Portal:Aviation

The Boeing 747 is a widebody commercial airliner, often referred to by the nickname Jumbo Jet. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first widebody ever produced. Manufactured by Boeing's Commercial Airplane unit in the United States, the original version of the 747 was two and a half times the size of the Boeing 707, one of the common large commercial aircraft of the 1960s. First flown commercially in 1970, the 747 held the passenger capacity record for 37 years.

The four-engine 747 uses a double deck configuration for part of its length. It is available in passenger, freighter and other versions. Boeing designed the 747's hump-like upper deck to serve as a first class lounge or (as is the general rule today) extra seating, and to allow the aircraft to be easily converted to a cargo carrier by removing seats and installing a front cargo door. Boeing did so because the company expected supersonic airliners (whose development was announced in the early 1960s) to render the 747 and other subsonic airliners obsolete; while believing that the demand for subsonic cargo aircraft would be robust into the future. The 747 in particular was expected to become obsolete after 400 were sold but it exceeded its critics' expectations with production passing the 1,000 mark in 1993. As of September 2023, 1,574 aircraft have been built, with the final delivery in January 2023.

The 747-8, the latest version in service, is among the fastest airliners in service with a high-subsonic cruise speed of Mach 0.855 (564 mph or 908 km/h). It has an intercontinental range of 7,730 nautical miles (14,320 km; 8,900 mi). The 747-8I (passenger version) can accommodate 467 passengers in a typical three-class layout. The 747-8 completed production on 6 December 2022 and the final 747 was delivered to Atlas Air on 31 January 2023.

July 26

• 2012 –Syrian Mil Mi-25 (NATO reporting name "Hind") attack helicopters strike rebel positions in eastern Aleppo.

• 2011 – Royal Moroccan Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules crash: Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport aircraft operated by the Royal Moroccan Air Force crashed near Guelmim, Morocco. A statement by Moroccan authorities claimed that there were 78 fatalities and that the plane was carrying 60 members of the Moroccan Armed Forces, 12 civilians, and nine RMAF crew members. Three wounded survivors were rescued, but eventually died of their injuries. The number of fatalities was later revised to 80 when it was discovered that a passenger who had not boarded the plane had been mistakenly included in the total.

• 2010 – An Israeli Air Force (IAF) Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter crashes during a joint Israeli-Romanian aviation exercise in the Carpathian Mountains in northern Romania, killing six IAF officers and one Romanian Air Force officer.

• 2007 – First flight of the Embraer Phenom 100 (in São José dos Campos, Brazil)

• 2006 – (26-31) The 15th FAI World Rally Flying Championship takes place in Troyes, France. Individual winners are Wacław Wieczorek/Michał Wieczorek (Poland), Jiří Filip/Michal Filip (Czech Republic), and Petr Opat/Tomas Rajdl (Czech Republic). Team winners are 1. Czech Republic, 2. Poland, and 3. France.

• 2005 – Launch: Space Shuttle Columbia STS-114 at 14:39:00 UTC. Mission highlights: First post Columbia flight. Flight safety evaluation/testing, ISS supply/repair, MPLM Raffaello.

• 2003 – (July 26 – August 3) The 13th FAI World Rally Flying Championship takes place in Rustenburg, South Africa. the individual winners are 1. Nigel Hopkins and Dale de Klerk (South Africa), 2. Janusz Darocha and Zbigniew Chrząszcz (Poland), 3. Nathalie Strube and P. Sicard (France); the team winners are 1. South Africa, 2. France, 3. Poland.

• 1998 – First flight of the Scaled Composites Proteus

• 1993 – Asiana Airlines Flight 733, a Boeing 737, crashes into a mountain in Haenam, South Korea after failed landing attempts, killing 68 of the 110 people on board; this crash is the first loss of a Boeing 737-500.

• 1973 – First flight of the Sikorsky S-69

• 1972 – NASA announces Rockwell International as prime contractor for the Space Shuttle Orbiter

• 1971 – Apollo 15 launched. It was the first of what were termed J missions—long duration stays on the Moon with a greater focus on science than had been possible on previous missions.

