Evolution is not just in Nature

How aviation has evolved over teh years and in some areas amazingly quickly, such as engine develpment, range and carrying cappacity.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome to the last episode on the history of flights. I've called this one Evolution is not just in nature. Evolution is not just something that occurs in nature. With regards to the development and creation of man-made objects, it's more human nature that evolves in the manufacturing and design. Even when naturalist Charles Darwin was alive, aircraft were evolving. You had balloons evolving into airships, gliders evolving into powered aircraft. Later on, some land planes evolved into seaplanes. As aviation evolved, so did the terms and its ways of operation. In fact, aviation has adopted many ways from other industries, such as maritime, and even horse riding. With regards to the horse riding connection, when you look at the likes of Louis Valerio and the aircraft of the First World War, the connection is evident. The first pilots were invariably horse riders, and so making the transition, one had to find a way of getting into and out of the aircraft. The way a pilot climbed into an aircraft was on the left hand side. Just as you mount or dismount a horse. Also, this the rudder pedals were referred to as stirrups, just like you get with a saddle on a horse. On early aircraft, the the rudder pedals or stirrups were how you controlled the aircraft on the ground. Entering an aircraft on the left hand side is now taken for granted, especially with regards to the way one enters an airliner, or most aircraft for that matter. There are exceptions to the rule, especially with small light aircraft when the entrance door is on the right hand side. These exceptions include the Piper PA twenty eight Warrior and the Beechcraft B 36 Bonanza. The maritime connection include parts of an aircraft and directions. Examples include the tiller, steering the aircraft on the ground, nose wheel steering on airliners, where on a boat the tiller moves the rudder when in the water. The rudder is the movable piece of tail on an aircraft that is used in flight to change horizontal direction and keep the aircraft straight. A rudder on a boat steers the boat left or right, port or starboard. But there again there's another connection. The right hand side is known as starboard, the left hand side is known as port. Hence the red light for port, green light for starboard. Forward and aft are also used on aircraft when giving directions. The rules of the air, or the highway code for aircraft, has used the same principles as shipping, including passing starboard to starboard and overtaking on the starboard side. The other basic rule is power gives way to sail. In aviation, this means powered aircraft give way to gliders, who in turn give way to balloons. It's because of who is more controllable. A balloon is generally at the mercy of the wind and is not so controllable. A glider is also reliant to a lesser degree, but is controllable. And a powered aircraft is the least reliant on the wind, but is the most controllable, and a group of ships is called a fleet, as with a group of aircraft. The biggest noticeable evolution of aviation at the beginning was speed and construction. The early aircraft were open to the elements, slow and quite difficult to control. Fuselite encasing the pilot was developed and became the norm. It helped with increasing speed too, and construction methods. With construction, there was a combination of fabric, wood and wire. It then moved on to metal and now carbon fiber. The invention of the jet engine in the 1930s was a huge change. This was probably the biggest change of all in aviation. It led to the breaking of the sound barrier, spoken about in the last episode, and supersonic aircraft, like the SR-71 Blackbird and Concord. These aircraft were expensive, but their development and operation taught us what could be achieved. The development of Concorde was also the first collaboration between countries on developing and manufacturing an aircraft together. Flying boats made long distance travel possible, albeit in luxury, that was only seen on the ocean liners. Such flying boats included the Boeing 314, otherwise known as the Pan Am Clipper, the Short Sandringham, and the Short Slunder. Flying boats such as the Schort Sunderland were used during the Second World War as anti-submarine aircraft. This led to shipborne anti-submarine and early warning aircraft like the British Ferry Gannett and the American Groomman E2 Hawker. There are a few flying boats around today. The largest that are are the Martin Mars that are used for firebomb, forest fires. The survivors are only in single figures and date back to 1940s. There are smaller ones used on tourist trips that date back to the 50s and 60s, with the iconic names like the Grumman Goose and Albatross. Others are in museums. There are aircraft known as amphibians. They can land on water or runways. There are also float planes, which are land planes but the undercarriage has been replaced with floats, some of which have retractable wheels, so they too can land on tarmac or water. Referring back to shipborne aircraft, there was something that was developed in the first half of the twentieth century, and has been modified ever since. The arrest of wire. The first system was used in 1911 by the US Navy. The idea was to stop the aircraft falling off the aircraft carrier after landing. Then of course the aircraft has to take off. Various forms of catapult launching were tried and tested too, due to the short decks, but heavier aircraft. The steam catapult was developed after the war by the Royal Navy, and it is still used in used today by some navies, including the US. However, some land-based planes had to be modified with an arrest hook at the back and stronger landing gear if they were to operate at sea. Other aircraft were designed from scratch to operate from the sea. There is of course an aircraft that has been developed that does not require these, and I'm not talking about the helicopter. In the 1950s, development started on a cross between a