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January 1

References

  1. ^ Roughneen, Simon, "Myanmar Launches Airstrikes on Kachin Rebels," The Christian Science Monitor, 2 January 2013.
  2. ^ "1993 USAF Serial Numbers". Retrieved 2010-02-17.

January 2

  • Government of Myanmar admits for the first time that Myanmar Air Force jets and attack helicopters conducted air strikes against rebel Kachin Independence Army forces in northern Myanmar on 30 December 2012, but claims that all of its other air operations in the area since late December 2012 have focused only on flying in supplies to Myanmar Army forces fighting Kachin rebels.[1]
  • Uzbek militants and the Pakistani Taliban commander Faisal Khan.[2]
  • 2008 – Asian Spirit Flight 321, an NAMC YS-11 departing from Manila, piloted by Captain Alexandro Tiglao with First Officer Dominick Mendoza as co-pilot, overshot the runway at Masbate Airport at 7:30 a. m., due to heavy tailwinds with gusts reaching 14 knots while landing on runway 21. Although none of the 47 passengers were seriously injured, the accident destroyed the aircraft’s nozzle, the plane’s right propeller and its right and nose wheel, and caused the plane’s fuel tank to leak.
  • Queensland, Australia.[5]
  • 2004 – USA Spacecraft Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth.
  • 2004 – An OH-58D Kiowa 90-0370 from 1–17 Cavalry Regiment (assigned to 1–82 Aviation Brigade) shot down near Fallujah, killing a pilot.
  • 1999 – Death of Karl-Heinz Bringer, German rocket engineer.
  • 1989 – First flight of the Tupolev Tu-204, a Russian twin-engined medium-range jet airliner capable of carrying 210 passenger, first Russian fly-by-wire airliner.
  • 1972 – Death of James Butler White, DFC, RNAS, British RNAS WWI flying ace.
  • 1968 – Col. Henry Brown and Lt. Col. Joe B. Jordan became the first U.S. Air Force pilots to use an General Dynamics F-111A's emergency escape module when their aircraft, 65-5701, c/n A1-19, of the Air Force Flight Test Center crashes near Edwards AFB, California, due to a weapons gun bay fire.
  • 1967 – The contracts for the development of the Boeing SST and its engines are awarded
  • 1967 – The National Supersonic Transport program, formed by President John F. Kennedy for the purpose of subsidizing the design of a Concorde-fighting supersonic airliner, awards a contract to Boeing for its 2707 SST design. Despite 115 orders from 25 different airlines, the program would lose its funding in 1971, forcing Boeing to lay off 60,000 workers.
  • 1964 – A USAF Douglas C-124C Globemaster II, 52-968, c/n 43877, of the 28th Air Transport Squadron, en route from Tachikawa Air Force Base near Tokyo, Japan, to Hickam Air Force Base, Honolulu, Hawaii with nine on board and 11 tons of cargo, disappears over the Pacific Ocean after making a fuel stop at Wake Island. Due at Hickam at 0539 hrs. EST, the Globemaster II is last heard from at 0159 hrs. EST. Fuel exhaustion would have been at 1000 hrs. EST and the aircraft is presumed down at sea. An automatic SOS signal is detected emanating from an aircraft-type radio with a constant carrier frequency of 4728 kilocycles, issuing an automatically keyed distress message, and a dozen aircraft of the Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard are sent to search from Hickam and from Guam, Midway, and Johnston Island. Poor weather and limited visibility hampers search efforts. The U.S. Navy's USS Lansing also participates in the search. The eight missing Air Force crew and one U.S. Navy man escorting a body back to the U. S. are officially declared dead on 21 January. This was the first C-124 accident since May 1962.
  • 1963 – The Battle of Ap Bac in South Vietnam is the first time that Viet Cong forces stand and fight against a major South Vietnamese attack. At the outset, Viet Cong ground fire shoots down a United States Army UH-1 attack helicopter and four U. S. Army CH-21 transport helicopters as they arrive at their landing zone. South Vietnamese Air Force C-123 Provider transport planes drop about 300 South Vietnamese paratroopers later in the day.
  • 1959 – Launch of Luna 1 (E-1 series), first known as First Cosmic Ship, then known as Mechta, first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon. First of the Luna program of Soviet automatic interplanetary stations.
  • Sud-Ouest Djinn
    , a French single-seat light prototype helicopter. The rotors were driven by compressed-air jets at the end of each blade.
  • 1953 – The first of an order of about 430 US Sabre fighters, the RAF’s first supersonic jet, arrives at RAF Abington, England.
  • Ceylon
    .
  • Calcutta, India
    , bomb Bangkok, Siam.
  • 1944 – (2-13) Allied aircraft systematically attack rail communications in central Italy in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent Germany from supplying and reinforcing its forces fighting in southern Italy.
  • 1943 – McDonnell gets a contract to build the Navy's first jet fighter.
  • 1933 – After modifications, HMS Courageous reenters service with the Royal Navy as the world’s first aircraft carrier equipped with hydraulically controlled arresting gear.
  • Long Island, New York
    .
  • Evelyn "Bobbi" Trout
    flew a Golden Eagle 12 hours and 11 min at the Metropolitan Airport in Los Angeles, setting a new non-refueling endurance record for women.
  • Fort Vermilion, Alberta
    , 1,600 kilometres (990 mi) north. His flight had become known across Canada as "the race against death".
  • Sir Hugh Trenchard
    is Chief of the Air Staff.
  • 1914 – Gustav Hamel took Miss Trehawke Davis aloft to experience a loop, and she thus became the first woman in the world to do so.
  • 1903 – Birth of Pjotr Michailowitsch Stefanowski, Soviet WWII test pilot.
  • 1896 – Birth of Sir Lawrence James Wackett KBE, DFC, AFC, Australian WWI pilot and aircraft designer, widely regarded as "father of the Australian aircraft industry".
  • 1895 – Birth of Alfred Niederhoff, German WWI flying ace.
  • 1886 – Birth of Thomas Gillies Rae, Scottish WWI flying ace.
  • 1882 – Birth of Frederick Walker Baldwin, also known as Casey Baldwin, Canadian engineer, hydrofoil and aviation pioneer, first Canadian to pilot an heavier-than-air flying machine.

References

  1. ^ Associated Press, "Burma Military Admits Airstrikes Against Kachin," 2 January 2013.
  2. ^ Hussain, Shaiq, and Haq Nawaz Khan, "U.S. Drone Kills Militant Commander," The Washington Post, January 4, 2012, Page A8.
  3. ^ "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 6 January 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  4. ^ "02. January 2010 Compagnie Africaine d´Aviation Boeing 727–200 9Q-CAA Kinshasa-N´djili International Airport, DR Congo" (PDF). Jacdec. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  5. ^ Liz Minchin. "Five killed in skydive plane tragedy". The Age, 3 January 2006. Retrieved 22 October 2012.

January 3

  • 2013 – Press observers report that the Myanmar Air Force has conducted daily strikes against rebel Kachin Independence Army forces in northern Myanmar since 28 December 2012.[1]
  • 2010 – Air Berlin Flight 2450, operated by Boeing 737–800 D-ABKF overran the end of the runway after an aborted take-off at high speed due to an airspeed discrepancy on the two pilots' instruments. The incident happened at Dortmund Airport. There were no injuries among the 171 people on board.[4]
  • UH-60 Black Hawk
    helicopter crashes near Tal Afar, Ninawa Governorate, Iraq. The aircraft, part of a two-Black Hawk helicopter team, was traveling between military bases when the accident occurred, resulting in 12 fatalities.
  • Mars Surveyor
    '98 Lander, NASA 290-kilogram robotic spacecraft lander, to study the soil and climate of Planum Australe, a region near the south pole on Mars.
  • 1994 – Baikal Airlines Flight 130, a Tupolev Tu-154M, crashes on take off at Irkutsk, killing 125 on board plus 1 on ground. A fuel-fed fire had erupted in the area of the no. 2 engine, causing damage to hydraulic lines and control surfaces. Control was lost and the aircraft crashed amongst farm buildings.
  • McDonnell-Douglas F-4C Phantom II
    , 63-7626 (?), of 123rd FIS/Oregon ANG from Portland, Oregon, crashes on a training mission ~30 miles (48 km) off Tillamook Bay, injuring both crew, who were plucked from the Pacific Ocean, authorities said.
  • 1987 – Varig Flight 797, a Boeing 707, crashes near Abidjan because of engine failure. Out of the 52 passengers and crew on board, there was only 1 survivor.
  • 1986 – An Iranian C-130 Army transport crashes into a mountain while attempting to land at Zahedan Airport (ZAH) in southeastern Iran, killing all 103 on board.
  • 1966 – Third (of five) Ling-Temco-Vought XC-142As, 62-5923, suffers major landing gear and fuselage damage during landing on 14th Cat II flight at Edwards AFB, California, having logged only 14:12 hrs. Cat II flight time. Air Force decides to use wing from this airframe to repair XC-142A No. 2, 62-5922, which suffers major damage on 19 October 1965, other useful items are salvaged from airframe no. 3, and the cannibalized fuselage is scrapped in the summer of 1966.
  • Semyon Ariyevich Kosberg
    , Jewish Soviet engineer, expert in the field of aircraft and rocket engines.
  • 1962 – RCAF Piasecki H-21 helicopter 9611, from 121 (CU) Comox rescue 22 seamen from SS Glafkos.
  • 1959 – Birth of Fyodor Nikolayevich Yurchikhin, Russian cosmonaut and RSC Energia test-pilot.
  • 1957 – Death of Ottorino Pomilio, early Italian aeronautic engineer and WWI scout aircraft designer.
  • 1953 – First flight of the Cessna 310, American six-seat, a low-wing, twin-engined monoplane and first twin-engined aircraft that Cessna put into production after WWII.
  • 1952 – First flight of the Bristol Type 173 G-ALBN – A prototype twin-engine, tandem rotor military helicopter.
  • 1947 – The Kings Flight of the Royal Air Force was re-established at RAF Benson. The first equipment consisted of three Vickers Vikings and an Avro York named Endeavour.
  • 1945 – (3-4) U. S. Navy Task Force 38 begins its support of the U. S. invasion of Lingayen Gulf with carrier air strikes against Japanese forces and facilities on Formosa, the Pescadores, the Sakishima Gunto, and Okinawa, with the loss of 22 U. S. aircraft. Bad weather curtails the strikes and makes bomb damage assessment impossible, although the task force believes it has destroyed about 100 Japanese aircraft.
  • 1944 – Japan launches first Fu-Go bombs, aka fire balloons or balloon bombs. Released from Japan, the balloons were meant to be pushed across the Pacific by the jetstream and then crash into the U. S. mainland and explode. A fascinating idea, but not a very effective weapon: Of the 9,000 balloons launched, only six Americans were killed. 300 of the balloons were ever found in North America, and it is estimated around 600 others likely landed in uninhabited deserts, forests and mountains.
  • 1944 – Top Ace Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington is shot down over Rabaul in his Corsair by Captain Masajiro Kawato flying a Zero. He is picked up by the Japanese.
  • 1925 – First flight of the Fairey Fox, British light bomber and fighter biplane.
  • Hanriot HD-14
    biplane as he flies with his engine stopped in a slope lift (using hill-side air currents) in Biskra, Algeria.
  • 1917 – First flight of the Zeppelin LZ88 (L 40), German dirigible.
  • 1902 – Birth of Tommaso (Tomaso) Dal Molin, Italian Military pilot of the Schneider Trophy.
  • 1897
    – Birth of John Elmer "Jack" Drummond, Canadian WWI flying ace.
  • 1889 – Birth of Edward Willits 'Eddie' Hubbard, Early American aviator.
  • 1889 – Birth of Charles Philip Oldfield Bartlett, British WWI flying ace.
  • 1889 – Birth of Ross Morrison MacDonald, Canadian WWI flying ace.

References

  1. ^ Olarn, Kocha, and Jethro Mullen, "Myanmar Airstrikes on Kachin Rebels Raise Global Concerns," CNN, January 3, 2013, 13:41 GMT.
  2. ^ "Yemeni Tribesmen Protest Against Drone Strikes," Reuters, 4 January 2013, 3:08 p.m. GMT.
  3. ^ a b Mrouse, Bassem, "Syrian Warplanes Bomb Suburbs of the Capital," Associated Press, 4 January 2013, 8:42 a.m.
  4. ^ "Incident: Air Berlin B738 at Dortmund on January 3rd 2010, rejected takeoff results in runway overrun". Aviation Herald. Retrieved 3 January 2009.

January 4

  • Damascus
    , including Douma.
  • 2013 – Syrian rebel forces continue attacks on the Syrian government air base at Taftanaz and Aleppo International Airport in Aleppo as part of a campaign to reduce government air capabilities by capturing air bases. Syrian Air Force aircraft strike rebel forces at Taftanaz.
  • 2004 – Spirit Rover, MER-A (Mars Exploration Rover – A), US robotic rover, successfully lands on Mars.
  • 2001 – First flight of the HAL Tejas, an Indian lightweight multirole jet fighter technology demonstrator, TD-1.
  • 2000 – A numbered company, owned in part by Air Canada, scoops up 82% of Canadian Airline's shares. When the merger is complete, Air Canada will be the country's only national airline.
  • Olympic Airways Flight 417
    , a Boeing 747, leading to regulations on smoking on aircraft.
  • Boeing-Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche
    , an American advanced five-blade armed reconnaissance and attack helicopter prototype.
  • 1990 – Northwest Airlines Flight 5, a Boeing 727 with 145 on board, loses an engine over Madison, Florida, the aircraft makes an emergency landing at Tampa International Airport, all on board survive.
  • 1986 – Death of Wilbur Rounding Franks, Canadian scientist, notable as the inventor of the anti-gravity suit or G-suit.
  • 1973 – Entered Service: Gates Learjet 26 N26GLd.
  • 1970 – Birth of Christopher John "Chris" Cassidy, American NASA astronaut.
  • 1964 – Pope Paul VI lands in Amman, Jordan, in a special Alitalia DC-8; it is the first time that a pope has used an airplane for an official visit.
  • 1964 – Martin NRB-57D Canberra, 53-3973, of the Wright Air Development Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, suffers structural failure of both wings at 50,000 feet (15240 m), comes down in schoolyard at Dayton, Ohio, crew bails out. The USAF subsequently grounds all W/RB-57D aircraft.
  • 1961 – During minimum interval takeoff (MITO) from Pease AFB, New Hampshire, Boeing B-47E-130-BW Stratojet, 53-4244, of the 100th Bomb Wing, number 2 in a three-ship cell, loses control, crashes into trees, burns. Killed are aircraft commander, Capt. Thomas C. Weller, co-pilot 1st Lt. Ronald Chapo, navigator 1st Lt. J. A. Wether, and crew chief S/Sgt. Stephen J. Merva.
  • Gulf of Sirte
    . Aircraft was never found. 10 crew were presumed dead.
  • 1959 – Luna 1 (E-1 series) is the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the moon.
  • Edwin Alliott Verdon Roe
    , OBE FRAeS, pioneer English pilot and aircraft manufacturer, founder of the Avro company.
  • 1958 – Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth, fall out of orbit and back to terra firma.
  • 1956 – A license to operate a flying boat service between Southampton and Las Palmas, Canary Islands, is granted to Aquila Airways of London.
  • 1952 – Pan American World Airways inaugurates the first all-cargo service across the North Atlantic with its recently acquired Douglas DC-6A cargo carrier.
  • 1945 – A single Japanese bomber destroys 11 U. S. Navy PV-1 Ventura patrol aircraft parked at Tacloban Airfield on Leyte.
  • 1945 – The Japanese make their last kamikaze attack on the U. S. invasion force off Mindoro, causing a cargo ship carrying ammunition to explode, killing all 71 merchant mariners on board.
  • 1945 – The escort aircraft carrier USS Ommaney Bay (CVE-79) is fatally damaged by a Japanese kamikaze in the Sulu Sea and scuttled later in the day.
  • 1944 – Launch of Operation Carpetbagger, general term used for the aerial resupply of weapons and other matériel to resistance fighters in France, Italy and the Low Countries by the USAAF.
  • 1944 – A strike by American aircraft based at Tarawa Atoll lays mines the channel at Jaluit, forcing Japanese shipping to cease use of the atoll’s lagoon and the withdrawal of most Japanese seaplanes there.
  • 1943 – Death of Marina Mikhailovna Raskova, famous Russian navigator, when her Petlyakov Pe-2 crashed attempting to make a forced landing. She founded three female air regiments which would eventually fly over 30,000 sorties in WWII.
  • 1940 – First flight of the Fairey Fulmar production aircraft N1854 (British carrier-born fighter aircraft).
  • 1931 – William G. Swan stayed, aloft for 30 min over Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA, in a glider powered with 10 small rockets.
  • de Havilland Gipsy Moth
    'Jason III' in Poland due to an engine problem during her attempt to reach Peking.
  • 1927 – Death of Herbert Frank Stacey Drewitt MC, AFC, New Zealand WWI flying ace.
  • 1917 – Edward Rochfort Grange of No. 8 (Naval) Sq­ron is credited with downing his fifth enemy aircraft (3 Albatros D.II on that day), becoming Canada’s first "ace. "
  • 1904 – Birth of Dino Arcangeli, Italian Raid aviator and WWII Pilot.
  • 1896 – Birth of Gabriel Joseph Thomas, French WWI flying ace and early airliner pilot.
  • 1895 – Birth of Leroy Randle "Roy" Grumman, American aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and industrialist. Co-founder of Grumman Aeronautical Engineering Co. later to become Grumman Aerospace Corporation, now part of Northrop Grumman.
  • 1894 – Birth of Dietrich "Derk" Averes, German WWI fling ace.

References

  1. ^ Wilson, Eric, "Fashion Boss From Italy Lost in Flight Off Venezuela," The New York Times, January 5, 2013.
  2. ^ Harro Ranter. "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 22 March 2009. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  3. ^ http://www.wdsu.com/news/18409935/detail.html WDSU.com 8 Killed, 1 Injured In Helicopter Crash - Lone Survivor In Critical Condition

January 5

  • Ataturk International Airport, Istanbul. The hijacker was overpowered by other passengers on the flight and was arrested when the aircraft landed.[1] The flight was being operated by Boeing 737–800 TC-JGZ.[2]
  • 2009 – C-GEAJ, an Antarctic Logistic Center International Basler BT-67, crashes on landing at Tony Camp, Antarctica. All four occupants survive but the aircraft is damaged beyond repair.[3]
  • 2006 – Independence Air closed operations after declaring bankruptcy.
  • 1995 – Death of Benjamin Robert Rich, 2nd director of Lockheed's Skunk Works from 1975 to 1991, succeeding its founder, Kelly Johnson. Regarded as the "father of stealth".
  • 1983 – United Airlines begins the first scheduled nonstop service between the continental United States and Maui.
  • 1981 – Death of James Martin CBE DSc CEng FIMechE FRAeS, British engineer who, with Captain Valentine Baker, was the founder of the Martin-Baker aircraft company which is now a leading producer of aircraft ejection seats.
  • 1977 – Connellan air disaster: This was a suicide attack at Alice Springs Airport, Northern Territory, Australia. Carried out by a disgruntled former employee of Connellan Airways (Connair), who flew a Beechcraft Baron into the Connair complex at the airport, the attack killed four other people and injured four more, two of them seriously
  • 1969 – Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701, a Boeing 727-100C, arriving at London Gatwick Airport from Frankfurt Airport crashed into a house in dense fog, killing 48 of the 62 persons aboard; a married couple living at the house also died, but their baby survived.
  • 1969 – Venera 5, USSR’s first probe to make a successful planet landing, is launched. It would later enter Venus’ atmosphere on May 16.
  • 1967 – Martin MGM-13 Mace, launched from Site A-15, Santa Rosa Island, Hurlburt Field, Florida, by the 4751st Air Defense Missile Squadron at ~1021 hrs., fails to circle over Gulf of Mexico for test mission with two Eglin AFB McDonnell F-4 Phantom IIs, but heads south for Cuba. Third F-4 overtakes it, fires two test AAMs with limited success, then damages unarmed drone with cannon fire. Mace overflies western tip of Cuba before crashing in Caribbean 100 miles south of the island. International incident narrowly avoided. To forestall the possibility, the United States State Department asks the Swiss Ambassador in Havana to explain the circumstances of the wayward drone to the Cuban government. The Mace had been equipped with an "improved guidance system known as 'ASTRAN' which is considered unjammable." (This was apparently a typo for ATRAN – Automatic Terrain Recognition And Navigation terrain-matching radar navigation.)
  • 1967 – Lockheed A-12, 60-6928, Article 125, lost during training/test flight. CIA pilot Walter Ray successfully ejects but is killed upon impact with terrain due to failed seat-separation sequence. The Air Force-issue seatbelt failed to release properly. The aircraft had run out of fuel for a variety of reasons.
  • 1964 – First flight of the Short Belfast, a British heavy lift turboprop freighter.
  • 1962 – The U. S. Army suffers its first combat fatalities in an aircraft in Vietnam when an H-21 C Shawnee transport helicopter is shot down by Viet Cong ground fire near Dak Roda, South Vietnam, with three killed.
  • 1962 – Three crew killed in crash of USAF Boeing B-47E-105-BW Stratojet, 52-615, of the 22d Bomb Wing, at March AFB, California. This will be the last fatal crash at that base until 19 October 1978. Pilot was Major Clarence Weldon Garrett.
  • 1959 – The Fairey Rotodyne, British compound gyroplane, piloted by Wilfred Ronald 'Ron' Gellatly and John G. P. Morton, sets a world speed record for convertiplanes of 190.9 mph over a 62-mile circuit.
  • 1956 – Sole Piasecki YH-16A Turbo Transporter helicopter prototype, 50-1270, breaks up in flight at ~1555 hrs. and crashes near Swedesboro, New Jersey, near the Delaware River, while returning to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from a test flight over New Jersey. The cause of the crash was later determined to be the aft slip ring, which carried flight data from the instrumented rotor blades to the data recorders in the cabin. The slip ring bearings seized, and the resultant torque load severed the instrumentation standpipe inside the aft rotor shaft. A segment of this steel standpipe tilted over and came into contact with the interior of the aluminum rotor shaft, scribing a deepening groove into it. The rotor shaft eventually failed in flight, which in turn led to the aft blades and forward blades desynchronizing and colliding. The aircraft was a total loss, the two test pilots, Harold Peterson and George Callaghan, were killed. This led to the cancellation not only of the YH-16, but also the planned sixty-nine-passenger YH-16B version.
  • 1953 Nutts Corner Viking accident
    : a British European Airways Vickers Viking crashes on approach to Belfast-Nutts Corner Airport, 27 of the 31 on board killed.
  • 1953 – First flight of the Ambrosini Sagittario, an Italian aerodynamic research aircraft based on the manufacturer's S.7. New swept wings and tail surfaces of wooden construction were fitted to the S.7 fuselage. The wing leading edge was swept at 45 degrees. At first, the S.7's piston engine was retained and the aircraft was known as the Freccia (Arrow).
  • 1953 – A Royal Air Force Boeing Washington B.1, WF553, of 15 Squadron, RAF Coningsby, crashes whilst attempting a Ground Controlled Approach at Coningsby in bad weather, impacting near Horncastle. Both pilots, the flight engineer, radio operator and nav/radar are killed, whilst the nav/plotter survives with serious injuries.
  • 1952 – Pan Am commences trans-atlantic freight services.
  • 1950 Sverdlovsk air disaster
    , a Lisunov Li-2 crashes near Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), Russia, killing all 19 on board, including 11 Soviet Air Force hockey players.
  • 1950 – A Boeing B-50A-10-BO Superfortress, 46-021, c/n 15741 of the 3200th Proof Test Group out of Eglin AFB, crash lands in the Choctawhatchee Bay, northwest Florida, killing two of the 11 crew. Nine escape from the downed aircraft following the forced landing. The airframe settles in eight to ten feet of mud at a depth of 38 feet (12 m). Divers recover the body of flight engineer M/Sgt. Claude Dorman, 27, of Kingston, New Hampshire, from the nose of the bomber on Monday, 8 January. The body of S/Sgt. William Thomas Bell, 21, aerial photographer, who lived in Mayo, Florida, is recovered on Tuesday, 9 January, outside the plane from beneath the tail. The Eglin base public information officer identified the surviving crew as 1st Lt. Park R. Bidwell, instructor pilot; 1st Lt. Vere Short, pilot; 1st Lt. James S. Wigg, co-pilot; Maj. William C. McLaughlin, bombardier; and S/Sgt. Clifford J. Gallipo, M/Sgt. Alton Howard, M/Sgt. William J. Almand, T/Sgt. Samuel G. Broke, and Cpl. William F. Fitzpatrick, crewmen.
  • 1949 – Charles "Chuck" Yeager using a Bell X-1 carried out the only conventional (runway) take off performed during the X-1 program, reaching 23,000 ft (7,000 m) in 90 seconds.
  • 1945 – First rescue mission ever made by a Bell helicopter took place when Jack Woolams bailed out of a P-59 Airacomet in trouble near Lockport. Floyd Carlson and Dr. Thomas C. Marriott took off in one of the Model 30 s and, guided by Joe Masham flying a P-59, rescued the unfortunate pilot.
  • 1945 – Kamikazes damage the U. S. escort carrier USS Manila Bay (CVE-61) and heavy cruiser USS Louisville (CA-28) and the Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Australia in the South China Sea west of Manila Bay.
  • 1944 – Six RCAF Handly Page Halifax II’s carried out the Bomber Commands first high-level mine-laying operation.
  • 1943 – In support of the American occupation of Amchitka in the Aleutian Islands scheduled for the next day, U. S. Army Air Forces aircraft fly photographic reconnaissance missions over Amchitka and strike Japanese forces on Attu and Kiska, sinking two fully loaded Japanese transports approaching Attu and Kiska.
  • 1941 – Renowned aviatrix Amy Johnson takes off from an overnight stopover at Squire's Gate, Blackpool in Airspeed Oxford V3540 on an ATA delivery flight from RAF Prestwick, Scotland to RAF Kidlington, in Oxfordshire. The weather is foggy and foul, and, ATA crews flying without radio, Johnson becomes lost. When next seen more than three hours later over the Thames Estuary, Johnson is parachuting into the water, where the barrage balloon tender Hazlemere, spotting her descent, hurries to pick her up. By the time the vessel reaches Johnson she is exhausted and unable to grab the line thrown to her. An officer from the tender, Lt.Cmdr. Walter Fletcher, dives into the sea to help, but numbed by the cold Johnson sinks beneath the surface. Johnson's body is never recovered. Fletcher succumbs to the cold and also dies. Johnson had made headlines in 1930 when she had become the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia.
  • 1930 – During British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE), RAAF pilot Stuart Campbell and Professor Douglas Mawson with a D. H.60 Gipsy Moth confirmed an extensive new coast of ice cliffs and rocky mountains. Mawson named it MacRobertson Land.
  • 1930 – Birth of Edward Galen "Ed" Givens Jr, USAF test pilot and NASA astronaut.
  • 1918 – Imperial German Navy Zeppelin, L 47, LZ87, destroyed by a giant explosion at the air base in Ahlhorn, along with L 46, LZ94, L 51, LZ97, and L 58, LZ105, and one non-Zeppelin-type airship, stabled in three adjacent hangars. This is supposed to have been an accident, though sabotage could not be ruled out.
  • 1916 – First operational flight of the Nieuport 11 (Bébé Nieuport), a famous French WWI single seat biplane fighter, the type having first flown in 1915.[4]
  • 1903 – Birth of Harold Charles Gatty, Australian navigator, inventor, and aviation pioneer, founder of Fiji Airways (which later became Air Pacific).
  • 1900
    – Death of Henry Tracey Coxwell, English aeronaut.
  • 1896 – Birth of Thomas Gantz Cassady, American WWI flying ace, WWII OSS intelligence officer and businessman.
  • 1895 – Birth of Jeannette Ridlon Piccard, American high-altitude balloonist, first woman to fly to the stratosphere.
  • 1892 – Birth of Marcel Anatole Hugues, French WWI flying ace and WWII pilot.
  • 1891 – Birth of Carl "Charly" Degelow, German WWI fighter ace, last German pilot and final German serviceman to be awarded the Blue Max.

