1.
Birmingham Airport
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It has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction. Passenger throughput in 2016 was over 11.6 million, making Birmingham the seventh busiest UK airport, the airport offers both domestic flights within the UK, and international flights to destinations in Europe, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, North America and the Caribbean. Birmingham Airport is a base for BMI Regional, Flybe, Jet2. com, Monarch, Ryanair, Thomas Cook Airlines. Birmingham Airport is 5.5 NM east-south-east of Birmingham city centre and it is connected by the elevated AirRail Link with Birmingham International railway station on the West Coast Main Line. The relatively short north-east – south-west runway is not operational, and has incorporated into the taxiway for aircraft departing the end of runway 33. In 1928, the Birmingham City Council decided that the city required a municipal airport, Plans were submitted in 1933, identifying Elmdon as the site for the airport, delayed by the Great Depression. On 8 July 1939 the Duchess of Kent, Princess Marina of Greece, the airport was owned and operated by Birmingham City Council. Initial services flew to Croydon, Glasgow, Liverpool, Ryde, Shoreham, Manchester and Southampton. During World War II the airport was requisitioned by the Air Ministry and was used by the RAF and the Royal Navy as RAF Elmdon, an Elementary Flying School and a base for the Fleet Air Arm. During this time, the grass strip was replaced by two hard runways, 06/24 at 2,469 feet and 15/33 at 4,170 feet. Avro Lancaster and Stirling bombers manufactured at the Austin Aero Companys shadow factory at Cofton Hackett could not take off from the runways at Longbridge. Instead they were transported by road, minus the wings that would be attached at Elmdon and they were test flown from the aerodrome, and once declared airworthy they were flown to their operational units. On 8 July 1948, the returned to civilian use. During the post-war years, public events, such as air fairs,1961, An additional terminal building to handle international traffic was opened, called The International Building. 1967, The main runway was extended to 7,400 feet to allow jet operations,1984, Opening of the Maglev rail link train between the airport terminal and nearby railway station. 1993, The Government limited public sector borrowing and this meant that the airport could only expand by using private sector finance. 51% of the local council shares were sold to restructure the airport into a private sector company,1995, Closure of the Maglev rail link after 11 years, following a string of breakdowns. 20 October 2003, The Concorde made her final visit to Birmingham Airport on as part of her farewell tour, November 2007, The airport published a master plan for its development up to 2030, called Towards 2030, Planning a Sustainable Future for Air Transport in the Midlands
2.
ICAO airport code
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The ICAO airport code or location indicator is a four-character alphanumeric code designating aerodromes around the world. ICAO codes are used to identify other aviation facilities such as weather stations, International Flight Service Stations or Area Control Centers. Flight information regions are identified by a unique ICAO-code. Code selections in North America were based on existing radio station identifiers, for example, radio stations in Canada were already starting with C, so it seemed logical to begin Canadian airport identifiers with Cxxx. The United States had many pre-existing airports with established mnemonic codes and their ICAO codes were formed simply by prepending a K to the existing codes, as half the radio station identifiers in the US began with K. Most ICAO codes outside the US and Canada have a geographical structure. Most of the rest of the world was classified in a more planned top-down manner, thus Uxxx referred to the Soviet Union with the second letter denoting the specific region within it, and so forth. Europe had too many locations for one starting letter, so it was split into Exxx for northern Europe. The second letter was more specific, EGxx was the United Kingdom, EDxx was West Germany, ETxx was East Germany, LExx was Spain, LAxx was Albania, France was designated LFxx, as the counterpart EFxx was the unambiguously northern Finland. ICAO codes are separate and different from IATA codes, which are used for airline timetables, reservations. For example, the IATA code for Londons Heathrow Airport is LHR, in general IATA codes are usually derived from the name of the airport or the city it serves, while ICAO codes are distributed by region and country. Far more aerodromes have ICAO codes than IATA codes, and to add to the confusion IATA codes are assigned to railway stations. Unlike the IATA codes, the ICAO codes generally have a structure and are comprehensive. In general, the first letter is allocated by continent and represents a country or group of countries within that continent, the second letter generally represents a country within that region, and the remaining two are used to identify each airport. The exception to rule is larger countries that have single-letter country codes. In either case, ICAO codes generally provide geographical context unlike IATA codes, for example, if one knows that the ICAO code for Heathrow is EGLL, then one can deduce that the airport EGGP is somewhere in the UK. On the other hand, knowing that the IATA code for Heathrow is LHR does not enable one to deduce the location of the airport LHV with any greater certainty, there are a few exceptions to the regional structure of the ICAO code made for political or administrative reasons. Similarly Saint Pierre and Miquelon is controlled by France, and airports there are assigned LFxx as though they were in Europe, further, in region L, all available 2-letter prefixes have been exhausted and thus no additional countries can be added
3.
Federal Aviation Administration
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The Federal Aviation Administration of the United States is a national authority with powers to regulate all aspects of civil aviation. The FAAs roles include, Regulating U. S, each LOB has a specific role within the FAA. Airports — plans and develops projects involving airports, overseeing their construction, Air Traffic Organization — primary duty is to safely and efficiently move air traffic within the National Airspace System. ATO employees manage air traffic facilities including Airport Traffic Control Towers, Aviation Safety — Responsible for aeronautical certification of personnel and aircraft, including pilots, airlines, and mechanics. Commercial Space Transportation — ensures protection of U. S. assets during the launch or reentry of commercial space vehicles, the FAA is headquartered in Washington, D. C. as well as the William J. The newly created Aeronautics Branch, operating under the Department of Commerce assumed primary responsibility for aviation oversight, in fulfilling its civil aviation responsibilities, the Department of Commerce initially concentrated on such functions as safety regulations and the certification of pilots and aircraft. It took over the building and operation of the system of lighted airways. The Aeronautics Branch was renamed the Bureau of Air Commerce in 1934 to reflect its status within the Department. As commercial flying increased, the Bureau encouraged a group of airlines to establish the first three centers for providing air traffic control along the airways, in 1936, the Bureau itself took over the centers and began to expand the ATC system. The pioneer air traffic controllers used maps, blackboards, and mental calculations to ensure the separation of aircraft traveling along designated routes between cities. In 1938, the Civil Aeronautics Act transferred the civil aviation responsibilities from the Commerce Department to a new independent agency. The legislation also expanded the role by giving them the authority. President Franklin D. Roosevelt split the authority into two agencies in 1940, the Civil Aeronautics Administration and the Civil Aeronautics Board, CAA was responsible for ATC, airman and aircraft certification, safety enforcement, and airway development. CAB was entrusted with safety regulation, accident investigation, and economic regulation of the airlines, the CAA was part of the Department of Commerce. The CAB was an independent federal agency, on the eve of Americas entry into World War II, CAA began to extend its ATC responsibilities to takeoff and landing operations at airports. This expanded role eventually became permanent after the war, the application of radar to ATC helped controllers in their drive to keep abreast of the postwar boom in commercial air transportation. The approaching era of jet travel, and a series of midair collisions and this legislation gave the CAAs functions to a new independent body, the Federal Aviation Agency. The act transferred air safety regulation from the CAB to the new FAA, the FAAs first administrator, Elwood R. Quesada, was a former Air Force general and adviser to President Eisenhower
4.
Birmingham, Alabama
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Birmingham is the most populous city in the U. S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Jefferson County. The citys population was 212,237 in the 2010 United States Census, the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of about 1,128,047 according to the 2010 Census, which is approximately one quarter of Alabamas population. Birmingham was founded in 1871, during the post-Civil War Reconstruction period and it was named for Birmingham, England, one of the UKs major industrial cities. The Alabama city annexed smaller neighbors and developed as an industrial and railroad center, based on mining, the new iron and steel industry. Most of the settlers who founded Birmingham were of English ancestry. From its founding through the end of the 1960s, Birmingham was an industrial center of the southern United States. Its growth from 1881 through 1920 earned its nicknames as The Magic City and its major industries were iron and steel production, plus a major component of the railroading industry. Rails and railroad cars were manufactured in Birmingham. The two primary hubs of railroading in the Deep South have been nearby Atlanta and Birmingham, since the 1860s, the economy has diversified since industrial restructuring in the latter half of the 20th century. Banking, telecommunications, transportation, electrical transmission, medical care, college education. Except for coal mining, the industry has declined in the Birmingham area, Birmingham ranks as one of the most important business centers in the Southeastern United States and as one of the largest banking centers in the nation. In higher education, Birmingham has been the location of the University of Alabama School of Medicine, since that time it has also gained the University of Alabama at Birmingham, one of three main campuses of the University of Alabama System. It is also home to three institutions, Samford University, Birmingham-Southern College, and Miles College. In total, the Birmingham area has major colleges of medicine, dentistry, optometry, physical therapy, pharmacy, law, engineering, the city has three of the states five law schools, Cumberland School of Law, Birmingham School of Law, and Miles Law School. Birmingham is also the headquarters of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, and Southeastern Conference, Birmingham was founded on June 1,1871, by the Elyton Land Company, whose investors included cotton planters, bankers and railroad entrepreneurs. It sold lots near the crossing of the Alabama & Chattanooga and South & North Alabama railroads. The first business at that crossroads was the trading post and country store operated by Marre, the site of the railroad crossing was notable for its proximity to nearby deposits of iron ore, coal, and limestone – the three main raw materials used in making steel. Birmingham is the only place worldwide where significant amounts of all three minerals can be found in close proximity, from the start the new city was planned as a center of industry
5.
Airline hub
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Airline hubs or hub airports are used by one or more airliners to concentrate passenger traffic and flight operations at a given airport. They serve as points to get passengers to their final destination. It is part of the hub-and-spoke system, an airline operates flights from several non-hub cities to the hub airport, and passengers traveling between spoke cities need to connect through the hub. This paradigm creates economies of scale that allow an airline to serve city-pairs that could not be economically served on a non-stop basis. This system contrasts with the point-to-point model, in there are no hubs. Hub airports also serve origin and destination traffic, the hub-and-spoke system allows an airline to serve fewer routes, so fewer aircraft are needed. The system also increases passenger loads, a flight from a hub to a spoke carries not just passengers originating at the hub, additional employees and facilities are needed to cater to connecting passengers. To serve spoke cities of varying populations and demand, an airline requires several aircraft types, in addition, airlines may experience capacity constraints as they expand at their hub airports. For the passenger, the system offers one-stop air service to a wide array of destinations. However, having to make connections en route to their final destination increases travel time. Additionally, airlines can come to monopolise their hubs, allowing them to increase fares. Airlines may operate banks of flights at their hubs, in several flights arrive. The banks may be known as peaks of activity at the hubs, banking allows for short connection times for passengers. In addition, banking could result in inefficient aircraft utilisation, with aircraft waiting at spoke cities for the next bank, instead, some airlines have debanked their hubs, introducing a rolling hub in which flight arrivals and departures are spread throughout the day. This phenomenon is known as depeaking. While costs may decrease, connection times are longer at a rolling hub, American Airlines was the first to depeak its hubs, trying to improve profitability following the September 11 attacks. It rebanked its hubs in 2015, however, feeling the gain in connecting passengers would outweigh the rise in costs, the hub-and-spoke system is also used by some cargo airlines. FedEx Express established its main hub in Memphis in 1973, prior to the deregulation of the air industry in the United States
6.