helicopter and an aircraft and a fixed-wing aircraft. There were prototypes which included propeller-driven aircraft that sat on its tail that could take off vertically and transformed into horizontal flight, but would still have to land vertically. This was known as the Convey XFY1 pogo. Other ideas included the Ryan X-13, which was jet powered and again could only take off vertically, but had to be hooked on a cable before it could take off or even land. These two were American attempts. The French came up with a Mirage 5 Balzac jet, but had eight Rolls-Royce engines fitted to it. The Russians came up with a Yakileva Yak-36 and Yak later the Yak 38 Forger, which had three engines, two for vertical flight and one for horizontal. This was very inefficient means of VTOL, vertical takeoff and landing flight. The British, however, had a test aircraft that had five engines, four for vertical flight and one for forward flight. This was the short SC-1. However, a design was finally decided on, had one engine for all stages of flight. Known as the Hawkes Lee P-1127 Kestrel. It first flew in 1964, had one Rojero's Pegasus engine with four rotating nodels, two on each side. It was later known as the Harrier. The aircraft was designed primarily for the Royal Air Force, but was developed for other operations by various other navies, including the US Marine Corps and the Spanish Navy. It was manufactured under license by McDonnell Douglas in the USA. It was a mix of helicopter and fixed wing without the rotor blades. The aircraft was fast and used in ground attack missions. The first generation was Harrier GR1, the Americans called it the AV8A. The Spanish called it the Matador. The British developed a shipborne variant known as the Sea Harrier. They even created a ski jump fitted to the aircraft carriers that allowed the harrier to take off more conventionally with heavier payload than if it were to take off vertically. The landing was invariably vertical. The land-based harriers were also able to use a ski jump, as joint operations were becoming more common. The Falklands War of 1982 was a showcase for the Harrier. No harrier was lost, and the Americans built more and developed it further. The British developed a final version known as the GR9. The Americans ended up with the A V8B Harrier 2. Unfortunately, in 2011, the Harrier was decommissioned from UK service. Some say it was too premature. However, in the meantime, there was a joint venture, including the Americans and British, to build a replacement. It became known as the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. There are three variants conventional takeoff and landing, very short takeoff, vertical landing and carrier based. It, like the Harrier, has one engine for all phases of flight. The intakes and outtakes are variable. The intake behind the cockpit has a vertical fan and a flap that almost vertical. And the otake nozzle goes horizontal to vertical. The design, when seen from the outside, looks in part like the Yakelev Yak 38 of the 1970s. Another feature of this Harrier replacement is that it's supposed to be stealthy, i.e., invisible to radar, and it has an internal bombay, meaning that which means the armaments are hidden until required. Transport aircraft have been seen many changes since they first appeared in the 1920s and 30s. They'd been developed from the early bombers, and some transport aircraft were changed into carrying people as well as cargo. The biggest change in cargo aircraft happened in the 1930s, with the development of the Douglas DC-3 and the Kerter C-46. They became what people call now multi-role aircraft. They could carry people, vehicles and supplies, as well as paratroopers and tow gliders. The military version of the DC-3 was known as the C-47, and it had nicknames of Gunlybird, Dakota, or Skytrain. The main difference between the military and the civilian version was the map the military had a str had a cargo door, strengthened floor, an astrodome in the roof, and a shortened tail cone for the glider towing equipment. The C-46, however, was not as common as the DC-3, but is still used in remote areas, certainly of Canada, for cargo flights. The DC-3 was a success both as an airliner and in military transport, and some are still flying today, more in the transport role. Military transport aircraft probably have the most varied of roles, because not only are they carrying soldiers, but they'll be carrying the vehicles and the cargo, plus also being the platform for which paratroopers jump. Some of these aircraft even have the role as air-to-air refueling, or petrol stations in the sky. Air-to-air refueling was developed and pioneered in the 1930s by Sir Alam Cobin, famous for his flying circus when he'd do displays around the country. He developed the way one aircraft could refuel another in flight, an essential procedure in today's military air forces. It's generally done between fixed-wing aircraft, i.e. fighters and the transports. First aircraft to try out were biplanes flying around 80 miles an hour. Now, however, aircraft can fly up to 550 miles an hour. The Americans carry out air-to-air refueling between fixed wing and helicopters, and there are two ways of refueling an aircraft. The British and other NATO countries tend to use a hose and basket that's attached to a probe that is either fixed or retractable on the side or at the front of the cockpit of the aircraft receiving the fuel. The hose is retracted when fueling is complete. The Americans use a boom system. The boom is lowered from the rear fuselage and flies in the airstream. The boom has an airfall that is controlled by the boom operator who is situated in the back of the aircraft and flies the boom to the fueling point of the receiving aircraft. In fighters, it's generally behind the cockpit that has a retractable access panel. They do use the hose and basket when refueling helicopters, but because of the speed difference with helicopters and the usual tanker aircraft, the Americans use a big ubiquitous Lockie C-130 Hercules as a tanker aircraft for the helicopters, because it's a more compatible speed. If the Americans are on exercise with