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Supermarine Spitfire Prototype K5054
The Supermarine Spitfire was developed in the mid-1930s as a short-range, high-performance interceptor aircraft by chief designer R. J. Mitchell. Only one prototype was made, receiving the military serial K5054. Following its first flight on 5 March 1936, pilot "Mutt" Summers made his famous but oft-misunderstood remark, "I don't want anything touched!" Its appearance and performance caused a significant stir wherever it appeared. The aircraft underwent progressive modifications throughout its life, eventually being converted to near-production standard. It crash-landed several times, finally crashing fatally and being written off just as World War II was breaking out. Several replicas have been built, including a static one as a memorial to Mitchell. One three-quarter scale replica is flyable. Development of the Spitfire Supermarine began development of the Type 300 in 1934, as a private venture following the unsuccessful Type 224 prototype.McLelland 2013, p. 24 Chief desi ...
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Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griffon engined Mk 24 using several wing configurations and guns. It was the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the war. The Spitfire remains popular among enthusiasts; around 70 remain airworthy, and many more are static exhibits in aviation museums throughout the world. The Spitfire was designed as a short-range, high-performance interceptor aircraft by R. J. Mitchell, chief designer at Supermarine Aviation Works, which operated as a subsidiary of Vickers-Armstrong from 1928. Mitchell developed the Spitfire's distinctive elliptical wing with innovative sunken rivets (designed by Beverley Shenstone) to have the thinnest possible cross-section, achieving a potential top speed greater than that of several contemporary figh ...
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Royal Aircraft Establishment
The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), before finally losing its identity in mergers with other institutions. The first site was at Farnborough Airfield ("RAE Farnborough") in Hampshire to which was added a second site RAE Bedford (Bedfordshire) in 1946. In 1988 it was renamed the Royal Aerospace Establishment (RAE) before merging with other research entities to become part of the new Defence Research Agency in 1991. History In 1904–1906 the Army Balloon Factory, which was part of the Army School of Ballooning, under the command of Colonel James Templer (balloon aviator), James Templer, relocated from Aldershot to the edge of Farnborough Common in order to have enough space to inflate the new "dirigible balloon" or airship which was then under construction.Walker, P; Early Avi ...
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RAF Martlesham Heath
Royal Air Force Martlesham Heath or more simply RAF Martlesham Heath is a former Royal Air Force station located southwest of Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. It was active between 1917 and 1963, and played an important role in the development of Airborne Interception radar. History RFC/RAF prewar use Martlesham Heath was first used as a Royal Flying Corps airfield during the First World War. In 1917 it became home to the Aeroplane Experimental Unit, RFC which moved from Upavon with the site named as the Aeroplane Experimental Station which became the Aeroplane Experimental Establishment (Home) in 1920 which became the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) in 1924. The A&AEE carried the evaluation and testing of many of the aircraft types and much of the armament and other equipment that would later be used during the Second World War. No. 22 Squadron RAF and No. 15 Squadron RAF were present during the 1920s. No. 64 arrived in the 1930s. RAF Fighter Command ...
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RAE Farnborough
The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), before finally losing its identity in mergers with other institutions. The first site was at Farnborough Airfield ("RAE Farnborough") in Hampshire to which was added a second site RAE Bedford (Bedfordshire) in 1946. In 1988 it was renamed the Royal Aerospace Establishment (RAE) before merging with other research entities to become part of the new Defence Research Agency in 1991. History In 1904–1906 the Army Balloon Factory, which was part of the Army School of Ballooning, under the command of Colonel James Templer, relocated from Aldershot to the edge of Farnborough Common in order to have enough space to inflate the new "dirigible balloon" or airship which was then under construction.Walker, P; Early Aviation at Farnborough, Volume I: Balloons, Kites and Airships, Macdona ...
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Sydney Camm
Sir Sydney Camm, CBE, FRAeS (5 August 189312 March 1966) was an English aeronautical engineer who contributed to many Hawker aircraft designs, from the biplanes of the 1920s to jet fighters. One particularly notable aircraft he designed was the Hawker Hurricane fighter. Early years Sydney Camm was born at 10 Alma Road in Windsor, Berkshire, the eldest child of the twelve children of Frederick Camm, a carpenter/joiner and Mary Smith. The Camm family lived near Windsor & Eton Central railway station. His brother Frederick James Camm became a technical author, and created the ''Practical Wireless'' magazine. In 1901 he began attending the Royal Free School on Bachelors Acre in Windsor (The Royal Free school became the Royal Free Middle School with the secondary school becoming the Princess Margaret Royal Free School on Bourne Avenue). In 1906 he was granted a Foundation Scholarship. In 1908 Camm left school to become an apprentice carpenter. Camm developed an interest in aerona ...
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Jeffrey Quill
Jeffrey Kindersley Quill, (1 February 1913 – 20 February 1996) was a British test pilot who served on secondment with the Royal Air Force and Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during the Second World War. He was also the second man to fly the Supermarine Spitfire after Vickers Aviation's chief test pilot, Joseph "Mutt" Summers. After succeeding Summers as Vickers' chief test pilot, Quill test-flew every mark of Spitfire. Quill's work on the aircraft aided its development from a promising but untried prototype to become, with the Hawker Hurricane, an instrument of the Royal Air Force's victory in the Battle of Britain. The Spitfire later played a leading role in gaining Allied air superiority over Europe. Quill later wrote two books about the Spitfire. Early years Quill was born at Littlehampton, Sussex, the youngest of the five children of Arthur Maxwell Quill and Emily Molesworth Kindersley. He was educated at Lancing College, which overlooked Shoreham aerodrome, at that tim ...
