Aircraft Design Firsts

[Noha307]

The Official name is Punkah Louver

Thanks for this! Having a unique name to search is very helpful.

Flat Bottom Airfoil & Spring-Type Wheels
The Albree Pigeon-Fraser was mentioned in a previous post in regards to the idea of a hinged empennage. However, according to Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, the Pigeon-Fraser is also responsible for two other firsts: a flat bottom airfoil and spring-type wheels.[1] Another example of the latter can be seen on the Martin K-III Kitten mentioned in a previous post.

Starter Motor
Old Rhinebeck notes that another of its aircraft (or at least aircraft parts), the Burgess-Collier Model M, is a contender for the first aircraft with a starter motor. The aircraft used a "137-pound Hartford electric self-starter [that] was geared to the crankshaft extension with a Diamond chain".[2]

Reversible Pitch Propellers
The subject of the first variable pitch propellers was mentioned in a previous post, but reversible pitch propellers have not been extensively covered. The "first production reversible Hydromatic propeller went into service on a United Airlines Douglas DC-6 in the fall of 1946".[3] While it is likely not the very first example, it may indeed be the beginning of the first widespread use of the technology.

Super-Hydromatic Propellers
Another Hamilton Standard first, possibly one that lead to the variable camber propeller mentioned in a previous post, is that of the first aircraft to be equipped with Super-Hydromatic Propellers. The credit goes to a B-23, s/n 39-32, which was acquired by Pratt & Whitney.[4] Perhaps surprisingly, this is not the first time members of the B-18 family were used as testbeds, with B-23, s/n 39-50, being equipped with turbochargers and a B-18 having a short section of laminar flow wing.[5][6]

While not the first use of a contra-rotating propeller - a patent was filed by F. W. Lanchester in England in 1907 and M. M. Egan and D. W. Evans of Fort Worth, Texas "drove" a biplane with such a design in 1931 - it appears to be the first widespread (if ultimately unsuccessful) implementation.[7][8]

Shielded Ignition Harness
When the Bureau of Standards experimented with air-to-ground communications in winter 1926-27, shielded spark plugs were not necessary as the interference from the inline liquid-cooled engines could be sufficiently attenuated by the shape of the engine and design of the cowling. However, when they switched to air-cooled radial engines, the problem resurfaced. The first aircraft to have shielded wiring is not entirely clear as it is not mentioned by name in the reference, but it does state that a Wright J-5 engine was used.[9]

Bell Aviation Firsts
Similar to the list of Bonanza firsts mentioned in a previous post is the following list of Bell aviation firsts:

Famous Bell Aviation "FIRSTs"

• FIRST twin-engine escort fighter (Airacuda).
• FIRST aircraft to mount a 37 mm cannon and flexible gun turrets (Airacuda).
• FIRST modern multi-place fighter, establishing a new type for the Army Air Force (Airacuda).
• FIRST American fighter airplane designed around its armament (P-39 Airacobra).
• FIRST use of tricycle landing gear on modern military aircraft (P-39 Airacobra).
• FIRST satisfactory .50 caliber machine gun shock dampener, which became standard for both the Army and Navy.
• FIRST modern all-wood military fighter (XP-77).
• FIRST helicopter with automatic stabilizing control (Bell Model 30).
• FIRST demonstration of emergency medical use of a helicopter (Bell Model 30).
• FIRST jet-propelled fighter airplane in the United States (P-59 Airacomet).
• FIRST commercial helicopter (Bell Model 47B).
• FIRST supersonic airplane (X-1).
• FIRST commercial helicopter with 200 hp engine and skid landing gear (Bell Model 47D-1).
• FIRST airplane able to vary degree of wing sweepback during flight (X-5).
• FIRST radio-guided bomb (Tarzon).
• FIRST helicopter designed specifically for anti-submarine warfare (HSL-1).
• FIRST airplane able to fly at speeds two and one-half times the speed of sound and at altitudes of 90,000 feet (X-1A).
• FIRST turbine-powered helicopter (XH-13F).
• FIRST jet-propelled vertical take-off and landing airplane (VTOL).
• FIRST automatic carrier landing system.
• FIRST convertiplane incorporating tilting-rotor system (XV-3).

(Source: Lawrence D. Bell Aircraft Museum)

[Noha307]

Autoland (Cont.)
The first automated landing was mentioned in a previous post, but another much earlier contender has emerged. A Fokker C-14B reportedly performed the feat on 23 August 1937.[1] Meanwhile, the first automated landing of a commercial airliner in service occurred when a Trident 1C, G-ARPR, landed at Heathrow Airport on 10 June 1965.[2] Interestingly, a commentary was recorded in the cockpit and you can now listen to it on the Imperial War Museum website!

Remote Controlled Aircraft
Building on the above, the French - namely engineer Maurice Percheron and pilot Max Boucherthe – reportedly flew a Voisin Type 10 on a completely remote controlled flight in 1923.[3]

Inertial Navigation
A recent thread brought up the case of the first use of inertial navigation in an aircraft. An EB-29B, 44-84083, was fitted with the system and flew for the first time in this configuration on 5 May 1949.

