Answers to #155 Meaningless Topic Plane Quiz

[Rodger Pettichord]

Hi all. Here are the official answers to this week's meaningless topic (#155) quiz. Thanks for some interesting responses!

 

1. FOKKER Dr 1

 

Plane of preference for Manfred baron von Richthofen, WWI German Ace and leader of the famed Flying Circus squadron. Both plane and man were among aviation's first international celebrities.

 

 

2. RYAN M-2

Charles Lindberg, flying a modified Ryan, made the first solo Atlantic flight from North America to Europe.

 

3. NORTH AMERICAN B-25

Colonel Jimmy Doolittle led a flight of B-25s to bomb Tokyo not long after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. A real morale booster at a time when things looked grim in the Pacific War.

 

4. DEHAVILLAND DH1 COMET

First commercial jet airliner. See Nick Cooper's post in the original #155 thread for interesting information about the Comet.

 

5. BELL X-1

Piloted by Chuck Yeager, first plane to break sound barrier in level flight.

 

6. THE GOSSAMER CONDOR

Powered by Bryan Allen, first man-powered plane to fly a course.

 

7. NORTH AMERICAN F-117 NIGHTHAWK

First operational stealth plane.

 

8. VOLOCOPTER

May be first electric VTOL to service a city route (Paris, 2024). [Stay tuned. There are eight other companies still in the running]

 

IN ORIGINAL #155 THREAD, NOTE ALSO Gerold's (Stillwater) POST OF THE FIRST JET, THE HEINKEL He 178, and KenQ'S Boeing 307, first airliner with pressurized passenger cabin.