This is a list of notable first crossings of the Irish Sea.
Date | Crossing | Participant(s) | Aircraft | Departure point Arrival point | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
22 July 1817 | First balloon | Windham William Sadler [1] | balloon | Portobello Barracks, Dublin Holyhead, Wales | Sadler's father, James Sadler had made an unsuccessful attempt in 1812. |
22 April 1912 | First aeroplane | Denys Corbett Wilson | Blériot XI | Fishguard, Pembrokeshire Crane, County Wexford | An attempt by Robert Loraine, in September 1910, failed when his Farman III biplane came down in the sea 200 ft (61 m) from the shore. [2] |
1915 | First airship | Sub Lt T.W. Elmhirst + crew | SS-17 blimp | Luce Bay, Scotland Ireland | Airship became disabled, drifted across the Irish Sea, and carried out a successful 'balloon' landing in Ireland. [3] |
5 July 1927 | First female aviator | Mary, Lady Bailey [4] | De Havilland DH.60X biplane | ||
9 April 1951 | First helicopter | Lt Richard Beechener [5] | Westland Dragonfly HR.1 VX600 | Anthorn, Cumbria Aldergrove, County Antrim | |
3 February 1963 | First glider (E-W) | Charles Ross [6] | Slingsby Skylark 3 | Portmoak, Kinross-shire Toome, County Antrim | |
27 December 1963 | First glider (W-E) | Fg Offr Dmitri Zotov [7] | EoN Olympia 2B | Ballykelly, County Londonderry Crianlarich, Perthshire | |
1 February 1970 | First hot-air balloon | Raymond Munro [8] | Canada 2 | Brittas Bay, County Wicklow Ennerdale, Cumbria | Raymond Munro (1921-1994) was inducted to the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame in 1973. Awarded the Order of Canada in 1974. [9] |
1987 | First microlight | Keith Reynolds | Pegasus XL weight-shift microlight | Achieved while undertaking a circumnavigation of Great Britain. [10] | |
13 May 2007 | First autogyro | Norman Surplus | AutoGyro MT-03 | Kirkbride, Cumbria Larne, County Antrim | Norman Surplus went on to make the first circumnavigation of the world in an autogyro. [11] |
Amy Johnson was a pioneering English pilot who was the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia.
In aviation, a variometer – also known as a rate of climb and descent indicator (RCDI), rate-of-climb indicator, vertical speed indicator (VSI), or vertical velocity indicator (VVI) – is one of the flight instruments in an aircraft used to inform the pilot of the rate of descent or climb. It can be calibrated in metres per second, feet per minute or knots, depending on country and type of aircraft. It is typically connected to the aircraft's external static pressure source.
Squadron Leader Robert Kronfeld, AFC was an Austrian-born gliding champion and sailplane designer of the 1920s and 30s. He became a British subject and an RAF test pilot. He was killed testing a glider in 1948.
The DFS 228 was a rocket-powered, high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft designed by the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug during World War II. By the end of the war, the aircraft had only flown in the form of two unpowered prototypes.
The Avro Anson is a British twin-engine, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Royal Australian Air Force and numerous other air forces before, during, and after the Second World War.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1909:
Royal Air Force Leconfield or more simply RAF Leconfield is a former Royal Air Force station located in Leconfield, East Riding of Yorkshire, England.
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Haverfordwest Airport, also known as Withybush Airport, is a minor airport located 2 NM north of Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. It is on the site of the former RAF Haverfordwest, which was operational between 1943 and 1945. Pembrokeshire County Council bought the site in the 1950s, and it has been a civil airfield since, with a number of other organisations also using it.
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Philip Aubrey Wills CBE was a pioneering British glider pilot. He broke several UK gliding records from the 1930s to the 1950s and was involved in UK gliding administration including being Chairman of the British Gliding Association (BGA).
The Laister-Kauffmann TG-4 is a sailplane produced in the United States during the Second World War for training cargo glider pilots. It was a conventional sailplane design with a fuselage of steel tube construction and wooden wings and tail, covered all over with fabric. The pilot and instructor sat in tandem under a long canopy.
The British Aircraft Company was a British aircraft manufacturer based in Maidstone. It was founded by C H Lowe-Wylde and produced gliders and light aircraft during the 1930s.
The Slingsby T.21 is an open-cockpit, side-by-side two-seat glider, built by Slingsby Sailplanes Ltd and first flown in 1944. It was widely used by the Royal Air Force, Sri Lanka Air Force and by civilian gliding clubs.
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Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word soaring is also used for the sport.
A glider or sailplane is a type of glider aircraft used in the leisure activity and sport of gliding. This unpowered aircraft can use naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to gain altitude. Sailplanes are aerodynamically streamlined and so can fly a significant distance forward for a small decrease in altitude.
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