Fly-by-Light
The Kawasaki P-1 is known as the first operational aircraft with a fiber optic control system. However, a Skyship 600 blimp equipped with a fly-by-light system designed by GEC Avionics took to the skies in Weeksville, North Carolina on 26 June 1991.[4]

Radar Ranging Gunsight
As quoted in another thread, the first radar ranging gunsight was reportedly mounted in a P-38L, 44-53236, for testing.

Instrument with Bugs
The concept of "bugs" on an instrument, or the little pointers that slide around the circumference of the dial to index parameters such as airspeed or altitude, goes back at least as far as World War II, when they were used on the German Fl 22320 altimeter.[5]

Direct Bleed Air Pressurization
According to a thread on Airliners.net, the Sud Aviation Caravelle was the first aircraft to use direct, non-turbocompressed air for pressurization.

Lift Engine
Predating not only the Harrier, but also the Soviet MiG-21PD, a Gloster Meteor FR.9, VZ608, was fitted with a downward angled RB.108 engine in the mid-1950s as a testbed for the testbed Short SC.1. It was first operated in flight on 23 October 1956.[6] However, in this regard VZ608 was technically itself predated by the Rolls-Royce Thrust Measuring Rig.

Variable Incidence Wing
The first variable sweep wing was touched on in a previous post, but the first variable incidence wing was not. However, that claim may also go to the Germans as the Blohm & Voss BV 144 was designed with just such a feature. Yet, neither aircraft was flown before the war ended.[7] The aircraft were captured by the French, but it is not clear if they ever flew them (or even changed the incidence of the wing if they did).

In-Flight Internet
Building on the subject of in-flight entertainment mentioned in a previous post, the first use of in-flight Internet may have been on a Lufthansa Boeing 747-400 in January 2003.[8]

Aerial Firefighting
In terms of dispersing substances from airplanes, the first crop duster was mentioned in a previous post, but not the first waterbomber. A Stearman Model 75, N75081, operated by Willows Flying Service, became the first instance when it was tested on 23 July 1955. A few weeks later, on 12 August 1955, it was first deployed operationally when it was used to fight the Mendenhall Fire in Mendocino National Forest. These first drops were with water - no chemicals - and were flown by Vance Nolta.[9]

EDIT (25-03-03): On its history page, the Consolidated Instrument and Avionics Company claims to have:

• Designed First Transistorized Standby Horizon Power Supply
• Broke the Traditional Black & White Dial Marking by Introducing Bright Orange Navigation Marking of Flags, Horizon Bars, and Indices
• Designed and Patented the Dual Mechanical Twin-Tach Tachometer

(Source: Consolidated Instrument and Avionics Company)

However, the situation is a bit unclear as the company, a repair station, traces its lineage back to 1946 when it was opened at Teterboro Airport. An instrument manufacturer with a similar name, the Consolidated Instrument Corporation of America, existed as early as 1928 in New York City.[10] Indeed, the Travel Air 6000 pictured on the history page bears the logo of this presumably predecessor company. It therefore seems likely that the repair station took over the business and assets of the manufacturer.

Last edited by Noha307 on Mon Mar 03, 2025 10:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Noha307]

Tip Jet Helicopter
The Doblhoff WNF 342 was the first tip jet helicopter to fly in 1943.

Rotary Engine
While the first bi-rotary engine was mentioned in a previous post, the first successful rotary engine of any type is claimed by some to have been designed by F.O. Farwell in 1896 and built by the Adams Company three years later. However, this design may have first been used in automobiles. It was, however, employed in Emile Berliner's helicopter in 1909.[1]

Aircraft Exhaust Collector Ring
The first engine to use an exhaust collector ring is unclear, but the technology goes back at least as far as the Lycoming R-680B4E used on the PT-13.[2]

Composite Aircraft
A paper on the history of the subject claims that "[t]he first composite aircraft were German sailplanes such as the Libelle, the Bölkow Phönix, and the SB-7".[3]

Split Rudder
A split rudder was included in the design of the very first Beech Staggerwing. Although it is unknown if this is the first instance of such a control surface, it does predate later, more well-known aircraft such as the A-10, B-2 and Space Shuttle.[4]

Forward Sloped Windshield
According to one article which profiles the use of the design on a 1936 Rolls-Royce Phantom III Saloon, forward sloped windshields were tested at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in 1933 on a Boeing 247. However, a report fitting that bill shows only a model that looks nothing like a 247. Furthermore, the design is seen on Ford Trimotors, which of course predate it.[5]

Ultra-High Frequency Radio Range
Page 99 of volume 3 of the monograph Development of the Ultra-High-Frequency Radio Range shows that a Boeing 247D registered as NC11 was used for ultra-high frequency radio range tests. However, page 37 indicates that prior to this a Waco Model N was used. This is not the first time a Boeing 247 was employed as a testbed. As mentioned in previous posts, they were used to test both autoland and radar altimeters.

