Interactive learning: an academic journey through the history of aviation and aerostructures manufacturing (January 12th, 2024)
On January 12th, 2024, the Degree in Commercial Pilot for Passenger and Cargo Transport (BOUBU Nº189) organized an academic field trip scheduled within the 23-24 academic year with the aim of strengthening the knowledge of the aeronautical domain. The group consisted of all first- and second-year students, instructors and professors of the degree, the Customer Support team and the director of the degree, Dr. Ana María Lara Palma.
The first of the visits was to the Air and Space Museum located at the Cuatro Vientos air base, Madrid. The guided visit lasted 4 hours. The museum welcomed us with the CASA C-207 Azor aircraft. This airplane, of purely Spanish manufacture, was assigned to the 351st Squadron of the 35th Wing and had an autopilot and two Bristol Hercules 730 engines of 2,040HP. Its operational ceiling was 9.300 meters, with a range of 2.960Km at a speed of 400 Km/hour. In the Air Force it performed liaison, courier and transport services for 36 passengers. It provided a magnificent service flying between the peninsula and the Canary Islands, Spanish Sahara, Equatorial Guinea and Europe.
Moreover, there was the possibility to see inside a Havilland Canada C-7A Caribou (AC-1/CV-2A/DHC-4A) (T.9-25 / 371-05) that was transferred to the museum in November 1987. In the Army Air Corps, it was the first freighter with Short Take Off Landing (STOL) characteristics and with true tactical mission capability. It was a simple, robust aircraft with generous trailing edge flaps for short take-offs, low pressure tires and strong legs on its landing gear. It had a large cargo hold, with an upward canting fuselage, which allowed access of trucks directly into the aircraft without the need to split its central airframe.
Another aircraft that caught our attention was the 1970 Canadair CL-215, known as "botijo" for its particular shape; it is an amphibious aircraft, which, due to its robustness, versatility and ease of maintenance, can be used not only in firefighting but also in search and rescue missions. Its motto was “Cuando el monte se quema… 404 Escuadrón vuela” which means "When the bush burns... 404 Squadron flies" and it belonged to the 43 Group.
Near hangar 1, there was an Eagle Patrol aircraft, the CASA C-101EB Aviojet E.25-23. This facility contains aircrafts with historical value. In it you can visualize the pioneers of aviation, actions taken during the conflict in Africa, the war in Morocco, the period between wars, and, finally, with the great flights of Spanish aviation.
Lastly, the visit goes through hangar 4 full of helicopters and gyroplanes. Among them stands out the C-19 gyroplane of the Spanish engineer Juan de la Cierva, who, seeing the instability of the aircraft of the time in landings and takeoffs, thought of a solution that consisted in adopting an autorotation system with articulated blades that guaranteed the flight even when the speed was low, and left the device at the mercy of the wind and not the thrust of the engines. This hangar also contained instruments for measuring flight parameters, discovering their evolution over time.
The museum farewelled us with a huge LOCKHEED C-130H HÉRCULES with registration number T.10-03, one of their latest additions. An aircraft that the students recognized as soon as they arrived at the museum. It is a high-wing aircraft, with a free cargo compartment, integral rear cargo ramp with or without swing-out, fully pressurized cargo hold that can be quickly adapted for passengers, stretchers or troop transport. The C130H version is powered by four 4910 hp Allison T56 A-15 engines. This aircraft was the backbone of Spanish military transport thanks to its great capacity to carry large volumes of personnel and material, being able to operate on short, unprepared runways. Its in-flight refueling capacity for other aircrafts in its tanker version is outstanding. It was used to support the deployments of the Air Units and to cooperate with the Army, the Navy and the State Security Forces, and it has also participated in numerous theaters of operations and humanitarian missions. He had been 46 years of uninterrupted service intervening in multiple military and civilian missions, both national and international. His last mission was performed on November 23rd, 2020 with a flight from Afghanistan and the Middle East. He belonged to the 301st Squadron which was Wing 31 from September 1978 to December 2020.
The second stopover of the trip took place in the technology park of Boecillo, Valladolid, at the company Aciturri. The visit lasted 2 hours and allowed the group to discover the innovative processes of this multinational. This corporation manufactures different aerostructures with very light and complex parts; the reason is that they must weigh little to fly, but be resistant to carry the necessary load. We were fortunate to be able to follow the whole process from the beginning of the modeling of the material until it is sent to where the aircraft is assembled.
Aciturri is an established aerospace supplier with nearly 50 years of experience in commercial aircraft programs, including the design and manufacture of major airframe components for Airbus A350, A320, A400M, Boeing 787 and Embraer KC390 programs, among others. In the plant we visited they have the Innovation, Product Definition, Process Engineering, Tooling Engineering, Composite Manufacturing, Additive Manufacturing and Assembly departments. Here they do the CNC Lay-Up (Computer Numerical Control) since they have 5ATL's (Automated Tape Laying) distributed in 3 clean rooms fully equipped for composite manufacturing up to 15 x 5m. Also, there is the possibility of installing up to 2 additional ATL's (Automated Tape Laying) and an AFP (Automated Fiber Placement) in these rooms. It is equipped with the most advanced CNC (Computer Numerical Control) technology for the reprocessing of composite parts up to 18 x 5 m, regardless of the geometry and dimensions, ranging from 5-axis milling to waterjet or manual cutting.
At the end of the visit, the students recognized the importance of these pedagogical activities as an example of interaction outside the classroom, stimulation of competencies and confrontation of theory and practice, a deeping processes around the airplane and enriching at a cultural level.
