US Top Gun started by British Fleet Air Arm
Discussion
Hooli said:
Eric Mc said:
When did the British invent Flight Testing?
Just after we invented the first British aeroplane 
It's a moot point really. Every time an early pioneer took a contraption up into the air he was "testing" the machine. In that regard, they all invented test flying up to a point. You COULD probably argue that the first proper test pilot was George Cayley's footman - who was a passenger in Cayley's man carrying glider in the 1850s.
I would suggest that the first dedicated Test Flying institution was the US National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) which was established as far back as 1915 (4 years before the British Royal Aircraft Establishment - the RAE). NACA still exists in its better known modern form, NASA.
Eric Mc said:
Hooli said:
Eric Mc said:
When did the British invent Flight Testing?
Just after we invented the first British aeroplane It's a moot point really. Every time an early pioneer took a contraption up into the air he was "testing" the machine. In that regard, they all invented test flying up to a point. You COULD probably argue that the first proper test pilot was George Cayley's footman - who was a passenger in Cayley's man carrying glider in the 1850s.
I would suggest that the first dedicated Test Flying institution was the US National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) which was established as far back as 1915 (4 years before the British Royal Aircraft Establishment - the RAE). NACA still exists in its better known modern form, NASA.
Eric Mc said:
I would suggest that the first dedicated Test Flying institution was the US National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) which was established as far back as 1915 (4 years before the British Royal Aircraft Establishment - the RAE). NACA still exists in its better known modern form, NASA.
The RAE came into being in 1918 not 1919.I would argue that the birth of The Royal Aircraft Factory in 1912 (which was re christened the RAE so as to avoid confusion with the birth of the RAF on 1 April 1918), and which having been re branded from the Royal Balloon Factory (born in 1904) comprehensively trumps NACA!
Ginetta G15 Girl said:
Eric Mc said:
I would suggest that the first dedicated Test Flying institution was the US National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) which was established as far back as 1915 (4 years before the British Royal Aircraft Establishment - the RAE). NACA still exists in its better known modern form, NASA.
The RAE came into being in 1918 not 1919.I would argue that the birth of The Royal Aircraft Factory in 1912 (which was re christened the RAE so as to avoid confusion with the birth of the RAF on 1 April 1918), and which having been re branded from the Royal Balloon Factory (born in 1904) comprehensively trumps NACA!
The NACA produced nothing. It's job was to provide academnic input and testing for the benefit of all US aircraft manufacturers. Something the RAE was also tasked to do when it was set up a few years later. My view is that the NACA was the role model for the RAE.
Ginetta G15 Girl said:
Ayahuasca said:
e.g.
"I feel the need. The need for a nice cup of tea and a sit down."
I can't speak for the FAA but I would assume that its pilots are similar to RAF pilots in that the majority drink coffee."I feel the need. The need for a nice cup of tea and a sit down."
Tea is very much an Army thing.
Eric Mc said:
Indeed, the first test pilots were French, Pilatre deRozier and the Marquis d'Arlande - who made the first untethered free flight in any sort of flying machine in 1783.
Yes, but being the first ever pilot does not flight testing make. There is a world of difference between flying a plane and commenting on how it flys, to the use of rigorous scientific method to assess flight characteristics, the invention of which can be attributed to Cayley.
Where the US did beat us though WRT scientific flight testing was in the area of cockpit ergonomics - it was an America Alphonse Chapanis, who invented the wheel shape coding for landing gear levers.
Anyway, lets move on, we could argue this all day. My original point is generally correct, so let's ignore the flight testing bit.
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