References

  1. ^ "Passengers thwart Turkish jet hijack attempt". BBC News. 6 January 2011. Archived from the original on 6 January 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
  2. ^ Hradecky, Simon (5 January 2011). "Incident: THY B738 near Istanbul on Jan 5th 2011, hijack attempt averted". Aviation Herald. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
  3. ^ Jan Richter. "January 2009". Jacdec. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
  4. ^ http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail-page-2.asp?aircraft_id=199

January 6

  • 2009 – Ted, a brand of the American airline United Airlines for their economy flights, is discontinued. Economy flights are rebranded under the main United Airlines brand.
  • Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet
    has a mid air collision with a Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet over the North Persian Gulf during routine ops from the USS Harry S Truman. One pilot ejects and is recovered.
  • 2007 – BA Connect, easyJet, XL Airways UK, Thomsonfly, Thomas Cook Airlines, Balkan Bulgarian Airlines, First Choice Airways, Air Malta, KLM Cityhopper and SN Brussels Airlines cancel all their flights to and from Bristol International Airport in a row over runway safety.
  • 1985 – Death of Vladimir Konstantinovich Kokkinaki, test pilot in the Soviet Union, who had twenty-two world records and served as president of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.
  • 1984 – Hughes Helicopters merges with McDonnell Douglas Corp.
  • 1982 – First cargo flight with payload of the Myasishchev VM-T Atlant, variant of Myasishchev's M-4 'Molot' bomber (3 M) designed as a strategic airlift airplane. The VM-T was modified to carry rocket boosters and the Soviet space shuttles of the Buran program. It is also known as the 3 M-T.
  • 1979 – Death of Kenneth Russell Unger, American WWI flying ace, US Airmail pilot, and WWII transport pilot.
  • 1969 – Allegheny Airlines Flight 737, a Convair CV-580, crashes while on approach to Bradford Regional Airport. 11 of the 28 passengers and crew on board are killed.
  • 1968 – NASA'S Surveyor 7 lands on the moon, and is the last in its series.
  • 1968 – Patrick Henry Brady, US Army helicopter pilot, volunteered with H-1 H ambulance helicopters. Sites were in enemy held territory which were reported to be heavily defended and to be blanketed by fog. Using 3 helicopters in at least 6 missions he rescued a total of 51 seriously wounded men.
  • Douglas A-4C Skyhawk
    shortly after departing NAS Oceana, Virginia when the fighter-bomber catches fire. Lt. J.G. J. R. Mossman, 24, of Springfield, Pennsylvania, is alerted by his wingman that the tail is on fire just after beginning a flight to NAS Pensacola, Florida, and ejects 10 miles SE of Virginia Beach, Virginia, parachuting into the Atlantic Ocean. Wingman Lt. Henri B. Chase orbits Mossman's position until a helicopter from NAS Norfolk arrives and picks him up. The pilot is unhurt. "By coincidence, Mossman is one of three pilots who last month practiced being rescued at sea by helicopter off Virginia Beach."
  • 1963 – Birth of Philippe Perrin, French Air Force pilot, test pilot and former CNES and European Space Agency astronaut.
  • 1959 – While on approach to Tri-Cities Regional Airport in Bristol, Tennessee, Southeast Airlines Flight 308, a Douglas DC-3 A, strays off course and crashes into Holston Mountain, killing all 10 people on board.
  • 1957 – Birth of Colin Michael Foale, CBE, PhD, British-American astrophysicist with dual citizenship and NASA astronaut, first Briton to perform a space walk.
  • 1954 – A Royal Air Force Vickers Valetta T3 carrying a rugby team crashes at Albury, Hertfordshire, England, in bad weather, killing 16 of the 17 people on board.
  • 1953 – German airline LuftAG (Aktiengesellschaft für Luftverkehrsbedarf / Air traffic on demand) is formed.
  • 1949 – First flight of the Nord Noroit, a French reconnaissance and air-sea rescue flying-boat, only one built.
  • 1948 – Birth of Guy Spence Gardner, USAF test pilot and NASA astronaut.
  • 1945 – Death of Tokushige Yoshizawa, Japanese WWII flying ace, killed in action.
  • 1945 – Task Force 38 carrier aircraft attack Japanese forces and facilities on Luzon, claiming 14 Japanese aircraft destroyed in the air and 18 on the ground in exchange for the loss of 17 U. S. aircraft, but bad weather prevents them from employing the "Big Blue Blanket" tactic of maintaining continuous coverage over Japanese airfields to prevent Japanese aircraft from attacking the U. S. invasion force in Lingayen Gulf. In Lingayen Gulf, kamikazes damage the battleship USS New Mexico, killing 30 – Including British Lieutenant General Herbert Lumsden – The battleship USS California, the heavy cruiser USS Louisville – mortally wounding Rear Admiral Theodore E. Chandler – The heavy cruiser HMAS Australia, the light cruiser USS Columbia, three destroyers, a destroyer-minesweeper, and a destroyer-transport and sink a destroyer-minesweeper.
  • McDonnell XP-67 Bat
    twin-engine bomber destroyer makes its first flight.
  • 1944 – Death of Charles Learmonth, Australian WWII bomber pilot, killed in the crash of his Bristol Beaufort during an exercise off Rottnest Island. Before crashing, Learmonth was able to identify what was causing his aircraft to shake violently, solving a problem that had affected the entire Beaufort fleet.
  • 1943 – Firing at a Japanese Aichi D3A dive bomber (Allied reporting name “Val”) south of Guadalcanal, the U. S. Navy light cruiser USS Helena claims the first hit on an enemy aircraft by antiaircraft ammunition employing the Mark 32 VT proximity fuse.
  • 1943 – Consolidated B-24D-20-CO Liberator, 41-24202, c/n 997, of the 504th Bomb Squadron, 346th Bomb Group, out of Salina Army Airfield, Kansas, suffers fire in flight, crashes 15 miles SW of Madill, Oklahoma, destroyed by fire. Pilot was R. G. Bishop.
  • Pan American Airlines
    becomes the first commercial airline to schedule a flight around the world.
  • 1942 – Wirraways of No. 24 Squadron attempted to intercept Japanese seaplanes flying over New Britain; only one managed to engage an enemy aircraft, marking the first air-to-air combat between RAAF and Japanese forces
  • 1942 – Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft based at Truk begin attacks on the Australian air base at Rabaul.
  • 1940 – Finnish Air Force Lieutenant Jorma Sarvanto shoots down six Soviet Ilyushin DB-3 bombers out of a formation of seven in four minutes.
  • 1938 – Spanish Republican Minister of Defense Indalecio Prieto y Tuero proposes to the Nationalists that both sides in the Spanish Civil War ban air attacks on cities and towns in rear areas. The Nationalists reply that they will continue to bomb Barcelona unless its industries are evacuated.
  • Point Loma, California
    , 2 officers and 5 enlisted men KWF.
  • 1933 – Birth of Oleg Grigoryevich Makarov, Soviet cosmonaut.
  • 1927 – Imperial Airways de Havilland DH.66 Hercules lands in Karachi on his way to New Delhi coming from Croydon on a survey flight to India.
  • Junkers Luftverkehr
  • 1921 – After modifications, HMS Argus returns to service with the Royal Navy as the world's first aircraft carrier equipped with palisades. Installed on the port and starboard edges of the flight deck and capable of being raised and lowered, the palisades when raised serve as a windbreak and prevent aircraft on the flight deck from blowing or rolling overboard in heavy weather.
  • 1916 – (6 or 15) The German submarine U-12 departs Zeebrugge with a Friedrichshafen FF.29 seaplane lashed to her deck in an attempt to use submarines to carry seaplanes within range of England. The seaplane is forced to take off early, reconnoiters the coast of Kent, and has to fly all the way back to Zeebrugge when bad weather makes returning to U-12 impossible. It is the only German attempt to operate an aircraft from a submarine.
  • 1911 – 750,000 Indians watch a flying display at Calcutta by French Henri Jullerot in his Military Biplane.
  • 1899 – Birth of John Lancashire Barlow, British WWI flying ace.
  • James Fitzmaurice
    DFC, Irish aviation pioneer. He was a member of the crew of the Bremen, which made the first successful Trans-Atlantic aircraft flight from East to West
  • 1897 – Birth of Joseph Leonard Maries "John" White DFC, Canadian WWI flying ace.
  • 1897 – Birth of George Hatfield Dingley Gossip, Australian WWI flying ace.
  • 1895 – Birth of Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr,MC, American WWI flying ace.
  • 1894 – Birth of Cyril Marconi "Billy" Crowe, British WWI flying ace and WWII pilot.
  • 1890 – Birth of Franz Wognar, Austro Hungarian WWI flying ace.
  • 1745 – Birth of Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier, brother of Joseph-Michel, inventors of the montgolfière-style hot air balloon, globe aérostatique.

References

January 7

  • Syrian Civil War, Colonel Afeef Mahmoud Suleima of the Syrian Army's aviation logistics division defects along with at least 50 of his men, ordering his men to protect protesters in the Syrian city of Hama from government forces.[1]
  • 2009 – A French Army Eurocopter AS 532 Cougar Helicopter crashes into the Atlantic Ocean of the coast of Gabon. The helicopter on a routine exercise was flying from the amphibious assault ship the FS Foudre and the accident occurred shortly after take-off resulting in 2 injured and 8 fatalities from the 13e Régiment de Dragons Parachutistes and the Aviation Légère de l'Armée de Terre.
  • F/A-18 fighter jets operation from USS Harry S. Truman crashed during an Iraq-related mission in the Gulf. All three pilots were rescued.[2][3]
  • 2006 – UH-60L Black Hawk 91-26346 from B Company, 1–207th Aviation Regiment crashes near Tal Afar in bad weather, killing 12 people on board. Reports suggest it was not shot down.[4]
  • 2004 – Boeing launches the 747 – 400 Special Freighter program with an agreement with Cathay Pacific Airways to convert at least six 747 – 400 passenger airplanes into freighters.
  • 2004 – Death of Oswald Garrison "Mike" Villard Jr., American engineer, pioneer in radio and radar, Father of the 'over-the-horizon radar'.
  • 1998 – Launch of The Lunar Prospector mission, part of the Discovery Program, designed for a low polar orbit investigation of the Moon.
  • 1992 – Produte (Croazia) incident. 2 Yugoslavian Mig-21 (Pilots Danijel Borovic and Emir Šišic) shot down a Bell UH-1 Iroquois of the European Union Monitoring Mission. Killing Italian Enzo Venturini pilot, Marco Matta co-pilot, observers Fiorenzo Ramacci, Silvano Natale and French Lieutenant de vaisseau Jean-Loup Eychenne. For this, Emir Šišic served prison time.
  • Libyan Air Force
    base in Ouadi Doum to avenge a raid by Libya against the French military 3 days before.
  • 1980 – In San Francisco, a single-engined Mooney 231 sets a nonstop coast-to coast record in 8 hours 4 minutes using only 105 gallons of fuel.
  • 1973 – Cameron Balloons Ltd. of Bristol, England, flies for the first time the world’s only hot-air airship (G-BAMK) from Wantage, Berkshire.
  • Iberia Airlines Flight 602
    , a Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle, crashes into a mountain while on approach to Ibiza Airport in Spain killing all 104 passengers and crew on board.
  • 1971 – An unarmed USAF Boeing B-52C-45-BO Stratofortress, 54-2666, of the 99th Bombardment Wing (Heavy), Westover AFB, Massachusetts, crashed into Lake Michigan near Charlevoix, Michigan during a practice bomb run, exploding on impact. Only a small amount of wreckage, two life vests, and some spilled fuel was found in Little Traverse Bay. Bomber went down six nautical miles from the Bay Shore Air Force Radar Site. Nine crew KWF.
  • 1968 – Launch of Surveyor 7, seventh and last lunar lander of the American uncrewed Surveyor program sent to explore the surface of the Moon.
  • 1967 – Entered Service: SR-71 Blackbird with the US Air Force.
  • 1967 – U.S. Navy Lockheed P-2 Neptune on training mission with nine Naval Reservists on board, on out-and-back flight from the Naval Air Facility, Andrews AFB, Maryland, crashes in light rainstorm near Upper Marlboro, Maryland, killing all crew. Neptune disappeared from radar at 1107 hrs., impacting in wooded area, digging crater 10 feet deep, 30 feet wide, 100 feet long. Airframe completely disintegrates, said Lt. Cmdr. Don Maunder.
  • 1964 – Birth of Marco Matta, Italian Air Force Pilot.
  • 1960 – Launch: Polaris missile, US two-stage solid-fuel nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).
  • 1954 – Death of Emil Uzelac, Croatian soldier and military commander who was a leading figure in the air forces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the Independent State of Croatia.
  • 1951 – Birth of Talgat Amangeldyuly Musabayev, Kazakh test pilot and cosmonaut
  • 1949 – A USAF Douglas C-54G-5-DO Skymaster, 45-0543, c/n 35996, of the 14th Troop Carrier Squadron, 61st Troop Carrier Group, en route to RAF Burtonwood from Rhein-Main Air Base for a 200-hour inspection, crashes at ~1645 hrs. in bad weather at Stake House Fell, Lancashire, England, killing all six on board. KWF are pilot 1st Lt. Richard M. Wurgel, co-pilot 1st Lt. Lowell A. Wheaton Jr., engineer Sgt. Bernard J. Watkins, radio operator Cpl. Norbert H. Theis, and passengers Capt. W. A. Rathgeber and Pvt. Ronald E. Stone. Investigation showed that a commercial radio signal N of Burtonwood interfered with aircraft's radio compass, giving a false reading.
  • 1948 – The first flight of the RCAF’s Vampire III in Canada.
  • 1948 – Death of Captain Thomas Francis Mantell Jr., WWII pilot, in the crash of his P-51 Mustang while in pursuit of a supposed UFO.
  • 1947 – Death of Helen Richey, American pioneering female aviator and first woman to be hired as a pilot by a commercial airline in the USA.
  • 1946 – Birth of Giovanni Carta (John Carta), Italo-American aviator and Extreme Skydiver.
  • 1945 – Death of Thomas Buchanan McGuire Jr., second highest scoring American ace during WWII, Killed in the crash of his P-38 which stalled while chasing a Ki-43 Hayabusa 'Oscar'.
  • 1945 – In clearer weather, Task Force 38 aircraft employ the “Big Blue Blanket” tactic over Luzon, flying 757 sorties, shooting down all four Japanese aircraft that they meet in the air and claiming another 75 destroyed on the ground. Task Force 38 loses 10 planes in combat and 18 due to non-combat causes. Eleven U. S. escort aircraft carriers in Lingayen Gulf contribute another 143 sorties, and U. S. Army Air Forces planes also participate. In Lingayen Gulf, kamikazes sink a destroyer and a destroyer-minesweeper.
  • 1941 – Adolf Hitler orders Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor aircraft to begin supporting German U-boat operations in the Atlantic Ocean.
  • 1941 – Birth of Frederick Drew Gregory, USAF test pilot and NASA astronaut
  • 1941 – Saro Lerwick flying boat, L7262, of No. 209 Squadron RAF is lost when pilot Flt. Lt. Spotswood is unable to take off near Stranraer, Scotland. After a long take off run, the hull strikes a floating obstacle and rapidly takes on water, sinks. Two crew are trapped and drown.
  • 1935 – Birth of Valeri Nikolayevich Kubasov, Soviet cosmonaut.
  • 1934 – First flight of the Curtiss XF13C (Model 70), a U.S. prototype carrier-based HighWing monoplane fighter aircraft with a manually retractable landing gear and an enclosed cockpit. The aircraft was designed to facilitate conversions from biplane to monoplane and vice versa.
  • 1933 – Death of Herbert John Louis Hinkler AFC DSM, better known as Bert Hinkler, pioneer Australian aviator (dubbed "Australian Lone Eagle"), Inventor, WWI pilot and aircraft designer. His plane crashed in the Tuscan Mountains in Italy in an attempt to break the flying record from England to Australia.
  • 1929 – Carl Spaatz, Ira Eaker, and Elwood Quesada sets an endurance record of 151 hours aloft in the Question Mark, a modified Atlantic-Fokker C-2A airplane. While in the air, it Refueled 37 times and resupplied six others, with 12 of the 43 replenishments taking place at night.
  • 1925 – Death of Emil Schäpe, German WWI flying ace.
  • 1920 – The Boeing BB-1 seaplane, another new commercial aircraft, makes its first flight. It is bought by a Canadian and becomes the company’s second international sale. 1919 – Death of Lorenzo Gaslini, Goal keeper and WWI Italian Pilot.
  • 1917 – Thomas Mottershead VC, DCM, British WWI pilot, is severely injured during a dogfight with two Albatros D.III, He managed to take his burning FE-2d back to the Allied lines and made a successful forced landing saving his observer's life.
  • 1917 – Death of Paul Joannes Sauvage, French WWI youngest flying ace, killed by anti-aircraft fire.
  • 1911 – Lieutenant Myron Sydney Crissy of the United States Army, drops the first live bomb from an aeroplane when he conducts a test drop on a target in San Francisco from a Wright biplane piloted by Philip O. Parmelee.
  • 1906 – Birth of Evelyn "Bobbi" Trout, American early aviator, first Woman to set the first non-refueling endurance record for women.
  • 1898 – Birth of Wallace Alexander Smart, Welsh WWI flying ace.
  • 1896 – Birth of Geoffrey Hornblower Cock, British WWI fighter ace, highest scoring ace to fly the Sopwith 1½ Strutter.
  • 1895 – Birth of Sir Wilmot Hudson Fysh KBE, DFC, Australian aviator and businessman, founder of the Australian airline company Qantas.
  • 1891 – Birth of Fernand Eugene Guyou, French WWI flying ace, Airliner pilot and WWII Pilot.
  • 1785 – The English Channel is crossed for the first time by air as Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries fly their hydrogen balloon from Dover, England to a forest near Calais, France.

References

  1. ^ "Scores more soldiers defect from Syrian army". Al Jazeera. 7 January 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  2. ^ Lolita C. Baldor (2008-01-08). "Navy Fighter Jets Crash in Persian Gulf". Associated Press. Retrieved 2009-06-02.
  3. ^ "2 Navy Fighter Jets Crash In Persian Gulf". CBS/AP. 2008-01-07. Retrieved 2009-06-02.
  4. ^ "U.S. helicopter crash kills 12 in Iraq". CNN.com. 2006-01-09. Archived from the original on January 27, 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-08.

January 8

  • 2020 -
    Boeing 737 800 shot down by Iran missiles near Imam Khomejni International Airport, Tehran
    .
  • 2016 - West Air Sweden Flight 294, a Bombardier CRJ200 was operating a cargo flight from Oslo to Tromsø. Soon after reaching cruise altitude (33.000 feet) the CRJ200 suddenly started nosediving towards the ground at an immensely high speed and rate of descent. A few seconds after the event began the plane impacted with the ground, instantly killing the two pilots on board. The main cause of the crash was the failure of the IRU on the captain's side which provided false pitch information, as well as the absence of effective communication between the two pilots during a situation of an emergency.
  • 2004 – A UH-60 Black Hawk (86-24488) from 571st Medical Company (Air Ambulance) shot down near Fallujah, killing 9 crew and passengers.[1][2][3]
  • 2003 – Turkish Airlines Flight 634, an Avro RJ100, crashes during its final approach to land at Diyarbakır Airport, Turkey in extensive fog. All of the 5 crew and 70 of the 75 passengers are killed, 5 passengers survive with heavy injuries.
  • 2003 – Air Midwest Flight 5481, a Beechcraft 1900, crashes on takeoff from Charlotte, North Carolina in the United States; all 19 passengers and 2 pilots are killed.
  • 2002 – A Belgian Air Force F-16A crashes during approach at Kleine Brogel Air Base. Pilot ejects safely.
  • 1998 – Boeing changes the name of the MD-95 jetliner to the 717 – 200.
  • 1996 Air Africa crash
    , an overloaded Antonov An-32 aborts takeoff and overruns into a market in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 297.
  • 1994 – The Russian Soyuz TM-18 is launched, bringing cosmonaut Valery Polyakov to Mir for a record time of 437 days in space
  • 1989 – British Midland Flight 92, a Boeing 737, crashes near Kegworth, Leicestershire, United Kingdom after one of its engines loses a fan blade and fails. Of the 118 passengers and 8 crew, 79 survive. The incident became known as the Kegworth air disaster and is the first loss of a Boeing 737-400.
  • 1987 – Death of Christian Frank Schilt, one of the first Marine Corps aviators who served in WWI, WWII and Korean War.
  • 1983 – Death of Lieutenant-General Gerhard "Gerd" Barkhorn, 2nd most successful fighter ace of all time after fellow Luftwaffe pilot Erich Hartmann
  • 1982 – A Gulfstream III, owned by the United States National Distillers and Chemical Corporation, takes off from Teterboro for new round-the-world records.
  • 1982 – The Airbus A300 FFCC is certified, becoming the first wide body airliner with cockpit accommodations for only two to be certified.
  • 1981 – A local farmer reports a UFO sighting in Trans-en-Provence, France, "perhaps the most completely and carefully documented sighting of all time".
  • 1980 – Death of Jens Tryggve Herman Gran DSC, MC, Norwegian aviator, explorer and author, first pilot to cross the North Sea.
  • 1973 – Launch of Luna 21 (Ye-8 series, also called Lunik 21), Soviet uncrewed space mission to explore the moon.
  • 1968 – Death of Jacques Victor Sabattier de Vignolle, French WWI flying ace.
  • 1966 – Death of Alessandro Resch, Italian WWI flying ace and airliner pilot.
  • 1966 – A USAF Fairchild C-119C-25-FA Flying Boxcar, 51-2611, c/n 10600, en route from Windsor Locks-Bradley International Airport, Connecticut to Binghamton Airport, New York, suffers an uncontained engine failure. The crew decides to bail out. The first crew member gets out at an altitude of ~2000 feet. The captain and co-pilot were not able to exit in time. The airplane descends and crashes into a lakefront house near Scranton, Pennsylvania, also killing a boy on the ground.
  • 1966 – (8-14) In Operation Crimp, a U. S. Army 173rd Airborne Brigade helicopter and ground assault destroys a Viet Cong headquarters in the Ho Bo Woods in South Vietnam.
  • 1959 – Southeast Airlines Flight 308, a Douglas DC-3, crashes into the Holston Mountain in the United States on approach to the Tri-Cities Regional Airport killing all ten people on board.
  • 1953 – A Royal Air Force Boeing Washington B.1, WF502, of 90 Squadron, RAF Marham, crashes at Llanarmon, North Wales whilst on a simulated night radar bombing exercise. Dives into ground at high speed, all ten crew killed.
  • 1950 – Last flight of the Sud-Ouest SO 8000 Narval, French prototype Carried born Fighter, twin-boom configuration with sweptback wing, pusher engine driving contra-rotating propellers.
  • 1945 – The China Clipper, a Martin M-130 flying boat operating as Pan American World Airways Flight 161, crashes in Port of Spain, Trinidad, killing all 25 on board.
  • 1945 – A kamikaze again damages the heavy cruiser HMAS Australia in Lingayen Gulf. Out in the South China Sea, kamikazes damage the escort carriers USS Kadashan Bay (CVE-76) and USS Kitkun Bay (CVE-71) and an attack transport.
  • 1944 – 1st Lt. Andrew Biancur, a test pilot of the Medium Bombardment Section of the 1st Proving Ground Group, is killed in crash of Northrop YP-61-NO Black Widow, 41-18883, c/n 711, at Eglin Field this date. Eglin Auxiliary Field 6 is later named in his honor.
  • 1943 – Richard Hillary, Australian Spitfire pilot and author, dies (b. 1919). Flight Lieutenant Richard H. Hillary was a Battle of Britain pilot who died during World War II. He is best known for his book The Last Enemy, based upon his experiences during the Battle of Britain.
  • 1942 – Birth of Vyacheslav Dmitriyevich Zudov, USSR cosmonaut.
  • 1927 – A de Havilland DH.66 Hercules, British seven-passenger, three-engined airliner, complete an inaugural (62 hrs 27 min) flight from Croydon UK to Delhi, India.
  • 1927 – Thomas Neville Stack and Bernard More Troughton Shute Leete reach Karachi, India with their de Havilland DH.60 coming from UK.
  • 1919 – Death of Max Näther, German WWI fighter ace, probably the youngest German Ace in WWI, Killed by ground fire when flying over Kolmar during the border war with Poland that followed Germany's defeat.
  • 1898 – Birth of Thomas Sinclair Harrison, South African WWI flying ace.
  • 1897 – Birth of William Frederick James "Jim" Harvey, British WWI fighter ace.
  • 1896 – Birth of Steponas Darius (known as Stephen Darius in the USA; born Steponas Darašius), Lithuanian-American raid pilot.
  • 1894 – Birth of Friedrich Theodor Noltenius, German WWI flying ace.
  • 1893 – Birth of Ernst Hess, German WWI flying ace.
  • 1892 – Birth of Otto Creutzmann, German WWI flying ace.
  • 1886 – Birth of Robert Heibert, German WWI flying ace.
  • 1881 – Birth of William Thomas Piper Sr., American airplane manufacturer, and founder, eponym, and first president of Piper Aircraft Corporation. Piper served in the Spanish-American War and WWI.
  • 1863 – Birth of Léon Levavasseur, French powerplant engineer, aircraft designer and inventor. His innovations included the V8 engine, direct fuel injection, and evaporation engine cooling.