their NATO allies, adapters are used to fit the respective aircraft. So Americans would have an adapter on the boom for their NATO aircraft. Most American aircraft have a refueling probe so they could be refuelled from NATO tanker aircraft. A number of modern transport aircraft were actually developed from airliners. The Deavelin Comet, the world's first jet airliner, was developed as a military transport for the Royal Air Force, and later the airframe was used for the maritime reconnaissance aircraft, the Nimrod. The American Boeing 707 had a variation that was built under military specification at the start, known as the B-717. It became the KC-135, which is the military transport tanker version. As a footnote, there is a modern Boeing 717, which is actually a Boeing-built DC-9, originally built by MacDonnell Douglas. They look nothing like the original Boeing 717. However, the military do use the DC-9 as a VIP transport. A number of military aircraft are actually designed from the scratch as being solely for the military. Russia is a prime example of building this. However, what they built have now become civilian operated aircraft. The Americans, however, operate the world's largest military transport, known Locky C5 Galaxy. It has its nose loading and rear loading. The nose wheels can fold so the floor goes down, making loading at the front easier. The two Russian or Ukrainian aircraft, the Antonov AM124 and Antonov 225 Mariah, which was built to carry the Russian version of the shuttle, have cranes inside to assist with handling the cargo. Mira is very distinctive. It also has six engines. Most aircraft just have four. Apart from fixed wing aircraft, rotary wing aircraft have been created at the start of the 20th century. The first one was the Sierra Auto gyro of the 1920s. This was part conventional aircraft and part helicopter. The autogyro was still around and being produced in various forms. It's even made appearance in films, most notably James Bond, You Only Live Twice, and was named Little Nelly. Just before the Second World War, the helicopter made its first practical flight, made by Russian emigre Igor Sikorsky in the USA in 1939. Helicopters are now a popular alternative to fixbing and the autodyro. They can land or take off from restricted areas, saving time and are able to carry at least up to 40 people in civilian configuration. Military helicopters can be both armed and able to carry troops and vehicles. The fastest helicopter in the world at the moment is the Whistle and Lynx. In August 1986 it flew at 249 miles an hour. Other more modern helicopters have unofficially gone faster, but the Lynx flight was a breakthrough for helicopter technology and design, especially regarding the rotor blades and the speed they go through the air. The designs on this have been used on other helicopters. The shape and design of aircraft is probably one of the biggest evolutions in aviation. Standard shape one has come to expect has matured, but is being tweaked into particular roles. However, as science and technology are evolving themselves, the shape of aircraft is changing, more for efficiency and environmental concerns. Some now look like UFOs, but some people, especially Joe Public, are skeptical because they look so different to the standard configuration. Their scepticism is waning a little as designs improve and prototypes are developed to prove themselves. Biggest design changes seem to happen in military aircraft, however that is moving across to civilian aircraft when you see some of the new designs. One environment that was explored and after the Second World War, partly because of the technology that was developed during the war, was space. The Germans had developed rockets as weapons, the V1 flying bomb and the V two strategic rocket. Their main scientist, Werner von Braun, was lured to America after the war to work on the space race between the Russians and Americans. His knowledge with the German rockets was instrumental in the American space race entry. The British, however, had looked at passenger carrying rockets before the war. When Russia launched Euri Gagar into space, it showed manned flight was possible. Satellites, used for communication and TV programs from abroad, were launched first. Man flight to the Moon occurred in 1969, the year the prototype Concorde first flew. After that, other attempts at mass travel to and through space were being looked at. In the 1980s, Britain even came up with the idea of a vertical of a vehicle known as HOTOL, horizontal takeoff and landing, that would make an orbit to space. It was planned to be unmanned carrying a payload. Later ideas included a piloted version, and a typical flight would be from the UK to Australia that would only take 45 minutes instead of the 24 hours or so it takes today. Unfortunately, this project was cancelled in 1989. Another project known as Skylon, a series of designs for single stage to orbit spaceplane, was started by the British, and as of 2018 was still under development, as it had just been granted funding by the government. There was even a venture by British billionaire Richard Bran Richard Branson, known as Virgin Galactic, uses specially designed aircraft to take passengers to the Edispata and then return. It is in its final stages of development. There are even plans to take people to Mars. Space is obviously the new frontier. Sometimes though, evolution seems to take a backwards step, even though it may be for the benefit of everyone. This time the airship is being brought back. Many thought it had its day. There are a few on tourist and advertising flights, but it is now being developed to carry large cargo. The main one in development is the Airlander, a British-based organization based at the home of British airships at Carlington. The Airlander is classed as the largest aircraft in the world. It may not be as fast as the jet transports and airliners, but it will be more efficient and more environmentally friendly form of transport. It is due to fly in the next few years. Thank you for listening. If you have any queries, please email the hangarat at gmail.com. In the meantime, bye for now.