AirMed International
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AirMed International, LLC, based in Birmingham, Alabama, is a fee for service air ambulance airline. The company was founded in 1987 as MEDjet International and renamed AirMed International in 2003, AirMed offers international service to all countries except for Iraq, North Korea, and Libya. The company formerly managed the fixed-wing component of Mayo MedAir, the air services for the Mayo Clinic. AirMed is also a carrier for the U. S. Department of Defense. AirMed holds accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems, more than 450 U. S. air ambulance programs utilize this free safety website, winner of the 2008 AAMS Excellence in Community Service Award. AirMed sells a pre-paid air ambulance membership for individuals and families known as AirMed Traveler, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama includes air medical benefits through AirMed for its members. In 2011, AirMed International was named Official Air Ambulance of INDYCAR, also in 2011, AirMed became a finalist for the award, Air Ambulance Provider of the Year, presented by the International Travel Insurance Journal. AirMed has two hubs around the world, with one main hub, the AirMed Hawker aircraft have the capability of transporting two patients simultaneously. AirMed performs neonatal, pediatric and adult transports and specialized ECMO transports
7.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
8.
Runway
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According to the International Civil Aviation Organization, a runway is a defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft. Runways may be a surface or a natural surface. Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally the magnetic azimuth of the heading in decadegrees. This heading differs from true north by the magnetic declination. A runway numbered 09 points east, runway 18 is south, runway 27 points west, when taking off from or landing on runway 09, a plane would be heading 90°. A runway can normally be used in both directions, and is named for each separately, e. g. runway 33 in one direction is runway 15 when used in the other. The two numbers usually differ by 18, Runway Zero Three Left becomes Runway Two One Right when used in the opposite direction. In some countries, if parallel runways are too close to each other, at large airports with four or more parallel runways some runway identifiers are shifted by 10 degrees to avoid the ambiguity that would result with more than three parallel runways. For example, in Los Angeles, this results in runways 6L, 6R, 7L. At Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, there are five parallel runways, named 17L, 17C, 17R, 18L, for clarity in radio communications, each digit in the runway name is pronounced individually, runway three six, runway one four, etc. A leading zero, for example in runway zero six or runway zero one left, is included for all ICAO, however, most U. S. civil aviation airports drop the leading zero as required by FAA regulation. This also includes some military airfields such as Cairns Army Airfield and this American anomaly may lead to inconsistencies in conversations between American pilots and controllers in other countries. It is very common in a such as Canada for a controller to clear an incoming American aircraft to, for example, runway 04. In flight simulation programs those of American origin might apply U. S. usage to airports around the world, for example, runway 05 at Halifax will appear on the program as the single digit 5 rather than 05. Runway designations change over time because the magnetic poles slowly drift on the Earths surface, depending on the airport location and how much drift takes place, it may be necessary over time to change the runway designation. As runways are designated with headings rounded to the nearest 10 degrees, for example, if the magnetic heading of a runway is 233 degrees, it would be designated Runway 23. If the magnetic heading changed downwards by 5 degrees to 228, if on the other hand the original magnetic heading was 226, and the heading decreased by only 2 degrees to 224, the runway should become Runway 22. Because the drift itself is slow, runway designation changes are uncommon
9.
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
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Tuscaloosa is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west central Alabama. Located on the Black Warrior River, it is the fifth-largest city in Alabama, Tuscaloosa is the regional center of industry, commerce, healthcare, and education for the area of west-central Alabama known as West Alabama. It is the city of the Tuscaloosa Metropolitan Statistical Area. Tuscaloosa is also the home of The University of Alabama, Stillman College, Tuscaloosa has been traditionally known as the Druid City because of the numerous water oaks planted in its downtown streets since the 1840s. The city has become well known nationally for the University of Alabamas success in sports. City leaders adopted the moniker The City of Champions after the Alabama Crimson Tide football team won the BCS National Championship in their 2009,2011, the Tide then went on to win the College Football Playoff in the 2015 season. In 2008, the City of Tuscaloosa hosted the USA Olympic Triathlon trials for the Beijing Games, nearly 12,000 years ago, Native Americans or Paleo-Indians arrived in what today is referred to as the Deep South. Paleo-Indians in the South were hunter-gatherers who pursued the megafauna that became extinct following the end of the Pleistocene age, after thousands of years, the Paleo-Indians developed a rich and complex agricultural society. Archaeologists called these people the Mississippians of the Mississippian culture, they were Mound Builders, descendant Native American tribes include the Creek. In 1828, Andrew Jackson was elected president of the United States and he had gained popularity when he defeated the Creek at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814, following victories in the War of 1812. He long proposed Indian removal to the Indian Territory west of the Mississippi, Jackson abandoned the policy of his predecessors of treating different Indian groups as separate nations. Instead, he pursued plans to move all Indian tribes living east of the Mississippi River. Most Muscogee-speaking peoples were removed to Indian Territory during the Trail of Tears in 1834, some Muscogee in Alabama live near Poarch Creek Reservation in Atmore. The pace of settlement in the Southeast increased greatly after the War of 1812. In 1817, Alabama became a territory, and on December 13,1819, from 1826 to 1846, Tuscaloosa was the capital of Alabama. During this period, in 1831, the University of Alabama was established, the towns population and economy grew rapidly until the departure of the capital to Montgomery caused a rapid decline in population. Establishment of the Bryce State Hospital for the Insane in Tuscaloosa in the 1850s helped restore the citys fortunes, during the Civil War following Alabamas secession from the Union, several thousand men from Tuscaloosa fought in the Confederate armies. During the last weeks of the War, a brigade of Union troops raiding the city burned the campus of the university, the larger town was also damaged in the battle and shared fully in the Souths economic sufferings which followed the defeat
10.
Jefferson County, Alabama
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Jefferson County is the most populous county in the state of Alabama, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 658,466 and its county seat is Birmingham, which is also the most populous city in the state. Its growth as a city in the 20th century established its dominance. Jefferson County is included in the Birmingham-Hoover, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area, in 2011 Jefferson County was $4 billion in debt and declared bankruptcy. The financial problems were related to costs of a sewer project. Corruption was found among six county commissioners and 15 other officials who were convicted of accepting bribes and this was the largest Chapter 9 bankruptcy in the United States, until it was surpassed by that of Detroit, Michigan in 2013. Jefferson County emerged from bankruptcy in December 2013, following the approval of a plan by the United States bankruptcy court for the Northern District of Alabama. Jefferson County was established on December 13,1819, by the Alabama Legislature and it was named in honor of President Thomas Jefferson. The county is located in the portion of the state. It is in the center of the iron, coal, Jefferson County has a land area of about 1,119 square miles. Early county seats were established first at Carrollsville, then Elyton, founded about 1871, Birmingham was named for the industrial English city of the same name in Warwickshire. That city had long been a center of iron and steel production in Great Britain, Birmingham was formed by the merger of three towns, including Elyton. It has continued to grow by annexing neighboring towns and villages, as Birmingham industrialized, its growth accelerated, particularly after 1890. It attracted numerous rural migrants, both black and white, for its new jobs, despite the citys rapid growth, for decades it was underrepresented in the legislature. Legislators from rural counties kept control the legislature and, to avoid losing power, Birmingham could not get its urban needs addressed by the legislature. Racial tensions increased in the city and state in the late 19th century as whites worked to maintain white supremacy, the white, conservative Democrat-dominated legislature passed a new constitution in 1901 that disenfranchised most blacks and many poor whites, excluding them totally from the political system. Economic competition among the new workers in the city also raised tensions, in a study of lynchings in the South from 1877 to 1950, Jefferson County is documented as having the highest number of lynchings of any county in Alabama. White mobs committed 29 lynchings in the county, most around the turn of the century at a time of political suppression of blacks in the state
11.
Interstate 20
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Interstate 20 is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the Southern United States. I‑20 runs 1,535 miles beginning near Kent, Texas, at I-10 to Florence, South Carolina, between Texas and South Carolina, I‑20 runs through northern Louisiana, central Mississippi, western and north-central Alabama, and north-central Georgia. I‑20 intersects seven of the ten primary north–south Interstates and also the east-west Interstates 10 and 30, from its terminus at I‑95, the highway continues about 2 miles eastward into the city of Florence as Business Spur 20. I-20 begins 10 miles east of Kent at a fork with I-10, from there, the highway travels east-northeastward through Odessa, Midland, and Abilene before turning eastward towards Dallas/Fort Worth. The La Entrada al Pacifico corridor runs along I-20 between U. S. Route 385 and Farm to Market Road 1788, between Monahans and I-10, I-20 has an 80 miles per hour speed limit. From the highways opening in the 1960s through 1971, I-20 originally went through the heart of the Metroplex via the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike and this old route is now signed I-30, US80 and Texas Spur 557. In 1987, I-20 was rerouted to go through the sections of Fort Worth, Arlington, Grand Prairie, Dallas. Part of I-20 in Dallas is named the Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway, I-20 continues eastward from Terrell, bypassing Tyler, Marshall, and Longview, before crossing the Louisiana border near Waskom. In Louisiana, I-20 roughly parallels U. S. Route 80 through the part of the state. From that area, the highway traverses rural, hilly terrain, bypassing Minden, Ruston. From Monroe, I-20 enters flatter terrain as it approaches the Mississippi River, before crossing the Mississippi, the highway passes Tallulah. At the Mississippi River, I-20 leaves Louisiana and enters Vicksburg, upon entering Mississippi by crossing the Mississippi River, I-20 immediately enters Vicksburg. Between Edwards and Clinton, the highway follows the original two-lane routing of US80. In Jackson, I-20 sees a short concurrency with both I-55 and US49, also in Jackson is an unusually expansive stack interchange, at the junction of I-20, I-55 North and US49 South. The interchange replaces a former interchange at I-55 North and a cloverleaf at Highway 49. From the Stack, I-20 continues eastward to Meridian, where it begins the nearly 160-mile overlap with I-59, the route of the Mississippi section of I-20 is defined in Mississippi Code § 65-3-3. I-20 crosses the Alabama state line near York, and it stays conjoined as it passes through western Alabama, at Birmingham, the two highways pass through downtown together before splitting at Exit 130 just east of the Birmingham airport. I-20 continues eastward through Oxford/Anniston, Alabama, and the Talladega National Forest, passing by the Talladega Superspeedway in the process, I-20 enters Georgia near Tallapoosa and after passing through western Georgia, it enters the Atlanta metropolitan area
12.
Interstate 59
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Interstate 59 is a north–south Interstate Highway in the southern United States. The highways major purpose is to connect Chattanooga, Tennessee, and points north, with New Orleans via Birmingham, along its entire route, I-59 is parallel to U. S. Route 11. I-59 is a freeway along its entire route except for some portions north of Tuscaloosa, Alabama and in the Birmingham, Alabama, metropolitan area. About a third of the route overlaps with Interstate 20 between Birmingham, Alabama and Meridian, Mississippi. In the U. S. state of Louisiana, I-59 is shorter than it is in any state, Alabama, Mississippi. From south-to-north, I-59 begins at its junction with I-10 and I-12 near Slidell, then it bypasses Pearl River before crossing the West Pearl River and then the East Pearl River. At the East Pearl River, I-59 leaves St. Tammany Parish and it enters Pearl River County, for its length in Mississippi, I-59 either travels concurrent with, or runs close to, US11. Between the towns of Pearl River and Picayune, US11 travels concurrent with I-59, the highway also has concurrencies with US98 in Hattiesburg, US84 and Mississippi Highway 15 in Laurel, and US80, US11, and MS19 in the Meridian area. A notoriously sharp S-curve, at milepost 96 in Laurel, was the subject of a reconstruction project. This work was completed in 2009, just west of Meridian, I-20 joins I-59 and these two highways continue together for 145 miles, across the border with Alabama to and through Birmingham. The exit numbers are given as those of I-59, at 4,00 p. m. on August 27,2005, for the first time in its history, the southbound lanes of I-59 were temporarily redirected northward to accommodate evacuation for Hurricane Katrina. This was a previously agreed to joint plan by the states of Mississippi, the program began at the Louisiana–Mississippi state line and continued 21 miles north to Poplarville. I-59 and I-20 travel together for about 40 percent of their route through Alabama, in Birmingham, many wrecks and accidents occur near the cross-over interchange of I-20/I-59 and I-65. On two occasions, 18-wheelers crashed and burned fiercely enough to melt the support beams of overpasses, beginning in eastern Birmingham, I-59 continues on its own northeast, passing by Gadsden and Fort Payne in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, before entering Georgia. I-59 from Gadsden at mile marker 182 to Stephens Gap at mile marker 193 had degraded over the decades since it was opened into a concrete highway. Between 2010 and 2014, a project called Project 59 took place between Gadsden and Fort Payne. This project consisted of reconstructing the Interstate Highway with unbonded concrete as well as modifications to the width, I-59 has a short trek through Georgia, with only three exits before ending at I-24 several miles west of Chattanooga, Tennessee, in Wildwood, Georgia. Within Georgia it carries unsigned designated as State Route 406 for internal Georgia Department of Transportation purposes, i-359 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama I-459 in Birmingham, Alabama I-759 in Gadsden, Alabama U. S
13.