References

  1. ^ Michaels, Jim (2007-01-08). "Helicopters shot down or crashed in Iraq". USA Today. Retrieved 2007-05-31.
  2. ^ Hawkins, Ed (2004-01-08). "Black Hawk crash in Iraq kills nine US soldiers". London: Times OnLine. Retrieved 2009-02-11.
  3. ^ "Nine killed in Black Hawk crash in Iraq". London: Telegraph. 2004-01-08. Retrieved 2009-02-11.

January 9

  • Urmia Airport
    killing 77 of the 106 people aboard, and injuring 26 people. A total of 28 people survived. The aircraft involved in the accident was a Boeing 727-286Adv.
  • Cessna Grand Caravan crashes on take-off from Rio Tigre, Intutu Region.[1]
  • 2007 – The 2007 Balad aircraft crash was an airplane incident involving an Antonov An-26 airliner, which crashed while attempting to land at the U. S. military base in Balad, Iraq. The crash killed 34 people aboard and left one passenger critically injured.
  • 2007 Balad aircraft crash, killing 34 of the 35 on board.[2]
  • 2001 – Launch of Shenzhou 2, second Chinese uncrewed Shenzhou spacecraft. Inside the reentry capsule were a monkey, a dog and a rabbit in a test of the spaceship's life support systems.
  • 1997 – Balloonists Per Lindstrand and Richard Branson abandon their non-stop, round-the-flight in Virgin Global Challenger, when its hydrogen gas buoyancy cell develops a leak.
  • 1997 – Comair Flight 3272, an Embraer EMB-120 Brasília, crashes near Ida, Michigan, during a snowstorm. All 29 on board die.
  • 1997 – Royal Air Force BAE Systems Harrier GR.7, ZD377, crashed at Laarbruch, ending up inverted on runway, burned.
  • 1990 – Launch: Space Shuttle Columbia STS-32 at 7:35:00 am EST. Mission highlights: SYNCOM IV-F5 satellite deployment, LDEF retrieval, IMAX.
  • 1975 – A USAF Convair T-29D-CO, 52-5826, c/n 52-25, returning to Langley AFB, Virginia, from Key Field, Meridian, Mississippi, with seven Air Force personnel on board, suffers mid-air collision at 1836 hrs. with a Cessna 150H, N50430, of Cavalier Flyers, with two U.S. Navy personnel on board, 4.1 miles (6.5 km) W of Newport News, Virginia, the wreckage of both aircraft coming down in the James River. Maj. Errol Loving, a Langley AFB spokesman, said that Army salvage workers, aided by local authorities, recovered wreckage and bodies from the river throughout the following weekend. Capt. Gail Anderson of Langley AFB stated that divers had recovered one of the two engines of the T-29 as well as other "significant" parts which were placed on a barge and returned to Langley by Sunday 12 January. Seven of the nine victims' bodies had also been recovered but Maj. Loving stated that the identities of the victims would not be released until all bodies had been identified. The wreckage of the two aircraft were located in the river ~300 yards apart. The probable cause was given as "The human limitation inherent in the see-and-avoid concept, which can be critical in a terminal area with a combination of controlled and uncontrolled traffic. A possible contributing factor was the reduced nighttime conspicuity of the Cessna against a background of city lights." "Following the collision, Billy E. Commander, chief of the Norfolk air traffic control tower, said a new Stage III radar service designed to reduce the potential for mid-air collisions will be available in February to aircraft served by Norfolk Regional Airport and should assure that planes have at least 500 feet of vertical separation from each other."
  • 1973 – In the Vietnam War, President Richard M. Nixon’s administration permits American fighter aircraft to pursue North Vietnamese aircraft north of the 20th Parallel.
  • 1970 – Death of Frederick Libby, first American ace of WWI.
  • 1960 – Death of Ernesto Cabruna, Italian WWI fighter ace.
  • 1959 – Death of Roger Carpentier, French test pilot, killed in the crash of the SNCASE 116 'Voltigeur' prototype.
  • 1956 – The Luftwaffe (Bundeswehr) is re-formed.
  • 1952 – Death of Antonie Strassmann, German aviatrix and actress.
  • 1945 – Task Force 38 carrier aircraft strike Japanese targets at Formosa and Miyako-jima in foul weather, flying 717 sorties and dropping 212 tons (192,325 kg) of bombs. They shoot down all four Japanese aircraft they encounter in the air and claim 42 more on the ground, in exchange for the loss of 10 U. S. aircraft. They also sink a number of merchant ships and small naval craft. It is the last of seven days of Task Force 38 support to the Lingayen landings, during which it has flown 3,030 combat sorties, dropped 9,110 bombs – Totaling about 700 tons (635,036 kg) of bombs – And lost 46 planes in combat and 40 to non-combat causes.
  • 1945 – A C-97 Stratofreighter (Model 367) sets a transcontinental record by flying 2,323 miles from Seattle to Washington, D. C., in 6 hours and 4 min, at an average speed of 383 miles per hour.
  • 1943 – Boeing B-29 Superfortresses based at Kunming, China, attack Japanese shipping along the coast of Formosa, while Mariana Islands-based B-29s drop 122 tons (110,678 kg) of bombs on Japan.
  • 1941 – (9-10) Italian bombers attack a Gibraltar-to-Malta convoy escorted by the British aircraft carriers HMS Ark Royal and HMS Illustrious, scoring no hits and losing two of their number to Fairey Fulmar fighters from Ark Royal.
  • 1931 The Pratt-MacArthur agreement defines the United States Navy’s naval air force as an element of the fleet that moves with the fleet and helps it carry out its missions. The agreement settles a lengthy controversy between the United States Army and the Navy over the role of naval aviation in overall national defense, as well as internal Navy debates over the role of naval air power.
  • 1926 – Death of Maurice Albert Rousselle, French WWI flying ace.
  • 1923 – (9 or 17) The Cierva C.4, designed by Juan de la Cierva y Cordoniu and piloted by Alejandro Gomez Spencer, makes its first flight, covering a distance of about 180 m (590 feet) at Cuatro Vientos airfield in Spain. It is the first flight by an autogyro, and the first stable flight by any form of rotary-wing aircraft.
  • Albatros D.Va
    shot down by 2 SE5a fighters near Moorslede.
  • 1917 – The Royal Navy seaplane carrier Ben-my-Chree is sunk by Ottoman artillery while in harbor at Castelorizo Island, becoming the only aviation ship of any nationality sunk by enemy action during World War I.
  • 1911 – Joseph Joel "Joe" Hammond, reaches a speed estimated at 44-47mph and an altitude of 2,500 feet while giving a demonstration attended by the Governor of Western Australia.
  • 1911 – Death of Edvard Rusjan, Slovene flight pioneer and airplane constructor in the crash of his prototype "Sokol".
  • 1898 – Birth of Albert Edward Woodbridge, British WWI flying ace.
  • 1898 – Birth of Robert John Orton Compston DSC**, DFC, British WWI fighter ace.
  • 1892 – Birth of Rothesay Nicholas Montagu Stuart Wortley, British WWI flying ace and aviation journalist.
  • 1892 – Birth of Charles Meredith Bouverie Chapman, British WWI flying ace.
  • 1889 – Birth of Roger Amedee Del'Haye, Canadian WWI flying ace.
  • 1793 – First balloon flight in North America is made by Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard, ascending from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and landing in Deptford, Gloucester County, New Jersey.

References

  1. ^ Harro Ranter. "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
  2. ^ "Plane crash in Iraq kills at least 30 workers". msnbc. 2007-01-09. Retrieved 2010-02-20. A cargo plane carrying Turkish workers crashed during landing at an airstrip north of Baghdad, killing 30 people and injuring at least two, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. Initial reports indicated the plane crashed due to bad weather and heavy fog, a Foreign Ministry official said on condition of anonymity because an official announcement had not yet been authorized. Private Turkish news agencies said the plane was trying to land around noon local time (7 a.m. ET) at the U.S. military base at Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad. The Foreign Ministry confirmed that the crash happened at Balad, but did not say whether it was at the U.S. base. The Antonov-26 plane had taken off from an airport in Turkey's southern city of Adana and was carrying construction workers from the Kulak construction company, the governor of Adana said. The company's owner was among the dead, CNN-Turk television reported. Phone calls to Kulak's offices in Adana and Ankara went unanswered after the crash. On board were 29 Turks and one American, as well as three air crew members from Moldova, one from Russia and one from Ukraine, Gov. Cahit Kirac said. The deputy head of Turkey's aviation authority, Ali Ariduru, confirmed that there were 35 people on board, but did not give the names or nationalities of the killed and injured. It was unclear whether anyone escaped the crash uninjured. CNN-Turk television said the pilot had aborted an initial landing attempt for an unknown reason, then crashed on his second attempt.

January 10

  • People's Republic of China Shaanxi Y-8 patrol aircraft operating near the disputed Senkaku (known in China as Diaoyu) Islands, two Chinese Chengdu J-10 fighters arrive and monitor the F-15. Japanese officials state that Japan has scrambled fighters to protect the islands 150 times in the previous year.[1]
  • Kuching Airport. The flight landed on Kuching's runway 25 in heavy rain around but skidded to the right and went off the side of the runway. It came to rest in the grass with the nose gear dug in or collapsed.[2]
  • 2010 – United Airlines Flight 634, operated by Airbus A319-131 N816UA made an emergency landing at Newark Liberty International Airport when the right main landing gear failed to deploy. The aircraft sustained some damage when the right engine contacted the runway. The 53 passengers and crew evacuated the aircraft via the emergency chutes without injury.[3] Initial fears that the wing had been damaged in the accident later proved groundless, with damage being confined to the engine and nacelle.[4]
  • 2008 – Air Canada Flight 190, an Airbus A319 experiences severe turbulence over the Canadian Rocky Mountains, injuring ten (six seriously) of the 88 on board, and is forced to divert and make an emergency landing at Calgary International Airport.
  • 2006 – A US Navy North American T-39 Sabreliner of VT-86, en route from Chattanooga, Tennessee to NAS Pensacola, Florida, on a low-level navigation training mission, fails to arrive at ≈1500 hrs. as expected. The wreckage is found late 11 January near LaFayette, Georgia. All four personnel on board, a Navy instructor, a Navy student, an Air Force student and a civilian contract pilot, were killed. Their identities were not immediately released.
  • 2000 – Crossair Flight 498, a Saab 340, crashes two minutes after takeoff in Niederhasli, Switzerland, killing all ten people on board.
  • 1997 – McDonnell-Douglas F-15C-39-MC Eagle. 85-0099, c/n 0952/C341, of the 58th TFS, 33rd TFW, based at Eglin AFB, catches fire on take-off from Eglin. Pilot returns for an immediate landing and egresses safely on the ground. Aircraft completely destroyed by fire. This aircraft credited with MiG-25 kill by AIM-7M on 19 January 1991 during Operation Desert Storm while flown by Capt. Lawrence E. Pitta.
  • 1990 – First flight of the McDonnell Douglas MD-11, a USA three-engine medium- to long-range wide-body jet airliner based on the DC-10.
  • 1989 – Death of Valentin Petrovich Glushko or Valentyn Petrovych Hlushko, Soviet engineer, and principal Soviet "Chief Designer" of spacecraft and rockets during the Soviet/American Space Race.
  • 1982 – A Gulfstream III, Spirit of America, flies around the world in just 43 hours 39 min and 6 seconds, becoming the fastest business jet to fly around the world.
  • 1978 – First mail delivery in space: Launch of Soyuz 27, Soviet crewed spacecraft mission to the orbiting Salyut 6 space station.
  • 1970 – Death of Pavel Ivanovich Belyayev, Soviet fighter pilot with extensive experience in piloting different types of aircraft and first commander of the cosmonaut corps and the cosmonaut who commanded the historic Voskhod 2 mission which saw the First man walk in space.
  • 1970 – Developmental prototype Indian Air Force HAL HF-24 Marut Mk.IR, HF 032, equipped with reheat, crashes just after takeoff, killing India's finest test pilot, Suranjan Das. Failure of one engine and partial failure of the second was rumored, but official inquiry attributes loss to a malfunctioning canopy locking system. Reheat trials do not resume until 1972, using second prototype BD 884. Reheat upgrades are subsequently abandoned.
  • 1969 – Launch of Venera 6, Soviet spacecraft, towards Venus to obtain atmospheric data.
  • 1968 – Surveyor 7, 7th and last lunar lander of the American uncrewed Surveyor program lands successfully on the moon.
  • 1967 – Death of Laura Houghtaling Ingalls, American aviatrix.
  • 1967 – Lockheed SR-71A, 61-7950, Item 2001, lost during anti-skid brake system evaluation at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Pilot Art Peterson survives.
  • 1964 – A B-52 H Stratofortress, configured as a testbed to investigate structural failures, has its vertical stabilizer sheared off in severe turbulence. The plane landed safely and was repaired. Directorate of Aerospace Safety, Norton AFB, California, film "Flight Without a Fin": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wclfY0Meruw&feature=related
  • 1964 – The Dassault Balzac V crashes on its 125th sortie, during a low-altitude hover. During a vertical descent the aircraft experienced uncontrollable divergent wing oscillations, the port wing eventually striking the ground at an acute angle with the aircraft rolling over because of the continued lift engine thrust. The loss was attributed to loss of control because the stabilising limits of the three-axis autostabilisation system's 'puffer pipes' were exceeded in roll. Although airframe damage was relatively light, the Centre D'Essai en Vol test pilot, Jacques Pinier, did not eject and died in the crash.
  • 1960 – First flight of the Beagle Husky (originally, the Auster D.5/160), three-seat British light aircraft.
  • 1956 – The most notorious incident of aircraft pitch-up known as the "Sabre dance (pitch-up)" was the loss of North American F-100C Super Sabre 54-1907 during an attempted emergency landing at Edwards AFB, California which was caught by film cameras set up for an unrelated test. The pilot fought to retain control as he rode the edge of the flight envelope, but fell off on one wing, hit the ground, and exploded with fatal results. These scenes were inserted in the movie The Hunters, starring Robert Mitchum and Robert Wagner.
  • 1954 – BOAC Flight 781, a de Havilland Comet flying from Rome to London on the last leg of a flight from Singapore, disintegrates in mid-air, when metal fatigue from repeated pressurization cycles compromises the fuselage, killing the 29 passengers and six crew.
  • 1946 – First prototype Douglas XSB2D-1, BuNo 03551, suffers an engine fire 1000 feet over Sunnyvale, California. The aircraft crashes into an orchard and is severely damaged, but the crew of two are uninjured.
  • 1945 – Northrop P-61B Black Widow, 42-39445, of 550th Night Fighter Squadron, based at Hollandia, New Guinea, on a supposed proficiency flight (but pilot took along three passengers, including a 20-year-old WAAC nurse), ends badly with aircraft coming down largely intact at the 5,000 foot level (1,500 m) of Mount Cyclops just a few miles from its airfield. All aboard survive with only minor injuries. Airframe recovered in 1989 by helicopter and is undergoing restoration at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum, Reading, Pennsylvania.
  • 1944 – The RCAF accepted the first of 229 Avro Lancaster bombers
  • 1942 – The US Army announces the delivery of its first troop-transport gliders.
  • 1941 – Death of Vittorio Suster, Italian aviator, in the mediterranean sea with his Savoia-Marchetti S. M.83.
  • 1941 – German aircraft make their combat debut in the Mediterranean theater. German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers and Junkers Ju 88 s of Fliegerkorps X join Italian bombers in attacking the British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious in the Mediterranean Sea while she is escorting the Gibraltar-to-Malta convoy. The Italian attacks are ineffective, but the German aircraft score six hits, knocking Illustrious out of action until the end of November.
  • 1941 – Vickers Wellingtons operating from Malta bomb the Italian Fleet anchorage at Naples. The battleship Giulio Cesarei is badly damaged and the Italian Navy withdraws its remaining battleships further north to Genoa.
  • 1941 – First RAF 'Circus' operation – daylight raids by small numbers of bombers with large fighter escorts against short-range 'fringe' targets, with the aim of bringing enemy's fighters to battle – Is mounted. Bristol Blenheims of No.114 Squadron, escorted by nine squadrons of fighters, attack the Foret de Guinness.
  • 1938 – Northwest Airlines Flight 2, a Lockheed L14 H Super Electra, crashes near Bozeman, Montana, killing all ten on board; the machine with which the manufacturer measured component vibration is found to be inaccurate, causing the aircraft to be more prone to flutter than thought.
  • 1936 – Civil transport version of the Heinkel 111 bomber revealed in public for the first time at Berlin Tempelhof airport. Named Dresden, the He 111 V4 carried registration D-AHAO.
  • 1935 – First flight of the Latécoère 521, "Lieutenant de Vaisseau Paris", French six-engined flying boat, and one of the first large trans-Atlantic passenger aircraft.
  • 1929 – First flight of the Consolidated P2Y, an American flying boat maritime patrol aircraft. The plane was a parasol monoplane with a fabric covered wing and aluminum hull.
  • 1928 – John Moncrieff and George Hood perish attempting the first trans-Tasman flight between Australia and New Zealand.
  • 1927 – A de Havilland Hercules, British seven-passenger, three-engined airliner, struts its return flight from Delhi to flight from Croydon UK to Delhi, India.
  • 1921 – Birth of Andrew Henry Humphrey GCB, OBE, DFC, AFC, RAF, British WWII pilot and Marshal of the Royal Air Force, who set some records with the English Electric Canberrea B2 'Aries IV'.
  • Versailles Peace Conference
  • 1913 – Birth of Franco Bordoni-Bisleri 'Robur', Italian aviator and racing car driver. He is one of the top-scoring WWII ace of Regia Aeronautica with 19 air victories.
  • 1910 – (10-20) The first aviation meet to be held in the United States, the 1910 Los Angeles International Air Meet at Dominguez Field, is held near Los Angeles, California.
  • 1896 – Birth of Walter Blume, German WWI fighter ace and aircraft designer.
  • 1893 – Birth of Camille Henri Raoul Lagesse, Canadian WWI fighter ace.
  • 1883 – Birth of Arthur Charles Hubert Latham, French aviation pioneer, first person to attempt to cross the English Channel in an aeroplane. Due to engine failure during his first attempt, he became the first person to land an aeroplane on a body of water.


References

  1. ^ Anonymous, "Unchartered Waters: Japan and China Scramble Fighter Jets in Island Dispute," RT, 12 January 2013, 01:03.
  2. ^ Hradecky, Simon (11 January 2011). "Accident: AirAsia A320 at Kuching on Jan 10th 2011, runway excursion on landing". Aviation Herald. Retrieved 12 January 2011.
  3. ^ "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 18 January 2010. Retrieved 10 January 2010.
  4. ^ "PICTURES & VIDEO: Limited damage in gear-up Newark landing". Flight International. Archived from the original on 17 January 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
  5. ^ http://www.afriquejet.com/news/africa-news/zambian-airways-suspends-operation,-passengers-stranded-2009011119288.html

