Portal:Aviation/Today in aviation

2012 – The Syrian Air Force carries out scores of airstrikes around Syria, the most widespread bombing in a single day since the Syrian Civil War began 19 months before, according to anti-regime activists. Maarat al-Numan is among the hardest-hit places,^[1] and air strikes level areas of Douma, leaving 18 people dead.^[2]

2012 – Syrian Air Force Major General Abdullah Mahmoud al-Khalidi is assassinated in Damascus, Syria.

2003 – AH-64D Apache　00-5211 (ex AH-64A 86-9009) of 6–6th Cavalry Regiment crashes near Balad AAF, Iraq, and burned out. Both crewmembers are safe.^[3]

1985 – Launch: Space Shuttle Challenger STS-61-A at 17:00:00 UTC. Mission highlights: Spacelab-D1, Germany funded mission, last successful mission of Challenger.

1981 – A United States Air Force Boeing B-52D Stratofortress, 55-078, of the 22d Bomb Wing, March AFB, California, crashes on the eastern Colorado prairie near La Junta at 0630 hrs. while on a low-level (400 foot altitude) training mission, killing all eight crew. No weapons were on board.

1978 – The Indian government approves the purchase of the SEPECAT Jaguar for the Indian Air Force

1976 – Pan Am Flight 50, operated by the 747SP named Clipper New Horizons (N533 PA), lands back in San Francisco 54 hours 7 min 12 seconds after it left, thereby setting a new speed record for a round-the-world polar flight. Over 170 passengers paid $2222 (economy) to $3333 (first class) for the privilege of flying over the North and South Poles with musicians, a hair dresser and a Gucci fashion show on board. The flight also made stops in London, Cape Town and Auckland along the way. Earlier that year, the same aircraft (though named Clipper Liberty Bell at the time) set a speed record for circumnavigating the globe around the Equator.

1975 – Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 450, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, crashes on approach in Prague suburb, killing 75 of 120 on board.

1963 – Mrs. Hester Dunlap, spouse of A/M CR Dunlap, christened the first production Canadair CL-41 for the RCAF, “Tutor”.

1962 – Third prototype Hawker Siddeley P.1127, XP972, first flown 5 April 1962, is severely damaged when the Bristol-Siddeley Pegasus 2 fails following a main bearing seizure during a high-G turn. Hawker's chief experimental test pilot Hugh Merewether attempts forced landing at RAF Tangmere, but the undercarriage collapses, followed by a titanium fire. Pilot escapes unhurt but the airframe is not repaired.

1961 – The Soviet Union detonates Tsar Bomba over an island in the Arctic Ocean. The 58 megaton bomb remains the largest manmade explosive ever detonated.

1959 – Piedmont Airlines Flight 349, a Douglas DC-3, crashes on Bucks Elbow Mountain near Charlottesville, Virginia, killing the crew of three and 23 of 24 passengers; the sole survivor is seriously injured; the cause is a navigational error during an Instrument Landing System approach.

1944 – Kamikazes damage the aircraft carriers USS Franklin (CV-13) and USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24) off Leyte.

1942 – F/O DF Raymes and crew in a Douglas B-18 Digby of No. 10 (BR) Squadron destroyed the German submarine U-520 far out in the Atlantic Ocean.

1942 – F/O EL Robinson and crew in a Lockheed Hudson of No. 145 (BR) Squadron, destroyed the German submarine U-658, 320 miles east of St. John’s Newfoundland.

1938 – Another Nationalist counteroffensive begins in the Battle of the Ebro, preceded by a three-hour bombardment of Republican positions by artillery and over 100 Nationalist aircraft.

1935 – The United Airlines Cheyenne test crash occurred on 1935 during a flight to check the instruments of a Boeing 247D. The aircraft was seen to enter a turn, drop its nose, impact the ground and burst into fire. The Probable Cause was the pilot’s initiation of an abrupt maneuver with insufficient altitude for safety.

1935 – Prototype Boeing Model 299, NX13372, 'X13372', c/n 1963, the future Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, crashes on take-off from Wright Field, Ohio, due to locked control surfaces, killing early military aviator and test pilot Maj. Ployer Peter Hill. Other engineers taken to hospital with injuries. Boeing test pilot and observer Les Tower died later. Ogden Air Depot, Utah, renamed Hill Field, (later Hill Air Force Base), on 1 December 1939. As the prototype was owned by Boeing, it had no USAAC serial.

1918 – Flying a SPAD XIII fighter, Eddie Rickenbacker shoots down a German observation balloon near Remonville, France, for his 26th and final aerial victory. His 26 victories (22 aircraft and four balloons) will make him the top-scoring American ace of World War I.

1909 – John Moore-Brabazon in a Short Brothers aircraft flies the first circular mile in the UK and wins £1,000 from the Daily Mail newspaper.

1908 – Henry Farman performs the first cross-country flight in Europe as well as the first flight between two towns.

References