Alabama
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Alabama is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Alabama is the 30th-most extensive and the 24th-most populous of the U. S. states. At nearly 1,500 miles, Alabama has one of the nations longest navigable inland waterways, Alabama is nicknamed the Yellowhammer State, after the state bird. Alabama is also known as the Heart of Dixie and the Cotton State, the state tree is the longleaf pine, and the state flower is the camellia. The largest city by population is Birmingham, which has long been the most industrialized city, the oldest city is Mobile, founded by French colonists in 1702 as the capital of French Louisiana. From the American Civil War until World War II, Alabama, like many states in the southern U. S. suffered economic hardship, like other southern states, Alabama legislators disenfranchised African Americans and many poor whites at the turn of the century. Following World War II, Alabama grew as the economy changed from one primarily based on agriculture to one with diversified interests. The state economy in the 21st century is based on management, automotive, finance, manufacturing, aerospace, mineral extraction, healthcare, education, retail, in the Alabama language, the word for a person of Alabama lineage is Albaamo. The word Alabama is believed to have come from the Alabama language, the words spelling varies significantly among historical sources. As early as 1702, the French called the tribe the Alibamon, other spellings of the name have included Alibamu, Alabamo, Albama, Alebamon, Alibama, Alibamou, Alabamu, Allibamou. Sources disagree on the words meaning, some scholars suggest the word comes from the Choctaw alba and amo. The meaning may have been clearers of the thicket or herb gatherers, the state has numerous place names of Native American origin. However, there are no correspondingly similar words in the Alabama language, an 1842 article in the Jacksonville Republican proposed it meant Here We Rest. This notion was popularized in the 1850s through the writings of Alexander Beaufort Meek, experts in the Muskogean languages have not found any evidence to support such a translation. Indigenous peoples of varying cultures lived in the area for thousands of years before the advent of European colonization, trade with the northeastern tribes by the Ohio River began during the Burial Mound Period and continued until European contact. The agrarian Mississippian culture covered most of the state from 1000 to 1600 AD, with one of its major centers built at what is now the Moundville Archaeological Site in Moundville, Alabama. This is the second-largest complex of the classic Middle Mississippian era, after Cahokia in present-day Illinois, Analysis of artifacts from archaeological excavations at Moundville were the basis of scholars formulating the characteristics of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. Contrary to popular belief, the SECC appears to have no links to Mesoamerican culture
14.
Instrument landing system
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An instrument landing system enables aircraft to land if the pilots are unable to establish visual contact with the runway. It does this by way of transmitted radio signals, an instrument approach procedure chart is published for each ILS approach to provide the information needed to fly an ILS approach during instrument flight rules operations. A chart includes the frequencies used by the ILS components or navaids. An aircraft approaching a runway is guided by the ILS receivers in the aircraft by performing modulation depth comparisons, many aircraft can route signals into the autopilot to fly the approach automatically. An ILS consists of two independent sub-systems, the localizer provides lateral guidance, the glide slope provides vertical guidance. A localizer is an antenna array normally located beyond the end of the runway. Due to the complexity of ILS localizer and glide slope systems, localizer systems are sensitive to obstructions in the signal broadcast area, such as large buildings or hangars. Glide slope systems are limited by the terrain in front of the glide slope antennas. If terrain is sloping or uneven, reflections can create an uneven glidepath, additionally, since the ILS signals are pointed in one direction by the positioning of the arrays, glide slope supports only straight-line approaches with a constant angle of descent. Installation of an ILS can be costly because of siting criteria, ILS critical areas and ILS sensitive areas are established to avoid hazardous reflections that would affect the radiated signal. The location of these areas can prevent aircraft from using certain taxiways leading to delays in takeoffs, increased hold times. Instrument guidance system - a modified ILS to accommodate a non-straight approach, in addition to the previously mentioned navigational signals, the localizer provides for ILS facility identification by periodically transmitting a 1,020 Hz Morse code identification signal. For example, the ILS for runway 4R at John F. Kennedy International Airport transmits IJFK to identify itself and this lets users know the facility is operating normally and that they are tuned to the correct ILS. The glide slope station transmits no identification signal, so ILS equipment relies on the localizer for identification and it is essential that any failure of the ILS to provide safe guidance be detected immediately by the pilot. To achieve this, monitors continually assess the characteristics of the transmissions. If any significant deviation beyond strict limits is detected, either the ILS is automatically switched off or the navigation and identification components are removed from the carrier, either of these actions will activate an indication on the instruments of an aircraft using the ILS. Modern localizer antennas are highly directional, however, usage of older, less directional antennas allows a runway to have a non-precision approach called a localizer back course. This lets aircraft land using the signal transmitted from the back of the localizer array, highly directional antennas do not provide a sufficient signal to support a back course
15.
Fred Shuttlesworth
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Frederick Lee Fred Shuttlesworth, was a U. S. civil rights activist who led the fight against segregation and other forms of racism as a minister in Birmingham, Alabama. He returned to Birmingham after his retirement in 2007 and he helped Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement. The Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport was named in his honor in 2008, in May 1956 Shuttlesworth and Ed Gardner established the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights to take up the work formerly done by the NAACP. The ACMHR raised almost all of its funds from sources at mass meetings. It used both litigation and direct action to pursue its goals, when the authorities ignored the ACMHRs demand that the City hire black police officers, the organization sued. On December 25,1956, unknown persons tried to kill Shuttlesworth by placing sixteen sticks of dynamite under his bedroom window, Shuttlesworth somehow escaped unhurt even though his house was heavily damaged. A police officer, who belonged to the Ku Klux Klan, told Shuttlesworth as he came out of his home. Shuttlesworth told him to tell the Klan that he was not leaving, the SCLC adopted a motto to underscore its commitment to nonviolence, Not one hair of one head of one person should be harmed. He alienated some members of his congregation by devoting as much time as he did to the movement at the expense of weddings, funerals, as a result, in 1961 Shuttlesworth moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, to take up the pastorage of the Revelation Baptist Church. He remained intensely involved in the Birmingham campaign after moving to Cincinnati, Shuttlesworth was apparently personally fearless, even though he was aware of the risks he ran. Other committed activists were scared off or mystified by his willingness to accept the risk of death, Shuttlesworth himself vowed to kill segregation or be killed by it. His assailants included Bobby Frank Cherry, who six years later was involved in the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing, the mob beat Shuttlesworth with chains and brass knuckles in the street while someone stabbed his wife. Shuttlesworth drove himself and his wife to the hospital where he told his kids to always forgive, in 1958, Shuttlesworth survived another attempt on his life. A church member standing guard saw a bomb and quickly moved it to the street before it went off, Shuttlesworth participated in the sit-ins against segregated lunch counters in 1960 and took part in the organization and completion of the Freedom Rides in 1961. Shuttlesworth originally warned that Alabama was extremely volatile when he was consulted before the Freedom Rides began, however, the planners of the Rides were undeterred and decided to continue preparing. Shuttlesworth mobilized some of his clergy to assist the rides. After the Riders were badly beaten and nearly killed in Birmingham and Anniston during the Rides and he himself had been brutalized earlier in the day and had faced down the threat of being thrown out of the hospital by the hospital superintendent. Shuttlesworth took in the Freedom Riders at the Bethel Baptist Church, the violence in Anniston and Birmingham almost led to a quick end to the Freedom Rides
16.
Birmingham campaign
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Led by Martin Luther King Jr. In the early 1960s, Birmingham was one of the most racially divided cities in the United States, Black citizens faced legal and economic disparities, and violent retribution when they attempted to draw attention to their problems. Martin Luther King Jr. called it the most segregated city in the country, when local business and governmental leaders resisted the boycott, SCLC agreed to assist. Organizer Wyatt Tee Walker joined Birmingham activist Shuttlesworth and began what they called Project C, when the campaign ran low on adult volunteers, James Bevel, SCLCs Director Direct Action, thought of the idea of having students become the main demonstrators in the Birmingham campaign. Not all of the bystanders were peaceful, despite the intentions of SCLC to hold a completely nonviolent walk. King and the SCLC drew both criticism and praise for allowing children to participate and put themselves in harms way, the Birmingham campaign was a model of nonviolent direct action protest and, through the media, drew the worlds attention to racial segregation in the South. Birmingham, Alabama was, in 1963, probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States, Black secretaries could not work for white professionals. Jobs available to blacks were limited to labor in Birminghams steel mills, work in household service and yard maintenance. When layoffs were necessary, black employees were often the first to go, the unemployment rate for blacks was two and a half times higher than for whites. The average income for blacks in the city was less than half that of whites, significantly lower pay scales for black workers at the local steel mills were common. Racial segregation of public and commercial facilities throughout Jefferson County was legally required, covered all aspects of life, only 10 percent of the citys black population was registered to vote in 1960. In addition, Birminghams economy was stagnating as the city was shifting from blue collar to white collar jobs, according to Time magazine in 1958, the only thing white workers had to gain from desegregation was more competition from black workers. Fifty unsolved racially motivated bombings between 1945 and 1962 had earned the city the nickname Bombingham, a neighborhood shared by white and black families experienced so many attacks that it was called Dynamite Hill. Black churches in which rights were discussed became specific targets for attack. Birminghams black population began to organize to effect change, when the courts overturned the segregation of the citys parks, the city responded by closing them. Shuttlesworths home was bombed, as was Bethel Baptist Church. After Shuttlesworth was arrested and jailed for violating the citys segregation rules in 1962, Hanes responded with a letter informing Shuttlesworth that his petition had been thrown in the garbage. Looking for outside help, Shuttlesworth invited Martin Luther King Jr. and the SCLC to Birmingham, saying, If you come to Birmingham, you not only gain prestige
17.
Southern Museum of Flight
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The Southern Museum of Flight is a civilian aviation museum Birmingham, Alabama USA. The facility features nearly 100 aircraft, as well as engines, models, artifacts, photographs, in addition, the Southern Museum of Flight is home to the Alabama Aviation Hall of Fame, which presents Alabama Aviation History through collective biography. The Lake Murray B-25C Mitchell bomber crashed in South Carolina during a 1943 training exercise, the right engine was torn off during the crash but the crew was able to escape unharmed before she sank to a depth of 150 feet. The aircraft became a site for local technical divers until she was raised from the depths of the lake in September 2005. Dr. Bob Seigler who spearheaded the project, John Hodge and Dr. Bill Vartorella, after recovery the remains of the aircraft were moved to the Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham, Alabama for conservation and museum display. A video crew, including maritime video experts Nautilus Productions Rick Allen and Ric Hase, featured on display is a diorama exhibit honoring Alabama’s famed Tuskegee Airmen, as well as the Korean War Jets Exhibit and Vietnam War Helicopters Exhibit. Barsanti, B. J. Interview with James T. Griffin, the History of the Southern Museum of Flight, SMF Trustee Manual,15 May 2004
18.
