In 1943 a DeHavilland Mosquito in BOAC markings landed at RAF Leuchars in Scotland carrying a valuable passenger- Danish physicist Niels Bohr, the 1922 winner of the Nobel Prize in physics. In a conference in Washington DC in 1939, Bohr detailed how the uranium isotope U-235 could be used to create a chain reaction in an atomic bomb. By 1943 the Nazis were rounding up and deporting the Jews in Denmark and as his mother was Jewish, Bohr was at risk. Word got out that he was about to be arrested and given the choice between joining Hitler's atomic weapons project or be sent with his family to a concentration camp.

With the help of the British secret service, Bohr was smuggled to Sweden and then flown in an improvised bunk in the bomb bay of the Mosquito from Stockholm to Scotland. From there he was flown onward to England and then the United States to join the Manhattan Project.

The Mosquito flew approximately 200 flights in BOAC colors between Stockholm and the UK during the war conveying clandestine personnel and war materiel. Only the Mosquito was fast enough to evade patrolling German fighters over the North Sea.

Source: Aviation History, September 2009. "The Magnificent Merlin" by Nicholas O'Dell, p32.

In 1965 seven US oil companies were prospecting Alaska's North Slope for oil and found that getting drilling equipment to the area was near impossible- there were no roads to the North Slope and the only way would have been to barge the equipment in via the Arctic Ocean but that could only take place for a few weeks each summer.

The problem was solved by Alaska Airlines who "wet-leased" the civilian Lockheed L-100 Hercules demonstrator from Lockheed for one month. In what became known as the "Thirty Day Miracle" the sole Hercules transported over 2 million pounds of equipment and cargo to dirt strips in the North Slope. Richfield Oil subsequently struck oil at Prudhoe Bay and that set off the great Alaskan oil rush.

Source: Herk: Hero of the Skies, by Joseph Earl Dabney, Copple House Books, 1979, p237-241.

According to the 2008 General Aviation Manufacturers Association report, general aviation contributes more than $150 billion to the US economy each year and employs over 1.2 million workers. About 2/3 of all hours flown by general aviation aircraft are for business purposes. In the United States, general aviation aircraft fly more than 27 million hours and transport 166 million people annually.

Source: Aviation Week and Space Technology, July 6, 2009. "Vision Plan: Cirrus team seeks new financing to fund and revive Vision program" by Frances Fiorino, p30.

On 25 September 1909 the Exposition Internationale de Locomotion Aerienne opened its doors at the Grand Palais near the Champs-Elysees in Paris. Present at the exposition were 380 exhibitors who displayed their latest aviation products to over 100,000 visitors. Many of these exhibitors formed the first aviation industry organization, the Chambre Syndicale des Industries Aeronautiques. Taking place less than six years after the Wright Brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk, the exposition was the forerunner of today's premier aviation industry show, the Paris Air Show. Many historians point to this exposition as the birth of the modern aerospace industry as well. This year's Paris Air Show marks its 100th Anniversary dating back to that first exposition.

Source: Aviation Week and Space Technology, June 15, 2009. "1909-2009- Le Bourget Then and Now" by Anthony L. Velocci, Jr, p80.

The first atomic bomb to be mass produced by the United States was the Mk-6. Designed for carriage by bombers only, it was intended for use against area targets. With a 40 kiloton warhead, the Mk-6 was carried by the B-29/B-50 Superfortress, B-36 Peacemaker, B-47 Stratojet, B-52 Stratofortress, and the Navy's AJ-1 Savage. Deployed in 1951, it was the first new strategic weapon since the Fat Man that was dropped on Nagasaki during World War II.

The Mk-6 had its nuclear materials in a special capsule that was inserted into the bomb unit by the bombardier before it was dropped. Designed as a safety measure, having the nuclear material in a separate capsule undoubtedly prevented several accidental detonations in the early 1950s.

Being an early fission weapon, the Mk-6 required a lot of nuclear material to produce its desired yield. With the advent of thermonuclear weapons in the late 50s it then became possible to have the same explosive yield with less material and the Mk-6 bombs in the inventory became a valued source of nuclear material for the newer generation of smaller weapons, with the last Mk-6 being withdrawn from service in 1957.

Source: Nuclear Weapons of the United States; An Illustrated History by James N. Gibson. Schiffer Publishing, 1996, p89.

