The World’s Greatest Civil Aircraft: An Illustrated History

347 Pages·2015·25.25 MB·English

by  Paul E. Eden

THE WORLD’S GREATEST
CIVIL AIRCRAFT
AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY
Paul E. Eden
This digital edition first published in 2015
Published by
Amber Books Ltd
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United Kingdom
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Copyright © 2015 Amber Books Ltd
ISBN: 978-1-78274272-2
All rights reserved. With the exception of quoting brief passages for the purpose of review no part of this
publication may be reproduced without prior written permission from the publisher.
The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge.
All recommendations are made without any guarantee on the part of the author or publisher, who also
disclaim any liability incurred in connection with the use of this data or specific details.
Picture Credits:
Airbus: 155, 186, 198, 199, 214, 215
Amber Books: 29
Art-Tech/Aerospace: 6, 7, 16, 21, 25, 28, 32–45 (all), 53–92 (all), 96, 100, 104–114 (all), 122, 127–135
(all), 143–154 (all), 158–163 (all), 170–178 (all), 183, 202
Bombardier: 179, 194, 195
Cody Images: 8, 12, 13, 17, 49, 93, 97, 126
Dreamstime: 101 (Icholakov)
Embraer: 206, 207, 210, 211
Public Domain: 119, 167, 191
All artworks courtesy Art-Tech except for the following: Amber Books: 115 (bottom), 123, 175, 187,
192/193, 197, 203, 204/205, 205, 208/209, 212/213, 216/217, 217
www.amberbooks.co.uk
Contents
INTRODUCTION
THE GOLDEN AGE
Junkers F13 (1919)
Dornier Wal (1922)
Fokker F.VII and F.VII-3m (1924)
Ford Tri-Motor (1926)
Dornier Do X (1929)
Junkers Ju 52/3m (1931)
Boeing 247 (1933)
Douglas DC-2 and DC-3 (1934)
Lockheed Super Electra and Lodestar (1937)
Boeing 314 Clipper (1938)
Boeing 307 Stratoliner (1938)
Douglas DC-4, DC-6 and DC-7 (1938)
Lockheed Constellation and Super Constellation (1943)
Boeing 377 Stratocruiser (1947)
Vickers Viscount (1948)
De Havilland DH.106 Comet (1949)
Boeing 707 (1954)
Sud-Aviation Caravelle (1955)
Fokker F27 Friendship and F50 (1955)
Douglas DC-8 (1958)
Hawker Siddeley Trident (1962)
Vickers VC10 (1962)
Aero Spacelines Guppy and Super Guppy (1962)
Boeing 727 (1963)
THE MODERN ERA
BAC One-Eleven (1963)
Douglas DC-9, MD-80/90 and Boeing 717 (1965)
Ilyushin Il-62 ‘Classic’ (1967)
Boeing 737 (1967)
Fokker F28 Fellowship and 70/100 (1967)
Tupolev Tu-144 ‘Charger’ (1968)
Tupolev Tu-154 ‘Careless’ (1968)
Boeing 747 (1969)
Aerospatiale/BAC Concorde (1969)
McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and MD-11 (1970)
Lockheed L-1011 Tristar (1970)
Airbus Industrie A300 and A310 (1972)
De Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7 (1975)
Boeing 767 (1981)
BAe 146 and Avro RJ (1981)
Boeing 757 (1982)
Saab 340 and 2000 (1983)
De Havilland Canada DHC8 Dash 8 Bombardier Q Series (1983)
ATR 42 and 72 (1984)
Airbus A320 family (1987)
Airbus A340 (1991)
Bombardier CRJ (1991)
Airbus A330 (1992)
Boeing 777 (1994)
Embraer ERJ (1995)
Embraer E-Jet (2002)
Airbus A380 (2005)
Boeing 787 Dreamliner (2009)
INDEX
Introduction
In a little over 100 years, commercial aircraft have developed
from the frail wood and fabric machines of the 1910s, capable of
carrying little more than a passenger or packet of mail, into one of
the most efficient means of long-range transportation ever
designed.
Commercial aircraft are used to fly passengers and freight in order to generate
revenue for their operators. When Wilbur Wright took the first passenger aloft
on 14 May 1908 the seed for all subsequent airline operations was sown. The
first cargo, two packages of silk, was flown between Dayton and Columbus,
Ohio, on 7 November 1910, although a major driver of non-passenger operations
was mail – Henri Pequet flew 6500 letters across the Jumna River from
Allahabad to Naini Junction, India, on 18 February 1911, completing the first
official airmail flight.
Delivering mail by air reduced delivery times dramatically and airmail took
on particular importance for the U.S.airline industry and for Lufthansa, the
German state airline. Germany exerted considerable influence in South America
after World War I, doing much to establish the earliest commercial operations in
the region. Lufthansa also expended considerable effort facilitating airmail
routes from Europe to Latin America, driving the development of high-
performance seaplanes and overwater navigation techniques.
The Concorde programme remains among the most significant engineering achievements ever. It
produced an airliner of immense performance but flawed economics – it served only British Airways
and Air France.
The very first commercial operators were limited by the capability of their
aircraft, but soon the manufacturers began building purpose-designed airliners,
with enclosed passenger cabins, space for baggage and increasingly
sophisticated navigation and communications systems. Some aircraft builders
quickly saw that reliability and safety were the most important factors in creating
a successful airliner and Junkers was first to crystallize this thinking into a single
airframe – the F13. The first all-metal airliner, the F13 set the standard for others
to follow and established Junkers as a major force in commercial aircraft design
until shortly before World War II, when a new paradigm emerged from Boeing –
the Model 247. Boeing sold relatively few of the Model 247, but it represented
the next major advance in airliner design, introducing many of the features
considered standard today. Built in metal, with a comfortable, heated and
ventilated cabin, the aircraft featured retractable landing gear and two engines,
each powerful enough to maintain altitude should the other fail.
Trans World Airlines was instrumental in the development process that created the Douglas DC-3,
shown here, via the DC-1 and DC-2. The DC-3 was the most important commercial aircraft of the
immediate pre-World War II period and helped establish Douglas as the pre-eminent airliner
manufacturer into the early 1950s.
Boeing’s wartime preoccupation with bomber construction allowed Douglas
to become the undisputed leader in commercial aviation in the immediate
aftermath of World War II, but it fell to Great Britain’s de Havilland to take the
next developmental stride. Britain and Germany had both flown jet fighters in
combat during the later years of the war and now de Havilland applied jet
technology to commercial aviation, producing the Comet.
The world’s first jet airliner, the Comet’s somewhat conservative design
nevertheless allowed it to outperform every piston-engined aircraft, but a series
of accidents stymied the programme. While de Havilland was fixing its aircraft,
Boeing came up with a truly modern jet airliner, the Model 707, truly the
template for commercial jet transport. The U.S. planemaker quickly established
a market leadership that only Airbus has been able to challenge and then only in
recent years.
Passengers quickly became accustomed to flying large distances on swept-
wing jet-powered aircraft, but the piston engine still reigned on shorter routes.