Wings: Flying Through Time

Aircraft carrier development started as soon as the Wright brothers took to the air. However, it wasn't until WWII that the practice of using planes off floating platforms was tested in combat conditions. In this episode we explore the early development of the Aircraft Carrier. We also look at the Grumman Hellcat whose military record stands alone. This plane was one of history's best ever fighters - it had speed and manoeuvrability and it was extremely sturdy.

The Grumman F14a Tomcat is amongst today's ultimate weapons. It is considered a large fighter and stands at 63 foot long, 16 foot high and has a maximum wingspan of 64' 1". The F14's cruise speed is approximately 610 mph and it has a maximum speed of 1544 mph or nearly mach 2 - twice the speed of sound.

In this episode we travel along the evelopment path of the Giants. The Antonov 124 is a giant among giants. On it's maiden fight in December 1982, it was the largest powered craft to fly. The Antonov is still the world's largest heavy lift aircraft. Surprisingly the largest aircraft ever built would dwarf the 124 Antonov. Airships took to the skies around 1900, when the aeroplane was a very basic contraption. After reviewing many types of giants we end this episode with a look at a plane that was deigned with the sole purpose of moving people and making air travel affordable to the masses. Seventy-five thousand engineering drawings were used to produce the first 747.

Two planes that standout in the history of flight shared a number of similarities. Both had a striking appearance. Both had a throaty roar from inline 12 cylinder motors. Both rightly or wrongly were credited for winning WWII Two of the most popular war birds from WWII are the Spitfire and the Mustang. Although both planes share similar styling, power plants and both were designated as fighter-bombers, that is where the similarity ends. In this episode we compare the two super fighters of WWII.

Developing aircraft requires huge expenditure. One company has on a number of occasions bet more than it's entire net worth. The company was Boeing and its gambles have paid off making it an aviation giant. In 1952 Boeing developed a prototype transport plane. They invested 15 million dollars, which well exceeded the company's net worth - if the plane failed - it would have sunk the Company. The prototype was to become one of the greatest planes of the century - the Boeing 707

During the early 1960's the US Air Force, asked for tenders to build and supply a large transporter. It was believed that Boeing had the edge over its competitors, Lockheed and Douglas. However, in 1965 the Air Force announced Lockheed had won the bid with their C5-Galaxy. Boeings misfortune, at losing the contract, became the factor that assisted the creation of the 747 Jumbo. The technology Boeing used to build the Jumbo plane was accumulated over many years - mainly from building bombers for the US Air Force during the war years, one example is the B- 29. This week we complete our tour of Boeings history.