In 1977 TWA responded with some ingenuity on a request from Farhad Azima of Global Airlines on behalf of the Shah of Iran. He desired the expeditious transport of over one-thousand head of cattle (specifically two year old heifers) from Missouri to Tehran within a 24 hour period at a price of $1000 per head of cattle.

Due to the problem of moisture buildup and waste material, specially constructed cargo pallets were laid in the main deck of TWA's cargo 707s constructed of cellotex moisture barrier, four inches of wood chips, and standard cattle farm pens. A specially constructed loading chute allowed the cattle to walk on board and disembark themselves. Special fans were also installed to dissapate the moisture from the breath of all those cattle as well as the body heat. Each load consisted of 80 head of cattle and the first shipment took place on 28 August 1977, the average flight taking 13 hours to Tehran with an average load of 73,500 lbs.

Source: TWA: An Airline and Its Aircraft by R.E.G. Davies. Palawdr Press, 2000, p106.

In 1946 a Pan Am Lockheed Constellation departed New York La Guardia bound for London when an engine fire developed soon after takeoff. The Constellation belly-landed on a 4500 foot grass strip in Connecticut with no injuries to the crew or passengers. The engine fire burned through the engine mounts and by the time the Connie came back over land, the engine and its prop fell off completely before the aircraft landed. With stainless steel firewalls, an engine fire could be contained within the nacelle for 30 minutes.

Pan Am repaired the aircraft and lightened it as much as possible with minimal fuel and it was able to take off from the grass strip in only 2000 feet. Back at La Guardia, the burnt out nacelle was faired over the three-engined aircraft ferried to Lockheed in California for rework. Until the arrival of the Boeing 727, that was the fastest flight yet by a three-engined aircraft.

Source: Aviation History, July 2009. "Call Her Connie" by Stephen Wilkinson, p26.

Twice in the Canberra's operational history has it been simultaneously used by opposing sides, though not in direct confirmation. In the Indo-Pakistan Wars of 1965 and 1971, Pakistan used Martin B-57 Canberras in the night intruder role against Indian targets while India used the B(I).58 interdictors against Pakistan.

In the 1982 Falklands War, Argentina used Canberra B.62s armed with bombs and rockets to attack British positions around Port Stanley after an abortive anti-ship mission resulted in one Canberra getting shot down by one of the HMS Invicible's Sea Harriers. British PR.9 Canberras operated covertly in the reconnaissance role by No.39 Squadron in Chilean markings to cover Argentinian military instillations and it is rumored, also the cruiser General Belgrano.

Source: English Electric Canberra, Warpaint Series No. 60 by Charles Starfrace. Warpaint Books, 2008, p72-75.

In the spring of 1962, there were reports of low-flying aircraft at night in the South Vietnamese Central Highlands that raised concern about the Viet Cong receiving supplies via clandestine flights using aircraft in the class of the Antonov An-2 Colt. In response, the Joint Chiefs of Staff asked the USAF and the US Navy to come up with the best aircraft in their inventory to intercept the suspected night flights.

The USAF selected the Convair F-102 Delta Dagger. The Navy, on the other hand, selected an armed version of the Douglas AD-5Q electronic warfare Skyraiders. Ten years earlier in Korea, the USMC used radar-equipped Skyraiders in night intercepts. Though the night-attack AD-5Ns were since phased out, the AD-5Qs now used in the EW role were converted from AD-5Ns.

Project Waterglass involved F-102s and AD-5Qs alternating deployments to South Vietnam. The last Waterglass deployment took place in the fall of 1963, by which time the AD-5Qs were redesignated EA-1Fs. No intruders were ever intercepted or detected.

Source: US Navy A-1 Skyraider Units of the Vietnam War, Osprey Combat Aircraft #77 by Richard R Burgess and Rosario M Rausa. Osprey Publishing, 2009, p11-12.

During Eugene Cernan and Jack Schmitt's second moonwalk during Apollo 17, they used their moon rover to go five miles away from the lunar module, the furthest any human being has been during an EVA from their spacecraft. If the rover had broken down, NASA had calculated that Cernan and Schmitt had enough oxygen and cooling water in their spacesuits to walk back to the lunar lander if they averaged a speed of 1.7mph.

Source: Air & Space Smithsonian, July 2009. "Step Outside: How Humans Learned to Walk in Space" by Tony Reichhardt, p35.