My Science School

On 3 October, 1967 an American X-15 rocket-powered aeroplane reached 7,270 kph. It’s still the world record speed for an aeroplane. The X-15 also holds the altitude record of 107,960 metres. That’s nearly 108 kilometres above the Earth’s surface!

Which plane had no wings?

In the 1970s, US Air Force pilots flew an experimental plane called the X-24A without wings. This rocket plane had a specially shaped fuselage, or lifting body, to keep airborne.

Is it true? You can travel faster than the speed of sound.

Yes. Some supersonic planes with powerful engines, like Concorde, can fly faster than sound. Sound travels at about 1,225 kph.

Amazing! The famous American fighter ace and test pilot Chuck Yeager was the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound (Mach 1). In 1947 he flew the rocket-powered Bell X-1 to Mach 1.015.

Which is the fastest jet?

The fastest jet aircraft ever was the American Lockheed SR-71A ‘Blackbird’ spy plane. It holds the official speed record of an incredible 3,529.56 kph, which it set in 1976. In 1974 it set the New York to London record time of 1 hour and 55 minutes.

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The biggest plane in the world is the six-engined Antonov An-225 transport aeroplane. It can carry other aircraft on its back as well as cargo inside. It can take off weighing a massive 600 tonnes.

Which transatlantic airliner has only two engines?

The Boeing 777 flies across the Atlantic with only two engines. Before 1984, all transatlantic airliners had three or four engines in case one failed. Now, engines are more reliable.

Is it true? Some aeroplanes carry tanks.

Yes. Monster military transport planes like the Lockheed C5 Galaxy and Antonov An-124 are big enough for tanks. The Galaxy can lift two 50-tonne tanks, which drive in up ramps in the nose or tail.

Amazing! One gigantic flying boat with eight engines, the Hughes H4 Hercules, measured nearly 100 metres from one wing tip to the other and could have carried 700 passengers! Nicknamed ‘Spruce Goose’, it only flew once in 1947 and is now in a museum.

Which airliner carries the most people?

The airliner that can carry the most passengers is the two-deck Boeing 747 ‘Jumbo Jet’. Seats for up to 660 passengers can be fitted into the most modern model, the 747-400. There are plans for a double-decker airliner that will carry up to 900 passengers.

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A flying boat is an aeroplane with a fuselage shaped like the hull of a boat. It takes off and lands on water instead of a runway. During the 1930s huge flying boats such as the Short C-class Empire were popular for travelling long distances. 

Is it true? Some seaplanes fly just above the waves.

Yes. Experimental seaplanes called surface-effect vehicles fly very close to the water surface. Air squashed between their wings and the water helps to keep the plane flying. It means that the wings can be smaller than those on normal aeroplanes of the same size.

Amazing! In 1938, a seaplane was carried into the air by a flying boat. The seaplane did not use any fuel to take off and so was able fly non-stop across the Atlantic.

How fast could seaplanes go?

In 1931, a Supermarine seaplane set a new world speed record, and won the Schneider Trophy. It was powered by a special Rolls Royce engine, and reached 655 kph!

How do planes land on snow?

Aeroplanes can land on a flat stretch of snow or ice if they change their wheeled undercarriage for skis. One of the first planes with skis was a Fokker F.VIIA used to fly over the North Pole. Modern ski planes take supplies to polar bases.

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The jet engine was first thought of in 1930 by British engineer Frank Whittle. By 1937 he had built a working jet engine. At the same time in Germany Hans von Ohain was building a similar engine.

Amazing! When the first jet-powered aeroplane took off on its maiden flight, it sucked a bird into its engine. The plane was the Heinkel He 178. All modern jet engines are designed to withstand ‘bird strikes’, which could snap off the engine’s fan blades and cause a crash.

What was the first jet plane?

The first two jet planes were experimental fighters built during the Second World War. The German Heinkel He 178 flew in 1939 and the British Gloster E.28/39 in 1941.

