Aircraft Design Firsts

[Noha307]

I found a book from 1954 (?) that provided me with a couple more ideas/leads:

• First airplane with an internal bomb bay - Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI (?)
• First airplane with an autocannon armament to fly - Voisin Canon [ref]
• First airplane with an autocannon firing through the propeller shaft - SPAD 12Ca1 [ref] (?)
• First airplane with a ventral gun - Gotha G.V (?)

I'm not really sure about most of these, so if anyone has any contradicting claims, feel free to mention them. The claim to the first torpedo bomber is particularly confusing:

• First airplane to drop a dummy torpedo - Farman MF.7 [ref][ref]
• First airplane to drop a fully functional torpedo - Short Admiralty Type 81 [ref]
• First purpose built torpedo bomber - Sopwith Special torpedo seaplane Type C [ref][ref]
• First purpose built torpedo bomber to fly - AD Seaplane Type 1000 [ref]
• First non-seaplane torpedo bomber - Sopwith Cuckoo [ref][ref]
• First airplane to torpedo a ship (included for reference) - Short Type 184 [ref]

One other category I haven't found an answer for:

• First airplane with rear loading ramp

EDIT: The book mentioned at the beginning of this post is: Airplanes of the World: From Pusher to Jet, 1490 to 1954 by Douglas Rolfe and Alexis Dawydoff, copyright 1954. Some of the claims above - or the ideas to look for them - were mentioned on a "genealogy" on the inside of the front cover. A similar timeline inside the back cover claims that the "D.H.4A (G.B.) was [the] first operational military transport (March 1919)".

Last edited by Noha307 on Tue Apr 09, 2019 10:43 am, edited 2 times in total.

[airnutz]

I would guess the seaplane torpedo bomber that flew first was actually the second purpose built seaplane torpedo bomber to begin construction and it was finished and flew before the first one could be completed or flown.

[Noha307]

A candidate for the first aircraft with a dedicated air brake (as opposed to a dive brake or other dual purpose flaps) is Mosquito W4052 which was tested with an unusual annular configuration of fins in 1942.


(Source: AviaDejaVu)


(Source: AirWar.ru)


(Source: The Water Rocket Explorer)

Between this and the jet engine development, apparently those British had the lead on slapping pieces of new tech onto old airframes in the 1940s.

[quemerford]

First composite/parasite aircraft: Bristol Scout & Felixstowe Porte Baby (1916)

[Noha307]

Came up with a few more firsts:

• Reflector gunsight: Fokker Dr.I or Albatros D.Va [ref], [ref]
• Gyroscopic gunsight: Hurricane or Wellington [ref]
  - Computes turn only.
• Production aircraft with radar gunsight: F-84E(?) [ref]
  - Computes turn and range.
• Heads-up display: Blackburn Buccaneer(?) [ref]
  - This one is hard to pin down because the incremental development of the technology makes it difficult to determine which version was the first to have the requisite number of features to be considered a "complete" HUD. Another possibility is a rudimentary artificial horizon projected onto a gyroscopic gunsight in Mosquitos. [ref]
• Helmet mounted sight: Mirage F1AZ [ref]
• Decoy flare dispensers: B-47 or B-52 [ref]
  - I use the word "decoy" so as not to include flares for spotting.
• Chaff dispensers: Unknown
  - I use the word "dispensers" so as not to include aircraft that deployed handheld chaff such as "window". This was difficult to find information on, but B-52Ds had them installed as early as 1967-1969. [ref], [ref]
• Evacuation slides: Unknown
  - Also, difficult to find information on. It is worth noting that some early evacuation slides were fabric, rather than inflatables. The first inflatable slides were patented in 1956 by Air Cruisers. [ref], [ref]
• Turboprop light airplane: XL-19B [ref]
• Twin turbine helicopter: HTK-1 (BuNo 128657) [ref], [ref]
  - Note, however, that it is claimed at 0:58 in a Bo 105 retrospective video that "never before has been a helicopter with two engines in this (class?)". Unfortunately, I can't entirely make out the last word the man being interviewed says.
• Unmanned helicopter: HTK-1K [ref]

I also came up with a few design "results" which don't exactly fit the list – since they are not exactly a specific piece of equipment installed on an aircraft, but capabilities of the design – but still seem relevant enough to deserve a mention:

• Production fighter with "relaxed static stability": F-16 [ref]
  - Note the F-16 has been described as having "dynamic instability", which may be different.
• One to one thrust-to-weight ratio: F-15A or F-104A or English Electric Lightning [ref]
• Airplane with supercruise: Nord 1402A Gerfaut or Nord 1402B Gerfaut 1B [ref]
  - The language was unclear/contradictory which particular variant was the one to actually achieve the feat.
• Production airplane with supercruise: English Electric Lightning
• Hands on throttle and stick: English Electric Lightning [ref]

EDIT (24-06-28): An example of the Pilots's Display Unit for the "Strike Sight", the HUD in the Buccaneer, can be found in the collections of the Rochester Avionic Archives.