Barber Motorsports Park
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The Barber Motorsports Park is a 740 acres multi-purpose racing facility located in Leeds, Alabama. It was built by George W. Barber, and includes the Barber Vintage Motorsport Museum and it has been the site of the IndyCar Series Grand Prix of Alabama since the 2010 season. Barber is also the home of the North American Porsche Driving School, the park, which opened in 2003, has a 16-turn,2. 38-mile road course, designed by Alan Wilson, viewable from several naturally wooded or grass-covered banks. The track is designed to be run clockwise, the layout is compact, with a number of elevation changes. The pit lane is to the outside of the track, parallel to the front stretch, two cutoff turns, which are barricaded when not in use, allow the track to be shortened for club events or testing sessions. During the 2012 off season, much of the surface was ground using a diamond grinder. This will prolong the life of the surface as well as add grip for the cars. The track is unusual in having no general-access spectator seating at the start/finish line, the area outside of the front stretch, bounded by the track on three sides, is occupied by the multi-level paddock. A building along the front stretch, between start/finish and turn 1, houses a center, a race control area, track offices, garages. The main spectator area is along the stretch, between turns 8 and 11, here spectators can watch from embankments, or from temporary grandstands erected for race weekends. From this area, most of the course, except for turns 2/3, a food and souvenir vending area is located behind the grandstands in the vicinity of turns 9/10. Additional spectator areas are outside of turns 2 &3, there is generally no spectator access to the infield. An RV park and camping area is located atop a hill behind the paddock, the track has hosted numerous motorsport races including Grand-Am, Vintage Racing Series events, and AMA Superbike. It serves as the home of the Porsche Sport Driving School and it also hosts the Keith Code California Superbike School and the Jamie James Yamaha Champions Riding School. Barber is noted for its landscaping and greenery, the track has been referred to as The Augusta National of Motorsports, the IndyCar Series had tests at Barber in 2007 and 2009. The track had also nominated by the FIA as the official test track for the now-closed down US F1 Team. The infield of the track has a number of sculptures, including a series of large steel spiders and dragonflies, a pair of lions. HealthSouth Corporation, based in Birmingham, donated its Pulling the Wagon statue to the park in 2009, the statue used to sit at the front of HealthSouths Corporate Headquarters on Highway 280
19.
Delta Air Lines
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Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a major American airline, with its headquarters and largest hub at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. Regional service is operated under the brand name Delta Connection, One of the five remaining legacy carriers, Delta is the sixth-oldest operating airline by foundation date, and the oldest airline still operating in the United States. The companys history can be traced back to Huff Daland Dusters, founded in 1924 in Macon, Georgia as a crop dusting operation. The company moved to Monroe, Louisiana, and was later renamed Delta Air Services, in reference to the nearby Mississippi Delta region, among predecessors of todays Delta Air Lines, Western Airlines and Northwest Airlines began flying passengers in 1926 and 1927, respectively. In 2013, Delta Air Lines was the worlds largest airline in terms of scheduled passengers carried, Delta Air Lines began as a crop dusting operation called Huff Daland Dusters, Incorporated. The company was founded on May 30,1924 in Macon, Georgia and they flew a Huff-Daland Duster, the first true crop duster, designed to combat the boll weevil infestation of cotton crops. Collett E. Woolman, one of the directors, purchased the company on September 13,1928. Service began on June 17,1929 with the flight between Dallas, Texas and Jackson, Mississippi. Delta moved its headquarters to its current location in Atlanta in 1941, and continued to grow through the addition of routes and they replaced propeller planes with jets in the 1960s and entered international competition to Europe in the 1970s and across the Pacific in the 1980s. Deltas more recent history is marked by its emergence from bankruptcy on April 25,2007, the merger was announced April 14,2008, and was set to create the worlds largest airline. After approval of the merger on October 29,2008, Northwest continued to operate as an owned subsidiary of Delta until December 31,2009 when both carriers operating certificates were merged. Delta completed the integration with Northwest on January 31,2010 when their reservation systems and websites were combined, Delta Air Lines as it exists today is the result of numerous mergers over its history. Predecessor carriers forming the current Delta Air Lines include, Chicago, Delta flew under the carrier name of Delta-C&S for the following two years. After successfully introducing 50-seat planes into the United States, it was acquired by Delta in October 1999, Comair became the main carrier of Delta Connection and operated over 400 daily flights from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport throughout the U. S. Mexico, and Caribbean. Comair ceased operations on September 29,2012, and was folded into Delta Connection operations, Delta Express began service in October 1996 in an attempt by Delta to compete with low cost airlines on leisure-oriented routes. Its main base of operations was Orlando International Airport and it used Boeing 737–200 aircraft and it ceased operations in November 2003 after Song was established. Song began service on April 15,2003 as an airline operated by Delta to compete directly with JetBlue Airways from both airlines hub at New York–JFK. While the brand was considered an addition to the Northeast-to-Florida market
20.
Travel Air
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The Travel Air Manufacturing Company was an aircraft manufacturer established in Wichita, Kansas, United States in January 1925 by Clyde Cessna, Walter Beech, and Lloyd Stearman. The company initially built a series of sporting and training open-cockpit biplanes, including the Model A, Model B, Model BH, other types included the 5000 and 6000 high wing cabin monoplanes and the CW /7000 mailplane. A second, backup D4D, N434P, used by Pepsi in later years to supplement and fill-in for the aircraft, is housed in the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos. N434P is the aircraft pictured at right, the Travel Air 5000 was a Clyde Cessna designed aircraft ordered in small numbers for National Air Transport. Two were custom-built long-range endurance aircraft similar in concept to Charles Lindberghs Spirit of St. Louis, woolaroc, flown by Art Gobel won the disastrous Dole Air Race from Oakland, California to Hawaii in which the majority of contestants disappeared at sea or otherwise died attempting the crossing. Travel Air then produced the model 6000, a five or six-seat high-wing cabin monoplane intended for airline use, in 1928, National Air Transport operated the Type 6000 on their mail and passenger routes from Chicago to Dallas, Kansas City and New York. Two Travel Air 6000 were purchased by the Paraguayan government during the Chaco War for the Transport Squadron of its Air Arm and these planes belonged to TAT with the registrations NC624K and NC9815, They received the military serials T-2 and T-5. The planes were used during the conflict as air ambulances. They both survived the war and continued flying in the air arm, in 1945, they were transferred to the first Paraguayan airline, Líneas Aéreas de Transporte Nacional and received the civil registrations ZP-SEC and ZP-SED. They were withdrawn from use in 1947, the CH or 7000 found little success but ended up in Alaska as an early bushplane with an enclosed cabin for the cargo or passengers. Unfortunately the pilot was not given the protection of the cabin, Travel Air was also responsible for a series of very successful racing aircraft, which due to Travel Air being extremely secretive, were named Mystery Ships by the press. The Mystery Ships dominated the circuit for several years and had the distinction of being faster than anything the U. S. military had on strength. Its renown led to one example being sold to the Italians which inspired the design of a racing aircraft, Travel Air merged with the Curtiss-Wright Corporation in August 1929. Curtiss-Wright continued to some of the Travel Air designs though they were renumbered again so that the 4000 became the 4. Additional types that had close to production number from 8 to 16 were built while under Curtiss-Wright management such as the Curtiss-Wright CW-12. Which in various marks was sold to several South American countries, one of the founders of Travel Air was Walter H. Beech who quit shortly after it was amalgamated into Curtiss Wright, in August 1929, the first Womens Air Derby was held. Of the 20 entrants in the Womens Air Derby, otherwise known as the Powder Puff Derby, seven flew Travel Airs and it was Louise Thaden who won the Santa Monica, Calif. to Cleveland race
21.
Dallas Love Field
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Dallas Love Field is a city-owned public airport 6 miles northwest of downtown Dallas, Texas. It was Dallas main airport until 1974 when Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport opened, the corporate headquarters for Southwest Airlines is located at Love Field. The airport is also a city for Southwest as well as for Virgin America. Seven full-service fixed-base operators provide general aviation service, fuel, maintenance, hangar rentals, some also provide meeting rooms, car rentals, limousine service and restaurants. His Wright Model C biplane crashed during practice for his Military Aviator Test, Love Field was named by the United States Army on October 19,1917. The airfield was one of thirty-two new Air Service fields and it was constructed just southeast of Bachman Lake, and it covered over 700 acres and could accommodate up to 1,000 personnel. Dozens of wooden buildings served as headquarters, maintenance, and officers’ quarters, enlisted men had to bivouac in tents. Love Field served as a base for training for the United States Army Air Service. In 1917, flight training occurred in two phases, primary and advanced, primary training took eight weeks and consisted of pilots learning basic flight skills under dual and solo instruction. After completion of their training at Love Field, flight cadets were then transferred to another base for advanced training. After officially opening on October 19,1917, the first unit stationed at Love Field was the 136th Aero Squadron, which was transferred from Kelly Field, south of San Antonio, Texas. Only a few U. S. Army Air Service aircraft arrived with the 136th Aero Squadron and it was assigned to the Aviation Repair Depot, Dallas Texas in April 1918. It was demobilized in March 1919, with the sudden end of World War I in November 1918, the future operational status of Love Field was unknown. Many local officials speculated that the U. S. government would keep the open because of the outstanding combat record established by Love-trained pilots in Europe. Locals also pointed to the weather conditions in the Dallas area for flight training. Cadets in flight training on November 11,1918, were allowed to complete their training, however, also the separate training squadrons were consolidated into a single Flying School detachment, as many of the personnel assigned were being demobilized. In what was called the largest recruiting mission in the spring and summer of 1919, clagett began with seven DH-4s departing Dallas and flying as far as Boston. A small caretaker unit was assigned to the facility for administrative reasons, in January 1921, 1st Lt William D
22.
American Airlines
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American Airlines, Inc. commonly referred to as American, is a major American airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. It is the worlds largest airline measured by fleet size, revenue, scheduled passenger-kilometres flown. Regional service is operated by independent and subsidiary carriers under the name of American Eagle. American operates out of ten located in Dallas/Fort Worth, Charlotte, Chicago-OHare, Philadelphia, Miami, Phoenix, Washington, DC-National, Los Angeles, New York-JFK. American operates its primary base at Tulsa International Airport in addition to the maintenance locations located at its hubs. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is Americans largest passenger carrying hub handling 51.1 million passengers annually with an average of 140,000 passengers daily, the company as of 2015 employs over 113,300 people. Through the airlines parent company, American Airlines Group, it is traded under NASDAQ. American Airlines was started in 1930 via a union of more than eighty small airlines, the two organizations from which American Airlines was originated were Robertson Aircraft Corporation and Colonial Air Transport. The former was first formed in Missouri in 1921, with both being merged in 1929 into holding company The Aviation Corporation and this in turn, was made in 1930 into an operating company and rebranded as American Airways. In 1934, when new laws and attrition of mail contracts forced many airlines to reorganize, the corporation redid its routes into a connected system, between 1970 and 2000, the company grew into being an international carrier, purchasing Trans World Airlines in 2001. In 2011, due to a downturn in the airline industry, in 2013, US Airways and American Airlines merged. Eventually operations were merged under one operating certificate to create the largest United States airline which kept the American Airlines brand name, American Airlines is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, adjacent to the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The headquarters is located in two buildings in the CentrePort office complex and these buildings together have about 1,400,000 square feet of space. As of 2014 over 4,300 employees work at this complex, before it was headquartered in Texas, American Airlines was headquartered at 633 Third Avenue in the Murray Hill area of Midtown Manhattan, New York City. In 1979 American moved its headquarters to a site at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Mayor of New York City Ed Koch described the move as a betrayal of New York City. American moved to two leased office buildings in Grand Prairie, Texas, the airline began leasing the facility from the airport, which owns the facility. As of 2015 American Airlines is the corporation with the largest presence in Fort Worth, in 2015 the airline announced it will build a new headquarters in Fort Worth. Groundbreaking began in the spring of 2016 and occupancy is scheduled for summer 2019, the airline plans to house 5,000 new workers in the building
23.