Is it true? Jet engines have fans.

Yes. At the front of a jet engine there is an enormous fan which sucks in air. Large airliners have jet engines called turbofans, with fans as tall as a person. The fan compresses the air and forces it into the engine. Fuel burns in the air, creating a rush of hot gases which blast out of the engine. They spin a turbine that works the fan.

What was the first jet airliner?

The first jet airliner to carry passengers was the de Havilland Comet I. It had four jet engines set into the wing roots. The first airline service using the Comet was begun in 1952 by the British Overseas Airways Corporation, between London and Johannesburg.

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American pilot Charles Lindbergh made the first non-stop transatlantic solo flight in 1927. His all-metal Ryan monoplane, called Spirit of St Louis, was built specially for the job. The flight took 33 hours and 30 minutes. Lindbergh tried to stay awake all the time to avoid crashing into the sea.

Amazing! US Navy airman Richard E Byrd was the first man to fly over both the North Pole and the South Pole. He reached the North Pole in May 1926 as navigator in a Fokker F. VIIA and the South Pole in November 1929 as commander of a Ford tri-motor.

Who was first to fly across the Pacific?

In 1928, Australians Charles Kingsford Smith, Charles Ulm and their navigators made the first flight from America to Australia in a Fokker tri-motor. They refueled four times on Pacific islands.

Is it true? The first solo aeroplane flight around the world took nearly eight days.

Yes. The first round-the-world solo flight was made between 15 and 22 July, 1933. Total flying time was 7 days, 18 hours and 49 minutes for the 25,099 kilometres. The pilot was an American called Wiley Post, and his aircraft was a Lockheed Vega.

Which woman flew solo from England to Australia?

English pilot Amy Johnson made the first solo England-Australia flight by a woman, in a Gypsy Moth biplane in 1930. She had many near disasters on the way, including almost flying into a mountain side.

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The hydrogen-filled airship Hindenburg exploded in 1937, killing 35 of the 97 people on board. It was one of the two largest airships ever. It was 245 meters long. That’s two and half soccer pitches!

Who flew the first airship?

Frenchman Henri Giffard flew the first airship in 1852. It had a propeller driven by a small steam engine. Giffard travelled 27 kilometres at 8 kph.

Amazing!  In 1802 Frenchman Andre Jacques Garnerin jumped from the basket of his hot-air balloon above London. He floated safely down under a parachute. It was the first successful parachute jump.

Is it true? The first non-stop round-the-world balloon flight was in 1999.

Yes. Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones flew the Breitling Orbiter 3 from Chateaux D’Oex in Switzerland, and crossed the finishing line in Mauritania 19 days, 21 hours and 55 minutes later. Piccard and Jones finally landed in the Egyptian desert.

Are airships used today?

Today small airships fly above major sporting events. They carry television cameras to give viewers a bird’s eye view of the action. They often have huge advertising displays on their sides.

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The first people to make a proper flight were two Frenchmen, Francois Pilatre de Rozier and the Marquis D’Arlandes. On 21 November, 1783 they flew for 25 minutes over Paris in a hot-air balloon made by the Montgolfier brothers.

Who built a steam plane?

The first aeroplane to leave the ground was the steam-powered Eole. It was built by French aviator Clement Ader, and had bat-like wings. It only flew for about 50 metres in 1890, and could not be steered!

Amazing! In the 14th century Chinese merchants launched kites with people tied to them to see if it was windy enough to set sail in their ships. If the kite failed to fly, they stayed in port until another day. This fact was reported by the famous European traveller Marco Polo.

Who flew the first gliders?

The first person to build and fly gliders was the German engineer Otto Lilienthal. He made hundreds of flights, starting in 1891. Lilienthal launched himself from hills, and hung under his gliders. He was killed in a glider crash in 1896.

Is it true? People flew by flapping their arms.

