Biplane Facts

Facts related to "Biplane"

The Russian biplane An-2 "has no stall speed" - if the aircraft dips below a certain speed, spring-loaded slats pop out of the wings and the aircraft will "sink at the rate of a parachute". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant…
Today I learned of José Sanjurjo a prominent figure in the Spanish civil war, who died when the biplane he rode which was overburdened with his luggage crashed. Before flight the pilot warned Sanjurjo of the danger to which he replied with, "I need to wear proper clothes as the new caudillo of Spain." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos…
In 1920, Italian Air Force pilot Arturo Ferrarin flew from Rome to Tokyo in a WW1 biplane which top speed was 136 MPH. He eventually landed in Tokyo 107 day after and was greeted with 42 days of celebration. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art…
During WWI a German weapon manufacturer developed a 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) unmanned, drone, biplane, glider torpedo that was launched from Zeppelin Airships. It was guided by wire to its target. The last test was August 2, 1918, 102-years-ago en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sie…
The worlds first mid-air refueling took place on June 27th 1923 between two US biplanes. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aer…
In 1940 two Royal Australian Air Force training airplanes collided in mid-air, becoming locked together. As the aircraft were traveling in the same direction, they became an impromptu biplane and we're landed safely by the pilot of the upper plane. There were no deaths. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/194…
Today I learned of a Russian all-female bomber unit flying biplanes against the Germans in WW2. While two pilots distracted the searchlights, a third would cut her engines and glide in to deliver her bombs; 23,000 missions were flown and the enemy dubbed them "Night Witches" badreputation.org.uk/2011…
The PO-2 is the only biplane with a documented kill of a jet fighter by making it slow down so much it crashed. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pol…
That, during WWII, the Russians used a biplane on the Eastern Front that was so slow, German planes couldn't target it without potentially stalling. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pol…
The Soviet Po-2 biplane is the only biplane with a confirmed jet kill, when the jet stalled and crashed when attempting to intercept it. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pol…
In 1928 two AF officers flew to a record of 38,000 feet in a small biplane. The controls then completely froze in the -78 degree air, and with oxygen depleting, they waited for 20 minutes until the plane ran out of fuel. Now powerless, the pilot glided all the way down for a smooth landing thisdayinaviation.com/tag…
The Soviet Union deployed a regiment of 'Nachthexen' (Night Witches) in WWII, made up entirely of young female volunteers. They flew old biplanes and silently bombed German forces from above. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nig…
In 1938, Mario Pezzi flew a BIPLANE to a staggering 17,000m above the Earth. He did this in an open cockpit, wearing a crude pressure suit. It took a jet aircraft ten years later to claim the record from him. Since then, no one has ever been as high in a propeller aircraft. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cap…
The world's slowest jet was also the world's only mass produced jet biplane as well as the world's only jet powered cropduster en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PZL…
In 1799 George Cayley conceptulisd the modern aeroplane as a fixed-wing flying machine with separate systems for lift, propulsion, and control. He built the first flying model plane. In 1849 he designed and built a biplane flown by a boy. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geo…
North Korea's airforce still uses biplanes nknews.org/2014/09/the-an…
Today I learned of the Antonov A-40 Krylya Tanka. It was an experimental Soviet project that involved strapping biplane wings and a tail to a small tank, thus allowing it to glide onto a battlefield after being towed aloft by an airplane, where it could then provide support for ground troops. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant…
There was an alternate ending to the orginal Independence Day. It featured Casse flying a red biplane with a missile strapped to it. The ending was scrapped because it was "not belivable" youtube.com/watch?v=ls2Cw…
Biplanes where used in WW2 and helped destroy the Bismarck, the largest warship of the time. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fai…
In 1929, an Irish mercenary with a biplane was hired by Mexican rebels to drop suitcase bombs on government forces. He mistakenly dropped them on a town in Arizona, marking the first aerial bombardment of the continental U.S. by a foreign power. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bom…
Today I learned of the British planned version of Pearl Harbour. Using only 22 Torpedo Biplanes from an aircraft carrier they managed to surprise an Italian Fleet docked and inflicted heavily casualties. It heavily influenced the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat…
The Pitts Special light aerobatic biplane first flew in 1944. The same basic design is still being manufactured today. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pit…
In 1933 the U.S. Navy developed special airships that were able to carry "parasite" biplanes using a skyhook. Said biplanes were used for scouting, in turn shielding their mothership from enemy attacks. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cur…
In 1968, the North Vietnamese used biplanes to attack a clandestine American radar station in Laos. The CIA fought off the attack with an agent firing an assault rifle from a civilian helicopter. ravenfac.com/ravens/artic…
PZL M-15 Belphegor is believed to be the world's only jet agricultural plane (e.g., the world's only jet cropduster), the world's only jet biplane and the world's slowest jet, at least as far as aircraft that have been put in mass production en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PZL…
In 1921, the "Black Wall Street" of Tulsa, Oklahoma was the location of a race riot, believing that this was the beginning of a black uprising the local government used biplanes to fire rifles and drop firebombs on buildings, homes, and fleeing black families. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tul…
The attack on Pearl Harbor may have been inspired by a successful attack by the British on the Italian fleet in Taranto. A year earlier, the Brits used antiquated biplanes to successfully attack the Italian navy in harbor. The Japanese actually sent several people to investigate the attack. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat…
A British appeal for donations from the public during World War I paid for 250 biplanes, costing between £1,500 and £3,500 each. This fund-raiser, called the Imperial Aircraft Flotilla, was endorsed by the King George V. airminded.org/2014/06/01/…
In the early 1900's, Lilian Bland built the Mayfly, the first powered biplane in Ireland. However, her father, thinking flying was unseemly for a woman, convinced her to sell it and buy a car. She later went on to own a car dealership. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lil…
An American UH-1D Huey helicopter once shot down two Vietnamese aircraft (An-2 Colt biplanes) by firing an AK-47 out the door in the Vietnam war. cia.gov/library/center-fo…
The Soviet Air Force had female military aviators, in WWII, that flew wood and canvas biplanes on bombing missions. The planes could carry only two bombs at a time and a stealth technique of the night bombers was to idle the engine near the target and glide to the bomb release point. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nig…
In the original ending to Independence Day the dude at the end blows up the alien spaceship using a biplane instead of an F-18 youtube.com/watch?v=fOpXM…
Today I learned about Belgian ace pilot Willy Coppens, who in World War I landed his biplane ON TOP OF AN ENEMY BLIMP, took off again, and lived to fight again