Ford Tri-Motor
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The Ford Trimotor is an American three-engined transport aircraft. Production started in 1925 by the companies of Henry Ford and ended June 7,1933, a total of 199 Ford Trimotors were made. It was designed for the aviation market, but also saw service with military units. The Ford Trimotor was sold around the world, in the early 1920s, Henry Ford, along with a group of 19 other investors including his son Edsel, invested in the Stout Metal Airplane Company. Stout raised $20,000, including $1,000 each from Edsel, in 1925, Ford bought Stout and its aircraft designs. The single-engined Stout design was turned into a design, the Stout 3-AT with three Curtiss-Wright air-cooled radial engines. After a prototype was built and test-flown with poor results, and a fire caused the complete destruction of all previous designs. The Ford Trimotor using all-metal construction was not a revolutionary concept, the aircraft resembled the Fokker F. VII Trimotor. All of these were constructed of aluminum alloy, which was corrugated for added stiffness, so similar were the designs that Junkers sued and won when Ford attempted to export an aircraft to Europe. In 1930, Ford countersued in Prague, and despite the possibility of anti-German sentiment, was defeated a second time. Although designed primarily for use, the Trimotor could be easily adapted for hauling cargo. To increase cargo capacity, one feature was the provision of drop-down cargo holds below the lower inner wing sections of the 5-AT version. One 4-AT with Wright J-4 200-hp engines was built for the U. S. Army Air Corps as the C-3, the latter were upgraded to Wright R-975-1 radials at 300 hp and redesignated C-9. Five 5-ATs were built as C-4s or C-4As, the original 4-AT had three air-cooled Wright radial engines. It carried a crew of three, a pilot, a copilot, and a stewardess, as well as eight or nine passengers, the later 5-AT had more powerful Pratt & Whitney engines. All models had an aluminum corrugated sheet-metal body and wings, unlike many aircraft of this era, extending through World War II, its control surfaces were not fabric-covered, but were also made of corrugated metal. As was common for the time, its rudder and elevators were actuated by wires that were strung along the surface of the aircraft. Engine gauges were mounted externally, on the engines, to be read by the pilot while looking through the aircraft windshield
24.
Eastern Air Lines
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Eastern Air Lines was a major American airline from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an area of Miami-Dade County. Eastern was one of the Big Four domestic airlines created by the Spoils Conferences of 1930 and it had a near monopoly in air travel between New York and Florida from the 1930s and 1940s and dominated this market for decades afterward. Labor disputes and high debt loads strained the company in the late 1970s, Frank Lorenzo acquired Eastern in 1985 and moved many of its assets to his other airlines, including Continental Airlines and Texas Air. After continued labor disputes and a strike in 1989, Eastern ran out of money and was liquidated in 1991. USAir acquired 11 of Easterns 25 Boeing 757-225s, Eastern pioneered hourly air shuttle service between New York City, Washington, DC and Boston in 1961 as the Eastern Air Lines Shuttle. It took over the South American route network of Braniff International in 1982 and also served London, Eastern Air Lines was a composite of assorted air travel corporations, including Florida Airways and Pitcairn Aviation. In the late 1920s, Pitcairn Aviation won a contract to fly mail between New York City and Atlanta, Georgia on Mailwing single-engine aircraft, in 1929, Clement Keys, the owner of North American Aviation, purchased Pitcairn. In 1930, Keys changed the name to Eastern Air Transport. After being purchased by General Motors and experiencing a change in leadership after the Airmail Act of 1934, in 1938 World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker bought Eastern from General Motors. The complex deal was concluded when Rickenbacker presented Alfred P. Sloan with a check for $3.5 million. In March 1939 Eastern had 15 weekday departures from Newark, two from Chicago to Miami, one from Tampa to Atlanta and one from Tallahassee to Memphis and those flights and their returns were Easterns whole scheduled operation. It fit on one page in the Airways Guide, then as later, Eastern was the fourth largest airline in the country by passenger-miles. Rickenbacker pushed Eastern into a period of growth and innovation, for a time, Eastern was the most profitable airline in the post-war era, never needing state subsidy. In the late 1950s, Easterns position was eroded by subsidies to rival airlines, on October 1,1959, Rickenbackers position as CEO was taken over by Malcolm A. MacIntyre, a brilliant lawyer but inexperienced in airline operations. Rickenbackers ouster was due to his reluctance to acquire jets. Like many others, he underestimated their appeal to the public, a new management team headed by Floyd D. Hall took over on 16 December 1963, and Rickenbacker left his position as Director and Chairman of the Board on December 31,1963, aged 73. In 1956 Eastern bought Colonial Airlines, giving the airline its first routes to Canada, in November 1959, Eastern Air Lines opened its Chester L. Churchill-designed Terminal 1 at New York Citys Idlewild International Airport
25.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
26.
United States Army Air Forces
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Each of these forces had a commanding general who reported directly to the Army Chief of Staff. S. Army to control its own installations and support personnel, the peak size of the AAF during the Second World War was over 2.4 million men and women in service and nearly 80,000 aircraft by 1944, and 783 domestic bases in December 1943. By V-E Day, the Army Air Forces had 1.25 million men stationed overseas, in its expansion and conduct of the war, the AAF became more than just an arm of the greater organization. By the end of World War II, the Army Air Forces had become virtually an independent service and this contrast between theory and fact is. fundamental to an understanding of the AAF. Gen. Billy Mitchell that led to his later court-martial, a strategy stressing precision bombing of industrial targets by heavily armed, long-range bombers emerged, formulated by the men who would become its leaders. Since 1920, control of units had resided with commanders of the corps areas. Both were created in 1933 when a conflict with Cuba seemed possible following a coup détat. Activation of GHQ Air Force represented a compromise between strategic airpower advocates and ground force commanders who demanded that the Air Corps mission remain tied to that of the land forces. GHQ Air Force organized combat groups administratively into a force of three wings deployed to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts but was small in comparison to European air forces. Corps area commanders continued to control over airfields and administration of personnel. The expected activation of Army General Headquarters prompted Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall to request a study from Chief of the Air Corps Maj. Gen. Henry H. Arnold resulting on 5 October 1940 in a proposal for creation of an air staff, unification of the air arm under one commander, and equality with the ground and supply forces. Marshall implemented a compromise that the Air Corps found entirely inadequate, naming Arnold as acting Deputy Chief of Staff for Air but rejecting all organizational points of his proposal. GHQ Air Force instead was assigned to the control of Army General Headquarters, although the latter was a training and not an operational component, when it was activated in November 1940. A division of the GHQ Air Force into four air defense districts on 19 October 1940 was concurrent with the creation of air forces to defend Hawaii. The air districts were converted in March 1941 into numbered air forces with an organization of 54 groups. Marshall had come to the view that the air forces needed a simpler system, Arnold and Marshall agreed that the AAF would enjoy a general autonomy within the War Department until the end of the war, while its commanders would cease lobbying for independence. Marshall, a proponent of airpower, left understood that the Air Force would likely achieve its independence following the war
27.
Third Air Force
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The Third Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa. Its headquarters is Ramstein Air Base, Germany and it is responsible for all U. S. Air Forces in Europe and Africa operations and support activities in the U. S. European Command and U. S. Africa Commands areas of responsibility, during the war, its primary mission became the organization and training of combat units prior to their deployment to the overseas combat air forces. Its Command Chief Master Sergeant is Chief Master Sergeant Phillip L. Easton, the command directs all USAFE and AFAFRICA forces engaged in contingency and wartime operations in the United States European Command and United States Africa Command areas of responsibility. It also has a mission as the U. S. militarys primary liaison to the British government. Through the Partnership for Peace program, Third Air Force manages military contact, Third Air Force is also responsible for contingency planning and support of American security interests in Africa. It is composed of more than 25,000 military people, Third Air Force is assigned more than 200 aircraft, while tasked to provide support servicing to thousands of other transient aircraft that visit its bases each year. It was redesignated Third Air Force on 26 March 1941 with a mission for the defense of the Southeast and it moved to offices in downtown Tampa on 8 January 1941. MacDill Field was one of two major Army Air Corps bases established in the Tampa Bay area in the prior to World War II. Tampas Drew Field Municipal Airport, established in 1928 was leased by the Air Corps in 1940, a major expansion of the airport was initiated and Drew Army Airfield was opened in 1941. Two secondary Army Airfields, Brooksville Army Airfield and Hillsborough Army Airfield were built and opened in early 1942 to support the operations of MacDill. The Bonita Springs Auxiliary Field, located near Fort Myers provided an emergency landing field for MacDill. All of these came under the jurisdiction of Third Air Force. III Fighter Command, the arm, was headquartered at Drew Field. Third Air Force initially provided air defense for the southeastern United States and flew patrols along coastal areas of the Atlantic Ocean. Third Air Force primarily trained B-25 Mitchell and B-26 Marauder medium bomber groups and A-20 Havoc, Third Air Force also provided support to the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics in Florida. Also by 1944, the majority of the Numbered Air Forces of the AAF were fighting in parts of the world, such as the Eighth Air Force in Europe. When the Army Air Forces reorganized in 1946, Tactical Air Command was established as one of its three major commands
28.
Southern Airways
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Southern maintained corporate headquarters in Birmingham with operations headquartered at William B. Hartsfield Airport, near Atlanta. As a local airline, Southern Airways covered the south-central U. S. In 1955 their network spanned from Memphis south to New Orleans and east to Charlotte, in August 1953 Southern flew to 29 airports and in August 1967 to 50. Like other Local Service airlines Southern was subsidized, in 1962 its operating revenues of $14.0 million included $5.35 million Pub. serv. rev. In May 1968 Southerns routes extended from Tri-Cities in Tennessee south to New Orleans and Jacksonville, later in 1968 a route sprouted northward, three weekday Douglas DC-9-10s from Columbus GA nonstop to Washington Dulles and on to New York LaGuardia. These originated at Eglin Air Force Base, FL, like most local service airlines Southern flew only Douglas DC-3s for the first few years. In 1961 they began adding 22 40-passenger secondhand Martin 4-0-4s acquired from Eastern Air Lines, the last DC-3 was retired in 1967. Southerns first 65-75 passenger Douglas DC-9 series 10 models arrived in 1967 followed by stretched 85-95 passenger McDonnell Douglas DC-9 series 30 models in 1969, the last scheduled flight by a Martin was on 20 April 1978 from Atlanta to Gadsden, Alabama and back. Some DC-9s including Douglas DC-9-15 and stretched McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 models were bought new while others were purchased used and these used jets included DC-9-14s from Delta Air Lines and Eastern Air Lines. Both airlines had purchased these aircraft new from Douglas before they were acquired secondhand by Southern, by 1971 Southern was flying to New York City and Chicago and south to Orlando and Miami. Many flights made five or six intermediate stops en route, with more DC-9s, many routes once served with prop aircraft were served with jets that linked small cities to Atlanta and Memphis, Columbus, Georgia to Washington, DC continuing to New York City. Meridian, Mississippi to Birmingham, Alabama, Columbus, Mississippi, tuscaloosa, Alabama to Atlanta, Georgia and Columbus, Mississippi. Muscle Shoals/Florence, Alabama to Memphis, Tennessee and Huntsville/Decatur, Alabama with continuing service to Atlanta. Greenville, Mississippi to Memphis, Tennessee and Monroe, Louisiana with continuing service to Baton Rouge. Columbia, South Carolina to Greenville/Spartanburg and Charleston, South Carolina, albany, Georgia to Atlanta, Georgia, Valdosta, Georgia, Dothan, Alabama, and Columbus, Georgia. Total time en route was 14 hours and 32 minutes, by the mid-1970s Southerns system had expanded to St. Louis, Detroit, Ft. Lauderdale and Grand Cayman in the Caribbean, which was Southerns only international destination. Southern Airways was billed as the Route of the Aristocrats. and they were famous for their promotional shot glasses, for a time, differently designed shot glasses were issued each year. Original Southern shot glasses are valued by collectors of airline memorabilia, during the early 1970s before strict airport security was implemented across the United States, several airlines experienced hijackings
29.