January 11

  • 2013 – Helicopter-borne French commandos conduct a raid in Somalia to rescue the French intelligence agent Denis Allex from al-Shabaab, supported by U.S. Air Force combat aircraft. Allex dies during the raid, most likely killed by his captors. One French commando is killed in action, another is missing in action, and 17 al-Shabaab members are killed.[1][2]
  • 2013 – Syrian rebels capture the government air base at Taftanaz.[3]
  • Mirage 2000D fighter-bombers blunt a rebel offensive that threatens to take Mali's capital, Bamako; French bombing includes raids around Konna. One Gazelle is shot down by small arms fire and its pilot is killed.[4][5]
  • 2011 – First Flight: of the Chengdu J-20 in China.[6]
  • 2011 – Global Observer, American unmanned aircraft system has successfully completed its historic first flight powered by the aircraft’s hydrogen-fueled propulsion system at Edwards Air Force Base (EAFB) in California
  • AVIC I MA-60, registration RP-C8893, crashes on landing at Godofredo P. Ramos Airport
    , Philippines, hitting an airport building. Over twenty people are injured and the aircraft is damaged beyond repair.
  • 2008 – Airbus delivers its second A380 (MSN005) to Singapore Airlines.
  • 2007 – In a test of an anti-satellite missile, China destroys its weather satellite Fengyun 1C.
  • 1996 – Launch: Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-72 at 4:41:00.072 EST. Mission highlights: Retrieved Japan's Space Flyer Unit, 2 EVAs.
  • 1995 – Shortly after takeoff from Bogota, an Intercontinental de Aviacion DC-9-14 (reg HK-3839X) crashes into jungle near Cartagena, Colombia following an altimeter failure at night. The sole survivor of the 52 souls on board: a 9-year-old girl. The plane had been originally deliverd to Eastern Air Lines and was flown later by Continental Airlines (reg N8901E).
  • 1992 – The US FAA approves a helicopter rating for a pilot based solely on flight simulator performance for the first time.
  • Bell Helicopter a $US 123 million development contract for the V-22 Osprey
  • 1989 – First flight of The AASI Jetcruzer 450, American 6 seat single turboprop light civil transport made by AASI with an unusual configuration, wsingle turboprop engine driving a pusher propeller, prominent canards, and fins mounted at the ends of its swept wings, noteworthy in being the first aircraft to have achieved a spin resistance certification from the United States FAA.
  • 1988 – Death of Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, USMC WWII fighter ace.
  • Iran-Iraq War, Iraqi Air Force aircraft hit the Panamanian cargo ship Success with two missiles in the Persian Gulf. Her crew abandons ship.[7]
  • 1981 – Death of Hubert Cecil Hunt, British WWI flying ace.
  • 1978 – First flight of the Gulfstream American Hustler, American prototype mixed-power executive/utility aircraft designed by American Jet Industries (later Gulfstream American). The aircraft had a nose-mounted turbprop and with a tail-mounted turbofan.
  • 1969 – Death of William Roy 'Sambo' Irwin, Canadian WWI fighter ace.
  • 1968 – Launch of GEOS 2 (GEOS-B), NASA Geodetic earth monitoring satellite.
  • 1968 – Lockheed SR-71B, 61-7957, Article 2008, one of only two dual control pilot trainers, is lost on approach to Beale Air Force Base, California, due to fuel cavitation induced engine failure. Instructor pilot Lt. Col. Robert G. Souers and student Capt. David E. Fruehauf eject safely.
  • 1967 – Death of William Wendell Rogers, Canadian WWI flying ace.
  • 1965 – First transitional flight by taking off vertically, changing to forward flight and finally landing vertically of the Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) XC-142, American tiltwing experimental aircraft designed to investigate the operational suitability of vertical/short takeoff and landing transports.
  • 1962 – A B-52 H Stratofortress lands at Torrejon Air Base, Spain. From Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan, it sets a new world distance record without refueling of 12,532.28 miles (10,895 nmi, 20,177 km).
  • 1962 – A 707 – 320 B took over the role of U. S. government VIP and presidential transport, designated VC-137 C, better known as “Air Force One”. A second VC-137 C was delivered
  • 1959 – Lufthansa Flight 502, a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation, crashes on approach to Rio de Janeiro-Galeão International Airport, Brazil, 36 of the 39 on board are killed.
  • 1957 – An Argentine Air Force Vickers VC.1 Viking T-11 crashed at Aeroparque, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
  • 1955 – Two Royal Air Force No. 42 Squadron Avro Shackleton maritime patrol aircraft disappear without trace during a routine exercise off Fastnet Rock on the southwest coast of Ireland, and are presumed to have collided in mid-air. An engine from one of the aircraft finally will be found in 1966.
  • 1951 – A Boeing B-29-95-BW Superfortress bomber, 45-21771, c/n 13671, of the 3512th AMS, 3510th AMG, returning to Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, after a seven-hour training flight, crashed 10 miles SW of Seguin, Texas. At 8,000 feet the pilot, Captain Norman A. Bivens, cut off the automatic pilot and began descending through an overcast, flying on instruments. Bivens reported losing all flight instruments and the aircraft became uncontrollable. Six of the crew members were killed, while five others parachuted to safety.
  • 1948 – Death of Karl Menckhoff, German WWI fighter ace, one of the oldest pilots in the Imperial German Aviation Service.
  • 1947 – The 1947 BOAC Douglas C-47 crash: a BOAC Douglas C-47 A crashes into Barley Hill near Stowting, Kent due to fuel starvation, killing 8 of 16 on board.
  • 1947 – First flight of the McDonnell F2 H Banshee
  • 1945 – U. S. Army Air Forces Twentieth Air Force B-29 s based at Calcutta bomb Singapore.
  • 1944 – In one of the largest air raids to date, 570 USAAF bombers strike Brunswick, Halberstadt, and Oschersleben..
  • 1944 – James Howell 'Jim' Howard single-handedly flew his P-51 B into some 30 Luftwaffe fighters that were attacking a formation of American B-17 Flying Fortress bombers of the 401st Bomb Group over Oschersleben, Germany for over Half an Hour, scoring 3/4 and damaging 1. Out of ammunition, he continued to dive on enemy airplanes.
  • 1944 – 10 United States Navy PB4Y-1 Liberators bomb Roi and attack shipping in Kwajalein Atoll’s lagoon, sinking a Japanese gunboat.
  • 1942 – Japanese aircraft drop 324 naval paratroopers as part of a successful assault against Dutch forces defending the Menado Peninsula on Celebes
  • 1941 – First flight of the Polikarpov I-185, Soviet prototype fighter aircraft
  • 1941 – Fliegerkorps X aircraft continue attacks on the Gibraltar-to-Malta convoy, damaging the light cruiser HMS Gloucester and fatally damaging the light cruiser HMS Southampton.
  • 1938 – Pan American World Airways Flight 1, a Sikorsky S-42 flying boat named the Samoan Clipper, explodes over Pago Pago, American Samoa; all 7 on board die, including Pan Am's first pilot, Ed Musick.
  • 1938 – Death of Edwin Charles Musick, Chief Pilot for Pan American World Airways and pioneer of many of Pan Am's transoceanic routes including the famous route across the Pacific Ocean on the China Clipper. Killed in the explosion of the Samoan Clipper, A Sikorsky S-42 flying boat, while dumping fuel before attempting an emergency landing.
  • Honolulu, Hawaii to Oakland, California
    .
  • 1934 – A flight of six US Navy Consolidated P2Y flying boats arrives in Pearl harbour from San Francisco, setting a new distance record for formation flying, 2,400 miles (3,862 km), also setting a new speed record for this crossing of 24 hours 35 min.
  • 1933 – First flight of the Vickers Type 207, British single-engined two-seat biplane designed as a ship-born torpedo bomber prototype.
  • 1931 – First flight of The Abbott-Baynes Scud 1, British parasol-winged single seat glider intended to introduce pilots to soaring flight.
  • 1928 – First air mail service to Magdalen Islands, Quebec, commenced.
  • 1926 – Birth of Lev Stepanovich Dyomin, Soviet cosmonaut.
  • 1922 – Birth of Neville Frederick Duke DSO, OBE, DFC & Two Bars, AFC, FRAeS, Czech War Cross, British WWII fighter pilot, top Allied flying ace in the Mediterranean Theatre and test pilot.
  • 1919 – Death of Dante Nannini Sandoval, Guatemala WWI fighter pilot who served in the Italian Regia Aeronautica, he could have been the "First American pilot" to join a regiment of aviators during WWI. At least, he was the first "American" on the Italian front
  • 1918 – Death of Hans Kummetz, German WWI flying ace, Killed in action in Italy.
  • 1902 – Inspiration for many an aviator and plane-spotter, Popular Mechanics magazine is published for the first time.
  • 1901 – Birth of Kwon Ki-ok, first Korean female aviator, as well as being the first female pilot in China.
  • 1900
    – Birth of Enea Silvio Recagno, Italian raid Aviator.
  • 1896 – Birth of William Samuel Stephenson, Canadian WWI fighter ace, businessman, inventor, spymaster, considered as the real-life inspirations for James Bond.
  • 1895 – Birth of Laurens Hammond, American engineer and inventor (most famously, the Hammond organ, the Hammond Clock, and the world's first polyphonic musical synthesizer, the Novachord). In WWII he helped design guided missile controls and was awarded patents for infrared and light sensing devices for bomb guidance, glide bomb controls, a camera shutter and a new type of gyroscope.
  • 1895 – Birth of Johann Risztics, Austro Hugarian WWI flying ace, known with fellow pilots Fredrich Hefty and Ferdinand Udvardy as the Arany Triumviratus (Golden Triumvirate). He also was a Raid Aviator After WWI.
  • 1894 – Birth of Lawrence Kingsley Callahan, American WWI flying ace.
  • 1893 – Birth of Georg Meyer, German WWI fighter ace.
  • 1892 – Birth of Edward Rochfort Grange, Canadian WWI flying ace credited with five aerial victories. His postwar career included success as a businessman, and a return to aviation as a civilian inspector and auditor for the Royal Canadian Air Force during WWII.
  • 1884 – Birth of Bernetta Adams Miller, American pioneering woman aviator who was the 5th licensed woman pilot in the USA.
  • 1804 – Death of James Tytler, Scottish apothecary and editor of the second edition of Encyclopædia Britannica, first person in Britain to steer a hot air balloon.
  • 1759 – Birth of Vincenzo Lunardi, Italian balloonist pioneer.

References

  1. ^ Associated Press, "French Commando Killed in Raid to Free Hostage in Somalia; Soldier Missing", washingtonpost.com, January 12, 2013.
  2. ^ Whitlock, Craig, "Obama Says U.S. Warplanes Involved in Somali Rescue Mission," washingtonpost.com, January 13, 2013.
  3. ^ Sly, Liz, "Assad Still Confident That He Can Control Syria," washingtonpost.com, January 12, 2013.
  4. ^ Cody, Edward, "French Military Intervention in Mali Expands," washingtonpost.com, January 13, 2013.
  5. ^ Cody, Edward, "French Warplanes Hit Central Mali in Fierce Fighting Between Soldiers, Islamist Guerrillas," washingtonpost.com, January 14, 2013.
  6. ^ Waldon, Greg. "China's J-20 likely conducted maiden flight". Flight International. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
  7. ISBN 0-8133-1330-9
    , p. 533.

January 12

  • 2009 – Alitalia (Linee Aeree Italiane S. p. A) cease operations, bought by the private company Alitalia (Compagnia Aerea Italiana).
  • 2009 – A Sikorsky UH-60L Blackhawk, 91-26321, c/n 70-1617, of the 36th Combat Aviation Brigade, Texas Army National Guard, crashes on the campus at Texas A&M University just after take-off due to tail rotor failure, killing 2nd Lt. Zachary Cook, 2008 Texas A&M graduate, member of the Texas A&M ROTC, and Aggie Corps of Cadets and injuring four other Army personnel. The helicopter was participating in the Rudder's Rangers Annual Winter Field Training.
  • 2008 – Macedonian Armed Forces Mil Mi-17 crash: Occurred when a Macedonian Army Mil Mi-17 helicopter crashes in thick fog southeast of Skopje, killing all 11 military personnel on board.
  • 2005 – The Deep Impact space probe is launched from Cape Canaveral aboard a Delta 2 rocket. Its mission is to collide with and analyze the composition of the comet 9P/Tempel, which it did successfully in June 2005.
  • 1998 – Operation Manu Tama'i, Chilean air Force mounts a training operation sending F-5E Tigers refueled by a Boeing KB 707 to Rapa Nui (Easter Island).
  • 1997 – A non-stop, round-the-world balloon flight by Bertrand Piccard and Vim Verstraeten ends in failure when a fuel leak forces the balloonists to ditch in the Mediterranean shortly after take-off.
  • 1997 – Launch: Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-81 at 09:27:23 UTC. Mission highlights: Shuttle-Mir docking.
  • 1990 – USMC Douglas A-4M Skyhawk, BuNo 158149, c/n 14186, of VMA-131, crashes on approach to NAS Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, after an engine fire, coming down in Upper Moreland Township, impacting in an intersection, debris tearing off roof of an auto-leasing business, destroying four autos, and damaging six houses, but no injuries on the ground. Pilot Capt. Duane Pandorf, 35, parachutes into tree, suffering only minor injuries.
  • 1985 – Death of Karl Deilmann, German WWI flying ace and industrial.
  • 1981 – A United States Marine Corps McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantom II crashes into the Atlantic Ocean while attempting a landing aboard the USS Forrestal off Jacksonville, Florida, officials at MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina said on 15 January. The pilot is listed as lost at sea after an unsuccessful search, but radar intercept officer, Capt. C. F. Toler ejects, is rescued and reported in satisfactory condition aboard the carrier.
  • 1977 – Air Canada suspended all regular flights to Moscow, Prague, and Brussels, and cut the domestic schedule; to offset the 1976 operating losses.
  • 1973 – Death of Francesco Brach Papa, Italian aviation pioneer.
  • 1970 – A Pan Am Boeing 747, on a proving flight from New York, is the first wide-bodied airliner to make a landing at Heathrow Airport in London.
  • 1970 – Death of Blanche Stuart Scott, also known as Betty Scott, possibly the first American woman aviator.
  • 1969 – The New York Jets, so named in honor of the airport (LaGuardia) next to their home of Shea Stadium, win Super Bowl III over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts.
  • 1966 – Birth of Sergei Nikolayevich Revin, Russian cosmonaut and pilot.
  • 1961 – Henry Deutschendorf and his crew secured the 2000km closed-circuit record at 1708.8 km/h with a Convair B-58 Hustler.
  • 1961 – Two Convair F-102 Delta Daggers of the 111th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, Texas Air National Guard, Ellington AFB, Texas, are scrambled to intercept an unidentified aircraft approaching the Texas Gulf coast. For unknown reasons, F-102A-55-CO, 56-1015, catches fire and crashes in a rice field near Alvin, Texas, killing the pilot.
  • 1960 – Death of Nevil Shute Norway, popular British novelist and a successful aeronautical engineer.
  • 1953 – The United States Navy (USN) begins operational flight tests from the first angled-deck aircraft carrier, the USS Antietam (CV-36).
  • 1953 – "An Eglin (AFB) North American F-86 Sabre crash landed on Range 51 injuring the pilot." Aircraft was North American F-86F-30-NA, 52-4306, of the 3200th Flight Test Squadron, 3200th Proof Test Group, piloted by Robert G. Loomis; suffered engine failure.
  • 1952 – Prototype RAF Vickers Valiant, WB210, catches fire during in-flight engine relight trials, crew bails out but the co-pilot is killed when his ejection seat strikes tail.
  • 1949 – During the Berlin Airlift, the crash of a Douglas C-54D-5-DC Skymaster, 42-72629, c/n 10734, on approach to Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany, kills three crew, 1st Lt. Ralph H. Boyd, 1st Lt. Craig B. Ladd, and T/Sgt. Charles L. Putnam.
  • 1945 – (12-13) Kamikazes resume attacks in Lingayen Gulf, damaging a destroyer escort, a destroyer-transport, an attack transport, and several merchant ships.
  • 1945 – With 850 aircraft aboard its carriers, Task Force 38 strikes targets along a 420-nautical mile (778-km) stretch of the coast of French Indochina, flying 1,465 sorties; sinking 12 tankers, 17 other merchant ships, the disarmed French cruiser La Motte-Picquet, and 15 Japanese naval vessels, including the light cruiser Kashii; and destroying 15 Japanese aircraft in the air, 77 on the ground, and 20 floatplanes on Camranh Bay in exchange for the loss of 23 U. S. aircraft.
  • 1944 – Lance C. Wade, American pilot, dies (b. 1916). Wing Commander Lance Cleo “Wildcat” Wade, was an American pilot who joined the British Royal Air Force during the Second World War and became a flying ace. He was described in “Fighter Aces of the USA” by Toliver and Constable, as a “distinguished American fighter ace who epitomized perhaps more than any other American airman the wartime accords between Britain and the United States”. Since he never transferred to the USAAF, or any other American Air service, W/Cmdr. Wade never got the publicity that other American Aces received and thus is more obscure than his peers.
  • 1944 – U.S. Navy Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat, BuNo 66237, c/n A-1257, 'Z 11', suffers engine failure on functional check flight out of NAS San Diego, North Island, California, pilot Ens. Robert F. Thomas ditches in the Pacific Ocean ~12 miles (19 km) from the base, gets clear of sinking airframe and survives to become an ace in the Pacific theatre. Hellcat is discovered in 3,400 feet (1,000 m) of water by Lockheed research submarine RV Deep Quest on 17 March 1970. Recovered by USN on 9 October 1970. An M-2 .50 calibre machine gun from the wing is taken to the Naval Weapons Laboratory at Dahlgren, Virginia, for test firing. Showing little signs of deterioration after the long immersion, the weapon, after cleaning and lubrication, fires without a stoppage or mechanical failure. Airframe was displayed as of 1974 at Pima County Air Museum, Tucson, Arizona, now at the National Museum of Naval Aviation, NAS Pensacola, Florida.
  • 1942 – Death of Owen Morgan Baldwin, British WWI fighter ace.
  • 1942 – Death of Erbo Graf von Kageneck, German fighter pilot and WWII flying ace.
  • 1942 – Death of Vladimir Mikhailovich Petlyakov, Soviet aircraft designer, killed in an air crash near Arzamas while flying e Pe-2 to Moscow.
  • 1939 – The RAF Auxiliary Air Force Reserve is formed.
  • 1936 – In the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, aircraft of the Italian Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica) begin the Battle of Genale Doria by dropping two tons (1,814 kg) of mustard gas on Ethiopian positions.
  • 1935 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman pilot to fly solo between Hawaii and the USA. She took off from Wheeler Field, Oahu, Honolulu, to fly her Lockheed Vega across the eastern Pacific to Oakland, California. Earhart lands after 18 hours 15 min.
  • 1933 – Jean Mermoz takes off His Couzinet 70 'Arc en Ciel' from Paris-Le Bourget to Buenos Aires for a south-Atlantic crossing.
  • 1929 – First U. S. air mail stamped envelopes are available for sale.
  • 1926 – First flight of the Polikarpov DI-1 (also known as 2I-N1), prototype Soviet two-seat fighter.
  • 1918 – A decree issued by the Council of Peoples’ Commissars of the Republic puts all Russian aircraft manufacturing companies under state control.
  • 1917 – Death of Thomas Mottershead VC, DCM, British WWI pilot, from injuries after a dogfight with two Albatros D.III 5 days before, managing to take his burning FE-2d back to the Allied lines and made a successful forced landing saving his observer's life.
  • 1907 – Birth of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, lead Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer in the Space Race between the USA and the Soviet Union during the 1950s and 1960s. He is considered by many as the father of practical astronautics
  • 1904 – Birth of Richard Llewellyn Roger Atcherley KBE, CB, AFC & Bar, British racing pilot, senior commander in the RAF who also served as chief of Air Staff for the Royal Pakistan Air Force.
  • 1899 – Birth of Clennell Haggerston "Punch" Dickins OC, OBE, DFC, pioneering Canadian aviator and bush pilot
  • 1894 – Birth of Hiram Franklin Davison, Canadian WWI flying ace.
  • 1893 – Birth of Mikhail Iosifovich Gurevich, Soviet aircraft designer, partner (with Artem Mikoyan) of the famous MiG military aviation bureau.
  • 1893 – Birth of Hermann Wilhelm Göring, German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. WWI fighter ace, He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe until the end of WWII.
  • 1892 – Mikhail Gurevich, Russian aircraft designer, is born (d. 1976). Gurevich was a Soviet aircraft designer, a partner (with Artem Mikoyan) of the famous MiG military aviation bureau.
  • 1891 – Birth of Leo C. Young, American radio engineer who had many accomplishments during a long career at the U. S. Naval Research Laboratory. Although self-educated, he was a member of a small, creative team that is generally credited with developing the world's first true radar system.
  • 1891 – Birth of Jean Georges Bouyer, French WWI flying ace.
  • 1883 – Birth of Gustav Otto, German aircraft and aircraft-engine designer and manufacturer, inventor of the four-stroke internal combustion engine.
  • 1879 – Birth of Calbraith Perry Rodgers, pioneer American aviator who made the first transcontinental airplane flight across the U. S.
  • 1866 – The Aeronautical Society of Great Britain is founded in London (later to become the Royal Aeronautical Society) and is still in existence today.

References

January 13

  • 2013 – Syrian Air Force jets bomb the suburbs of Damascus and a marketplace in the town of Azaz, killing at least 20 people and injuring 99 in Azaz.[1][2]
  • 2013 – French Mirage 2000D fighter-bombers hit Islamist targets in northern Mali, including attacks around Léré and Douentza and a strike on an Islamist rear headquarters in Gao, where they inflict dozens of casualties. French military transport aircraft bring several planeloads of French troops into Bamako.
  • 2010 – German airline Blue Wings ceased operations.[3]
  • 2010 – A Yemeni Air Force Aero L-39 Albatros training aircraft crashed in the area of Salah al-Din, west of the port city of Aden due to a technical problem. Pilot survived.
  • 2009 – Death of Nancy Bird Walton, AO, OBE, DStJ, pioneering Australian aviatrix, youngest Australian woman to gain a pilot's licence, founder and patron of the Australian Women Pilots' Association.
  • Adelir Antonio de Carli
    lifts off from Ampere, Brazil, and reaches an altitude of 5,300 m (17,390 ft) before landing safely at San Antonio, Argentina, after a four-hour flight.
  • 2004 – AH-64 Apache from 4th Squadron, 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment shot down near Habbaniyah, pilots rescued.[5][6]
  • 1999 – A Washington Air National Guard Boeing KC-135E-BN Stratotanker, 59-1452, c/n 17940, call sign ESSO 77, crashes short of the runway at Geilenkirchen Air Base, Germany, killing all 4 crew members on board. The aircraft was assigned to the 141st Air Refueling Wing, Fairchild AFB, Washington.
  • 1993 – Launch: Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-54 at 8:59.30 am EST. Mission highlights: TDRS-F/IUS deployment.
  • 1982 – Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737, crashes into the frozen Potomac River after takeoff from Washington National Airport; five on board survive; 78 on board and 4 on the ground die, including one initial survivor who dies after ensuring that the other crash survivors are rescued from the frozen river.
  • 1977 – First flight of the Fournier RF-9, a French two-seat motorglider of conventional sailplane configuration.
  • 1977 – Birth of Alex Hofer, German raid paraglider.
  • 1977 – Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-104A crashes near Alma-Ata after it exploded in mid-air due to engine fire which reached the fuel tank killing all on board.
  • 1964 – The 1964 Savage Mountain B-52 crash: A United States Air Force B-52D Stratofortress carrying two Mark 53 nuclear bombs loses its vertical stabilizer in turbulence during a winter storm and crashes on Savage Mountain near Barton, Maryland. Only two of the five crewmen survive. The bombs are recovered two days later.
  • 1953 – Strategic Air Command Boeing B-50D-125-BO Superfortress, 49-386, c/n 16162, of the 93d Bombardment Wing, Castle AFB, California, one of a flight of four on a routine navigational flight, spins down out of clouds at 1340 hrs. PT and crashes 13 miles (21 km) W of Gridley, California, killing all 12 on board. Witnesses said that the bomber appeared to lose power. "When we first saw the plane it was coming out of the clouds in a steep spin at about 2,000 feet," said John Cowan, manager of Grey Lodge Waterfowl refuge. "The pilot gave it full power several times, but he couldn’t pull it out." Just before they hit the ground, the plane appeared to level out some, but it was too late. "They hit the ground with a tremendous thudding sound." Cowan, a flier himself, and a pilot of Navy planes during the war, could offer no explanation for the crash. "We could hear the pilot hit his engines before he dropped out of the clouds," Cowan said. A special investigations team was dispatched early today (14 January) from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio. Salvage, and additional recovery of bodies, waited on the arrival of a 92-foot (28 m) crane sent from McClellan Air Force Base, Sacramento. Gridley residents said the doomed plane "barely cleared treetops" while passing over the town seconds before the crash, but regained altitude momentarily. Eyewitnesses to the actual crash said the bomber came out of the clouds at 2,000 feet (610 m) in a spin. Many heard the pilot gunning his engines during the fall, and the plane appeared to level out slightly just before the impact half buried it in the mud of an open grain field on the Terrill Sartain property, two miles (3 km) W of the Butte-Colusa county line. Shortly before the crash the flight of four bombers were seen in formation over Oroville. Killed were T/Sgt. Curtis F. Duffy, 27, husband of Ruth A. Duffy, Atwater, California; T/Sgt. Bobby G. Theuret, 29, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry D. Theuret, Box 413, Costa Mesa, California, and husband of Barbara L. Theuret, Atwater; M/Sgt. William H. Clarke, 32, husband, of Audrey W. Clark, Merced, California; M/Sgt. Wallace N. Schwart, 28, Maywood, Illinois. Those missing and presumed dead include Lt. Col. Gerald W. Fallon, 34, husband of Elaine K. Fallon, Merced; Maj. William P. McMillan, 37, husband of Greta A. McMillan, Atwater; Capt. William S. Raker, 27, husband of Lorraine G. Raker, Atwater; M/Sgt. Joe L. Bradshaw, 37, husband of Jessamine Bradshaw, Atwater; A.J. William B. Crutchfield, 27, husband of Della Ann Crutchfield, Atwater; A1C Charles W. Hesse, 21, Sauk Center, Minnesota; Capt. Edward Y. Williams, 33, Spokane, Washington; and 1st Lt. George D. Griffitts, 23, Hico, Texas.
  • 1949 – Birth of Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, AC, Indian Air Force test pilot, and Cosmonaut, first Indian to travel in space.
  • 1945 – A kamikaze damages the escort carrier USS Salamaua (CVE-96) in the South China Sea off the mouth of Lingayen Gulf. It is the last successful kamikaze attack in the waters of the Philippine Islands.
  • 1944 – (13–19) Allied air forces attack targets in Italy to seal off the beachhead for the upcoming invasion at Anzio, focusing on airfields around Rome and throughout central Italy.
  • 1943 – Junkers Ju 290V1, (Junkers Ju 90V11), modified from Ju 90B-1, Werknummer 90 0007, D-AFHG, "Oldenberg", crashed on takeoff evacuating load of wounded troops from German 6th Army at Stalingrad. The need for large capacity transports was so dire at this point that the Luftwaffe was taking Ju 290As straight from the assembly line into operation.
  • 1943 – The United States Army Air Forces activate the Thirteenth Air Force in New Caledonia.
  • 1942 – Heinkel test pilot Helmut Schenk becomes the first person to escape from a stricken aircraft with an ejection seat after the control surfaces of the first prototype Heinkel He 280 V1, DL+AS, ice up and become inoperable. The fighter, being used in tests of the Argus As 014 impulse jets for Fieseler Fi 103 missile development, had its regular Heinkel-Hirth HeS 8A turbojets removed, and was towed aloft from Rechlin, Germany by a pair of Bf 110C tugs in a heavy snow-shower. At 7,875 feet (2,400 m), Schenk found he had no control, jettisoned his towline, and ejected.
  • 1940 – First flight of the Yakovlev Yak-1 (I-26), a WWII Soviet fighter aircraft, single-seat monoplane with a composite structure and wooden wings, prototype of the Yakovlev Yak-1.
  • 1939 – Northwest Airlines Flight 1, a Lockheed L14 H Super Electra, crashes on descent to Miles City, Montana, killing all four on board; the aircraft's cross-feed fuel valve leaked fuel into the cockpit and an intense fire broke out.
  • 1936 – (13-14) Howard Hughes makes a record-breaking sprint across the United States from Burbank, California to Newark, New Jersey in 9 hours 26 min 10 seconds at an average speed of 259 mph (417 km/hr). He uses a Northrop Gamma specially fitted with a 1,000-hp (747-kW) Wright SR-1820-G2 radial engine.[7]
  • Wright Field
    , Ohio, killing Captain Hugh M. Elmendorf due to a stall/spin.
  • 1930 – First flight of the Farman F.300, French tri-engine High wing monoplane airliner prototype.
  • 1919 – Birth of Alan Eugene Magee, American WWII airman who survived a 22,000-foot (6,700 m) fall without parachute from his damaged B-17 Flying Fortress.
  • 1919 – Death of Hans Christian Friedrich Donhauser, German WWI flying ace, smallest aviator in the German air force, in a crash near Coblenz.
  • 1918 – Birth of Walter Jacobi, German rocket scientist and member of the "von Braun rocket group", at Peenemünde.
  • 1917 – Captain C. F. Collet of the Royal Flying Corps becomes the first British service flyer to make parachute jump when he uses a Calthrop 'Guardian Angel' parachute for an experimental jump from 600 feet.
  • 1916 – The Curtiss Aeroplane Company, Curtiss Motor Company, Curtiss Engineering Company, and Burgess and Curtis merge to form the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company.
  • 1913 – Brazilian naval aviation commences with the foundation of a flying school.
  • 1913 – First regular aerial cargo service begins in the USA with Harry M. Jones as he takes off with a Wright B to fly baked beans from Boston to New York.[8]
  • 1912 – French Jules Védrines was the first person to fly an aircraft at more than 100 mph (160 km/h)
  • 1908 – First European to fly one kilometer in a circle is Henri Farman in his Voisin-Farman airplane. Farman's 1 min 28 sond flight wins him the Grand Prix d'Aviation Deutsche-Archdeacon race in France.
  • 1906 – The first air exhibition of the Aero Club of America opens for eight days in the Sixty-ninth Regiment Armory in New York City. The Wrights are asked to send the motor that powered their 1903 flying machine but can only salvage the crankshaft and flywheel.
  • 1899 – Birth of Harold John "Jackie" Walkerdine, British WWI flying ace and WWII pilot.
  • 1897 – Death of David Schwarz, Croatian aviation pioneer. He created the first flyable rigid airship. It was also the first airship with an external hull made entirely of metal.
  • 1896 – Birth of Eugene Seeley Coler, American WWI fighter ace, WWII bomber pilot and Korean war Flying surgeon.
  • 1893 – Birth of Charles Henry Arnison, British WWI flying ace.
  • 1893 – Birth of Alessandro Buzio, Italian WWI flying ace.
  • 1887 – Birth of Jorge Chávez Dartnell, also known as Géo Chávez, Franco – Peruvian aviator.
  • 1885 – Birth of Thomas James Birmingham, Canadian WWI flying ace.