• 1996 – Arthur William Raynes McDonald, radar Pioneer / pilot, dies at 93.

• 1962 – The world’s first geosynchronous communications satellite, Syncom 2, is launched from Cape Canaveral aboard a Delta B rocket.

• 1959 – An Vought F8U-1 Crusader from VMF-122 was passing through 47,000 feet (14,000 m) when the engine seized. The ram air turbine did not deploy and the pilot lost control of the aircraft causing him to eject from that altitude. LtCol William H. Rankin, then commanding officer of the squadron earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records by surviving the longest recorded parachute descent in history. He had ejected into a violent thunderstorm over North Carolina which caused his descent to last 40 minutes vice the expected 11 minutes.

• 1958 – United States Air Force test-pilot Iven Carl Kincheloe, Jr. is killed in unsuccessful ejection attempt after the engine of his Lockheed F-104A-15-LO Starfighter, 56-0772, fails during takeoff at Edwards Air Force Base, California, United States. While flying a Bell X-2, Kincheloe became the first man to exceed 100,000 ft (30,500 m) of altitude, and he is often credited as the first man to enter outer space. Kinross Air Force Base, Michigan renamed Kincheloe Air Force Base in September 1959.

• 1955 – Capital Airlines adopts the Vickers Viscount, the first US airline to select a British airliner.

• 1954 – Soviet Air Force Lavochkin La-7s attack two US Navy A-1 Skyraiders searching for survivors from the Air Cathay flight. The Skyraiders respond and shoot down the La-7s.

• 1946 – The crash of an Stinson L-5E Sentinel, 44-17844, during a routine flight out of Eglin Field, Florida, kills Capt. Russell H. Rothman, originally of Chicago, Illinois, when the liaison aircraft crashes 17 miles NW of Valparaiso, Florida. Rothman, who entered the service 16 September 1941 and had flown 800 hours in C-46 Commando and C-47 Skytrain transports in the European Theatre of Operations, had only recently been appointed to a regular commission in the Regular Army. He held the Unit Citation, the Air Medal with three clusters, the European and Middle East Theatre of Operations Ribbon, the American Defense Ribbon and the World War II Victory Medal. He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Eleanor E. Rothman, of 26 Shalimar Court, Shalimar, Florida, and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred H. Rothman of Chicago.

• 1946 – Trans-Pacific Airines (the future Aloha Airlines) begins non-scheduled interisland service in Hawaii using a World War II surplus Douglas C-47.

• 1943 – 60 U. S. Eighth Air Force bombers strike Hamburg.

• 1943 – Over 100 German aircraft attack an Allied convoy off Cape Bon, Tunisia, but defending British fighters prevent them from inflicting any serious damage.

• 1939 – The first of over two thousand Havard aircraft were taken onto RCAF strength.

• 1937 – Famous pilot, Jacqueline Cochran, sets a new speed record for women by flying over 203 mph.

• 1929 – Johnny Burtin sets a new world altitude record of 26,531 feet for airplanes with a 1-ton load. Burtin’s flight also proves that at high altitudes, fuel consumption drops considerably and wind resistance is reduced, making high-altitude flying more economical and profitable.

• 1918 – Maj Edward Mannock, Britain's highest scoring ace of the war, is shot down by German ground fire. He had scored 73 victories.

• 1914 – Seventh aircraft erected at Tokorozawa Airfield, Japan, the Kaishiki Converted Type Mo (Maurice Farman Type), 7, crashed at this airfield while piloted by Capt. Tokugawa. When rebuilt, with completion on 19 January 1915, this 7th Type Mo 1913 became known as the Sawada Type No. 7, or more officially because of radical modifications, as the Kaishiki the 3rd Year Model.

• 1910 – Capt. G. W. P. Dawes becomes the first British Army officer to be awarded an aviator’s certificate in England, when he qualifies for certificate no.17 on a Humber Monoplane at Wolverhampton, England.

• 1909 – Louis Bleriot, a French inventor and engineer, made the first flight across the English Channel in the Bleriot XI, an aircraft of his own design.