History of aviation questions

The Lavochkin La-5 was a Soviet fighter aircraft of World War II. It was one of the Soviet Air Force's most capable types of warplane, able to fight German designs on an equal footing. The La-5 had its defects. Perhaps the most serious was the thermal isolation of the engine, lack of ventilation in the cockpit, and a canopy that was impossible to open at speeds over 350 km/h. To make things worse, exhaust gas often entered the cockpit due to poor insulation of the engine compartment. Consequently, pilots ignored orders and frequently flew with their canopies open.

Amelia Mary Earhart was an American aviation pioneer and the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1937 she tried to fly around the world, but after 40 days the contact with her aircraft was lost. Most likely she crashed somewhere over the Marshall Islands.

Sabiha Gökçen was a Turkish aviator. She was the first Turkish female combat pilot, aged 23. According to some sources, including Guinness World Records, she was also the world's first female fighter pilot, being enrolled in the Military Aviation Academy in Eskisehir in 1936.

Avia S-99 and Avia S-199 were constructed with parts and plans left over from Luftwaffe aircraft production that had taken place under the country's German occupation during the war. Avia S-199 was the first fighter plane of Israeli Air Force, used during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War - where it met Spitfires on the Egyptian side.

Roland Garros gained fame for making the flight from Fréjus in France to Bizerte in Tunisia. The following year, Garros joined the French army at the outbreak of World War I. Garros is sometimes erroneously called the world's first fighter ace. In fact, he shot down only four aircraft; the definition of "ace" is five or more victories.

English-made de Havilland DH 106 Comet was introduced in 1952 by British Airways. A year after, Comet airframes began suffering catastrophic metal fatigue, with three of them tearing apart during mid-flight.