Last edited by Noha307 on Fri Jun 28, 2024 10:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[A26 Special K]

Douglas A-26, first US Bomber to use a laminar flow airfoil and double slotted flap system.

[Adam Kline]

What about the first all metal stress skin aircraft= The Northrop Alpha. Jack Northrop and his lead machinist had to invent the Tig welder to make it. The plane was the EVE of all planes for generations. Probably as important as the Wright Flyer in the evolution of Aircraft engineering as it was the modern method of manufacturing.

[Noha307]

The first aircraft with an infrared search and track (IRST) is difficult to pin down, but it appears to have been one of the Century series fighters. Apparently, the system was developed for the F-108 by Hughes, but the first aircraft to actually field it was either an F-101 or an F-106 as part of the Project Bold Journey/Interceptor Improvement Program upgrade program. [1][2][3][4]

[exhaustgases]

Firsts I know of and not sure if theyv'e been mentioned.

First manned aircraft to fly super sonic.
First propeller aircraft to fly super sonic.
First flying wing type aircraft.
First Piston aircraft engine to have more than 18 cylinders.

[Matt Gunsch]

first production tricycle gear aircraft.....Ercoupe
First JATO takeoff......Ercoupe
first certified incapable of spinning....Ercoupe

[ZRX61]

First aircraft with SuperCruise ability: English Electric Lightning

Second aircraft with SuperCruise, but claims to be the first 50 years later: Lockheed F22

[CAPFlyer]

I think you misunderstand what the ATF Supercruise capability is. The YF-22 and YF-23 were the first combat aircraft designed to achieve supercruise without the use of afterburner to get there while in the majority of their combat configurations. Of course other aircraft can supercruise. Even the Typhoon can supercruise to Mach 1.6 in an A-A loadout In fact, the first US aircraft to be able to supercruise without the use of afterburner to accelerate is the F-15E which is capable of approx. Mach 1.4 while in the A-A configuration at full Mil power. Don't forget that Concord supercruised as did the Tu-144, but both required the use of afterburners to achieve those speeds first.

[Kyleb]

First aircraft with SuperCruise ability: English Electric Lightning

Second aircraft with SuperCruise, but claims to be the first 50 years later: Lockheed F22

You forgot the F-104.

http://www.916-starfighter.de/Ruminatio ... 0F-104.htm

[ZRX61]

First aircraft with SuperCruise ability: English Electric Lightning

Second aircraft with SuperCruise, but claims to be the first 50 years later: Lockheed F22

You forgot the F-104.

http://www.916-starfighter.de/Ruminatio ... 0F-104.htm

Shh! I'm mixing cats & pigeons

[Noha307]

You forgot the F-104.

http://www.916-starfighter.de/Ruminatio ... 0F-104.htm

Interesting, but I believe the Lightning is still first. According to Wikipedia the F-104s mentioned in the article were only re-engined with the J79-GE-19 in 1967, whereas the prototype of the Lightning achieved supercruise in August 1954.[ref]

To follow up on my mention of first turbocharger aircraft in my first post, I recently came across this interesting picture of an early turbocharged Napier engine:

(Source: Farnborough Air Sciences Trust)

I also found a book titled Flight Patterns that states, "[t]he practical application of superchargers apparently originated with Auguste Rateau, a French engineer who had attempted to improve the performance of French fighter planes during World War I." It goes on to claim that "[u]sing this principle, the British set new altitude records...not long after the war's end" before "[t]he idea was picked up in the United States by Dr. Sanford A. Moss" who used it in the LePere LUSAC-11. Assuming that the word "superchargers" in the first quote refers to "turbosuperchargers", when taken together with the picture above, this suggests that the British may have been the first to use turbochargers – before the Americans.

For comparison, here is a picture of the turbocharged LUSAC-11:

(Source: Aeronautical Systems Center History Office (Archived))

EDIT (23-03-19): It turns out the British apparently did beat the Americans to the first turbocharged airplane. A Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8, B738, was flown with an RAF 4d engine equipped with a Rateau turbocharger in April 1918:

(Source: The Aerodrome)

However, the British may have themselves been preempted by the French as Rateau was a French company and the Bréguet XIV A2 is also noted as being flown with one in 1918.[ref]

Last edited by Noha307 on Sun Mar 19, 2023 6:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.