Erich Alfred Hartmann,” Bubi”, was a German fighter pilot during World War II and the most successful fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare. He was born on 19 April 1922 in Weissach, Württemberg, to Doctor Alfred Erich Hartmann and his wife, Elisabeth Wilhelmine Machtholf but due to the Great Recession he moved to China with his parents….
Category: #Aerotrivia
Roland Garros
Eugéne Adrien Roland Georges Garros was a French pioneer aviator, fighter pilot during WWI. He was born on October 6th 1888 and passed away on October 5th 1918, at the age of 29, shot down and killed near Vouziers, Ardennes (France) a month before the end of WWI and one day before his 30th birthday….
The airplane that became ”Flak-Bait”
This is the story of a B-26 Marauder bomber that survived two years of the most intense aerial combat of World War II, taking every bullet that German gunners and fighter pilots threw at it. This airplane was manufactured by Glenn L. Martin Company in Baltimore, Maryland in 1943 and is the aircraft that holds the…
Howard Hughes
Aeronautical Engineer, business magnate, film director…Howard Hughes was it all. Born on December 24th 1905 in Humble, Texas (USA), Howard was known during his life as one of the most financially successful individuals worldwide. He started as a film producer, persuaded by Ralph Graces, producing and financing a short film, “Swell Hogan”, which turned out…
Alberto Santos Dumont
On the 20th of July 1873, Alberto Santos Dumont, an important pioneer aviator, was born in Palmira, Brazil. The 6th of 8 children of Henrique Dumont and Francisca de Paula Santos traveled in 1891 at the age of 18 to Europe, where he perfected his English by spending some months in England. He also climbed…
Urban Air Mobility
Have you ever wondered how would it be to fly to school or work? In the next 3 to 5 years it could become a possibility. Urban Air Mobility (UAM) envisions a safe and efficient aviation transportation system that will use highly automated aircraft that will operate and transport passengers or cargo at lower altitudes within urban…
An endurance record
Have you ever wondered how it is to fly for one or two days without stopping? How about 64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes, and 5 seconds? This is the world record for an endurance flight and it was established by Robert Timm and John Cook in 1959. But where did it all began? In 1958…
The Starship
If you are a passionate of the space exploration and its colonization ultimately, you may have attended to two events this week: the space bingo of where the Chinese rocket “Long March” was about to crash (which ended happily) and the first successful flight and landing of the SpaceX’s SN15 Starship, this is what we…
The UltraFan by Rolls-Royce
The UltraFan is a new generation turbofan engine manufactured by Rolls-Royce which could be ready for service from 2025. The main purpose of this new engine is to get a better fuel economy, promising at least 25% improvement in fuel burn, achieved by a variable pitch fan system. The geared pitch UltraFan aims for a 15:1 bypass ratio and…
The Bell X-1
The history of engineering is a history of breaking barriers and in aviation we all know one barrier that seems easy on today’s planes to break but was a huge trouble in late 40s, and yes, it’s the sound barrier. Back in the World War II, the necessity of having faster and better planes than the enemy lead to a great jump in aviation technology: the mad…