Plane Facts: The Oldest Everything in Aviation

Cool and interesting facts about old planes, airports, and more.

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Photo by By Håkan Dahlström - CC BY 2/0/Flickr

In many walks of life, the word "old" can mean really old, like prehistorically so. In terms of aviation, this is limited to the last hundred years and change, unless you dig a little deeper, which, of course we did. We also came to realize that in general, something or someone being old, when when it comes to aviation, isn't usually that good a thing. Old engine? Usually bad. Old pilots? Well, we have our challenges. Old avionics? Obsolete! Still, as young as aviation is and as diverse the subjects that get filed under "flying" are, there is no shortage of really cool and really old stuff to talk about. 

Oldest flyable aircraft: Two Blériot XIs

Year built: 1909

Located at: The Shuttleworth Collection (UK) and the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome (U.S.)

Oldest person to get a pilot's license: Lt. Col. (ret.) James Collins Warren

Age at which he received his pilot's license: 87 6. History: Former navigator with the Tuskegee Airmen

Oldest active pilot in the United States: Ernest Eli Smith, Red Oak, Iowa. 100 years young.

Year Ernie soloed: 1943

Year that he got his ticket: 1946 (after the war)

Oldest continuously operating airport in the United States (and the world): College Park, Maryland

Opened: 1909

College Park's first flight instructor: Wilbur Wright

Longest continuously produced civilian aircraft: Beechcraft Bonanza

First flight: 1945

Canada's longest continuously operated airport: Edmonton/Cooking Lake Airport

First opened: 1926

Canada's oldest seaplane base: Also Edmonton/Cooking Lake Airport

Longest continuously produced U.S. military plane: Lockheed C-130

First flight: 1954

Longest continuously operated U.S. military plane: Boeing B-52

First flight: 1952

Number built: 744

Last year in production: 1962

Longest helicopter in production: Vertol/Boeing CH-47 Chinook

Production run: 1962-present

Number built: More than 1,200

World's oldest known A&P mechanic: Azriel Blackman, American Airlines, 92 years old

First year on the job: 1942 (16 years old)

Oldest commercial airport: Flughafen Hamburg (Hamburg, Germany)

Opened: 1911

Oldest active pilot ever recorded (2007): Cole Kugel, Longmont, Colorado

Age at time of last flight: 105 years old

Oldest air traffic control tower, world-wide: Croydon Airport, London

Opened: 1920

Oldest air traffic control tower, U.S.: Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport (originally called Cleveland Municipal Airport), Cleveland, Ohio

Year tower opened: 1930

Oldest commercial airliner still in production: Boeing 737, 1968-present.

Longest-produced turbine civil aircraft: Beechcraft King Air

Production: 1964-present

Oldest aircraft manufacturer: Short Brothers, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1908-present

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