References

  1. ^ Associated Press, "Assad's Planes Target Damascus Suburbs," The Washington Post, January 14, 2013, p. A7.
  2. ^ Johnson, Jenna, "Rape Has Become 'Significant' Part of Syrian War, Says Humanitarian Group," washingtonpost.com, January 14, 2013.
  3. ^ "Blue Wings stellt Flugbetrieb ein" (in German). Flugrevue. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
  4. ^ "ARMY AIR CREWS: Kiowa Crewmembers Line of Duty Deaths". Retrieved 2010-07-16. A/C struck top of embankment and cartwheeled into ground after receiving hostile fire while conducting a combat air patrol with another OH-58D just outside of FOB Courage.
  5. ^ "BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A U.S. Apache helicopter that crashed west of Baghdad on Tuesday may have been shot down by Iraqi guerrillas, a U.S. military spokesman said". Reuters. 2004-01-13. "Our initial information tells us that it's possible that the helicopter was downed by or at least was struck by enemy fire," the spokesman said after the helicopter crashed near the town of Habbaniya, about 50 miles west of the capital.
  6. ^ "Boeing AH-64 Apache". Retrieved 2010-05-12. On January 13th, 2004 an Apache was shot down near the western Iraqi town of Habbaniyah. This was the second of the heavily armed gun-ships downed by guerrilla fire since President Bush declared an end to major combat May 1st, 2003.
  7. ^ Swopes, Bryan (2021-01-14). "14 January 1936". This Day in Aviation. Retrieved 2022-01-11.
  8. ^ Ficke, George. "Harry M. Jones". Early Aviators. Retrieved 2022-01-10.

January 14

  • Alborz Province in Iran. Fifteen of the 16 people on board are killed. 2019 Saha Airlines Boeing 707 crash
    .
  • 2013 – A Syrian government airstrike hits a house south of Damascus, killing at least five adults and eight children.
  • 2013 – Rafales join Mirage 200D jets and Gazelle attack helicopters as the French air campaign in Mali expands to strike Islamist forces in the central part of the country.
  • airborne early warning radar surveillance aircraft, makes a 90-minute flight from Camarillo, California, to Chino, California, to go on display at the Yanks Air Museum.[1]
  • 2010 – A Russian Air Force Sukhoi Su-27 crashes near Komsomolsk on Amur. Pilot killed.
  • 2010 – A Royal New Zealand Air Force Pacific Aerospace CT4 Airtrainer crashes near Ohakea, New Zealand while performing routine aerobatic training. Pilot, Sqn Ldr Nick Cree, killed.
  • 2008 – The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER), American space probe, made a flyby of Mercury.
  • Lion Air Flight 386
    , a Boeing 737-200, crashes while attempting to take off from Riau, Indonesia; all 103 on board survive.
  • 2001 – Death of Luigi Broglio, Italian aerospace engineer, air force lieutenant colonel, Known as "the Italian von Braun".
  • 1998 – An Afghan cargo plane crashes into a mountain in southwest Pakistan killing more than 50 people.
  • 1986 – French singer-songwriter Daniel Balavoine and Thierry Sabine, French wrangler, motorcycle racer, and founder and main organizer of Paris Dakar is killed when his Ecureuil helicopter crashed into a dune at Mali during a sudden sand-storm.
  • 1983 – Last North American Search and Ranging Radar training mission at Cold Lake by "DC-104" Dakota Dolly’s Folly.
  • 1983 – Death of Maurice Bellonte, French raid aviator.
  • 1982 – Death of Pierre Fortaner Paul de Cazenove de Pradines, French WWI flying ace
  • 1973 – A U.S. Navy F-4B Phantom II of Fighter Squadron 161 (VF-161) off USS Midway (CVA-41) flown by Lieutenant V.T. Kovaleski (pilot) and Ensign D.H. Plautz (radar intercept officer) becomes the last American aircraft lost over North Vietnam when it is shot down by antiaircraft artillery near Thanh Hoa while escorting an Operation Blue Tree reconnaissance mission.
  • 1969 – During an Operational Readiness Inspection aboard the USS Enterprise off Hawaii, a MK-32 Zuni rocket warhead attached to an McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is overheated by exhaust from an aircraft starting unit and detonates, setting off fires and additional explosions across the carrier. The fire is brought under control promptly when compared with previous carrier flight deck fires, but 27 lives are lost, and an additional 314 personnel are injured. The fire destroys 15 aircraft.
  • 1969 – Death of William Roy "Sambo" Irwin, Canadian WWI flying ace, WWII Flying instructor who served later on the Canadian Transport Commission.
  • 1969 – Launch of Soyuz 4, Soviet spacecraft which mission was to dock with Soyuz 5.
  • 1966 – Death of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, lead Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer in the Space Race between the USA and the Soviet Union during the 1950s and 1960s. He is considered by many as the father of practical astronautics
  • 1965 – Death of John Sidney Owens, American WWI flying ace.
  • 1961 – Harold E. Confer raised the 1000 km speed record to 2067.57 km/h with a Convair B-58 Hustler.
  • 1959 – During its final approach to Naval Air Station Key West, Florida, a Royal Canadian Navy McDonnell F2H-3 Banshee, BuNo 126488, Sqn. No. 105 of VF-870, suffers a double engine flameout and crash-lands in a nearby lagoon, shearing off the landing gear and starboard wing. Pilot SubLt. Jean Veronneau only suffers minor injuries, but the fighter is written off. The crash is attributed to fuel starvation caused by the pilot's failure to transfer fuel from the auxiliary wingtip fuel tanks to the main fuselage tank earlier in the flight.
  • 1947 – The United States replaces the national insignia for its military aircraft adopted in September 1943 with a new marking consisting of a white star centered in a blue circle flanked by white rectangles bisected by a horizontal red stripe, with the entire insignia outlined in blue.
  • 1945 – U.S. Army Air Forces Twentieth Air Force B-29s bomb Formosa.
  • 1943 – (overnight) Royal Air Force Bomber Command begins an area-bombing campaign against ports in France in an effort to attack German submarines and their bases there.
  • 1943 – Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the first President of the United States to travel via airplane while in office (Miami, Florida to Morocco to meet with Winston Churchill to discuss World War II).[3][4]
  • 1943 – Shannon Lucid, American astronaut, was born. Shannon Matilda Wells Lucid previously held the record for the longest duration stay in space by a woman. She has flown in space five times including a prolonged mission aboard the Mir space station. She was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in December 1996, the tenth astronaut and first woman to be given that honor.
  • 1942 – A Douglas B-18A Bolo bomber, 37-619, of the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron, returning from submarine patrol duties went off course due to high winds, darkness and poor radio contact. Instead of landing at Westover Field, later Westover AFB, in Massachusetts they crashed into Mount Waternomee in New Hampshire's White Mountains. 5 of the 7 crew members survived.
  • 1942 – First Flight; Sikorsky R-4, an American two-place helicopter designed by Igor Sikorsky with a single, three-bladed main rotor and powered by a radial engine. first helicopter to enter service with the United States Army Air Forces, Navy, and Coast Guard, as well as for the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and Royal Navy
  • 1936 – Howard Hughes (Howard Robard Hughes, Jr.) in a Northrop Gamma 2G, NR13761, which he had purchased from Jackie Cochran, sets a transcontinental speed record of 9 hours 27 minutes, averaging 417.0 kilometers per hour (259.1 miles per hour). (FAI Record File Number 13237).
  • 1935 – United Air Lines decides to equip its fleet with a de-icing system for airplane wings, following successful tests on a Boeing 247.
  • 1917 – Death of Andre Jean Delorme, French WWI flying ace.
  • 1909 – Wilbur, Orville and sister Katharine Wright, having just arrived from America, moved to Pau in the south of France after completing flying demonstrations at Camp d’Auvers.
  • 1908 – Jacob Christian Hansen Ellehammer flies 175 m in his tractor triplane with his own engine of some 36 hp.
  • 1897 – Birth of Edward Peck "Ted" Curtis, American WWI flying ace, WWII officer and considered as one the architect of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
  • 1895 – Birth of Fritz Pütter, German WWI fighter ace.
  • 1893 – Birth of Alan Bott, British WWI Flying ace and journalist.
  • 1891 – Birth of Reginald George Malcolm, Canadian WWI flying ace.
  • 1880 – Birth of Robert Leon Henri Massenet-Royer de Marancour, French WWI flying ace.
  • 1876 – Birth of Robert Loraine, British successful Broadway and London stage actor, actor-manager and soldier who later enjoyed a side career as a pioneer aviator.

References

  1. ^ a b "Chino's Connie Flies Home," Aviation History, May 2012, p. 12.
  2. ^ Whitlock, Craig, "Drone Crashes Pile Up Abroad," The Washington Post, December 1, 2012, p. A8.
  3. ^ "The Wings of Franklin Roosevelt". WHHA (en-US). Retrieved 2022-01-11.
  4. ^ "FDR becomes first president to travel by airplane on U.S. official business". HISTORY. Retrieved 2022-01-11.

January 15

  • birdstrikes. All passengers and crew are rescued, and only five people are injured.[3]
  • 2009 – An Afghan National Army Air Corps Mil Mi-17 Hip Helicopter crashes in Herat Province in western Afghanistan. The incident occurred in bad weather and travelling at low-altitude in a mountainous region resulting in 13 fatalities including the Afghan General Fazaludin Sayar.
  • 2008 – An Lockheed Martin F-16C Block 30J Fighting Falcon, 87-0347, of the 482nd Fighter Wing, Air Force Reserve Command, based at Homestead Air Reserve Base, Florida, crashes in the Gulf of Mexico near Key West at ~1930 hrs. during a training mission. The pilot, Major Peter S. Smith, ejects and is recovered by a U. S. Navy helicopter, transported to a local hospital for examination, and released. A board of officers is appointed to investigate the accident.
  • 2002 – First flight of the Airbus A318, French twin engine medium jet airliner.
  • 1999 – The first U. S. Super Hornet squadron is established at Naval Air Station Lemoore, Calif.
  • 1991 – First hot-air balloon 'Virgin Pacific Flyer' to cross the Pacific Ocean takes off from Japan to Northern Canada with Per Lindstrand and Richard Branson, flying in the trans-oceanic jet streams, it recorded the highest ground speed for a crewed balloon at 245 mph (394 km/h).
  • 1991 – A Soviet Air Force Tupolev Tu-16K Badge crashes at Tartu Air Base, Estonia, on landing when wheels lock up. Pilot and copilot eject, but four other crew are killed.
  • 1981 – A Sikorsky S61 N of British Airways Helicopters and Bell 212 s of Bristow Helicopters are involved in the rescue of nine men from a sinking ship 185 km (115 miles) north-east of the Shetlands
  • 1977 – Skyline Sweden-operated Linjeflyg Flight 618, a Vickers Viscount 838, crashes in Kälvesta, Sweden just outside Stockholm, killing all 22 on board.
  • 1973 – President Richard M. Nixon‘s administration orders a halt to all bombing and shelling of North Vietnam and all mining of North Vietnamese harbors.
  • 1970 – Death of William Thomas Piper Sr., American airplane manufacturer, and founder, eponym, and first president of Piper Aircraft Corporation. Piper served in the Spanish-American War and WWI.
  • 1969 – Launch of Soyuz 5, Soviet spacecraft which mission was to dock with soyuz 4, with cosmonaut Boris Valentinovich Volynov, first Jewish in space.
  • Avianca Flight 4
    , a Douglas C-54, suffers engine failure and crashes off Cartagena, Colombia, killing 56 of 64 on board.
  • 1962 – The U. S. Army suffers its first combat fatalities in an aircraft in Vietnam when an H-21 C Shawnee transport helicopter is shot down by Viet Cong ground fire near Dak Roda, South Vietnam, with three killed. [Note: some sources say the first Shawnee was shot down near the Laotian border in Jul 1962. See: http://www.historynet.com/ch-21-shawnee-the-flying-banana.htm.]
  • 1954 – First flight of the Nord Gerfaut, French delta-wing experimental research aircraft.
  • 1953 – Two Royal Air Force planes, an Avro Lancaster maritime patrol aircraft of No. 38 Squadron and a Vickers Valetta transport aircraft, collide over the Strait of Sicily in heavy rain and poor visibility and crash. The accident kills all 19 people aboard the Valetta and the Lancaster’s entire crew of seven.
  • 1952 – French Leduc 0.16 research ramjet suffers landing gear collapse on its first flight and is damaged.
  • 1950 – Death of Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold, Aviation pioneer, 2nd rated pilot in the history of the USAF, Chief of the Air Corps (1938 – 1941), Commanding General of the USAF during WWII.
  • 1949 – First non-stop trans-Canada flight conducted by EP&E North Star commanded by F/O J. A. F. Jolicouer. Vancouver to Halifax: 8 hours 32 min.[7][8]
  • 1945 – The German submarine U-1172 torpedoes the British escort aircraft carrier HMS Thane in the Irish Sea near the Clyde Lightvessel. Thane never again is seaworthy.
  • 1945 – Task Force 38 carrier aircraft in bad weather strike Japanese forces in China, Formosa, and the Pescadores, sinking two destroyers, a transport, and a tanker and destroying 16 Japanese aircraft in the air and 18 on the ground in exchange for the loss of 12 U. S. aircraft.
  • 1943 – Operating from Guadalcanal, United States Marine Corps Major Joe Foss shoots down three Japanese Mitsubishi A6 M Zero fighters, bringing his victory total to 26, all scored since October 13, 1942; he is the first American to match Eddie Rickenbacker’s World War I score of 26. Although Foss never shoots down another plane, his total is enough to make him the second-highest-scoring Marine Corps ace in history and the highest-scoring one to score all of his victories while in Marine Corps service.
  • 1943 – Prototype Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation CA-4 Wackett Bomber, A23-1001, crashes on a test flight to assess powerplant performance and evaluate aerodynamic effects of a new fixed leading edge slat. During return to CAC airfield at Fisherman's Bend, Australia, pilot Sqn. Leader Jim Harper detects fuel leak in port Pratt & Whitney R-1830 engine; as problem worsens he attempts shut-down and feathering of propeller but actuation of feathering switch causes explosion and uncontrollable fire. Crew of three attempts evacuation at 1000 feet (300 m), but only pilot Harper succeeds in parachuting, CAC test pilot Jim Carter and CAC power plant group engineer Lionel Dudgeon KWF. Airframe impacts ~three miles SW of Kilmore, Victoria. Wreckage recovered by No. 26 Repair and Salvage Unit on 18 January, delivered to No. 1 Aircraft Depot, RAAF Laverton, on the 19th. Final action taken on 26 January when the Air Member for Supply and Equipment approves "conversion to components" for what remains of the CA-4.
  • 1937 – First flight of the Beechcraft Model 18, or "Twin Beech", American 6-11 seat, twin-engine, low-wing, conventional-gear aircraft.
  • 1937 – First flight of the Lioré et Olivier LeO 45, a French twin engine medium bomber, low-wing monoplane, all metal in construction, equipped with a retractable undercarriage.
  • 1935 – First flight of the RWD-13, Polish touring three-seater high-wing monoplane, biggest commercial success of the RWD.
  • 1934 – The single Dewoitine D.332 Emeraude, French eight-passenger 3 engine airliner, struck a hill near Corbigny in a violent snowstorm on the final return stage of the inaugural Paris-Saigon service.
  • 1934 – Death of Maurice Noguès, French Aviator, in the crash of the Prototype Dewoitine D 332 'Émeraude' on a return flight from Saigon to Paris.
  • 1931 – Gen. Italo Balbo leads the first formation flight across the South Atlantic. Twelve Savoia-Marchetti S.55 s lands in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil coming from Orbetello, Italy
  • 1928 – Death of Paul Marie Raphael Santelli, French WWI Balloon buster.
  • 1919 – Maj A. S. C. MacLaren and Cpt Robert Halley arrive in Delhi, completing the first England-India flight, in a Handley Page V/1500
  • 1916 – First plane to be launched from a submarine (U-12) is a Friedrichshafen FF.29, German lightweight two-seat floatplane.
  • 1914 – The first regularly scheduled passenger airline in the United States begins service. The Benoist Company, flying its Benoist flying boat, runs a line between St. Petersburg and Tampa, Florida.
  • 1898 – Birth of George Donald Tod, American WWI Flying ace.
  • 1896 – Birth of Sidney Emerson Ellis, Canadian Flying ace.
  • 1896 – Birth of Fritz Kieckhäfer, German WWI flying ace.
  • 1895 – Birth of Cyril Burfield Ridley, British WWI flying ace.
  • 1894 – Birth of Phillip Bernard "Bruce" Prothero, Scottish WWI flying ace.
  • 1892 – Birth of Claud Robert James Thompson, Australian WWI flying ace.
  • 1889 – Birth of Aleksandr Alexandrovich Kozakov, most successful Russian WWI fighter ace.
  • 1881 – Birth of John Rodgers, officer in the United States Navy and early aviator.
  • 1799 – The French Army‘s Company of Aeronauts is abolished.

References

  1. ^ "Accident: Iran Air F100 at Isfahan on January 15th 2010, nose gear collapse on landing". Aviation Herald. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
  2. ^ Four dead as two Il-76 planes collide in south Russian airport | Russia | RIA Novosti
  3. ^ Munro, Ian (16 January 2009). "US Airways flight 1549 – plane crashes in New York's Hudson River". The Age. Melbourne, Australia. Archived from the original on 27 January 2010. Retrieved 23 December 2009.
  4. ^ 1966 Palomares B-52 crash
  5. ^ http://www.history.com/news/the-palomares-h-bomb-incident
  6. ^ http://abcnews.go.com/International/palomares-anniversary-time-us-dropped-nukes-spain/story?id=36322038
  7. ^ "First Nonstop, Coast-to-Coast Flight in Canada: 70th Anniversary". Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  8. ^ Atkins, Eric (2018-01-15). "MOMENT IN TIME - The first non-stop flight across Canada". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2022-01-10.

January 16

  • battery failure and the presence of smoke; one passenger is injured during the evacuation of the plane. Because of this incident and several others in recent days involving fuel leaks, a battery fire, a wiring problem, a glitch in the computer controlling the brakes, and a cracked cockpit window in various Boeing 787s around the world, All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines both ground their Dreamliner fleets.[1] Later in the day, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration grounds all Boeing 787s in the United States.[2]
  • 2006 – AH-64D Apache 03-5385 from B Company, 1–4th Aviation Regiment shot down north of Baghdad, killing the two pilots.[5]
  • 2003 – Launch: Space Shuttle Columbia STS-107 at 15:39:00 UTC. Mission highlights: SPACEHAB; Loss of vehicle and crew before landing at KSC.
  • 2002 – Garuda Indonesia Flight 421, a Boeing 737-300, experiences a dual flameout after entering a thunderstorm, and ditches in the Bengawan Solo River. A flight attendant is the only casualty; 59 passengers and crew survive.
  • 2001 – Death of Constantin Balta, Romanian WWII flying ace, Post War high-ranking officer before entering the Civil Aviation General Authority.
  • 2001 – Shenzhou 2, 2nd Chinese uncrewed Shenzhou spacecraft, is back on earth
  • 1984 – Death of Kenneth A. Arnold, American aviator and businessman. He is best known for making what is generally considered the first widely reported unidentified flying object sighting in the United States, after claiming to have seen nine unusual objects flying in a chain near Mount Rainier, Washington
  • 1983 – Turkish Airlines Flight 158, a Boeing 727-2F2, lands about 50 m (160 ft) short of the runway at Ankara Esenboğa Airport, Turkey in driving snow, breaks up and catches fire; 47 passengers are killed, all seven crew and 13 passengers survive the accident with injuries.
  • 1981 – Death of Leo C. Young, American radio engineer who had many accomplishments during a long career at the U. S. Naval Research Laboratory. Although self-educated, he was a member of a small, creative team that is generally credited with developing the world's first true radar system.
  • 1979 – Death of Squadron Commander Christopher Draper, DSC Croix de guerre, English flying ace of WWI. His penchant for flying under bridges earned him the nickname "the Mad Major. "
  • 1975 – USAF sets new climb-time records with a stripped and unpainted McDonnell Douglas F-15 A Streak Eagle aircraft, operating from Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota. The Streak Eagle reaches a height of 3,000 m (9,843 ft.) in 27.57 s., 6,000 m (19,685 ft.) in 39.33 s., 9,000 m (929,528 ft.) in 48.86 s., 12,000 m (39,370 ft.) in 59.38 s. and 15,000 m (42,2132 ft.) in 1 min. 17.02 s
  • 1972 – Death of Reed McKinley Chambers, American WWI flying ace who founded Florida Airways, which received the first private air mail contract awarded by the U. S. Government. He also gounded the US Aircraft Insurance Group, US first aviation insurance company.
  • 1969 – Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 docked, first-ever docking of two crewed spacecraft of any nation, and the first-ever transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another of any nation.
  • 1965 – U.S. Navy LCDR. Dick Oliver crashes Grumman F-11A Tiger, Blue Angel Number 5, BuNo 141869, doing a dirty roll during practice, but receives minor injuries. The new aircraft 5 became BuNo 141859, which he flies on the European tour. Oliver will be killed in a crash during a performance at Toronto, Canada on 2 September 1966.
  • 1965 – A USAF Boeing KC-135A-BN Stratotanker, 57-1442, c/n 17513, crashed after an engine failure shortly after take off from McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas, USA. The fuel laden plane crashed at the intersection of 20th and Piatt in Wichita, Kansas causing a huge fire. 30 were killed, 23 on the ground and the 7 member crew.
  • 1963 – Yvonne Pope becomes the first UK woman airline pilot to fly international routes, flying from Gatwick to Düsseldorf for Morton Air Service
  • 1962 – A South Vietamese Air Force C-47 Skytrain crashes at Pleiku, South Vietnam, killing 33.
  • 1962 – A Strategic Air Command (SAC) Boeing B-47E Stratojet of the 380th Bomb Wing, Plattsburgh AFB, New York, on low-altitude bombing run training mission, is reported overdue at 0700 hrs. Last radio call was at ~0200 hrs. After four day search, wreckage is spotted in the Adirondack High Peaks. Bomber clipped the top of Wright Peak (16th tallest mountain in the Adirondacks, at 4580 feet) after veering 30 miles off course in inclement weather, high winds. Aircraft Commander 1st Lt. Rodney D. Bloomgren, of Jamestown, New York, copilot 1st Lt. Melvin Spencer, navigator 1st Lt. Albert W. Kandetski and observer A1C Kenneth R. Jensen KWF. Pilot, copilot remains found after ~a week, navigator found later. Observer's remains never recovered. A memorial plaque was erected on a rock near the summit by the 380th Bomb Wing.
  • 1957 – Operation Power Flite, USAF mission, five B-52 B aircraft of the 93rd Bombardment Wing of the 15th Air Force took off from Castle Air Force Base in California with two of the planes flying as spares to demonstrate that the USA had the ability to drop a hydrogen bomb anywhere in the world.
  • 1955 – Birth of Jerry Michael Linenger, M. D., M. S. S. M., M. P. H., Ph. D., USN Officer and NASA astronaut.
  • 1952 – Birth of Lloyd Blaine Hammond, Jr.,Gulfstream test pilot, USAF officer, and NASA astronaut
  • 1950 – A new record is set by a 412 Squadron North Star for a flight from Vancouver to Halifax: 8 hours 25 min.
  • 1948 – Birth of Anatoly Yakovlevich Solovyev, Soviet pilot and cosmonaut.
  • 1946 – Birth of Michael Lloyd Coats, USN Pilot, engineer and NASA astronaut,
  • 1945 – Task Force 38 aircraft strike Hong Kong, Hainan, and Canton and sweep the coast of China from the Liuchow Peninsula to Swatow. Hampered by bad weather, they sink two merchant ships and damage four others and destroy 13 Japanese planes in exchange for the loss of 22 U. S. aircraft in combat and five to non-combat causes.
  • 1945 – The new British Pacific Fleet departs Ceylon for Australia.
  • 1945 – (16-20) The U. S. Army Air Forces Fourteenth Air Force destroys over 100 Japanese planes on the ground in and around Shanghai, China.
  • 1945 – U. S. Navy escort carrier support to the Lingayen Gulf landings ends. During 12 days of support, their aircraft have flown 6,152 sorties and claimed 92 Japanese aircraft destroyed in exchange for the loss of two aircraft, both FM Wildcat fighters.
  • 1943 – (Overnight) British bombing accuracy is poor in a raid on Berlin, which is beyond the range of the Gee and Oboe navigation aids. British bomber losses are small.
  • 1942 – TWA Flight 3, a Douglas DC-3 returning to California, crashes into Potosi Mountain 30 miles (48 km) southwest of Las Vegas; all 22 aboard die, including actress Carole Lombard and her mother.
  • 1941 – 60 German dive bombers make a massed attack on the dockyard at Malta in an attempt to destroy the damaged British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, but she receives only one bomb hit. Incessant German and Italian bombing raids will target Malta through March, opposed by only a handful of British fighters.
  • 1936 – Death of James "Jimmy" Armand Meissner, American WWI flying ace who organized the Birmingham Flying Club, nicknamed the "Birmingham Escadrille", which became Alabama's first Air National Guard unit and the 7th in the USA.
  • 1929 – Lady Mary Bailey complete her return flight from Cape Town to London in her de Havilland DH60 Moth.
  • 1926 – Death of Jean Georges Bouyer, French WWI flying ace, in the crash of his Hanriot.
  • 1922 – Death of Alan John Lance Scott, New Zealand WWI flying ace. He has been Winston Churchill's flying instructor.
  • 1920 – The Western Canadian Air Service Association was formed at Calgary, Alberta.
  • 1916 – Byron Q. Jones sest a new duration record of 8 hr 53 min in San Diego with a Martin Tractor Biplane.
  • 1913 – Death of Thaddeus Sobieski Coulincourt Lowe, also known as Professor T. S. C. Lowe, American Civil War aeronaut.
  • 1911 – Birth of Major Floyd Bruce Parks, WWII USMC Pilot.
  • 1910 – Birth of David McCampbell, American WWII fighter pilot, US Navy all-time leading ace.
  • 1900
    – Birth of Giovanni Monti, Italian soccer player and aviator.
  • 1894 – Birth of Konrad Mettlich, German WWI flying ace.
  • 1888 – Birth of Alfred William Saunders, Irish WWI fighter ace
  • 1886 – Birth of Reinhold Platz, German aircraft designer and manufacturer in service of the Dutch company Fokker.
  • 1866 – Birth of Percy Sinclair Pilcher, British inventor and pioneer aviator, foremost experimenter in unpowered flight.