No. For hundreds of years people attempted to fly by strapping wings to their arms and flapping them. They became known as ‘birdmen’, and many were injured or killed, after they launched themselves from high buildings or cliffs. For humans, flying like birds is impossible because we do not have shoulder muscles which are strong enough for flapping.

The first person to make a controlled flight in an aeroplane with an engine was Orville Wright. His flight took place in the aeroplane Flyer on 17 December, 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, USA. The flight lasted just 12 seconds and was 36.5 metres long. Flyer was a biplane built by Orville and his brother Wilbur, who were bicycle makers.

Amazing! In 1914, the fastest aircraft were slower than the fastest racing cars. The world speed record for aircraft was just over 204 kilometres per hour, but the world land-speed record was 226 kilometres per hour. By 1920, aircraft had overtaken.

What is a monoplane?

A monoplane is an aeroplane with one pair of wings. Most early aeroplanes were biplanes, with two sets of wings. The graceful Antoinette VII of 1908 was one of the first monoplanes to fly.

Is it true? One plane had 20 wings.

Yes. In 1904 Englishman Horatio Phillips built a plane with 20 small wings one above the other. It was a complete failure. In 1907 he built a plane with no less than 200 wings!

Who was first to fly across the English Channel?

The first cross-channel flight was made by Frenchman Louis Bleriot in 1909. He made the trip in one of his own aeroplanes, a Bleriot number XI monoplane. It took just 37 minutes to fly from France to England. Bleriot won a prize of £1,000.

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Tipper trucks have a lifting body that tips up to make a load slide out. Sometimes whole trucks are tipped up by a ramp instead! This truck is unloading grain into a grain store.

Which truck tows aircraft?

Airport tugs pull aircraft around when the aircraft cannot use their engines. The tug has a tow bar that attaches to an aircraft’s front wheel. Its low body doesn’t bump into the fuselage.

Is it true? Cherry pickers are used to pick fruit.

No. Cherry picker is the nickname for a truck with a working platform on the end of an extending arm. A worker on the platform can do jobs such as changing bulbs in street lamps.

Which trucks carry rubbish?

Garbage trucks drive around collecting rubbish. A mechanism lifts garbage bins, turns them upside down and shakes them to empty their contents into the truck. Then a powerful ram crushes the rubbish and squeezes it into the truck.

A wrecker is a recovery truck that tows away cars, buses and other vehicles that are wrecked in accidents, often blocking roads or lying in ditches. Wreckers need powerful diesel engines for towing and a winch for pulling vehicles that have tipped over back on to their wheels.

Amazing! Some cargo trucks carry a mini fork-lift truck with them for loading and unloading cargo. The fork-lift folds up and is carried attached to the back of the main truck.

Which truck saves lives?

An ambulance is a small truck specially adapted to carry injured and sick people quickly to hospital. There are stretchers for patients and emergency medical equipment in the back of the ambulance.

Is it true? Hospitals have wheels.

Yes. Mobile hospitals are mini hospitals inside a converted truck. They work in remote areas where people cannot get hospital treatment, and carry doctors, nurses and even an operating theatre.

 Some fire trucks carry ladders so long that the ladder needs its own extra-long trailer. A second driver in a rear cab turns the rear wheels of the trailer so that the truck can get round sharp corners to reach fires in narrow streets.

Amazing! Water is pumped along fire hoses by a powerful pump in a fire truck. It comes out of the hose nozzle so quickly that the fire fighter holding the nozzle can be lifted off the ground.

Is it true? Fire engines need stabilisers.

Yes. Fire engines with long ladders could topple over if the ladder was fully extended to the side. So they have two stabilisers on each side.

How far can a fire truck’s ladder reach?

Some fire trucks have telescopic ladders which are more than 40 metres long when fully extended. That’s long enough to reach the eleventh floor of a building.

Who puts aircraft fires out?