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/belgium/coppens.php "On one occasion, the balloon he was attacking shot upward and Coppens actually landed his cobalt blue Hanriot HD.1 on top of it. Switching off his engine to protect the propeller, he waited until his aircraft slid off the top of the balloon, then restarted the engine and watched as the German balloon burst into flames and sank to the ground."

There was an airship in the 1930's that could launch and recover small biplanes en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS…
In the 1930s, the US used to have airships that served as aircraft carriers for biplane fighters. theregister.co.uk/2010/02…
The first plane to takeoff from a moving ship was in May of 1912 when a biplane launched from the HMS Hibernia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS…
Charles Godfroy flew a biplane through the Arc de Triomphe en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc…
During the Vietnam War an American helicopter shot down two North Vietnamese biplanes with an AK-47. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat…
The Currie Wot, a biplane, got its name when its designer, J. R. Currie, got tired of people asking what he would call the plane and told them to "call it Wot you blooming well like" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cur…
Today I learned of Virgil Vance, an old cowboy who strapped a saddle to the fuselage of a biplane, held on through two loops and landed safely, without a seatbelt. home.earthlink.net/~ralph…
In WWII, the Russians had a squadron of female aviators who would perform night bombing biplane raids. The Germans nicknamed them the "Night Witches". theatlantic.com/technolog…

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