References

  1. ^ Negishi, Mayumi, and Tim Kelly, "Japanese Airlines Ground Dreamliners After Emergency Landing," Reuters, January 16, 2013, 11:04 a.m. EST.
  2. ^ Halsey, Ashley III, "," The Washington Post, January 17, 2013, p. A14.
  3. ^ London helicopter crash: Two die in Vauxhall crane accident, BBC News, 16 January, 2013
  4. ^ "Recent accidents / incidents worldwide – January 2010". JACDEC. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
  5. ^ "U.S. helicopter crashes in Iraq; status of crew unknown". USATODAY.com. 2006-01-16. Retrieved 2009-01-28.

January 17

  • Ain Amenas natural gas facility in Algeria, apparently killing dozens, although casualty estimates vary widely.[1]
  • Foudre, killing eight of the ten personnel on board.[4]
  • 2008 – British Airways Flight 38, a Boeing 777-200ER, lands short of the runway at London Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom. Nine of the 152 people on board are treated for minor injuries, but there are no fatalities; this is the first loss of a Boeing 777-200ER, and the first loss of any 777 due to operational incident.
  • 2003 – A USMC McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18D Hornet crashes into the Pacific Ocean off of MCAS Miramar, California, due to a material failure during a functional check flight with one engine shut down. Both crew eject safely and are recovered.
  • 1997 – A Delta II 7925 rocket carrying the first GPS Block IIR satellite, GPS IIR-1, exploded only 13 seconds after liftoff, raining flaming debris all over Launch Complex 17 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
  • 1977 – Avro Vulcan B.2, XM600, of 101 Squadron, crashes at Spilsby, Lincs, after the five crew abandon the aircraft due to a fire in the bomb bay.
  • 1991 – US-led forces attack Iraq in a massive air assault after a United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from occupied Kuwait passes unheeded.
  • 1991 – On the first day of Gulf War, USN pilots Nick Mongilio and Mark I. Fox were sent from the USS Saratoga in the Red Sea to bomb an airfield in southwestern Iraq. While en route, they were warned by an E-2 C of approaching MiG-21 aircraft. The Hornets shot down two MiGs and resumed their bombing run, each carrying four 2,000 lb (910 kg) bombs, before returning to Saratoga.
  • 1991 – An unarmed USAF EF-111 A Raven, crewed by Captain James A. Denton and Captain Brent D. Brandon scored a kill against an Iraqi Dassault Mirage F1EQ, which they managed to maneuver into the ground, making it the only F-111 to achieve an aerial victory over another aircraft.
  • 1982 – Death of William Thomas Price, British WWI flying ace.
  • 1974 – Death of Wilhelm "Willy" Thöne, German WWI flying ace.
  • 1969 – Soyuz 4 returns on earth.
  • 1966 – A B-52 Stratofortress collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker during aerial refueling near Palomares, Spain. Seven crewmembers are killed in the crash, and two of the B-52's four nuclear weapons rupture, scattering radioactive material over the countryside. One bomb lands intact near the town, and another is lost at sea. It is later recovered intact 5 miles (8 km) offshore.
  • 1966 – A Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star on a night mission crashes and burns in a wooded area 11 miles NW of Eglin AFB, killing both crew. According to the base information officer, the wreckage was located in a densely wooded area which made the approach of rescue vehicles difficult. KWF were Capt. Robert D. Freeman, 30, of Lindsey, Oklahoma, and 2nd Lt. Roger A. Carr, 26, of Ames, Iowa. Both were residents of Fort Walton Beach, Florida and were assigned to the Air Proving Ground Center. Capt. Freeman is survived by his widow, Faith, and three children, Donna, 7, Robert L., 5, and Alison C., 18 months; and his parents Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Freeman, of Lindsey. Lt. Carr is survived by his widow, Karen, and a five-month-old son, Craig; and by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert W. Carr, of Ames.
  • 1966 – Two crew of an Republic F-105F Thunderchief based at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, escape injury when the engine of the fighter-bomber in which they are engaged in a photo-chase mission catches fire, forcing them to eject. The airframe impacts in East Bay, near Tyndall AFB, Florida at 1008 hrs. Pilot Capt. James D. Clendenen and photographer S/Sgt. J. G. Cain are recovered from the water by a Tyndall base helicopter.
  • 1963 – Joe Walker flies the North American X15 A to a height of 82,600 m (271,000 feet) and, having flown higher than 50 miles, he qualifies for astronaut wings.
  • 1957 – During the second bomber stream of training mission, "Wedding Bravo", by 30 Convair B-36 Peacemaker bombers of the 7th Bomb Wing, out of Carswell AFB, Texas, a jet engine explosion results in one B-36 landing at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, on fire. There was no further damage to the aircraft and no injuries to the crew, commanded by Capt. Robert L. Lewis.
  • 1949 – In the BSAA Star Ariel disappearance, a British South American Airways Avro Tudor IV disappears without a trace en route from Bermuda to Jamaica with 20 on board. The loss of the aircraft, along with the 1948 BSAA Star Tiger disappearance remain unsolved to this day, with the resulting speculation helping to develop the Bermuda Triangle legend.
  • 1945 – Twentieth Air Force B-29s bomb Formosa.
  • 1943 – Birth of Daniel Charles Brandenstein, US Navy test pilot and NASA astronaut.
  • 1943 – (Overnight) 188 British bombers attack Berlin, with poor accuracy. The Germans expect a return visit to Berlin and put up a better defense; the British lose 22 bombers, a very high 11.8 percent loss rate
  • 1941 – During the French-Thai War, the Battle of Koh Chang opens with a bombing attack on Royal Thai Navy warships at Koh Chang, Thailand, by a French Loire 130 flying boat and ends with Royal Thai Air Force aircraft bombing French warships. All air attacks in the battle are ineffective, although a Thai bomb which fails to explode hits the French light cruiser La Motte-Picquet.
  • 1941 – Sinclair-Ralston agreement noted that 25 RCAF squadrons were to form in UK over the next 18 months (exclusive to the three already in the UK).
  • 1938 – Spanish Nationalist Fiat CR.32 fighters clash with Republican Polikarpov fighters over the front lines at Teruel, Spain, during the Battle of Teruel.
  • 1936 – The United States Army Air Corps orders 13 Boeing Y1 B-17 Flying Fortresses, previously known by the manufacturer’s designation, Model 299.
  • 1929 – The Colonial Flying Service and Scully Walton Ambulance Company organizes the United States' first civilian air ambulance service.
  • 1920 – Canada established a set of regulations that required all pilots, air engineers and aircraft to be licensed by the Air Board.
  • 1920 – The first United States Navy airplane flight in the Hawaiian Islands takes place when a plane takes off from Honolulu.
  • Zeppelin LZ2
    (makes a forced landing and is destroyed in high winds the following day).
  • Whitehead Aeroplane No. 21
    of the previous year on an 11 km (7 mile) flight and lands safely.
  • 1899 – Birth of Nevil Shute Norway, popular British novelist and a successful aeronautical engineer.
  • 1892 – Birth of Thomas Mottershead VC, DCM, British WWI pilot.
  • 1892 – Birth of Amedeo Mecozzi, Italian WWI flying ace, WWII general of the Italian Regia Aeronautica and a military theorist credited as the founding father of the "attack air force" doctrine.
  • 1891 – Birth of Hans Klein, German WWI fighter ace, and WWII Luftwaffe high-ranking officer.
  • 1890 – Birth of Paul Armand Petit, French WWI flying ace.
  • 1886 – Birth of Glenn Luther Martin, American aviation pioneer, founder of the Glenn L. Martin Company.
  • 1885 – Birth of Karl Nikitsch, Austro-Hungarian WWI flying ace.
  • 1847 – Birth of Nikolay Yegorovich Zhukovsky, Russian scientist, founding father of modern aero- and hydrodynamics. Whereas contemporary scientists scoffed at the idea of human flight, Zhukovsky was the first to undertake the study of airflow.

References

  1. ^ Schemm, Paul, and Anis Belghoul, "Algeria: Day 4 of Hostage Standoff at Sahara Plant," Associated Press, January 18, 2013.
  2. ^ Halsey, Ashley III, "," The Washington Post, January 17, 2013, p. A14.
  3. ^ Topham, James, and Alwyn Scott, "Boeing Dreamliners Grounded Worldwide on Battery Checks," Reuters, January 17, 2013, 2:13 p.m.
  4. ^ "Gabon crash kills French soldiers". BBC News. 19 January 2009. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  5. ^ FlyLAL declares bankruptcy

January 18

  • 2005 – The world's largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, gets unveiled in an elaborate ceremony in France.
  • Air Tractor AT-502B
    , registration number N8526M, during a training flight over an unpopulated area near Hollister, Oklahoma, USA; both aircraft spiral out of control, 2 aircrew in T-37 eject, 1 suffers minor injuries, pilot and sole occupant of N8526M is killed. The crash is attributed to the failure of both pilots to watch for conflicting air traffic during VFR flight, a rare example of a midair collision in daylight VFR conditions during cruise flight in uncongested airspace distant from an airport.
  • 1992 – The United States Marine Corps retires the F-4 Phantom II from front-line service
  • 1991 – Seven Coalition aircraft are lost, all to Iraqi ground fire.
  • 1991 – Eastern Air Lines is dissolved after 64 years of operation. Many of its remaining assets are parceled out to American and Continental.
  • 1986 – STS-61-C Space Shuttle Columbia returns on earth, last shuttle mission before the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
  • Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle III
    crashed in the jungle 8 km (5 mls) from Flores (Guatemala) after two missed approaches, killing all 87 occupants.
  • 1985 – A Chinese Antonov An-24 turbo-prop airplane crashed while making an emergency landing in the city of Jinan, located south of its original destination, Beijing. The flight originated in Shanghai and stopped in Nanjing before flying on to Beijing. Thirty-eight people were killed, including 32 mainland Chinese, 3 Hong Kongese, 2 America, and one Briton. One crew member and two passengers survived the crash.
  • 1982 – Death of Josef Mai, German WWI fighter ace and WWII instructor.
  • 1982 – 1982 Thunderbirds Indian Springs Diamond Crash: The worst accident in U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds Demonstration Team history involving show aircraft, when four Northrop T-38A Talons, Numbers 1-4, 68-8156, -8175, -8176 and -8184, crashed during pre-season training on Range 65 at Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field, Nevada (now Creech Air Force Base). While practicing the four-plane line abreast loop, the formation impacted the ground at high speed, instantly killing all four pilots: Major Norm Lowry, leader, Captain Willie Mays, Captain Pete Peterson and Captain Mark Melancon. The cause of the crash was officially listed by the USAF as the result of a mechanical problem with the #1 aircraft's control stick actuator. During formation flight, the wing and slot pilots visually cue off the #1 lead aircraft, completely disregarding their positions in relation to the ground. The crash of a team support Fairchild C-123 Provider on 10 October 1958 killed 19[1][2].
  • Bell Helicopter
    delivers its 25,000th production helicopter.
  • F-104 Starfighter
    on fire in order to avoid victims in a high denisity population zone.
  • 1978 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 274 made a 2 point landing at Miami International Airport (KIMA) when its nose wheel locked in the up position.
  • 1972 – Ottawa banned the use of aircraft and large ships in the Gulf of St. Lawrence seal hunt.
  • 1972 – General Dynamics F-111E-CF, 68-018, c/n A1-127 / E-28,[326][327] tailcode 'JS',[328] out of RAF Upper Heyford, crashes on high ground in Scotland, both crew KWF.
  • United Airlines Flight 266
    , a Boeing 727, en route from Los Angeles to Milwaukee loses all electrical power and crashes into Santa Monica Bay; six crew and 32 passengers are killed.
  • 1968 – (overnight) – A U. S. Navy UH-2A Seasprite piloted by Lieutenant junior grade Clyde Everett Lassen makes a daring rescue of downed fliers in North Vietnam. For his actions, Lassen will become the only U. S. Navy helicopter pilot to be awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War. THIS INCIDENT OCCURRED 19 JUNE 1969.
  • 1965 – Death of Charles Marie Joseph Leon Nuville, French WWI fighter ace and WWII officer.
  • 1960 – Capital Airlines Flight 20, a Vickers Viscount, flying from Washington National Airport to Norfolk International Airport crashes near Holdcroft, Virginia due to engine failure caused by icy conditions; all 50 on board are killed.
  • 1958 – Birth of Jeffrey Nels Williams, USAF test pilot and NASA astronaut.
  • 1957 – Three United States Air Force Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers make the world’s first round-the-world, non-stop flight by turbojet-powered aircraft. They complete the flight in 45 hours 19 min, at an average speed of 534 mph (859 km/h).
  • Dornier Do 335A-12
    Pfeil (Arrow), AM223, ex-DP+UB, a twin piston engined "push-pull" aircraft, out of RAE Farnborough, suffers a rear-engine fire whilst in flight which severs the control runs and crashes into Cove School, Cove, Hampshire, killing 2 people, according to one source, and injuring six persons on the ground, with the pilot, Group Captain A. F. Hards DSO[disambiguation needed], KWF according another
  • 1944 – Death of Eugene Jules Emile Camplan, French WWI flying ace.
  • 1941 – A large German air raid strikes Malta’s airfields and other facilities.
  • 1938 – The RCAF accepted the first of 1,384 de Havilland Tiger Moth training aircraft.
  • Blohm & Voss Ha 137
  • 1930 – Death of Tommaso (Tomaso) Dal Molin, Italian pilot in the crash of his seaplane racer Savoia-Marchetti S.65 on Lake Garda.
  • 1920 – Death of Albert René Chabrier, French WWI flying ace.
  • 1918 – Birth of Frederick C. Bock, WWII pilot who took part in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in 1945, flying the B-29 bomber 'The Great Artist'.
  • 1916 – First "official" flight of the Junkers J 1. (A brief hop had been taken in December 1915.)[3]
  • 1916 – Birth of Giorgio Savoja (Savoia), Italian WWII fighter pilot.
  • 1913 – Birth of Wing Commander George Cecil Unwin DSO, DFM & Bar, British WWII fighter ace.
  • 1909 – The first book to treat the work and accomplishments of the Wright brothers, Les Premiers Hommes-Oiseaux: Wilbur et Orville Wright, is written by François Peyrey (1873 – 1934) and published in France.
  • Zeppelin LZ2
    is destroyed in high winds.
  • 1905 – The Wright brothers begin discussions with the United States Government about selling it an airplane.
  • 1893 – Birth of Douglas Evan Cameron, British WWI flying ace.
  • 1893 – Birth of Dr. Wolfgang Benjamin Klemperer, German prominent aviation and aerospace scientist and engineer, who ranks among the pioneers of early aviation.
  • 1891 – Birth of Herbert Wilhelm Franz Knappe, German WWI flying ace.
  • 1888 – Thomas Sopwith, British aviation pioneer, is born (d. 1989). Sopwith with Fred Sigrist and others set up The Sopwith Aviation Company. The company produced key British World War I aircraft, most famously the Sopwith Camel.
  • 1882 – Birth of Gaston Caudron, French aviation pioneer and aircraft designer along with his brother René.

References

  1. ^ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Fairchild C-123B-12-FA Provider 55-4521 Payette, ID". www.aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2022-01-18.
  2. ^ Aircraft Wreck Finders. "Fairchild C-123B #55-4521A" (PDF). Retrieved 2022-01-17.
  3. ^ http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=1703

January 19

  • 2013 – The Syrian Air Force strikes a mosque and a school building sheltering Syrian refugees in Salqin, Syria, killing and wounding dozens.[1]
  • Ma'rib province, including at least two members of al-Qaeda.[2]
  • Mehrabad Airport
    and is substantially damaged.
  • 2006 – Launch of New Horizons, NASA robotic spacecraft mission to the dwarf planet Pluto. It is expected to be the first spacecraft to fly by and study Pluto and its moons, Charon, Nix, and Hydra. NASA may also attempt flybys of one or more other Kuiper belt objects.
  • 2006 – A Slovak Air Force Antonov An-24 carrying peace-keepers from Kosovo crashes near Telkibánya, Hungary. Of the 43 people on board, only one survived.
  • Bristow Flight 56C
    , a Eurocopter Super Puma, is struck by lightning and is forced to make an emergency landing in the North Sea; all 18 on board survive.
  • 1995 – Rockwell-MBB X-31, BuNo 164584, first of two testbed airframes, crashes on 67th flight, north of Edwards AFB, California. German Federal Ministry of Defense test pilot Karl-Heinz Lang, assigned to the X-31 International Test Organization (ITO), ejects safely at 18,000 feet. He is taken to hospital for examination, a fire department spokesman said.[314][315] Footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWcBcxvZfMc
  • 1993 – STS-54, space shuttle Endeavour is back on earth.
  • 1991 – The second Rockwell X-31 enhanced fighter makes its first flight.
  • 1991 – Two Coalition aircraft are shot down, both by Iraqi ground fire. The Iraqi Air Force loses five aircraft in air-to-air combat, all shot down by U. S. Air Force F-15 C Eagle fighters employing AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missiles.
  • 1991 – Death of Paul F. Bikle, American Engineer, Record setting glider pilot and Director of the NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility.
  • 1989 – American Airlines purchases the Central and South American routes owned by struggling Eastern Air Lines.
  • 1983 – Death of Ham, also known as Ham the Chimp and Ham the Astrochimp, first chimpanzee launched into outer space in the American space program.
  • 1975 – Death of Antonio Reali, Italian WWI fighter ace.
  • 1972 – Flying a United States Navy F-4 J Phantom II fighter of Fighter Squadron 96 (VF-96) off of USS Constellation (CVA-64), Lieutenants Randy “Duke” Cunningham (pilot) and William “Irish” Driscoll (radar intercept officer) shoot down a North Vietnamese MiG fighter. It is the first air-to-air victory by an American aircraft over Vietnam since March 1970.
  • 1968 – Death of Gaetano Arturo Crocco, Italian scientist and aeronautics pioneer, founder of the Italian Rocket Society.
  • 1965 – Suborbital flight of Gemini 2, US unmanned mission intended as a test flight for the Gemini spacecraft's heat shield.
  • 1961 – Boeing B-52B-35-BO Stratofortress, 53-0390, c/n 16869, of the 95th Bomb Wing, Biggs AFB, Texas, crashes in Utah after failure of tail section in turbulence-induced accident.
  • 1960 – First flight of the Convair CV-580 Super Convair.
  • 1960 – Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 871, a Sud Aviation Caravelle, crashes while on approach to Esenboğa International Airport, killing all 42 on board; an undetermined descent was to blame for the first fatal crash of the Sud Caravelle.
  • 1950 – First flight of the Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck (affectionately known as the "Clunk") RCAF 18101 in Malton by Canadian test pilot Bill Waterton.
  • 1949 – First flight of Martin XSSM-A-1 Matador test vehicle, from White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, ends in crash.
  • 1949 – First flight of the Fouga CM.100, French high-wing cantilever monoplane of conventional configuration with fixed tricycle undercarriage airliner prototype, issued from the Glider assault CM.10 by adding two SNECMA 12 S piston engines.
  • 1948 – First Vampires were taken on strength by RCAF.
  • 1946 – First Flight of the Bell X-1. Originally designated XS-1, joint NACA-U. S. Army/USAF supersonic research project, first of the so-called X-planes.
  • 1944 – Allied heavy and medium bombers strike Viterbo, Rieti, and Perugia, Italy. The Allied air forces claim that their air campaign has cut all communications between northern Italy and the Rome area, although this does not turn out to be true.
  • 1941 – German aircraft again attack the Malta dockyard, causing underwater damage to HMS Illustrious.
  • 1939 – Yugoslav Rogožarski IK-3 prototype, piloted by Capt. Milan Pokorni, fails to recover from terminal velocity dive out of Zemun airfield, destroying airframe. Subsequent investigation exonerates the design and production order for twelve placed.
  • 1937 – Flying a redesigned H-1 Racer featuring extended wings, Howard Hughes set a new transcontinental airspeed record by flying non-stop from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 min and 25 seconds (beating his own previous record of 9 hours, 27 min). His average speed over the flight was 322 miles per hour (518 km/h).
  • San Diego, California
    , with total flight time of 423:32 hours.
  • 1926 – Death of Leopoldo Eleuteri, Italian WWI flying ace.
  • 1923 – The De Bothezat helicopter lifted 2 persons to a height of 1.2 metres (3 ft 11 in).
  • 1919 – Jules Védrines claims an FF25,000 prize by landing an aircraft (a Caudron G-3) on the roof of a department store in Paris. Védrines is injured and his aircraft is damaged beyond repair in the hard landing in a space only 28 metres (92 ft) x 12 metres (39 ft).
  • 1918 – Birth of Tadeusz Góra, Polish glider pilot and WWII pilot.
  • 1915 – Birth of Ennio "Banana" Tarantola, Spanish War and WWII Italian fighter ace.
  • 1910 – Lieutenant Paul Ward Beck drops sandbag "bombs" over Los Angeles from an aeroplane piloted by Louis Paulhan.
  • 1908 – The world’s first official aerodrome, Port-Aviation, is opened outside of Paris, France.
  • 1899 – Birth of George Ebben Randall, British WWI Flying ace.
  • 1898 – Birth of Basil Henry Moody, South African WWI Flying ace.
  • 1898 – Birth of Carl-August von Schoenebeck, German WWI flying ace, Raid pilot, Arado test pilot and WWII high-ranking officer.
  • 1895 – Birth of Air Marshal Sir Arthur "Mary" Coningham KCB, KBE, DSO, MC, DFC, AFC, RAF, Royal Flying Corps flying ace during WWI, Conningham was later a senior Royal Air Force commander during WWII, as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief 2nd Tactical Air Force and subsequently the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Flying Training Command.
  • 1895 – Birth of Ivan Alexandrovich Orlov, Russian WWI flying ace, Self Glider and Aircraft designer.
  • 1893 – Birth of Maurice Joseph Emile Robert, French WWI flying ace.
  • 1888 – Birth of Millard Fillmore Harmon Jr. American WWI pilot and Lieutenant General in the USAAF during the Pacific campaign in WWII.
  • 1883 – Birth of James McKinley Hargreaves, Scottish WWI flying ace, One of the first Aces in history.
  • 1784 – One of the largest hot-air balloon ever made, called 'Le Flesselle' by the Montgolfier brothers, makes an ascent at Lyon, France. The balloon's capacity is 700,000 cubic feet and it goes up to 3,000 feet.