Capital Airlines
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Capital Airlines was an airline serving the eastern, southern, southeastern, and midwestern United States. Capitals headquarters were located at Washington National Airport across the Potomac river from Washington, D. C. where crew training, in the 1950s Capital was the fifth largest United States domestic carrier by passenger count after the Big Four air carriers. Capital merged with United Airlines in 1961, Clifford A. Ball, a McKeesport, Pennsylvania, automobile dealer and owner of a controlling interest in Bettis Field near Pittsburgh, won airmail contract route No.11 on March 27,1926. In April of the year, The Clifford Ball Airline began operating between Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and Cleveland, Ohio. Clifford Ball Airlines operated from Pittsburghs first commercial airport Bettis Field, the airplane which flew the first flight from Pittsburgh to Cleveland, a Waco 9 named Miss Pittsburgh, is currently displayed at the Pittsburgh International Airport. Famed humorist and performer Will Rogers was known to be an early and regular passenger, a Path of the Eagle brochure and schedule are displayed at the Pitcarin Field Web site. Ball sold his interests in November 1930 to Pittsburgh Aviation Industries Corp. PAL was reorganized as Pennsylvania Airlines after the Air Mail scandal of the early 1930s. In 1934 Pennsylvania Airlines acquired Kohler Aviation, Central Airlines was founded in 1934 by the men who had formed Pittsburgh Airlines in 1929. Central was notable for hiring Helen Richey, the first female pilot in the U. S. Central Airlines became PALs main competitor and they engaged in ruinous rate wars with prices well below those charged for railroad seats, the two companies merged to form Pennsylvania Central Airlines, or PCA, on November 1,1936. The merged airlines flew Stinson A and Boeing 247 aircraft, early in its existence, PCA faced a minor crisis in January 1937 when the Bureau of Air Commerce temporarily grounded the airlines Boeing 247s. The six B-247s were all sold off in 1937, the airlines 15 B-247Ds were all gone by the end of 1942. PCA, based at the new Allegheny County Airport near Pittsburgh, continued to add routes, notably to Chicago in 1938, and aircraft, notably the Douglas DC-3, in 1940. In 1941 PCA moved their headquarters to the new Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, the row of office buildings next to its hangars became mahogany row and the airline adopted the slogan The Capital Airline, with its aircraft dubbed Capitaliners. In September 1943 Pennsylvania Central requested the CAB authorize new routes affecting 23 states indicating plans for an expansion after the war. PCA even had big trans-Atlantic ambitions, PCA did see expansion as the war wound down. In 1946 PCA began flying the Douglas DC-4 but found the airplane was unprofitable on some of its low volume short segment routes. One of PCAs DC-4s had been used to transport President Roosevelt to the Casablanca conference during World War II Ten DC-4s still served Capital at the time of the UAL merger, all were immediately disposed of by United
30.
Vickers Viscount
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The Vickers Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs, the first such aircraft to enter service in the world. A product of the Brabazon Committee, it used a new form of propulsion, the Viscount was well received by the public for its cabin conditions, which included pressurisation, reductions in vibration and noise, and panoramic windows. It became one of the most successful and profitable of the first post-war transport aircraft,445 Viscounts were built for a range of international customers, during discussions between the committee and Vickers chief designer, Rex Pierson, Vickers advocated turboprop power. British European Airways was involved in the design and asked that the aircraft carry 32 passengers instead, the first design in June 1945 was based on the Viking with four turboprop engines and 24 seats and designated the VC-2 or Type 453. Later a double-bubble fuselage was proposed to give extra underfloor cargo space, neither was pressurised but it was soon realised that for economical operation an altitude above 20,000 ft was needed. The decision for pressurisation resulted in the double-bubble and elliptical fuselage designs being abandoned, a circular cross-section variant was offered at the beginning of 1946. The resulting 28-seat VC-2 was financed by the Ministry of Supply with an order for two prototypes, but, before the contract was signed, the government asked for the capacity to be increased to 32. This stretched the fuselage increase from 65 ft 5 in to 74 ft 6 in, the contract for the aircraft to Air Ministry specification C. 16/46 was signed on 9 March 1946 and Vickers allocated the designation Type 609 and the name Viceroy. While the Dart progressed better in development, the government asked in August 1947 for the prototype to be Dart-powered. The second prototype was designated the 630 and was named as the Viscount, the first prototype already under construction was converted to the Dart as a 630 as well. The resulting Vickers Type 630 design was completed at Brooklands by chief designer Rex Pierson and his staff in 1945, an order for two prototypes was placed in March 1946, and construction started in the companys Foxwarren Experimental Department. Originally Viceroy after the viceroy of India, Lord Louis Mountbatten, there was work on replacing the Darts with the Mamba, but this was dropped by the time the prototypes were reaching completion. After Piersons death in 1948, George Edwards took over as chief designer, the prototype Type 630, registered G-AHRF, made its maiden flight from the grass airfield at Wisley on 16 July 1948, piloted by Joseph Mutt Summers, Vickers chief test pilot. Retrospectively commenting on Britains aviation industry, Duncan Burn stated, Had BEA committed itself to support of the Viscount. It was quite likely that the version would have gone into production. It was in a sense BEAs lack of enthusiasm for the 630 which made possible the success and it flew scheduled flights between London and Paris, and London and Edinburgh until 23 August 1950. 29 July 1950 flight between Northolt and Paris – Le Bourget Airport with 14 paying passengers was the first scheduled flight by any turbine-powered aircraft. The second prototype Viscount, the Type 663 testbed, had two Rolls-Royce Tay turbojet engines and first flew in RAF markings as serial VX217 at Wisley on 15 March 1950
31.
Douglas DC-8
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The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engine long-range narrow-body jet airliner built from 1958 to 1972 by the Douglas Aircraft Company. The DC-8s design allowed it a larger cargo capacity than the 707. After World War II Douglas had a position in the commercial aviation market. Boeing had pointed the way to the modern all-metal airliner in 1933 with its Model 247, Douglas produced a succession of piston-engined aircraft through the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. When de Havilland flew the first jet airliner, the Comet, in 1949, all three companies were working on a new generation of piston-engined designs, with an eye to turboprop conversion in the future. De Havillands pioneering Comet entered airline service in 1952, initially it was a success, but it was grounded after several fatal crashes in 1953 and 1954. The understanding of metal fatigue that the Comet investigation produced would play a part in the good safety record of later types like the DC-8. In 1952 Douglas remained the most successful of the aircraft manufacturers. They had almost 300 orders on hand for the piston-engined DC-6 and its successor, the DC-7, the Comet disasters, and the airlines subsequent lack of interest in jets, seemed to show the wisdom of their staying with propeller-driven aircraft. Boeing took the step of starting to plan a pure-jet airliner as early as 1949. Boeings military arm had gained experience with large, long-range jets through the B-47 Stratojet, with thousands of jet bombers on order or in service, Boeing had developed a close relationship with the US Air Forces Strategic Air Command. Boeing also supplied the SACs refueling aircraft, the piston-engined KC-97 Stratofreighters, the B-52, in particular, had to descend from its cruising altitude and then slow almost to stall speed to work with the KC-97. Believing that a requirement for a tanker was a certainty. As an airliner it would have seating capacity to the Comet. First presented in 1950 as the Model 473-60C, Boeing failed to any interest at the airlines. Boeing remained convinced that the project was worthwhile, and decided to press ahead with a prototype, after spending $16 million of their own money on construction, the Dash-80 rolled out on May 15,1954, and flew the next month. Boeings plans became obvious, despite the older model number. Douglas secretly began jet transport project studies in mid-1952
32.
Douglas DC-9
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The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is a twin-engine, single-aisle jet airliner. It was first manufactured in 1965 with its maiden flight later that year, the DC-9 was designed for frequent, short flights. The final DC-9 was delivered in October 1982, the DC-9-based airliners, MD-80, MD-90 and Boeing 717 later followed in production. With the final deliveries of the 717 in 2006, production of the DC-9/MD-80/90/717 aircraft family ceased after 41 years, during the 1950s Douglas Aircraft studied a short- to medium-range airliner to complement their higher capacity, long range DC-8. A medium-range four-engine Model 2067 was studied but it did not receive enough interest from airlines, in 1960, Douglas signed a two-year contract with Sud Aviation for technical cooperation. Douglas would market and support the Sud Aviation Caravelle and produce a licensed version if airlines ordered large numbers, none were ordered and Douglas returned to its design studies after the cooperation deal expired. In 1962, design studies were underway, the first version seated 63 passengers and had a gross weight of 69,000 lb. This design was changed into what would be initial DC-9 variant, Douglas gave approval to produce the DC-9 on April 8,1963. Unlike the competing but larger Boeing 727 trijet, which used as many 707 components as possible, the DC-9 has two rear-mounted Pratt & Whitney JT8D turbofan engines, relatively small, efficient wings, and a T-tail. The DC-9s takeoff weight was limited to 80,000 lb for a flight crew by Federal Aviation Agency regulations at the time. DC-9 aircraft have five seats across for economy seating, the airplane seats 80 to 135 passengers depending on version and seating arrangement. Accessibility and short field characteristics were called for, turnarounds were simplified by built-in airstairs, including one in the tail, which shortened boarding and deplaning times. The tail-mounted engine design facilitated a clean wing without engine pods, for example, flaps could be longer, unimpeded by pods on the leading edge and engine blast concerns on the trailing edge. This simplified design improved airflow at low speeds and enabled lower takeoff and approach speeds, thus lowering field length requirements, the second advantage of the tail-mounted engines was the reduction in foreign object damage from ingested debris from runways and aprons. With this position, the engines could ingest ice streaming off the wing roots, third, the absence of engines in underslung pods allowed a reduction in ground clearance, making the aircraft more accessible to baggage handlers and passengers. The first DC-9, a model, flew on February 25,1965. The second DC-9 flew a few later, with a test fleet of five aircraft flying by July. This allowed the initial Series 10 to gain airworthiness certification on November 23,1965, the initial Series 10 would be followed by the improved -20, -30, and -40 variants
33.
