- From reader Jerry Griggs: What is a Jericho Trumpet?
- Charles Lindbergh’s historic flight from New York to Paris originated at Roosevelt Field on Long Island. Today this historic site is A. still an airport.B. a housing tract.C. an industrial complex. D. a shopping mall.
- From reader John Schmidt: Streets on military bases often are named after pilots, but almost all the streets in what town well known to aviators also are named after pilots?
- What is or was the world’s fastest, highest flying airplane?
- Why was the name of Chicago Municipal Airport changed in 1949 to Chicago Midway Airport (MDW)?
- True or false? If the Cessna 310 has two engines, then the Cessna 620 had four.
- Who famously said, “The first time I ever saw a jet, I shot it down.”
- What unlikely individual was the only person ever to privately own and operate a Douglas DC-5?
Test Pilot Answers
- The Jericho Trumpet was invented by famed German ace, Ernst Udet, for use on the Junkers Ju-87 Stuka dive bomber. It was attached to a landing-gear strut and emitted the loud, shrieking sound of a siren during a dive to intimidate and terrorize those on the ground.
- The correct answer is D. Roosevelt Field Mall is in Garden City, New York.
- It became official policy in 2017 that all the streets in Gander, Newfoundland, be named after aviation personalities, most of whom are pilots. Such streets include Boeing Avenue, Rutan Street, Wright Circle, and Armstrong Boulevard.
- The rocket-powered North American X-15 was launched from a “mother” aircraft, achieved a speed of 4,534 mph (3,940 knots), and holds an altitude record of 354,330 feet.
- The name of the airport was changed in honor of U.S. military forces having won the Battle of Midway, considered to be the turning point in the Pacific Theater of World War II.
- True. The Cessna 620 was a 10-seat, pressurized, executive aircraft with four 350-horsepower engines. Only one prototype was built, however.
- Brigadier General Chuck Yeager said this when discussing his encounter with a Messerschmitt Me-262 while flying a North American P-51D Mustang over Germany on November 6, 1944.
- William Boeing, the William Boeing.
Aviation History
Who started the instrument landing system?
A history as complicated as the technology
By Ian J. Twombly
Aviation’s prewar period is often revered for a collection of astounding aerodynamic, aircraft structural, and powerplant achievements, but the period saw rapid development across the entire aviation ecosystem. Case in point, the instrument landing system (ILS). Although the technological foundations existed soon after the Wrights began flying, German engineer Ernst Kramar, working for the Standard Elektrik Lorenz company, is credited with making the system viable for aviation. His contributions included having the system on very high frequency and using a constant-angle glideslope. As if shooting an ILS isn’t hard enough, early versions had differing descent rates on the same approach.
Mobile trucks and antennas were used to test early versions in Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh, where the first passenger airline flight made an approach in a snowstorm on January 26, 1938. In 1946 the world’s aviation authorities came together to make the ILS the global standard, which it remained for 70 years.
The story doesn’t end there. Although United States-based ITT was the parent company, Standard Elektrik Lorenz was German, and remained active throughout World War II, when the company produced significant advances for the Luftwaffe. These included communication and navigation devices, radar, and a 25 percent share of Focke-Wulf.
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