References

  1. ^ Mrouse, Bassem, "Syrian FM calls on rebels to disarm and negotiate," Associated Press, January 19, 2013.
  2. ^ Al-Haj, Ahmed, "Yemen Drone Strikes: Suspected U.S. Attack Kills At Least 8," The Huffington Post, January 19, 2013, 6:25 p.m. EST.
  3. ^ "Accident: PSA Airlines CRJ2 at Charleston on January 19th 2010, overran runway on takeoff". The Aviation Herald. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
  4. ^ "Accident: BinAir SW4 at Stuttgart on January 19th 2010, right main gear collapsed on landing". The Aviation Herald. Retrieved 20 January 2010.

January 20

  • 2013 – A Syrian Air Force strike against rebel-held areas in al-Barika reportedly kllls seven people.[1]
  • 2013 – Islamist rebel forces withdraw from Diabaly, Mali, to avoid further airstrikes after days of bombing by French aircraft. French aircraft have flown 140 bombing sorties since the French intervention in Mali began.[2]
  • 2011 – Launch of USA-224, also known as NRO Launch 49 (NRO L-49), American reconnaissance satellite.
  • 2011 – Launch of Elektro-L No.1, also known as Geostationary Operational Meteorological Satellite No.2 or GOMS No.2, Russian geostationary weather satellite.
  • 2009 – Two Spanish Air Force Dassault Mirage F1 on a training flight, collide in midair. The three pilots were found dead in the debris of the airplanes.
  • 2009 – The Dominican Civil Aviation Institute suspends Caribair from operating for "operational irregularities".[3]
  • 2007 – A UH-60 Black Hawk from C Company, 1–131 Aviation Regiment[5] shot down by a combination of several heavy machine guns and a shoulder-fired missile north-east of Baghdad. All 12 crew and passengers on board are killed in the incident.[5][6]
  • 1997 – A new balloon absolute distance record of 16,722 km (10,363 miles) is set by Steve Fossett, during his unsuccessful non-stop, round the world flight, which he is forced to abandon in India.
  • 1992 – Air Inter Flight 148, an Airbus A320, crashes in the Vosges Mountains on approach to Strasbourg, France, killing 87 of 96 people on board.
  • 1991 – Five Coalition aircraft are lost in combat – All to Iraqi ground fire – And two to non-combat causes.
  • 1988 – Death of Robert Miles Todd, American WWI flying ace.
  • 1980 – Death of André Dubonnet, French WWI flying ace, WWII fighter pilot, athlete, racecar driver, and inventor.
  • 1977 – AA USCG Sikorsky HH-52A Seaguard, 1448, strikes three electrical transmission wires and crashes into the ice-filled Illinois River. The crew had been performing an aerial ice patrol along the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. The names of the personnel killed in the incident were: LTJG Frederick William Caesar III USN, LTJG John Francis Taylor (CG Aviator #1620), AT2 John B. Johnson, Mr. Bill Simpson (Civilian). The Air Station the aircraft and/or crew were assigned to was AIRSTA Chicago.
  • 1977 – Death of Ernest Archibald "Ernie" McNab, Canadian WWII fighter pilot, first scoring pilot for the RCAF in WWII.
  • 1975 – Death of Howard Burdick, American WWI flying ace.
  • 1974 – First 'accidental' flight of the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, US multirole jet fighter aircraft, during a high-speed taxi test. While gathering speed, a roll-control oscillation caused a fin of the port-side wingtip-mounted missile and then the starboard stabilator to scrape the ground, and the aircraft then began to veer off the runway. The GD test pilot, Phil Oestricher, decided to lift off to avoid crashing the machine, and safely landed it six minutes later.
  • 1969 – Death of Arthur Eyguem De Montaigne 'Jacko' Jarvis, Canadian WWI flying ace.
  • 1965 – Death of Ludwig "Lutz" Beckmann, German WWI flying ace.
  • 1965 – Death of Friedrich Hefty, Austro-Hungarian WWI flying ace.
  • 1952 – Death of Ronald Malcolm Fletcher, British WWI observer/gunner ace in two-seater fighters in conjunction with his pilot, Lt. S. F. H. Thompson.
  • 1948 – Birth of Jerry Lynn Ross, USAF pilot and NASA astronaut.
  • Wellington Bomber (BR 432) from 429 Squadron, stationed at East-Moor, UK, went down in the Zuider Zee. Wreckage was recovered 29 years later in May 1972
    .
  • 1941 – Death of Frederick Erastus Humphreys, American aviator, one of the original three military pilots trained by the Wright brothers and the first to fly solo.
  • 1940 – First flight of the Arsenal VG-34, a French light fighter aircraft prototype developed from the VG-33.
  • 1938 – First flight of the Latécoère 523, a 6 engine high wing monoplane reconnaissance Flying boat for the French Navy, Based on the 521, variant of the 522
  • 1936 – Italian troops take the Ethiopian town of Negele Boran without firing a shot. Its inhabitants have all fled after Italian aircraft drop 40 tons (36,288 kg) of bombs on the town during the Battle of Genale Doria.
  • 1934 – First flight of the Boeing P-29 (originated as the Model 264), a US Fighter prototype, fully-cantilever wings, wing flaps, enclosed "greenhouse" canopy, and retractable undercarriage.
  • Consolidated XA-11
    attack plane, 32-322, crashes due to structural failure, killing Lieut. Irvin A. Woodring.
  • 1928 – Death of George Augustine Taylor, Australian artist, journalist, and aviation pioneer, first person in Australia to fly in a heavier-than-air craft.
  • 1920 – Birth of Ferruccio Serafini, WWII Italian fighter ace.
  • 1916 – The first airship raid on Britain. Zeppelins of the Imperial German Navy Airship Division dropped bombs on Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn, Norfolk, killing 5 people. The RFC flew its first ever night sorties against the raiders, but two aircraft failed to intercept.
  • 1913 – Attempting to establish a new women’s altitude record, Bernetta Miller is covered with oil and temporarily blinded when her oil flow indicator smashes. She makes a safe emergency landing in New York.
  • 1913 – Birth of Gheorghe Popescu-Ciocanel, Romanian WWII fighter ace.
  • 1896 – Birth of James Dudley Beane, American WWI flying ace.
  • 1893 – Birth of Howard John Thomas Saint, Welsch WWI flying ace.
  • 1892 – Birth of Ludwig Hanstein, German WWI fighter ace.
  • 1890 – Birth of Arthur Whitehair "Wiggy" Vigers, British WWI fighter ace, 3d ranking of the aces who flew the Sopwith Dolphin.
  • 1890 – Birth of Pierre Henri Edmond Dufaur de Gavardie, French WWI flying ace.
  • 1889 – Birth of Alfred Mohr, German WWI flying ace.
  • 1888 – Birth of Jens Tryggve Herman Gran DSC, MC, Norwegian aviator, explorer and author, first pilot to cross the North Sea.

References

  1. ^ [Anonymous, "Airstrike Kills at Least 7 Near Syrian Capital," Associated Press, January 21, 2013.]
  2. ^ Felix, Bate, "French Troops Take Central Mali Towns, Rebels Slip Away," Reuters, January 21, 2013.
  3. ^ "News item". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
  4. ^ Richard Mauer (2008-02-09). "Gallantry during attack in Iraq earns Silver Star". Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved 2010-02-23. The brigade's third Silver Star honoree, Master Sgt. Thomas Ballard, helped lead a team that protected an Apache helicopter shot down in the Najaf attack while under fierce fire themselves.
  5. ^ a b "ARMY AIR CREWS: Blackhawk Crewmembers Line of Duty Deaths". Retrieved 2010-07-15.
  6. ^ Jonathan Karl (2007-01-22). "Black Hawk Likely Shot Down in Iraq". ABC News. Retrieved 2007-05-31.

January 21

  • Luxembourg International Airport. The van suffered major damage and the aircraft sustained a damaged tyre. Three investigations have been launched into the incident.[1]
  • 2010 – A Sociedad de Salvamento y Seguridad Marítima AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter fell into the sea off Almería. Three people are missing.
  • HAL HJT-16 Kiran Mk.2
    military trainer aircraft from the No. 52 Squadron Surya Kiran (Sun Rays) Aerobatics display team based at the Bidar Air Force Station in Karnataka, India crashed into a field during a routine training exercise killing the pilot.
  • 2004 – NASA's Mars Exploration Robot-A (MER-A) Spirit ceases communication from the red-planet because of a flash memory issue. The problem would be fixed two days later remotely from Earth.
  • 1999 – A Nicaraguan Air Force Antonov An-26, 126, c/n 14206, crashes into a mountain near Bluefields, Nicaragua, killing all 28 on board.
  • 1991 – An Iraqi surface-to-air missile shoots down a U. S. Navy F-14 Tomcat and a United States Army attack helicopter is lost to non-combat causes in the Gulf War. Coalition aircraft have flown more than 4,000 sorties against Iraqi forces since Operation Desert Storm began, targeting command-and-control centers, airfields, and Scud short-range ballistic missile launchers. They now shift their focus to Iraqi positions around Basra and along the Iraq-Kuwait border.
  • 1991 – The Soviet Union commissions the “heavy aircraft-carrying missile cruiser” Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov. A hybrid ship combining the capability of a Western aircraft carrier to operate high-performance fighters for fleet air defense with the heavy shipboard antiship missile armament of Soviet guided-missile cruisers, she is the first Soviet or Russian ship with a full-length flight deck similar to that of Western aircraft carriers and the only such ship ever to be built prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
  • 1987 – American triathlete Lois McCallin, in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Michelob Light Eagle human powered aircraft, sets straight-line and closed circuit world distance records and the world duration record for women at 6.83 km (4.25 miles), 15.44 km (9.59 miles) and 37 min 38 seconds respectively.
  • 1985 – Galaxy Airlines Flight 203, a Lockheed L-188 Electra, crashes in Reno, Nevada while attempting to return to the airport to troubleshoot a noise, killing 70 of the 71 people on board. It is later discovered that the air start door was not properly secured.
  • 1980 – Iran Air Flight 291, a Boeing 727, crashes near Tehran, Iran. The plane hits high ground in a snowstorm during the approach to land; all 128 aboard are killed.
  • 1978 – Death of Theodor Hermann Dahlmann, German WWI flying ace, influential aviation administrator before and during WWII.
  • 1974 – Death of Everett Richard Cook, American WWI flying ace, High-ranking officer during WWII and later, one of the Directors of Eastern Airlines.
  • Thule Air Base
    , Greenland at 1639 hrs. AST, 1 crew member killed; all four B-28 weapons are consumed in post-crash fire, however one bomb unaccounted for after debris is audited; extensive contamination of site and several relief workers exposed to radiation.] This accident caused the Department of Defense to suspend Operation Chrome Dome, the nuclear airborne alert program of SAC.
  • 1960 – Avianca Flight 671, a Lockheed Constellation, crashes on landing at Sangster International Airport, killing 2 of 7 crew and 35 of 39 passengers on board in Jamaica's worst aviation accident.
  • 1960 – Little Joe 1 B, Launch Escape System test of the Mercury spacecraft, lifts off from Wallops Island, Virginia with Miss Sam, a female rhesus monkey on board.
  • 1960 – Death of John Stanley Chick, British WWI fighter ace, and RAF officer until the end of WWII.
  • 1958 – The last Fokker C. X in military service, the Finnish Air Force FK-111 target tower, crashed, killing the pilot and winch-operator.
  • 1952 – Second prototype of Arsenal VG 90 turbojet strike fighter design for the Aéronavale, VG-90.02, first flown June 1951, crashes this date killing pilot Claude Dellys.
  • 1952 – The Saab 210 experimental delta-winged research aircraft makes its first flight in Sweden.
  • MiG-15
    during the Korean War.
  • 1950 – First flight of the Tupolev Tu-75, a Soviet 4 engine military transport prototype variant of the Tu-4 bomber.
  • 1950 – Birth of Joseph Richard "Joe" Tanner, jet pilot, and NASA astronaut.
  • 1945 – The British East Indies Fleet aircraft carriers HMS Ameer and HMS Shah support the landings of the 26th Indian Infantry Division on Ramree Island off the coast of Burma.
  • 1945 – Task Force 38 aircraft fly 1,164 sorties in strikes on Formosa, the Pescadores, and the Sakishima Gunto, sinking five tankers and five other merchant ships and destroying two Japanese aircraft in the air and 104 on the ground. In Japanese air attacks on the task force, a bomber damages the aircraft carrier USS Langley (CVL-27) and kamikazes damage the carrier USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) and a destroyer; an accidental bomb explosion during a landing accident damages the carrier USS Hancock (CV-19).
  • 1944 – Launch of Operation Steinbock (Baby Blitz), nocturnal WWII Luftwaffe offensive against southern England launched primarily for the sake of propaganda and as a measure of retaliation than for any military objective
  • 1944 – German ace Hauptmann Manfred Meurer is killed when his Heinkel He 219 night fighter collides with a British Lancaster bomber over Magdeburg, Germany. He has 65 kills at the time of his death.
  • 1943 – Pan Am Flight 1104, a Martin M-130 nicknamed the Philippine Clipper, crashes into a mountain near Boonville, California, killing all 19 passengers and crew, including Rear-Admiral Robert H. English, commander of the U. S. Pacific Submarine Fleet.
  • Casablanca Directive
    . Its principal aim was to weld RAF and USAAF strategic bomber forces into one mighty air arm able to crush the German industrial, military and economic system.
  • Imperial Airways Short Empire flying boat Cavalier makes an emergency landing
    285 mi southeast of New York due to loss of power and later sinks; 3 of 12 on board die.
  • 1938 – First flight of the Potez-CAMS 141 ‘Antares’, a French four engined monoplane long range reconnaissance flying boat prototype.
  • 1936 – First flight of the FMA AeC.3G, an Argentinian light utility aircraft, an evolution of the FMA AeC.3, first Argentine aircraft to be equipped with flaps.
  • 1931 – First flight of the Vickers Type 161, a British unusual pusher biplane prototype interceptor, designed to attack aircraft from below with a single upward-angle large calibre gun.
  • 1930 – First complete airport lighting system online at Calgary airport.
  • 1921 – The first triple-triplane aircraft, and the first passenger-carrying aircraft designed to carry more than 100 people that actually got off the ground, is launched at Lake Maggiore, Italy. The flight attempt ends in failure when the 55,000 lb. flying boat nosedives into the lake.
  • 1920 – The last Royal Navy balloon ship, HMS Canning, which has operated since December 1916 as a balloon depot ship, is sold.
  • de Havilland DH-9 are dispatched to form "Z Force", and are used for bombing, strafing and as air ambulances during the RAF first ‘Little War’ against the tribal leader Mohammed bin Abdulla Hassan, the ‘Mad Mullah’, in British Somaliland
    .
  • 1919 – Birth of Eric Melrose "Winkle" Brown, CBE, DSC, AFC RN, British Navy test pilot who has flown more types of aircraft than anyone else in history and holds the world record for aircraft carrier landings.
  • 1911 – Lieutenant Paul Ward Beck sends the first wireless-telephonic message from an aeroplane, sending a message from a Wright biplane over Selfridge Field in Michigan.
  • 1903 – Birth of Maximilien "Max" Conrad, known as the "Flying Grandfather", American record-setting aviator.
  • 1900
    – Birth of Anselm Franz, pioneering Austrian jet engine engineer known for the development of the Jumo 004, the world’s first mass-produced turbojet engine.
  • 1899 – Birth of Leslie Reginald Warren, British WWI flying ace.
  • 1899 – Birth of Maurice Michael Freehill, British WWI flying ace.
  • 1899 – Birth of Pruett Mullens Dennett, British WWI flying ace.
  • 1897 – Birth of Ernest Thomas Morrow, Canadian WWI flying ace.
  • 1897 – Birth of Carlo Francesco "Francis" Lombardi, Italian WWI flying ace, Aircraft and Automobile designer who made post war record breaking flights. He formed the Avia aviation company.
  • 1896 – Birth of Fritz Thiede, German WWI flying ace, Pilot of Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich who also served in WWII.
  • 1893 – Birth of Duerson "Dewey" Knight, American WWI flying ace.
  • 1893 – Birth of Trevor Durrant, British WWI flying ace.

References

  1. ^ "Incident: Cargolux B744 at Luxemburg on January 21st 2010, touched van on runway during landing". Aviation Herald. Retrieved 23 January 2010.

January 22

  • 2013 – An American unmanned aerial vehicle attacks a ground vehicle in Yemen's Al Jawf Governorate, killing three suspected al-Qaeda members.[1]
  • 2013 – The United States announces that the United States Air Force has begun airlifting French military personnel and materiel into Mali, having made five flights thus far.[2]
  • 2011 – Launch of Kounotori 2, or HTV-2, second Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle to resupply the International Space Station (ISS).
  • Chengdu F-7
    fighter crashed while attempting to land at Yangon airport, killing its pilot.
  • 2008 – A Pakistan Air Force Cessna T-37 Tweet trainer faced mechanical failure while in first solo flight of Pilot Officer Raja Jahanzeb flying over Topi, Pakistan. Declining ejection orders to prevent loss of life on the ground he chose to crash land the plane on a campus road of GIK Institute merely avoiding faculty buildings and blew up into pieces on crashing. The crash killed the pilot and a gardener. Raja Jahanzeb was posthumously awarded Tamgha-e-Basalat (Medal of Good Conduct).
  • Boeing 737-600
  • 1998 – Launch: Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-89 at 9:48:15 pm EST. Mission highlights: Shuttle-Mir docking.
  • 1992 – Launch: Space Shuttle Discovery STS-42 at 14:52:33 UTC. Mission highlights: Spacelab mission, Dr. Roberta Bondar becomes the first Canadian woman in space.
  • 1991 – In the Gulf War, Iraqi antiaircraft artillery downs a Royal Air Force Tornado ground-attack aircraft and the U. S. Army loses an attack helicopter to non-combat causes. Four U. S. Navy A-6E Intruders disable an Iraqi Navy T43 class minesweeper.
  • 1987 – The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Michelob Light Eagle, piloted by Glenn Tremml, sets a world closed circuit distance record for human-powered aircraft of 58 km (36 miles).
  • Mikhail Mikhaylovich Gromov
    , famous Russian aviator.
  • Kano International Airport
    . 176 passengers and crew perished in the crash. It is the worst aviation disaster to ever take place in Nigeria.
  • 1971 – A US Navy P-3 Orion sets a distance record of 7,010 miles (11,282 km) for an aircraft in its class.
  • 1971 January 22 Surgut Aeroflot Antonov An-12 crash
    , an An-12 crashes due to icing while on approach to Surgut International Airport; all 14 on board are killed. This was the first of the two nearly identical accidents 9 days apart.
  • 1970 – The last CF Sabre flight 23102. It was ferried Canadair-Trenton by pilot Bob Ayers.
  • 1969 – The U. S. 9th Marine Regiment begins Operation Dewey Canyon – an operation dependent completely on helicopters – in South Vietnam's Da Krong Valley. It will conclude on March 19, rated as the 9th Marines' most successful operation of the Vietnam War.
  • 1968 – Apollo 5 lifts off carrying the first Lunar module into space with a Saturn IB rocket.
  • 1964 – In its first public violation of the 1959 requirement for all aircraft operating from the aircraft carrier Minas Gerais to belong to the Brazilian Air Force, the Brazilian Navy steams Minas Gerais into Guanabara Bay at Rio de Janeiro with four navy T-28 Trojan trainers on her flight deck.
  • Lockheed F-104B-10-LO Starfighter
    , 57‑1306, c/n 283-5019, of the 319th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Air Defense Command, Homestead Air Force Base, Florida, crashes at ~1330 hrs. on Santa Rosa Island, ~one mile E of Fort Walton Beach, Florida, shortly after departure from Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, to return to Homestead. The pilot, Capt. Lucius O. Evans, ejects safely just before the fighter impacts in sand dunes just short of the Coronado Motor Hotel, parachuting into the Choctawhatchee Bay. He is then transported to the Eglin base hospital by Assistant Police Chief Jack McSwain, where he is reported to have sustained no injuries. Over sixty occupants at the hotel are not injured although flaming wreckage sprays an area close to the business. Eyewitness Andrew Christiansen, of Chester, Connecticut, reported that the aircraft was on fire as it descended and observed Capt. Evans' ejection from the Starfighter. A secondary explosion after the impact further scatters the burning wreckage.
  • 1955 – Birth of Thomas David Jones, USAF pilot and NASA astronaut.
  • de Havilland Comet 1
    became the first turbojet-powered civil airliner to be awarded a certificate of airworthiness. Entered Service with BOAC.
  • 1952 – American Airlines Flight 6780, a Convair CV-240 crashes on approach to Newark, New Jersey into dwellings in Elizabeth, New Jersey, killing 30 and leading to the Doolittle Commission recommendation for laws coordinating urban zoning to keep airport approach paths clear.
  • 1949 – Death of Frederick Robert Gordon McCal, Canadian WWI fighter ace, Post war stunt flyer who founded McCall Aero Corp. Ltd and Great Western Airway, and who returned in RCAF service for WWII.
  • 1948 – First flight of the Short Sealand, a British light, twin engined commercial amphibian aircraft for 5–7 passengers, designed for the general overseas market in territories with suitable water access and/or runways.
  • 1945 – U. S. Army Air Forces aircraft begin a heavy bombing campaign against Japanese forces on Corregidor. By the time U. S. ground forces land on Corregidor on February 15–16, they will drop over 3,200 tons (2,903,021 kg) of bombs on the island.
  • 1945 – Task Force 38 aircraft conduct an early morning night strike against Formosa, sinking a large tanker in exchange for the loss of three U. S. aircraft, then fly 682 sorties during daylight hours to strike and conduct photographic reconnaissance missions against Okinawa, the Sakishima Gunto, Ie Shima, and Amami O Shima, destroying 28 Japanese aircraft, all on the ground. Task Force 38 then retires to its base at Ulithi Atoll. During January 1945, its aircraft have destroyed 300,000 tons of Japanese shipping and claimed 615 Japanese planes destroyed in exchange for the loss of 201 U. S. carrier aircraft.
  • Operation Shingle
    , Allied forces land at Anzio and Nettuno, Italy. Allied air forces fly 1,200 sorties in support of the landings.
  • 1943 – Death of Edmond Eugene Henri Caillaux, French WWI flying ace.
  • 1936 – Italian aircraft play a decisive role in the first Battle of Tembien, dropping mustard gas to defeat a promising offensive by Ethiopian forces.
  • 1931 – First flight of the Bristol Type 118, a British general-purpose military aircraft, a two-seat biplane prototype for overseas markets.
  • 1926 – Spanish Dornier Do J Wal flying boat 'Plus Ultra' takes off from Palos de la Frontera, in Huelva, Spain, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the first Trans-Atlantic flight between Spain and South America.
  • 1919 – Death of Carrick Stewart Paul, New Zealand WWI flying ace, drowned at sea while on the voyage home to New Zealand.
  • 1919 – The sole Blériot Bl-73, French 3 seat, 4 engine biplane bomber prototype, broke in the air.
  • 1914 – Death of Charles Keeney Hamilton, early American aviator.
  • 1907 – Douglas Corrigan, American pilot, is born (d. 1995). Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan was an American aviator born in Galveston, Texas. 1938, after a transcontinental flight from Long Beach, California, to New York, he flew from Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York, to Ireland, even though he was supposed to be returning to Long Beach. He claimed that his unauthorized flight was due to a navigational error, caused by heavy cloud cover that obscured landmarks and low-light conditions, causing him to misread his compass.
  • 1891 – Birth of Bruno Loerzer, German WWI flying ace and high-ranking officer in WWII.
  • 1889 – Birth of Harry George Hawker MBE, AFC, Australian aviation pioneer and co-founder of Hawker Aircraft.
  • 1887 – Birth of Elmer "Archie" Fowler Stone, US naval aviator and a Commander in the US Coast Guard. He was a pilot on the first successful transatlantic flight on a Curtiss NC-4.

References

  1. ^ Al-Haj, Ahmed, "U.S. Drone Strike Kills 3 Militants in Yemen", Associated Press, January 22, 2013, 14:53:15 EST,
  2. ^ Londoño, Ernesto, and Anne Gearan, "Mali: U.S. Begins Airlifts to Aid French Mission", The Washington Post, January 23, 2013, p. A6.
  3. ^ Anonymous, "Planes Sent to Evacuate Russians From Syria", Aljazeera, 22 January 2013, 10:07
  4. ^ Anonymous, "Russia's Lavrov Says Beirut Flights Not Syria Evacuation", BBC News, January 23, 2013, 07:55 ET.
  5. ^ Anonymous, "Russians Evacuated From Syria Arrive Home", Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, January 24, 2013.

