42 Years Ago Alan Arnold Griffith died.
He was a British aeronautical engineer, born June 13, 1893. During the late 1920s, A.A. Griffith and F. Whittle independently made the first practical proposals for the use of gas turbine engines in aircraft. Griffith concentrated on developing an axial flow compressor, and in 1929 he proposed a gas turbine engine driving a propeller, the so called turbo-prop engine. At Rolls Royce (1939-60) he designed turbojet engines, and in the 1950s, vertical take-off aircraft. He developed the remarkable flying bedstead which first flew in 1954.
92 years ago, M. Seguin and Farman of France fly 634 miles (1,021 km), establishing the last international distance record before the First World War.
37 years ago, 1968 - 11-12 The first Apollo test mission is made, lasting for 10 days, 20 hours, and 9 inutes. Called “Apollo 7″, it was launched by a Saturn 1B and carrying astronauts Walter Schirra, Don Eisele and Walter Cunningham.
47 years ago, the USAF makes a second attempt to put a research probe in orbit around the Moon. This is Pioneer 1B which, because its thrid stage cuts out fractionally too soon, travels about 70,700 miles (113,780km) before falling back toward Earth.
86 years ago, Handley Page Transport offers the first meals on board airliners, at a cost of 3 shillings per basket, on its London-Brussels service.
95 years ago, President Teddy Roosevelt becomes the first US president to fly when he is taken up in St. Louis.
46 years ago, the Pan American Boeing 707-321 Clipper Windward inaugurates the first round-the-world pasenger service by turbojet-powered airliners.
I believe you can’t know where you’re going until you know where you have been. Cut and Paste Aviation - Milestones of Flight puts a reality check on how far behind or ahead of ourselves we have become when it comes to aviation milestones.