Convair 880
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The Convair 880 was a narrow-body jet airliner produced by the Convair division of General Dynamics. It was designed to compete with the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 by being smaller and faster, when it was first introduced, some aviation circles claimed that at 615 mph, it was the fastest jet transport in the world. The Convair 990 was a stretched and faster variant of the 880, Convair began development of a medium-range commercial jet in April 1956, to compete with announced products from Boeing and Douglas. It was powered by General Electric CJ-805-3 turbojets, a version of the J79 which powered the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom. The first example of the production version, the Model 22. The final assembly of the 880 and 990 took place at the Convair facilities in San Diego, the airliner never became widely used and the production line shut down after only three years. In addition, the General Electric engines had a specific fuel consumption than the Boeings Pratt & Whitney JT3Cs. General Dynamics lost around $185 million over the lifetime of the project, the losses incurred in the Convair 880/990 are generally thought to be the largest losses incurred by a corporation up to that time. The aircraft were involved in 17 accidents and five hijackings, a more major modification to the 880 became the Convair 990, produced in parallel with the 880-M between 1961 and 1963. Swissair named theirs Coronado, after an island off the San Diego coast, the design entered service with Delta Air Lines in May 1960, slightly modified as the 880-22m, having newer version 805-3B engines. The 880s were flown by Cathay Pacific, Delta, Japan, Northeast, Swissair, TWA, as they left commercial service, many 880s were bought by American Jet Industries for various uses. One example was converted to use in 1974, and flew until 1982 with various companies. Another was used to train FAA flight examiners until it was destroyed by an explosion in the cargo hold in 1995. Most of the examples were scrapped by 2000. The United States Navy acquired one 880-M in 1980, modifying it as an in-flight tanker and it had been purchased new from Convair by the FAA, and used for 18 years. Unofficially designated UC-880, it was assigned to the Naval Air Test Center at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, Convair designed and manufactured the Tomahawk and Advanced Tomahawk Cruise Missile in San Diego where the 880 and 990 were produced. The sole UC-880 was damaged in a cargo hold explosive decompression test at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, the aircraft managed to remain theoretically controllable via backup systems unique to the 880 and 990. This flight was to be a training sortie for two Delta captains who were being type-rated on the 880
34.
Boeing 727
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The Boeing 727 is a midsized, narrow-body three-engined jet aircraft built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes from the early 1960s to 1984. It can carry 149 to 189 passengers and later models can fly up to 2,700 nautical miles nonstop, intended for short and medium-length flights, the 727 can use relatively short runways at smaller airports. It has three Pratt & Whitney JT8D engines below the T-tail, one on side of the rear fuselage with a center engine that connects through an S-duct to an inlet at the base of the fin. The 727 is Boeings only trijet aircraft, the 727 followed the 707, a quad-jet airliner, with which it shares its upper fuselage cross-section and cockpit design. The 727-100 first flew in February 1963 and entered service with Eastern Air Lines in February 1964, the 727 became a mainstay of airlines domestic route networks and was also used on short- and medium-range international routes. Passenger, freighter, and convertible versions of the 727 were built, the 727 was heavily produced into the 1970s, the last 727 was completed in 1984. As of July 2016, a total of 64 Boeing 727s were in service with 26 airlines, plus a few more in government. Airport noise regulations have led to 727s being equipped with hush kits, United Airlines requested a four-engine aircraft for its flights to high-altitude airports, especially its hub at Stapleton International Airport in Denver, Colorado. American Airlines, which was operating the four-engined Boeing 707 and Boeing 720, eventually, the three airlines agreed on a trijet design for the new aircraft. In 1959, Lord Douglas, chairman of British European Airways, suggested that Boeing and de Havilland Aircraft Company work together on their trijet designs, the two designs had a similar layout, the 727 being slightly larger. At that time Boeing intended to use three Allison AR963 turbofan engines, license-built versions of the Rolls-Royce RB163 Spey used by the Trident, Boeing and de Havilland each sent engineers to the other companys locations to evaluate each others designs, but Boeing eventually decided against the joint venture. Once Pratt & Whitney agreed to go ahead with development of the JT8D, Eddie Rickenbacker, chairman of the board of Eastern, told Boeing that the airline preferred the JT8D for its 727s. Boeing had not offered the JT8D, as it was about 1,000 lb heavier than the RB163, though more powerful. Boeing reluctantly agreed to offer the JT8D as an option on the 727, with high-lift devices on its wing, the 727 could use shorter runways than most earlier jets. The airliners middle engine at the rear of the fuselage gets air from an inlet ahead of the vertical fin through an S-shaped duct. This S-duct proved to be troublesome in that flow distortion in the duct induced a surge in the engine on the take-off of the first flight of the 727-100. This was fixed by the addition of several large vortex generators in the inside of the first bend of the duct, the 727 was designed for smaller airports, so independence from ground facilities was an important requirement. This led to one of the 727s most distinctive features, the built-in airstair that opens from the underbelly of the fuselage
35.
Alabama Air National Guard
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The Alabama Air National Guard is the air force militia of the State of Alabama, United States of America. It is, along with the Alabama Army National Guard, an element of the Alabama National Guard, as state militia units, the units in the Alabama Air National Guard are not in the normal United States Air Force chain of command unless federalized. They are under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Alabama though the office of the Alabama Adjutant General unless they are federalized by order of the President of the United States, the Alabama Air National Guard is headquartered in Montgomery, and its commander is Major General Perry Smith. Under the Total Force concept, Alabama Air National Guard units are considered to be Air Reserve Components of the United States Air Force, Alabama ANG units are trained and equipped by the Air Force and are operationally gained by a Major Command of the USAF if federalized. State missions include disaster relief in times of earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and forest fires, search and rescue, protection of public services. Its mission is to train and equip combat ready aircrews and support personnel to perform aerial refueling. The Alabama Air National Guard origins date to 27 August 1917 with the establishment of the 106th Aero Squadron as part of the World War I American Expeditionary Force, the 106th served in France on the Western Front, then after the 1918 Armistice with Germany was demobilized in 1919. The Militia Act of 1903 established the present National Guard system, units raised by the states but paid for by the Federal Government, if federalized by presidential order, they fall under the regular military chain of command. On 1 June 1920, the Militia Bureau issued Circular No.1 on organization of National Guard air units, the squadron was reformed on 21 January 1922 as the 125th Squadron, Alabama National Guard, received federal recognition as a Corps Aviation unit. Maj. James A. Meissner, a World War I ace who had flown with Capt, eddie Rickenbacker, led the effort to form the unit and served as its first commander. It is one of the 29 original National Guard Observation Squadrons of the United States Army National Guard formed before World War II. The 106th Observation Squadron was ordered into service on 125 November 1940 as part of the buildup of the Army Air Corps prior to the United States entry into World War II. These unit designations were allotted and transferred to various State National Guard bureaus to provide them unit designations to re-establish them as Air National Guard units, the modern Alabama ANG received federal recognition on 25 November 1946 as the 106th Bombardment Squadron at Birmingham MAP. It was equipped with B-26B/C Invaders and was assigned to Tactical Air Command, on 1 October 1947 the 117th Fighter Group allotted by the National Guard Bureau, extended federal recognition and activated at Birmingham, with the 106th Bomb Squadron being assigned to the unit. The 160th Fighter Squadron at Montgomery was authorized by the National Guard Bureau, the 160th was equipped with the F-51D Mustang and its mission was the air defense of the state. On 15 October 1962, the 160th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron was authorized to expand to a level. The 160th TRS becoming the flying squadron. This was obtained from the Air Force and on 12 September 2009, the designation was transferred to the National Guard Bureau by the Air Force and it was allotted to the Alabama ANG
36.
117th Air Refueling Wing
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The 117th Air Refueling Wing is a unit of the Alabama Air National Guard, stationed at Birmingham Air National Guard Base, Alabama. If activated to service, it is gained by the United States Air Force Air Mobility Command. The 106th Air Refueling Squadron, assigned to the Wings 117th Operations Group, is a descendant organization of the World War I 106th Aero Squadron, established on 27 August 1917. It was reactivated in 1922, and as the 106th Observation Squadron was one of 29 National Guard observation squadrons formed before World War II, the 117th Air Refueling Wing flies the Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker. Its mission is to train and equip combat ready aircrews and support personnel to perform worldwide air refueling, Combat ready civil engineering, support services, medical, personnel, communications and Intelligence technical support packages of the wing are available for worldwide assignment. The wing supports state and local contingencies when directed by the Governor of Alabama, in the fall of 1950, the group was called to active federal service. The group moved to Lawson Air Force Base, Georgia and began to train as a reconnaissance unit. At Lawson, the 112th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron retained its existing Douglas RB-26C Invaders, Tactical Air Command equipped the 157th and 160th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadrons with Lockheed RF-80A Shooting Star daylight photo-reconnaissance jet aircraft. The wing then began what was believed to be a short transition training period. The original plan was to deploy the 117th to France and reinforce United States Air Forces in Europe at a new base in France, the 117th arrived at Toul Air Base on 27 January 1952. However at the time of the Wings arrival, Toul consisted of a sea of mud, the commander of the 117th deemed it uninhabitable and its flying squadrons of the wing were ordered dispersed to West Germany. The 112th Squadron was transferred to Wiesbaden Air Base, the 157th to Furstenfeldbruck Air Base, the non-flying headquarters and support organizations remained at Toul. The mission of the 117th was to provide tactical, visual, the RF-80s were responsible for the daylight operations, the RB-26s for night photography. In June 1952, the 117th was involved in Exercise June Primer and this exercise took place in an area bordered by a line drawn from Cherbourg to Geneva in the east and in the west by Swiss, Austrian and Russian Occupation Zone of Germany borders. The 157th Squadron had had wire recorders fitted to five of its RF-80s prior to June Primer, by July 1952 facilities at Wiesbaden were becoming very crowded, and it was felt that the B-26s could fly from the primitive conditions at Toul. The 112th returned to Toul, however the jet-engined RF-80s remained in West Germany until a new runway was constructed, on 10 July 1952 the 117th Wing was inactivated and its mission, personnel and equipment was taken over by the newly activated 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing. The wing was the allotted to the Air National Guard, the 117th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing was re-formed at Birmingham. It continued to fly a mix of jet and propeller aircraft until 1957, the squadron continued to train in tactical reconnaissance missions throughout the 1950s with the Thunderstreaks
37.
