighter-than-air spy tale that wouldn't burden a carrier pigeon."


Martin XB-68

The Martin XB-68 was a supersonic medium tactical bomber with a crew of two that was proposed in 1954 to the United States Air Force. The project, however, was canceled before any aircraft were built.
Design and development.
The Glenn L. Martin Company submitted design studies in response to the Weapon System 302A requirement in 1952 in competition with proposals from Douglas Aircraft Company and North American Aviation, Inc. Revised designs were presented again in 1954. The Boeing Airplane Company also submitted a design after the competition date had passed and was automatically rejected. The Martin 316 was declared the winner in 1956 and received the designation XB-68. Deployment was projected for the 1962-1965 period.
With a conventional layout that somewhat resembled a scaled-up Lockheed F-104, the XB-68 was to have been primarily of steel construction, with the crew of a pilot-radio operator and navigator-bombardier defense systems operator in a pressurized compartment, to be cooled by filtered bleed-air from the engines, and a refrigeration unit for evaporative cooling at high Mach numbers. The B-68 would have had stubby diamond-shaped wings and a raked T-tail empennage. It was intended to be operated at supersonic speeds at medium and high altitudes.
The design immediately ran into serious difficulties over the inertial guidance bombing and navigation system, which, had the bomber been approved for production, would have pushed deployment back to at least 1963. The problems were rendered moot when Air Force headquarters cancelled the project in 1957, citing stringent budget limitations and higher priorities for other weapon systems. Recognizing that the medium tactical bomber design was still years away, plans were carried forward instead to continue using an Air Force version of the Navy's Douglas A3D, which was designated B-66 Destroyer. Two planned XB-68 prototypes and one static test model were cancelled, and none were built.
The chosen power plant was two Pratt & Whitney J75 (JT4B-21) axial-flow turbojets of static sea level thrust each with afterburner, providing a maximum speed of at altitude at maximum power and a combat speed of at altitude at maximum power. Combat range was planned for with payload at average speed in 4.15 hours.