If you could be in a historic flight, which one would you be in?

Question

If you could be part of a crew or the pilot in any historic flight that has happened over the last century, what flight would it be?

Answer 1

I would have to elect to take a ride with my great Uncle Ellie. Joseph "Ellie" Walters was a pioneer in aviation back in the early 1900's. He was a barnstormer after the war, flying in many traveling airshows all over the country and was friends with folks like Earhart & Roscoe Turner. His first plane was the Curtiss Jenny JN-4 that he purchased from the US military after World War I for $600. Ellie Walters founded the first airfield in Lumberton, NC (Walters Airfield), he was the first aviator in Lumberton, NC, he was the first pilot in North Carolina to hold an Air Transport License, and was the first pilot in North Carolina to carry US Mail by plane. Ellie also founded other airports, including Myrtle Beach, SC.

A silly story that some pilots may find amusing is that he was grounded once for allegedly trying to grab the flag off the courthouse flagpole while doing a semi-inverted fly-by... Ellie explained his actions as simply, "I was just waving at some friends out by the Courthouse".... CLASSIC!

I would have to choose to fly with him on his first flight in his Curtiss Jenny ... many days, as a pilot, when I fly myself, I feel as though he's in the cockpit with me. My grandfather was also a pilot and I would very much like to have flown with him also (although he passed away before I was born).

Answer 2

The answer is a toss up of three memorable flights;

Tex Johnson rolling the 707 prototype, (see www.alexisparkinn.com,) any flight with Bob Hoover in his fabled Shrike Commander, (now retired at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum, go back to the alexisparkinn site,) or along with Howard Hughes when he made the sole flight that the "Hercules," (Spruce Goose,) ever made.

I'll cheat to add a fourth and fifth, the maiden flight of the Glacier Girl after being rescued from the ice, and any seaplane leaving Chalk's terminal for Cuba before Castro took over.

Answer 3

The fastest X-15 flight with Joseph A. Walker who was Chief Research Pilot at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center during the mid-1960s. Walker made the first NASA X-15 flight on March 25, 1960. He flew the research aircraft 24 times and achieved its highest altitude. He attained a speed of 4,104 mph (Mach 5.92) during a flight on June 27, 1962, and reached an altitude of 354,200 feet (67.08 miles) on August 22, 1963 (his last X-15 flight). Walker was killed on June 8, 1966, when his F-104 collided with the XB-70.

Answer 4

RAF pilot, flying a Spitfire in the Battle of Britain.

B-17 Flying Fortress aircrew, USAAF 8th Army, precision bombing raids over Nazi Germany...

Air Force, Chuck Yeager, 'Glamourous Glennis'....1st to break the sound barrier.

'Duke' Cunningham and his 'backseater'(RIO) Driscoll, 'Showtime' F-4 Phantom..shooting down North Vietnam's best fighter pilot, Col. Toon(spelling?)

A member of one of the first Navy fighter squadrons to fly the F-14 TOMCAT!

test flights for the F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-15 Eagle, F/A-18 Hornet

First commercial flight of the Boeing 747, and eventually the 747-400 series

F-14 Tomcat, VF-41 'Black Aces', Shooting down two enemy fighters over the Gulf of Sidra

test flights of the Boeing 777. What a jetliner. Long range flight with a twin-engine jet.

First flight of the Concorde.

Rollout of the A380, also the first flight. Love it or hate it, it's quite an accomplishment.

Seeing the Boeing 787 and 747-8 become a reality, and both jets entering commercial service.

Answer 5

I would choose between:

-The speed record of the fastest seaplane Macchi Mc.72, which reached more than 709 km/h flying over Garda lake in the period between the two wars.(Mc.72 is still holding this record for prop-seaplane)

-The first flight over the North Pole, flying in the Umberto Nobile's airship "Norge"

-The Transatlantic Flight performed by a formation of 24 S.55 flying boats, led by Italo Balbo in 1933 from Rome to Chicago

Answer 6

Well, as powered flight has only been possible for 103 years,
me thinks all flights fit into this category.
My choices would be the "first flight" in Kitty Hawk, NC ,December 17th 1903
or on the flight that The Enola Gay departed at 2:45 a.m August 6, 1945. for Hiroshima, Japan. releasing The atomic bomb over Hiroshima or
The first shuttle space flight in 1981

Answer 7

I have always been fascinated by the exploits of Col. Robert Scott,as detailed in the book"God is my Co-pilot". The chapter about his flight over Mt Everest was truly thrilling.I think that flying with the "Flying Tigers" or Col Doolittles air raid over Tokyo would be the most exciting flights of all time.

Answer 8

Definitely the flight which amazed many, that went Mach 1 and more, where nobody went!

yup, beside Chuck Yeagar, in the Bell X-1, the first aircraft to obtain stable flight at the speed of sound (Mach 1)!!!

(though we all know where the elevator stability idea come from, hehe...)

Answer 9

The 1st flight of the wright flyer or the 1st solo Atlantic crossing in the Spirit of Saint Louis. I would then be a made man while have a great adventure.

Answer 10

With RRS Tuck, in his Hurricane of the 257 squadron, on 15th September 1940, Battle of Britain.

He would lead 8 Hurricanes, climbing desperately against the massive Luftwaffe armada. With everyting against them (airspeed, altitude, numbers), these veritable Few would disrupt and break the German bomber formation.

Events like this would defeat two massive German attacks on this day, effectively ending the Battle of Britain and is celebrated as the Battle of Britain day.