Flying Into the Smithsonian Trivia Quiz

The design of the Wright Flyer, the first manned powered and controlled aircraft, was based on the 1902 Glider, the last of the gliders that the brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright had tested at Kitty Hawk (a town in North Carolina's Outer Banks) between 1900 and 1902. The aircraft was built of spruce and ash wood, the wings covered with fabric; the 12-horsepower (9-kilowatt) engine was designed and built from scratch by Charlie Taylor, a friend and employee of the brothers, when it become clear that none of the existing automobile engines was suitable to power the flight. The empty machine weighed 274 kg (605 lb); the pilot flew lying on his stomach on the lower wing, with his head towards the front of the aircraft - as shown in the exhibit in the National Air and Space Museum. The first flight, on 17 December 1903, lasted 12 seconds, for a total distance of 37 m (120 ft). Damaged by a heavy gust of wind at the end of that momentous day, after four flights, the aircraft was never used again.

The Wright Flyer was displayed in various museums in the 1910s and 1920, then spent 20 years in underground storage in England before being acquired by the Smithsonian Institution, after a lengthy feud with Orville Wright (Wilbur had died in 1912). The plane arrived in the US on 11 November 1948, and was put on display on 17 December of the same year - exactly 45 years after those first successful flights. In 1976, it was moved to the newly-opened National Air and Space Museum, on Washington DC's National Mall, where it is now the centrepiece of a special exhibit. In 1985, the aircraft was thoroughly restored, according to the wishes of Mrs Harold S. Miller, one of the brothers Wrights' nieces.

LadyNym was happy to provide the info for this groundbreaking (or maybe skybreaking?) first question.

Charles Lindbergh won the $25000 Orteig Prize for being the first aviator to fly between Paris and London or vice versa, thereby being the first non-stop Atlantic crossing. Lindbergh achieved this feat in 33 hours 30minutes travelling 3600 miles (5800 km). He used a specially-designed plane, a version of the Ryan M-2 mailplane which had a range of 400 miles. The modifications were due to accommodating the extra fuel needed. It needed a wider wing due to the extra load of 425 gallons (1610 L) of fuel. The motor was upgraded to a Wright Whirlwind J-5C 223-hp radial engine. Lindbergh believed that multiple engines were riskier while a single-engine would give him the necessary range. Other modifications were necessary including an uncomfortable wicker seat to stop Lindbergh from falling asleep.

The model name was changed from M-2 to M-NYP (New York to Paris). The government gave it an extra letter in its registration N-X-211 where X stood for experimental.

This question was flown into the quiz by Phoenix Rising team member 1nn1.

The Douglas DC-3 (Douglas Commercial) was first flown in 1935 and was one of the most successful aircraft in the development of air transport. Some 16,079 were built, with a number still flying well into the 21st century. The DC-3 was a twin-propeller taildragger with room for 21 passengers. Its speed, reliability and safety record all helped attract the public to air travel. The C-47 military version was used by allied forces in a variety of roles in World War 2.

The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum has an Eastern Air Lines DC-3 in its collection. This aircraft last flew commercially in 1952 and was gifted by Eastern after clocking up more than 56,700 hours of flight time.

Phoenix Rising's psnz grew up living on RNZAF bases in New Zealand and remembers with fondness this workhorse machine, operated at that time by the country's national airline (NAC).

The plane that went down in history as "Enola Gay" was one of the first fifteen B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers of the Silverplate series, built by Boeing during World War II, and modified to enable them to drop atomic bombs. In May 1945, Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, the commander of the 509 Composite Group of the US Army Air Forces, personally selected the plane while it was still being assembled. Tibbets gave the plane the name of his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets, who had supported him when he decided to become a military pilot, on 5 August - the day before the fateful mission that ushered the nuclear age. "Little Boy", the first nuclear weapon used in warfare, dropped over the city of Hiroshima at 8:15 am of 6 August 1945. 12 hours later, "Enola Gay" safely landed back at its base in Tinian, in the Northern Mariana Islands. The plane also participated to the mission that led to the bombing of Nagasaki on 9 August, though Tibbets was not involved.

At the end of the war, "Enola Gay" was retired, and its title was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution. For a long time, however, the plane was unable to leave temporary storage, since at that time the Smithsonian had no suitable space to display such large aircraft as a B-29 Superfortress, with its four propeller engines and huge wingspan. After over 20 years in storage at the Smithsonian facility in Suitland, Maryland, in the mid-1980s the restoration of "Enola Gay" (which was in rather poor shape) finally undertaken. In the spring of 2003, the completely restored aircraft was shipped to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, the newly built annex of the National Air and Space Museum adjacent to Washington Dulles International Airport. "Enola Gay" has been on display there since the annex opened on 15 December 2003.

Phoenix Rising's LadyNym carefully piloted this question into the quiz.