Synthetic Vision System
While a "windshield TV screen" described as being under development by the Office of Naval Research and Development in the March 1955 issue of Popular Science could be seen as a predecessor to the heads-up display mentioned in a previous post, it is actually more correctly identified as a precursor to the modern synthetic vision system. It may have been this research which led to the development of the Digital Integrated Attack and Navigation Equipment, or DIANE, installed in the A-6.[6]

The modern version of SVS was first tested in a Gulfstream V in a joint effort by NASA and Gulfstream in June 2004.[7][8]

Solid Aerodynamic Antennas
The invention of solid aerodynamic antennas may belong to a man named Allen S. Meier, who filed a patent for a "Broad Band Antenna", patent 2,463,547, on 23 January 1945. Meier had at least three other patents involving aircraft antennas - all assigned to the "Secretary of War". Most interesting is his "Antenna Matching Section", patent 2,593,474, which includes drawings of a hollow base that streamlines the junction of antenna and aircraft skin. It would seem to be only a short jump in concept from this to encasing the entire antenna in the material.

Swept-Back Antennas
A swept back antenna appears in a Lear, Inc. advertisement just inside the front cover of Flying magazine as early as February 1955. Indeed, the company would file a patent for just such a design (Aircraft Antenna with Impedance Matching Device, 2,834,961) only one month later.

Blade Antennas
By the early 1960s, stubby blade-type antennas appear to have begun entering the market. Narco offered one, called the UDA-2, as part of their UDI-2 DME unit in March 1962.[9][10] Patents for similar designs were filed in July 1958 (Slotted Airfoil Ultra High Frequency Antenna, 2,949,606) and June 1961 (Ground Plane VHF Antenna Comprising Blade-Type Dipole Configuration Obtained by Reflecting Monopole in Ground Plane, 3,220,006).

Scooping Floats
Scooping floats, which allow floatplane single engine air tankers to take in water without returning to land, were invented by Wipaire in 2001.[11] Their Wipline 10000, installed on the AT-802 Fire Boss, has a three inch diameter scoop in each float.[12]

Lastly, similar to what was mentioned in a previous post, below are a few promotonal claims of firsts:

They built America's first low-wing monoplane transport, the famous monomail.

The United States Army's first all-metal, two-engine bomber, the B-9

The first modern type commercial transport, the 247.

(Source: Perscope Film via YouTube)

• First composite corporate aircraft
• First certified all glass cockpit
• First certified canard wing aircraft
• First certified pusher design

(Source: AirlineReporter)

EDIT (25-03-03): Depending on interpretation, the credit for the first scooping floats may actually go to the second DHC-1, which was used to test "rotating roll over tanks ... mounted on top of the floats with scoops attached for filling up" in 1957. However, as the system is not integral to the floats, they might not be considered to be true scooping floats.[13]

Last edited by Noha307 on Mon Mar 03, 2025 9:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[ffuries]

How about Terrain Following Radar (TFR) and Terrain Avoidance Radar (TAR)?

CIA used B-17 utilizing a Fulton Recovery system? C-130s were were later equipped with it.

[Noha307]

How about Terrain Following Radar (TFR) and Terrain Avoidance Radar (TAR)?

Well, you're in luck! There's an very detailed article on terrain following radar from Bill Blain, one of the people that worked on the first system. The short version is that the first aircraft to fly with TFR was a Douglas Dakota, TS423, operated by Ferranti. The system was later tested in a Canberra B(I)8, WT327, before its intended implementation on the TSR-2. (Incidentally, the system used a modified AI.23B radar from an English Electric Lightning. The AI.23 was part of the AIRPASS system, which was the first airborne monopulse radar.) The British system was based on an early American concept, but the Yanks seem to have neglected it until 1962, when it was tested on an RF-4.[1] By then the Ferranti system was already in the air. (Note, however, that the exact dates are unclear and it is possible that the Americans got the concept in the air first. For example, it was apparently tested on the A-4C.[2] A lot of this interpretation comes from the relevant Wikipedia article which, while excellent and based on the aforementioned sources, has some holes.)

As far as Terrain Avoidance Radar goes, it appears Westinghouse had developed one around 1957-1958.[2][3]

One thing is that I'm not exactly clear as to the difference between TFR and TAR. Could you explain it? They sound like they are both based on the same equipment, but implemented in different ways. If so, then determining when whichever of the two that came later was first used might be difficult because there is less of an inherent different in design that would have merited particular comment.

First Carbon Reinforced All-Composite Blade
Although the number of qualifiers make it unclear if it was the first example or just the first implementation in a certain setting, it is claimed by one source that the Saab-Fairchild 340 was claimed to be the "[w]orld's first carbon reinforced all-composite bladed turboprop aircraft" when it came out in 1984. This is followed by the claim that the "Saab 2000 was certificated with the first full FADEC ... integrated electronic propeller control system" in 1993.[4]

First Fan Marker
Although not an aircraft design feature as such, "the first commercially manufactured fan-type marker was installed in February 1938, in the vicinity of New Brunswick, N.J., at light beacon site No. 73, 20 miles out on the southwest leg of the Newark radio range."[5]

Fuel Dump System
According to a flight manual from 1974, An early fuel dump system was implemented on the C-118.[6] Assuming this was not a later addition, this would predate the fuel dump used in the Boeing 707-121.[7]