Douglas A-26 Invader
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A limited number of highly modified United States Air Force aircraft served in Southeast Asia until 1969. It was a fast aircraft capable of carrying twice its specified bomb load, a range of guns could be fitted to produce a formidable ground-attack aircraft. A re-designation of the type from A-26 to B-26 led to confusion with the Martin B-26 Marauder, which first flew in November 1940, about 16 months before the Douglas designs maiden flight. The A-26 was Douglas Aircrafts successor to the A-20 Havoc, also known as Douglas Boston, one of the most successful and widely operated types flown by Allied air forces in World War II. Designed by Ed Heinemann, Robert Donovan, and Ted R. Smith, the Douglas XA-26 prototype first flew on 10 July 1942 at Mines Field, El Segundo, with test pilot Benny Howard at the controls. Flight tests revealed excellent performance and handling, but problems with engine cooling led to cowling changes, repeated collapses during testing led to strengthening of the nose landing gear. The A-26 was originally built in two different configurations, the A-26B had a gun nose, which originally could be equipped with a combination of armament including.50 caliber machine guns, 20mm or 37mm auto cannon, or even a 75mm pack howitzer. Normally the gun nose version housed six.50 caliber machine guns, officially termed the all-purpose nose, the A-26Cs glass nose, officially termed the Bombardier nose, contained a Norden bombsight for medium altitude precision bombing. The A-26C nose section included two fixed M-2 guns, later replaced by underwing gun packs or internal guns in the wings. An A-26C nose section could be exchanged for an A-26B nose section, or vice versa, in a few man-hours, thus changing the designation. The flat-topped canopy was changed in late 1944 after about 820 production aircraft, alongside the pilot in an A-26B, a crew member typically served as navigator and gun loader for the pilot-operated nose guns. In an A-26C, that crew member served as navigator and bombardier, a small number of A-26Cs were fitted with dual flight controls, some parts of which could be disabled in flight to allow limited access to the nose section. A tractor-style jump seat was located behind the navigators seat, general George Kenney, commander of the Far East Air Forces stated that, We do not want the A-26 under any circumstances as a replacement for anything. Until changes could be made, the 3d Bomb Group requested additional Douglas A-20 Havocs, the 319th Bomb Group worked up on the A-26 in March 1945, joining the initial 3rd BG, with the 319th flying until 12 August 1945. The A-26 operations wound down in mid-August 1945 with only a few dozen missions flown, several of the A-20 and B-25 AAF units in the Pacific received the A-26 for trials, in limited quantities. Douglas needed better results from the Invaders second combat test, so A-26s began arriving in Europe in late September 1944 for assignment to the Ninth Air Force, the initial deployment involved 18 aircraft and crews assigned to the 553d Squadron of the 386th Bomb Group. This unit flew its first mission on 6 September 1944, no aircraft were lost on the eight test missions, and the Ninth Air Force announced that it was happy to replace all of its A-20s and B-26s with the A-26 Invader. Due to a shortage of A-26C variants, the groups flew a combined A-20/A-26 unit until deliveries of the glass-nose version caught up, besides bombing and strafing, tactical reconnaissance and night interdiction missions were undertaken successfully
38.
Republic F-84F Thunderstreak
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The Republic F-84F Thunderstreak was an American-built swept-wing turbojet fighter-bomber. While an evolutionary development of the straight-wing F-84 Thunderjet, the F-84F was a new design, the RF-84F Thunderflash was a photo reconnaissance version. In 1949, a swept wing version of the F-84 was created with the hope of bringing performance to the level of the F-86. The last production F-84E was fitted with a tail, a new wing with 38.5 degrees of leading edge sweep and 3.5 degrees of anhedral. It flew on 3 June 1950 with Otto P. Haas at the controls, although the airplane was capable of 602 knots, the performance gain over the F-84E was considered minor. Nonetheless, it was ordered into production in July 1950 as the F-84F Thunderstreak, the F-84 designation was retained because the fighter was expected to be a low-cost improvement of the straight-wing Thunderjet with over 55 percent commonality in tooling. Production delays with the F-84F forced the USAF to order a number of straight-wing F-84Gs as an interim measure, although tooling commonality with the Thunderjet was supposed to be 55 percent, in reality only fifteen percent of tools could be reused. To make matters worse, the F-84F utilized press-forged wing spars, at the time, only three presses in the United States could manufacture these, and priority was given to the Boeing B-47 Stratojet bomber over the F-84. The YJ65-W-1 engine was considered obsolete and the improved J65-W-3 did not become available until 1954, when the first production F-84F finally flew on 22 November 1952, it differed from the service test aircraft. It had a different canopy which opened up and back instead of sliding to the rear, the aircraft was considered not ready for operational deployment due to control and stability problems. The first 275 aircraft, equipped with conventional stabilizer-elevator tailplanes, suffered from accelerated stall pitch-up, beginning with Block 25, the problem was ameliorated by the introduction of a hydraulically powered one-piece stabilator. A number of aircraft were retrofitted with spoilers for improved high-speed control. As a result, the F-84F was not declared operational until 12 May 1954, the second YF-84F prototype was completed with wing-root air intakes. These were not adopted for the due to loss of thrust. However, this arrangement permitted placement of cameras in the nose, the first YRF-84F was completed in February 1952. The aircraft retained an armament of four guns and could carry up to fifteen cameras. Being largely identical to the F-84F, the Thunderflash suffered from the production delays and engine problems. The aircraft was retired from duty in 1957, only to be reactivated in 1961
39.
Allegheny Airlines
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Allegheny Airlines was a U. S. airline that operated out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, from 1952 to 1979. It was a forerunner of US Airways, now merged into American Airlines and its headquarters were at Washington National Airport in Arlington County, Virginia. Allegheny Airlines began as All American Aviation Company providing mail delivery starting on 7 March 1939 and it was founded by du Pont family brothers Richard C. du Pont and Alexis Felix du Pont, Jr. In 1949 the company was renamed All American Airways as it switched from air mail to passenger service, on 1 January 1953 it was again renamed, to Allegheny Airlines. Like other local service airlines of the time, Allegheny was subsidized, in 1960, Allegheny headquarters were in Washington, D. C. Allegheny added the Convair 540 to its fleet in 1961, the aircraft proved unreliable, incurring problems with its British-made Napier Elands that had replaced the Convairs piston engines. The airline bought new Fairchild F-27Js that the company named Vistaliner, the F-27J was a U. S. -built version of the Fokker F27. The airline switched to General Motors/Allison turboprops in the Convair 580 which the named the Vistacruiser. Allegheny Airlines was the first airline to create a network of affiliated regional airlines, contributing to Allegheny’s growth were the acquisitions of regional carriers Lake Central Airlines in 1968 and Mohawk Airlines in 1972. Mohawk added BAC One-Elevens to the fleet, Allegheny added other jets, notably the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 which the company named the Vistajet. Other jets included Boeing 727-100s and 727-200s, as deregulation dawned, Allegheny, looking to shed its regional image, changed its name to USAir on October 28,1979. After Allegheny Airlines rebranded itself as USAir, the company retained its name for its Allegheny Commuter service. Under USAir, which renamed itself US Airways, the Allegheny name continued to be used by the parent company. It had three Fokker F27 Friendship turboprops, and was the last US operator of passenger F27s and its activities and Dash 8 fleet were incorporated into a regional airline, Piedmont Airlines, in 2004. As of 2016, an Airbus A319 aircraft of American Airlines is painted in Allegheny colors and this is a list of cities Allegheny Airlines served until October 1979. It does not include most cities served before then, Allegheny flew to dozens more cities at some point, including Erie, Providence and the Wyoming Valley. On December 1,1959, Allegheny Airlines Flight 371, a Martin 2-0-2, crashed into a mountain on approach to Williamsport, Pennsylvania and this incident inspired James Dickeys poem Falling. On December 24,1968, Allegheny Airlines Flight 736, a Convair 580, crashed on approach to Bradford, Pennsylvania, killing 20 of the 47 people on board
40.
US Airways
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Publicly, the two carriers appeared to merge when their reservations systems and booking processes were merged on October 17,2015, however, other systems were still separate at that time. The airline had an international and domestic network, with 193 destinations in 24 countries in North America, South America, Europe. The airline was a member of the Star Alliance, before becoming a member of Oneworld in March 2014. The carrier operated the US Airways Shuttle, a US Airways brand which provided service between Boston, New York City and Washington, D. C. As of October 2013, US Airways employed 32,312 people worldwide, in 1979, after passage of the Airline Deregulation Act, Allegheny Airlines changed its name to USAir and began seeking to expand its operations. A decade later, it had acquired Piedmont Airlines and Pacific Southwest Airlines, in February 2013, American Airlines and US Airways announced plans to merge, creating the largest airline in the world. The holding companies of American and US Airways merged effective December 9,2013, in preparation for their eventual integration, the airlines began offering reciprocal frequent flyer benefits on January 7,2014, and US Airways left Star Alliance to join Oneworld on March 31,2014. US Airways management runs the combined airline from the American headquarters in Fort Worth, on April 8,2015, the FAA officially granted a single operating certificate for both carriers, marking the end of US Airways as an independent carrier. The brand continued to exist until October, on July 13,2015, American announced that it planned to discontinue the US Airways brand name on October 17,2015. On that date, US Airways made the flight for the airline from San Francisco to Philadelphia with stops at Phoenix and Charlotte. US Airways traces its history to All American Aviation Inc, a company founded by du Pont family brothers Richard C. du Pont, Alexis Felix du Pont, Jr. headquartered in Pittsburgh, the airline served the Ohio River valley in 1939. In 1949 the company was renamed All American Airways as it switched from airmail to passenger service, it became Allegheny Airlines in 1953. Alleghenys first jet was the Douglas DC-9 in 1966, it absorbed Lake Central Airlines in 1968, in 1973 it was the ninth largest airline in the free world by passengers carried. With expansion came growing pains, in the 1970s Allegheny had the nickname Agony Air due to customer dissatisfaction, Allegheny changed its name to USAir in 1979 after the passage in 1978 of the Airline Deregulation Act that allowed the airline to expand its network to the southeastern US. USAir was a customer for the Boeing 737-300, as it needed a larger aircraft for its growing Florida routes. USAir was then the worlds largest operator of DC-9s and approached McDonnell Douglas for a new design, after negotiations with McDonnell Douglas broke down, Boeing came forward with a proposed variant of the 737. USAir selected the new 737 and the company worked closely with Boeing during its development, USAir expanded in the late 1980s, purchasing San Diego–based Pacific Southwest Airlines in 1986 and Winston-Salem, North Carolina–based Piedmont Airlines in 1987. The PSA and Piedmont acquisitions were completed in 1988 and 1989, the Piedmont acquisition in 1989 was the largest airline merger until then and USAir became one of the worlds largest airlines, operating more than 5,000 flights daily
41.
Comair
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Operating under the brand name Delta Connection, Comair operated passenger services to destinations in the USA, Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas. Comair and Delta Air Lines announced on July 27,2012, the airline was established in March 1977, and started operations in April 1977. Patrick J. Sowers, Robert T. Tranter, David Mueller, Comair suffered a fatal crash the year following their departure. Comair began scheduled services to Akron/Canton, Cleveland, and Evansville with two Piper Navajo aircraft, Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante twin-engine turboprop commuter aircraft were added to Comairs fleet in 1982. Under its parent Comair Holdings, it became a company in July 1981 to support the growth. In 1984, Comair became a Delta Connection carrier with Delta Air Lines establishment of a hub at CVG and that same year, Comair introduced its first international flights from Cincinanti to Toronto. In July 1986 Delta Air Lines acquired 20% of Comair stock, in 1992, Comair moved into Concourse C at CVG, as Delta Air Lines gradually continued to acquire more of the airlines stock. In 1993, Comair was the customer for the Canadair Regional Jet. By 1999, Comair was the largest regional airline in the country worth over 2 billion, Delta Air Lines acquired full ownership on October 22,1999 at a cost of over $2 billion. On March 26,2001, Comairs pilots went on strike, the strike cancelled the airlines flights and grounded its fleet. The strike ended 89 days later when a new contract was agreed to, however, there were seeds sown of a bitter animosity between the Delta pilot group and Comair. During the labor dispute in early 2001, there were some Delta pilots who contributed financially to the funds of Comair pilots. Like many legacy carriers, Delta furloughed a number of pilots after the September 11 attacks in 2001. While waiting to be recalled, some Delta pilots were able to work at some of the regionals such as Atlantic Southeast Airlines. This would intensify a rift between both parties, Comair came to nationwide attention during winter 2004 when it canceled all of its flights on Saturday, December 25 and Sunday, December 26, stranding 30,000 people. The reason was a combination of snow and a crew scheduling software flaw. On December 23 and 24, a record hit the Cincinnati area. With the area highways closed due to the blizzard, no additional deicing fluid could be delivered to the airport, after receiving necessary supplies overnight, the airline began the process of startup when the computer system that handled flight crew assignments shut down
8.6%
5.0%
Atlanta, GA
Charlotte, NC
Dallas, TX; Fort Worth, TX
Chicago, IL
Orlando, FL
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