Piloted by American Chuck Yeager in 1947, the Bell X-1 was the first airplane to fly faster than the speed of sound. On 14 October of that year, Yeager reached a top speed of 1,127 km (700 miles) per hour in the X-1. The Bell X-1, nicknamed "Glamorous Glennis" after Yeager's wife, was an exclusive plane manufactured by Bell Aircraft, as only seven were ever built. Sharing its color with the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco (International Orange), the Bell X-1-1, as a sound-breaker and a record-breaker, has earned its place at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.

This question was supersonically steered into the quiz by Phoenix Rising team member Rizeeve.

The Boeing 707 was Boeing's first jet airliner. It was not the first jet airliner (Comet, Sud Caravelle were released earlier), but it was the first capable of trans-Atlantic flight and as such is credited as ushering in the Jet Age. With the availability of Pratt & Whitney JT3C turbojet, the prototype aerial tanker the KC-135 that would eventuate for military orders had also there was the capability to be adapted into a jet airliner. The fuselage at 132 inches (3.4m) would allow four abreast seating, but this was increased to 148 inches (3.76m) to outpoint the rival development of the Douglas DC-8 which could manage five abreast.

Pan Am became the launch customer by ordering twenty 707s (but they also hedged their bets by ordering 25 Douglas DC-8s) with the first flight being New York to Paris (with a fuel stop at Gander) in October 1958. National Airlines were the first US airline to fly the plane commercially within the US in January 1959, and QANTAS was the first non-US airline to start commercial routes later that year. The plane could seat around 140 passengers depending on configuration. Overall there were 1010 planes produced. It brought air travel to the masses, and is a worthy inclusion in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

This question was flown into the quiz by Phoenix Rising team member 1nn1.

The Lockheed SR-71 was a long-range, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft. SR71's were painted a very dark blue, almost black, to act as camouflage in the night sky. Its dark color caused the aircraft's nickname "Blackbird". The SR-71 was developed from the A-12 reconnaissance Black project by the Lockheed Skunk Works division. The SR-71 first flight was on 22 Dec 1964, and the first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, California, in January 1966. The Blackbird was operated by both the United States Air Force and NASA. They where retired by 1998 (USAF) and 1999 (NASA).

This question was painted black by Phoenix Rising's JAM6430.

Project Apollo was a United States human spaceflight program (1961-1972) aimed at landing humans on the Moon.

During 16-24 July 1969, Apollo 11 with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins became the first mission to accomplish this goal. Launched into space by a Saturn V rocket, the spacecraft command module "Columbia" (CM-107) carried the trio to lunar orbit before Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the Moon's surface in "Eagle", the Apollo Lunar Module. Collins remained in the command module which had all the roominess of a large car.

The astronauts safely returned to Earth aboard "Columbia". Following a tour of US cities, the command module was presented to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum where it has been designated a "Milestone of Flight".

Phoenix Rising's psnz can remember that historic day in July 1969 when a school mathematics lesson was sacrificed in favour of listening to radio coverage of the Moon landing.

As its name (French for "concord", "harmony") suggests, the supersonic airliner known as Concorde was the result of a treaty - signed on 29 November 1962 - between the governments of France and the UK, two countries that in the past had often been at odds with each other. Construction of the six prototypes began some two years later, in February 1965. The inaugural flight took place on 2 March 1969, while the beginning of service was delayed until 21 January 1976 - with flights departing from Paris-Roissy (operated by Air France) and London Heathrow (operated by British Airways). Transatlantic flights were introduced in 1977, and subsequently a number of other routes were added to the trans-Atlantic one.

With its tailless design, distinctive droop nose, narrow fuselage, and ogival delta wings, Concorde soon became an aviation icon, whose supersonic speed reduced the flying time between Paris and New York from 8 hours to 3.5. The planes were also allowed to use dedicated oceanic airways, separate from those used by "normal" flights to cross the Atlantic. Sadly, Concorde's successful run ended soon after the deadly crash of 25 July 2000, when Air France Flight 4590 ran into debris on the runway during takeoff, and crashed into a hotel near Charles de Gaulle Airport, killing all 109 people on board, plus four on the ground. The aircraft were retired on 24 October 2003 - 27 years after the beginning of operations. The plane on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, donated by Air France in 2003, is Concorde F-BFVA, which flew 17,824 hours before retirement.

This question was written by LadyNym with almost supersonic speed.

The F14 Tomcat was a workhorse for the United States Navy from 1974-2006. The F14 Tomcat was built by Grumman Aerospace. Its top speed is Mach 2.34 (1544 mph, 2485 km/h). Iran purchased 80 F14s in 1976 while the Shah was in power, and several were still in use in the early 2020s. The Grumman F14 Tomcat was featured in the 1985 movie "Top Gun".

This question was flown in by Phoenix Rising crew member Chiroman.