Airports have their own teams of fire fighters who use fleets of special fire trucks. The trucks fight fires with foam instead of water. The foam is fired from cannon on top of the fire truck and smothers any fuel which is alight.

Strong metal chains called snow chains stop trucks skidding on icy or snow-covered roads. The chains are wrapped around all the truck’s tyres and cut into the ice or snow, gripping it tightly. In cold countries, truck drivers always carry snow chains with them.

Amazing! Some farm tractors have huge double sets of wheels to stop them from churning up the soil. In very muddy ground, normal tractors sink into the mud. Double wheels spread the tractor’s weight over a bigger area to stop it sinking.

Which trucks race across the Sahara?

Trucks compete in many rallies, including the famous Paris-Dakar Rally that crosses the Sahara Desert in northern Africa. More trucks carry spares and mechanics for other competitors, who race in cars and on motorbikes.

What is four-wheel drive?

When a truck has four-wheel drive, it means that the engine makes all the wheels turn. In some trucks, the engine only turns two of the wheels. Four-wheel drive is good for driving off-road on muddy tracks.

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A type of digger called a backhoe loader can dig, load and drill. At the back is a digger arm with a bucket called a backhoe. At the front is a shovel for picking up loose soil and rock. Different sized buckets or a pneumatic drill can be attached to the backhoe.

Is it true? Some trucks have bullet-proof glass.

Yes. Demolition machines have extra-strong, bullet-proof glass in their cabs. The glass stops falling masonry crashing into the cab and hurting the driver.

Amazing! There are mini digging machines as well as big ones. Mini machines are used where large machines can’t go, such as in basements, and for digging small trenches in pavements and gardens.

Which trucks can reach high up?

A mobile crane is a truck with a crane on its back. Mobiles cranes work on construction sites, lifting heavy objects such as steel girders into place with their telescopic arms. There is a cab at the back for the driver who operates the crane.

How is concrete delivered?

Concrete is carried to building sites in cement mixers. The ingredients are put in the mixer’s drum, which rotates, mixing the concrete.

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A monster truck is an ordinary pick-up truck fitted with huge dump-truck wheels, extra-strong suspension and a very powerful engine. Monster truck owners race their trucks over tracks with huge bumps and jumps. The trucks bounce about and even tip over if they go too quickly.

Is it true? Monster trucks drive over cars.

Yes. In monster truck racing, some of the obstacles that the trucks drive over are old cars! The cars get crushed flat under the trucks’ massive wheels.

Amazing! One of most famous American monster trucks is called Grave Digger. It has an amazing custom paint job, with scenes of graveyards all over its bodywork!

Who paints trucks for protection?

 In countries such as Afghanistan and India, truck drivers paint their trucks with bright colours and religious symbols. They believe that the symbols will stop them from having accidents.

What are customised trucks?

Customised trucks have special parts such as huge wheels, high suspensions and big engines. Some even have boots, bonnets and doors moved by hydraulic rams. Custom trucks are built specially for shows and races.

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Tanks are good at driving across rough, muddy ground, but they’re quite slow. When tanks need to move quickly, they’re carried on special tank transporters. The transporter’s trailer needs lots of wheels to spread out the huge weight of the tank.

Which trucks can swim?

Armies transport equipment in amphibious trucks that can drive on land like a normal truck and float across water like a boat. Amphibious trucks have a waterproof underside to stop water flooding the engine.

Amazing! Some trucks have armour plating on the outside. They’re called armoured personnel carriers (APCs for short). They’re used to carry troops on battlefields.

What carries missiles?

Missile-carrying trucks transport huge nuclear missiles. On board the truck is a launch pad and a control centre for launching the missile. The trucks carry the missiles into the countryside if their base is threatened by enemy attack.

Is it true? Some trucks have caterpillar tracks.

Yes. A type of truck called a half-track has wheels at the front and caterpillar tracks at the rear. Armies often transport their troops in half-tracks.

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