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Southampton Airport
Southampton Airport is an international airport located in both Eastleigh and Southampton, Hampshire in the United Kingdom. The airport is located north-north-east of central Southampton. The southern tip of the runway lies within the Southampton unitary authority boundary with most of the airport, including all of the terminal buildings, within the Borough of Eastleigh. The airport handled nearly two million passengers during 2016, an 8.8% increase compared with 2015, making it the 18th busiest airport in the UK. Southampton Airport has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P690) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction. The airport is owned and operated by AGS Airports which also owns and operates Aberdeen and Glasgow Airports. It was previously owned and operated by Heathrow Airport Holdings (formerly known as BAA). Up to March 2020, 95% of the flights from Southampton were operated by Flybe. However, the airline went in ...
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Joseph Summers
Captain Joseph "Mutt" Summers, (10 March 1904 – 16 March 1954) was chief test pilot at Vickers-Armstrongs and Supermarine. During his career, Summers flew many first flights on prototype aircraft, (a record of 54 by a test pilot), from the Supermarine Spitfire, to the Vickers Valiant. He also holds the current second place record for 366 general types tested, below Eric "Winkle" Brown, Eric "Winkle" Brown's 487. Career Captain Joseph "Mutt" Summers received his nickname "Mutt" during his early days in the RAF from his habit of urinating before takeoff on the small rear wheel or skid of the aircraft he was testing. This led to his being accused of christening his aircraft like a dog marking its territory. He did this because he was aware that during some crashes a full bladder could prove fatal. Paul Brickhill (in ''The Dam Busters'') referred to the two test pilots Joseph Summers and Jeffrey Quill, as "Mutt" and "Jeff", alluding to the characters in the pioneering American com ...
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Speed Spitfire
The Speed Spitfire was a Supermarine Spitfire Mk I, re-engined and modified for an attempt on the world air speed record. It was already outdated when it first flew in 1938 and, despite repeated modification, never attained a competitive performance. It was converted for photographic reconnaissance by the RAF, but proved unsuitable and was used as a general "hack" until it was scrapped in 1946. Conception In 1937 the idea was raised of attempting a new world landplane speed record with a modified Spitfire. At the time the record of was held by Howard Hughes flying a Hughes H-1 racing aircraft. Although only the prototype K5054 had yet flown, a production Spitfire was expected to be capable of at a height of . However the speed record had to be flown at an altitude no greater than . The Spitfire was much slower at such a low level; the prototype was only capable of at this height.Price 1982, p.83. Consequently, a record-breaking machine would have to be extensively modified. Roll ...
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Rolls-Royce Car
This is a list of Rolls-Royce branded motor cars and includes vehicles manufactured by: * Rolls-Royce Limited (1906–1973) *Rolls-Royce Motors (1973–2003), which was created as a result of the demerger of Rolls-Royce Limited in 1973. Vickers plc owned Rolls-Royce Motors between 1980 and 1998. Volkswagen AG acquired Rolls-Royce Motors in 1998 and renamed the firm Bentley Motors Limited in 2003. Bentley Motors Limited is the direct successor of Rolls-Royce Motors and its predecessor entities and owns historical Rolls-Royce assets such as the Crewe factory, pre-2003 vehicle designs and the L Series V8 engine. *Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, a subsidiary of BMW AG established in 1998 that began production of vehicles in 2003. Vehicles Rolls-Royce Limited vehicles * 1904–06 10 hp * 1905–05 15 hp * 1905–08 20 hp * 1905–07 30 hp * 1905–06 V-8 * 1906–25 40/50 Silver Ghost * 1922–29 Twenty * 1925–29 40/50 Phantom * 1929–36 20/25 * 1929–35 P ...
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Propeller (aircraft)
An aircraft propeller, also called an airscrew,Beaumont, R.A.; ''Aeronautical Engineering'', Odhams, 1942, Chapter 13, "Airscrews". converts rotary motion from an engine or other power source into a swirling slipstream which pushes the propeller forwards or backwards. It comprises a rotating power-driven hub, to which are attached several radial airfoil-section blades such that the whole assembly rotates about a longitudinal axis. The blade pitch may be fixed, manually variable to a few set positions, or of the automatically variable "constant-speed" type. The propeller attaches to the power source's driveshaft either directly or through reduction gearing. Propellers can be made from wood, metal or composite materials. Propellers are most suitable for use at subsonic airspeeds generally below about , although supersonic speeds were achieved in the McDonnell XF-88B experimental propeller-equipped aircraft. Supersonic tip-speeds are used in some aircraft like the Tupolev Tu-95, w ...
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Blade Pitch
Blade pitch or simply pitch refers to the angle of a blade in a fluid. The term has applications in aeronautics, shipping, and other fields. Aeronautics In aeronautics, blade pitch refers to the angle of the blades of an aircraft propeller or helicopter rotor. Blade pitch is measured relative to the aircraft body. It is usually described as "fine" or "low" for a more vertical blade angle, and ,# "coarse" or "high" for a more horizontal blade angle. * i n Blade pitch is normally described as a ratio of forward distance per rotation assuming no slip. Blade pitch acts much like the gearing of the final drive of a car. Low pitch yields good low speed acceleration (and climb rate in an aircraft) while high pitch optimizes high speed performance and fuel economy. It is quite common for an aircraft to be designed with a variable-pitch * propeller, to give maximum thrust over a larger speed range. A fine pitch would be used during take-off and landing, whereas a coarser pitch is u ...
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