January 23

  • Al-Masna`Ah, Yemen, killing six Islamic militants, including two senior al-Qaeda commanders.[1]
  • 2010 – A United States Navy Beechcraft T-34C Turbo-Mentor, an upgraded version of the T-34 Mentor, crash-landed in Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans. One pilot was rescued and the other was missing. The plane, on a routine nighttime instrument training mission, crashed about 1845 hrs. and was 1-nautical-mile (1.9 km) north of Lakefront Airport in New Orleans on an apparent approach to land. Coast Guard teams rescued the student pilot about 9 p.m. with mild hypothermia and moderate injuries from the 57 degree water. The pilot, Lt. Clinton Wermers, 33, from Mitchell, South Dakota, was presumed dead. He had been assigned to Naval Air Station Whiting Field since March 2007. A memorial service was held for Lt. Wermers on 1 February at Whiting Field.
  • crashes
    : A Polish military airplane EADS CASA C-295, '019', c/n S-043, crashed in forested area near Polish city Miroslawiec killing all 20 people aboard - 16 Polish Air Force officers (incl. one general, Gen. Andrzej Andrzejewski, who survived an ejection from a Su-22M-4K on 18 August 2003, and six colonels) and 4 crew.
  • 2007 – A Blackwater USA MD 530F helicopter is shot down by hostile fire in Baghdad. All of the 5 man crew are killed in the incident, likely executed after surviving the crash. The remaining survivor was also killed under unclear circumstances, when another Blackwater helicopter descended to the crash site.[2][3]
  • 2004 – ESA announced the discovery of water ice in the South Polar ice cap, using data taken on January 18 with the OMEGA instrument of Mars Express.
  • 2004 – An OH-58D Kiowa (93-0950) from 3–17 Cavalry Regiment crashes just after take-off outside Mosul, killing both pilots.
  • 2003 – The final communication is made between Earth and Pioneer 10, a spacecraft intended to fly past Jupiter. It was launched in 1972, and its last trajectory would have the craft the first artificial object to leave the solar system.
  • 2001 – Yemenia Flight 448, a Boeing 727, is hijacked 15 minutes after takeoff from Sana'a International Airport; the crew makes an emergency landing at Djibouti; the hijacker is subdued with no casualties to the 101 on board.
  • 1998 – First flight of the AEA Explorer (sometimes called the Explorer Explorer), an Australian large single-engine utility aircraft.
  • Indian Airlines
    B737 crashes at Aurangabad, 61 die
  • 1991 – Iraqi antiaircraft fire downs a U. S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon over Kuwait, and a United States Marine Corps AV-8 B Harrier II and a U. S. Army attack helicopter are lost to non-combat causes. U. S. Navy A-6E Intruders attack Iraqi ships, disabling a tanker, sinking a Winchester-class hovercraft refueling from the tanker, and sinking a Zhuk-class patrol boat.
  • 1990 – Mid-air collision between two Blue Angels McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18 aircraft during a practice session at El Centro. One airplane, Angel Number 2, BuNo 161524, piloted by Capt. Chase Moseley (ejected) was destroyed and the other, Angel Number 1, badly damaged but managed to land safely. Both pilots survived unharmed.
  • 1982 – World Airways Flight 30, a McDonnell-Douglas DC-10, overshoots the runway at Boston, Massachusetts; two passengers were reported missing.
  • 1979 – Aeronautica Militare Italiana, Italian Air Force Lockheed C-130H Hercules MM62000, '46-14', c/n 4497, of the 46 Aerobrigata, jumped chocks during engine run-up, hit tree, written-off. Parts used to support c/n 4491, MM61995 damaged in hard landing, Pisa, January 1999. Hull at Milan-Malpensa, Italy, December 1979, 1989.
  • 1972 – The United States suspects that SA-3 Goa surface-to-air missiles have become operational in North Vietnam.
  • 1970 – Launch of ITOS-1, NASA operational sun-synchronous meteorological spacecraft.
  • 1961 – Death of Redford Henry “Red” Mulock, first Canadian WWI flying ace and the first in the RNAS, High ranking RCAF post WWI before joining Canadian Airways.
  • 1960 – Birth of Patrick de Gayardon, French skydiver, skysurfer and BASE jumper.
  • 1957 – First Flight of the Nord 1500-02 Griffon II, 2nd experimental ramjet-powered fighter aircraft, evolution of the Griffon I.
  • 1953 – First peacetime award of DFC to member of the RCAF granted to F/L Ernie Glover for his Korean fighter exploits (3 Migs destroyed, 2 damaged).
  • Douglas F4D-1 (Skyray)
  • 1951 – Birth of Chesley Burnett “Sully” Sullenberger III, American airliner pilot, safety expert, and accident investigator, famous for having ditched an Airbus A320-214 in the Hudson River off Manhattan, New York City, saving the lives of all 155 people on the aircraft.
  • 1949 – Birth of Robert Donald Cabana, USMC test pilot and NASA astronaut.
  • 1946 – Death of Heinrich Bongartz Pour le Merite, Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, Iron Cross, German WWI fighter ace. He also served as a night fighter commander in WWII.
  • 1944 – Off the Anzio beachhead, a raid by 55 German aircraft sinks the British destroyer HMS Janus with a torpedo and damages the destroyer HMS Jervis with a Fritz X radio-guided bomb.
  • 1943 – The pilot of a Japanese Nakajima A6 M2-N (Allied reporting name “Rufe”) floatplane fighter discovers that American forces have occupied Amchitka. Japanese aircraft from Kiska begin frequent raids against Amchitka that day and continue them for almost four weeks.
  • Douglas DB-7
    .
  • 1930 – Birth of William Reid Pogue, USAF test pilot and NASA Astronaut.
  • 1929 – Clennell Haggerston “Punch” Dickins delivered the first airmail to the Northwest Territories. A flight into the high Arctic, travelling through Fort Simpson, Northwest Territories, and into Aklavik on the Arctic Circle. A feat challenged further by the fact his compass did not work because of its proximity to the magnetic pole, forcing him to fly by sight.--Bikeal (talk) 19:50, 29 October 2012 (UTC)
  • 1925 – First flight of the Blériot 118, Twin seat twin engine high wing monoplane amphibian Fighter/trainer prototype.
  • 1918 – First American Expeditionary Force (AEF) balloon ascent is made at the Balloon School at Cuperly in France.
  • 1917 – Death of Hans Imelmann, German WWI flying ace, killed when gun fire from a B. E.2c struck his fuel tank Near Miraumont.
  • 1916 – Birth of Siegfried Schnell, German WWII flying ace.
  • 1911 – First flight of the Siemens-Schuckert I, German dirigible.
  • 1909 – First flight of the Blériot XI, light and sleek monoplane constructed of oak and poplar. The flying surfaces were covered with cloth. One of the most successful monoplanes designed and built before WWI.
  • 1899 – Birth of George Pearson Glen Kidston, British record-breaking aviator and motor racing driver.
  • 1898 – Birth of Ulrich Neckel, German WWI fighter ace.
  • 1897 – Birth of Ernst Zindel, German Engineer and designer of the Junkers Ju-52.
  • 1894 – Birth of Eric Landon Simonson, Australian WWI flying ace.

References

  1. ^ Almasmari, Hakim, "Drone Strike Kills Six Suspected Militants in Yemen," CNN, January 24, 2013, 6:40 a.m. EST,
  2. ^ "5 die in private U.S. helicopter crash in Iraq". CBC news. 2007-01-23. Retrieved 2007-05-31.
  3. ^ "4 of 5 Blackwater employees shot after crash; fighting flares in Baghdad". MSNBC. 2007-01-24. Retrieved 2007-05-31.

January 24

  • 2011 – The 2011 Domodedovo Airport bombing was a suicide attack in the international arrival hall of Moscow’s busiest airport, Domodedovo Airport. The bombing killed at least 37 people and injured some 173, including 115 who had to be hospitalised.
  • London Heathrow Airport when it was diverted due to an unruly passenger. The passenger was arrested after the aircraft had landed.[3]
  • McDonnell-Douglas F-18 Hornet
    crashed in the south of the country. The fighter crashed in Juuapajoki, north of the southern city of Tampere at about 11:50 local time. The two pilots, who were on a routine training flight, ejected safely and were uninjured.
  • 2007 – Air West Flight 612 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by Air West between Khartoum, Sudan and Al-Fashir. With 103 people on board, the flight, operated by a Boeing 737, was hijacked shortly after takeoff by a male individual. The plane landed safely at N’Djamena, Chad, where the hijacker surrendered.
  • Aérospatiale SA.342L Gazelle
    military helicopters, EE-343 and EE-360, of Grupo Aéreo 43, collide near Manta Air Base at 2019 hrs. during night training.
  • Department of Homeland Security
    created.
  • 2003 – Death of Evelyn "Bobbi" Trout, American early aviator, first Woman to set the first non-refueling endurance record for women.
  • 1991 – Iraqi ground fire shoots down another RAF Tornado, over Basrah, Iraq. Flying an F-15 C Eagle, Royal Saudi Air Force Captain Ayedh al-Shamrani, using AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, shoots down two Iraqi Air Force Mirage F1 jets as they approach British Royal Navy ships in the Persian Gulf. U. S. Navy aircraft attack Iraqi Navy ships; A-6 Es sink a Zhuk-class patrol boat and Spasilac-class minelayer and cause a minesweeper taking evasive action to strike an Iraqi mine and sink, and a force of A-6 Es and F/A-18 Hornets hit four ships in an attack on Umm Qasr naval base. U. S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Colin Powell announces that during the first week of air attacks on Iraq, Coalition air forces have flown more than 10,000 sorties, knocked out 61 of Iraq’s 66 airfields, and shot down 19 Iraqi aircraft in air-to-air-combat, losing 16 of their own number – All to ground fire.
  • 1991 – CF-18's flew their first mission over Iraq.
  • 1991 – LTV A-7E Corsair II, BuNo 158830, 'AC 403', of VA-72 has the dubious distinction of being the last of the type in US Navy service to need a barricade landing aboard a carrier when the nose gear was damaged on catapult launch from the CV67 USS John F. Kennedy, at start of mission 12.41 against a target in western Iraq, losing a tire of the front mount on his cat shot. Pilot, Lt. Tom Dostie succeeds in landing in the barricade also known as the net or 5th wire. Since the A-7 type was about to be retired, airframe is stripped for parts and buried at sea 25 January with full military honors, but refuses to sink due to fuel bags in the wings were not salvageable and not removed. Marines aboard CV67 JFK used it for target practice (Video of Lt. Dostie's catching the net as well as the Marines using it for target practice can be seen on linked video. At 17:00 mins into video it shows Lt. Dostie landing in the net and then later on in the video compilation it shows the Marines shooting at and sinking 403 with 50 cals after it's craned off the port side.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNOyd-_W_uU
  • 1990 – Launch of The Hiten Spacecraft, English name 'Celestial Maiden' and known before launch as MUSES-A (Mu Space Engineering Spacecraft A), Japanese first lunar probe.
  • 1986 – Voyager 2, NASA space probe, passes within 81,500 km (50,600 mi) of Uranus.
  • 1986 – The American spacecraft Voyager 2 makes its closest approach to Uranus, passing within 50,600 miles.
  • 1985 – Launch: Space Shuttle Discovery STS-51-C at 9:50:00 UTC. Mission highlights: First classified Department of Defense (DoD) mission; Magnum satellite deployment.
  • 1978 – Soviet satellite Kosmos 954, with a nuclear reactor on board, burns up in Earth’s atmosphere, scattering radioactive debris over Canada’s Northwest Territories. Only 1% is recovered.
  • 1977 – Death of Andrew Henry Humphrey GCB, OBE, DFC, AFC, RAF, British WWII pilot and Marshal of the Royal Air Force, who set some records with the English Electric Canberrea B2 ‘Aries IV’.
  • 1974 – Togolese Air Force Douglas C-47 Skytrain, 5V-MAG, crashes during approach near the village of Sarakawa, northern Togo, killing several high-ranking military personnel. The President of Togo, Gnassingbé Eyadéma (1935–2005) is the sole survivor.[360]
  • 1971 – Death of Ferdinand von Hiddessen, German WWI pilot and politician, first German to bomb Paris in WWI.
  • Operation White Wing
    , a helicopter and ground assault by the U. S. Army's First Cavalry Division (Airmobile) and South Vietnamese Army and South Korean Army units, begins against North Vietnamese Army forces in Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam. The operation concludes on March 6.
  • 1966 – First flight of the Learjet 24, an American six to eight seat (two crew and four to six passengers) twin-engined, high speed business jet.
  • Westover Air Force Base
    , Massachusetts, lost its vertical stabilizer due to buffeting during low-level flight, and crashed on the west side of Elephant Mountain near Greenville, Maine. Of the nine crewmen aboard, two survived the crash.
  • 1961 – First flight of the Convair 990 Coronado, an American narrowbody jet airliner, “stretched” version of their earlier Convair 880.
  • Boeing B-52G Stratofortress
    carrying two Mark 39 thermonuclear bombs breaks up in mid-air over Greensboro, North Carolina, and crashes, killing three of its eight-man crew. The bombs do not arm themselves and are recovered.
  • 1957 – Death of Georg Weiner, German WWI flying ace, author of children’s books, probably best remembered for the creation of "Biggles", the fictional WWI hero. He also was a High-ranking officer in WWII.
  • 1952 – Birth of William Francis Readdy, USN Test pilot and NASA Astronaut.
  • March AFB
    , California. The abandoned SA-16 crashes into Towne Summit mountain ridge of the Panamint Range W of Stovepipe Wells with starboard engine still running. Wreckage is still there.
  • 1950 – First flight of the Nord 1601, a French aerodynamic research aircraft designed to investigate the aerodynamics of swept wings and related high-lift devices.
  • 1944 – German raids of 15, 43, and 52 aircraft strike Allied ships off Anzio, damaging an American destroyer and minesweeper and sinking a British hospital ship.
  • 1943 – (24-25) German aircraft attack Convoy JW-52 while it is en route the Kola Inlet in the Soviet Union via the Barents Sea but cause no damage.
  • 1942 – The Japanese aircraft carriers Hiryū and Sōryū begin strikes on Ambon.
  • Dessau, Germany
    . Wilhelm ‘Willy’ Neuenhofen, German WWI fighter ace, Junker’s Chief test pilot, was killed
  • 1932 – French pilots Paul Codos and Henri Robida land in Paris after flying from Hanoi in French Indochina in a record time of 3 days 4 hours.
  • 1929 – First flight of the Blériot 111, a French single engine, low wing monoplane transport prototype.
  • 1925 – Total eclipse of the sun photographed near Toronto from Avro 504 flown by F/L G. E. Brookes and F/O A. L. Moore. Photos published in Toronto Daily Star.
  • 1920 – First aircraft flight across the Sahara Desert is flown by French Joseph Vuillemin of the Aéronautique Militaire.
  • 1920 – First Canadian private pilot’s license was issued to James Stanley Scott, Ottawa, Ontario.
  • 1919 – Army Air Service pilot first Lt. Temple M. Joyce makes 300 consecutive loops in a Morane fighter at Issoudun, France.
  • 1919 – Death of Cecil Frederick King, British WWI fighter ace, killed in a midair collision while serving as a combat instructor.
  • 1918 – Death of Harry Gosford Reeves, British WWI fighter ace, killed in a crash while performing an engine test on a Nieuport 27.
  • 1917 – Death of Leopold Rudolf Reimann, German WWI flying ace, killed in a flying accident at Jastaschule near Valenciennes when the wings of his Albatros D.III collapsed.
  • 1913 – Death of Charles de Nié Port (Nieuport), French aircraft designer and pilot, co-founder with his brother Edouard of the eponymous Nieuport aircraft manufacturing company, Société Anonyme Des Établissements Nieuport in a flying accident at Étampes in France, when their wing-warping device failed.
  • 1913 – Swiss pilot Oskar Bider reaches 11,483 feet when he flies over the Pyrénées from Pau to Madrid in his Blériot XI monoplane.
  • 1900
    – Birth of Lowell R. Bayles, American air racer.
  • Hoyt Sanford Vandenberg
    , American pilot, High-ranking officer in WWII, U. S. Air Force general, second Chief of Staff and second Director of Central Intelligence.
  • 1897 – Birth of Malcolm Plaw MacLeod, Canadian WWI flying ace who also served during WWII.
  • 1897 – Birth of Eric Bourne Coulter Betts, Irish WWI flying ace.
  • 1896 – Birth of George Owen Johnson, Canadian WWI flying ace, raid pilot who remained in the RCAF until the end of WWII.
  • 1895 – Birth of Richard Michael Trevethan, American born British WWI flying ace.
  • 1895 – Birth of Gilbert Ware Murlis Green, British WWI flying ace who served on many theaters, commanded two of the original night fighter squadrons and shot down the first German airplane at night over Britain.
  • 1895 – Birth of Marcel Joseph Maurice Nogues, French WWI fighter ace and balloon buster.
  • 1893 – Birth of Marcel Marc Dhôme, French WWI flying ace, racing car driver, who also served in WWII and during the Korean war.
  • 1887 – Birth of Paul Wenzel, German WWI flying ace.

References

  1. ^ Surk, Barbara, "Syrian Jets Bomb Rebel-Held Areas Near Damascus," Associated Press, January 24, 2013.
  2. ^ Hradecky, Simon. "Incident: Etihad A346 near London on Jan 24th 2011, unruly passenger prompts fighter escort". Aviation Herald. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  3. ^ "Man arrested at Stansted after aircraft incident". BBC News. 24 January 2011. Archived from the original on 25 January 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2011.

January 25

  • 2013 – (Overnight) Airborne French special forces join ground forces in capturing a key bridge and airport at Gao, Mali, from Islamist forces.[1][2]
  • 2009 – The operating licence of Swedish airline Nordic Airways is suspended, the Swedish Transport Agency stating that the airline is "no longer able to fulfill its commitments and duties to its passengers."[3]
  • 2007 – A UH-60 Black Hawk shot down by gunfire near Hit. All aboard survive the incident.
  • 2004 – Opportunity, MER-B (Mars Exploration Rover – B), American robotic rover lands on the planet Mars.
  • Tigris River
    during a rescue mission, after hitting electrical wires, killing both pilots.
  • 2001 – A Douglas DC-3 crashes near Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela killing 24.
  • 2001 – RUTACA Airlines Flight 225, operated by Douglas DC-3 C YV-224-C, crashed at Ciudad Bolívar killing all 24 on board plus one person on the ground.
  • 1994 – Launch of Clementine, NASA space probe to test sensors and spacecraft components under extended exposure to the space environment and to make scientific observations of the Moon and the near-Earth asteroid 1620 Geographos.
  • Avianca Flight 52
    , a Boeing 707, runs out of fuel and crashes while attempting to land at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Of the 158 people on board, 85 survive.
  • 1979 – Roll-out at Burbank of the first CP-140 Aurora maritime patrol aircraft.
  • 1975 – First flight of the Birdman TL-1, athe lightest piloted powered aircraft.
  • 1972 – Death of Erhard Milch, German Field Marshal who oversaw the development of the Luftwaffe as part of the re-armament of Germany following WWI.
  • 1967 – Death of Eric John Stephens, Australian WWI flying ace and early Qantas airliner pilot.
  • 1966 – Lockheed SR-71A, 61-7952, Article 2003, crashes near Tucumcari, New Mexico during test flight out of Edwards Air Force Base, California. Pilot Bill Weaver survives, but RSO Jim Zwayer KWF.
  • 1965 – Death of Sumner Sewall, American WWI fighter ace, Airline executive and politician.
  • 1964 – A Thor Agena rocket launched Echo 2, American metalized balloon satellite acting as a passive reflector of microwave signals.
  • 1959 – First domestic airline to fly its own jets is American Airlines Flying Boeing 707 s.
  • 1957 – The first launch attempt of an Douglas XSM-75 Thor IRBM, 56-6751, vehicle number 101, delivered in October: 1956, fails. As vehicle lifts off from Pad LC-17, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, it reaches an apogee of 6 inches (150 mm) whereupon contamination destroys a LOX supply valve causing the engine to lose thrust. The Thor slides backwards through the launch ring and explodes on contact with the thrust deflector. Vehicle destroyed by low-order detonation. Serious pad damage occurs.[citation needed]
  • 1956 – Death of Otto Könnecke, German WWI flying ace, one of the founding pilots of Deutsche Luft Hansa and who had a great involvement in the development of the new Luftwaffe after WWI.
  • 1952 – Death of Paul Joseph “Ginty” McGinness, Australian WWI flying ace who also served the RAAF during WWII, co-founder of Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services (QANTAS).
  • 1947 – In the 1947 Croydon Dakota accident, a Spencer Airways Douglas C-47 A fails to get airborne at Croydon Airport, United Kingdom and crashes into a parked ČSA aircraft; 12 of the 22 on board are killed.
  • 1934 – The Wright Bellanca WB-2 ‘Columbia’ rechristened ‘Maple leaf’ is destroyed in a hangar fire at the Bellanca factory in Newcastle, Delaware.
  • 1933 – Mr. H. J. Penrose accompanied by Air Commodore P. F. M. Fellowes, set out from Westland aerodrome to perform a test climb which would prove that Everest could be cleared by a comfortable margin. They returned after an absence of an hour and forty minutes, having taken the Westland PV.3 to a height of over 10500 m, where the temperature was less than -60 °C.
  • 1921 – Committee on Law of Aviation of the American Bar Association files an initial report on the necessity of aerial legislation.
  • 1918 – Second Lieutenant Carl Mather is killed in an aircraft collision at Ellington Field, Texas. The future Mather Air Force Base, later Sacramento Mather Airport, at Rancho Cordova, California, will be named for him.
  • 1895 – Birth of Theophile Henri Condemine, French WWI balloon buster and WWII high-ranking officer.
  • 1894 – Birth of Alfred Michael Koch, Candian WWI flying ace.
  • 1889 – Birth of Giuseppe ‘Jean’ Cei, Italian aviation pioneer.
  • 1886 – Birth of Dean Ivan Lamb, American pilot, hired as a mercenary during the Mexican Revolution who made that was quite possibly the first dogfight in history (pilots firing pistols at each other) against Phil Rader. He also helped to establish the Honduran Air Force.

References

  1. ^ Anonymous, "Mali: French-Led Troops Retake Gao From Islamists," The Telegraph, January 26, 2013, 6;46 p.m. GMT
  2. ^ Larson, Krista, "French, Mali Forces Head Toward Timbuktu," Associated Press, January 27, 2013, 2:16 p.m.
  3. ^ "Sweden pulls Nordic Airways' license". Moldova.org. Retrieved 2 November 2009.

January 26

  • 2013 – The United States announces that U.S. Air Force tankers will provide aerial refueling support to French Air Force aircraft operating over Mali.[1]
  • 2010 – A Nigerian Navy AgustaWestland AW109E helicopter crashed in south Nigeria. The accident happened at about 01:30 p.m. (1330 GMT) when the helicopter was returning from a routine patrol of Port-Harcourt area in the Niger-Delta region. Four people were killed.
  • 2010 – First flight of the Kawasaki C-2 (previously C-X), a Japanese military transport aircraft.
  • 1995 – An explosion during the launch of a communications satellite at the Xichang Space Centre in China destroys both the Long March 2E Booster and Hughes Apstar 2 satellite.
  • 1991 – U. S. Air Force F-15 C Eagles of the 33rd Tactical Fighter Wing shoot down three Iraqi MiG-23 s using AIM-7 Sparrow missiles. U. S. Navy A-6 Es attack Kuwait Harbor, hitting an Iraqi patrol boat, and elsewhere hit an Iraqi TNC-45 fast attack boat, leaving both boats burning. The U. S. Navy loses an F/A-18 C Hornet to non-combat causes.
  • 1990 – The first of two new Air Force Ones, VIP variants of the Boeing 747-200, for the use of the United States President and his staff, are delivered.
  • 1984 – The U. S. Army accepts the first production model of the Hughes/McDonnell Douglas AH-64 A.
  • 1978 – Entered Service: Westland Lynx with No. 702 Squadron FAA.
  • 1976 – Death of Forster Herbert Martin Maynard, New Zealand WWI flying ace, Air Officer Commanding of Malta during the early part of WWII (6 Gloster Gladiators of which 2 were still in crates marked “Boxed Spares – Property of the Royal Navy”).
  • Turkish Airlines Fokker F28 crashes
    after takeoff from Izmir Cumaovasi Airport due to wing icing; of the 73 on board, only 7 survive.
  • 1972 – JAT Flight 367, a Douglas DC-9, suffers a bomb explosion while en route from Copenhagen to Zagreb; twenty-seven of twenty-eight on board are killed; Vesna Vulović, the only survivor, is entered in the Guinness Book of World Records for surviving the longest fall without a parachute, over ten thousand meters (33,000 ft).
  • 1969 – Death of Austin Lloyd Fleming, Canadian WWI flying ace who also served in WWII.
  • 1968 – Death of Merrill Church Meigs, American newspaper publisher and aviation promoter.
  • 1967 – First flight of the Scheutzow Bee, an American two-seat utility helicopter, developed with the FLEXIHUB. In this system, the two main rotor blades were mounted in rubber bushes, reducing vibration and requiring no lubrication.
  • 1965 – President Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco of Brazil decides that the Brazilian Air Force henceforth will control all Brazilian fixed-wing military aircraft, including those aboard the aircraft carrier Minas Gerais, and that the Brazilian Navy will control all seagoing rotary-wing aircraft. Key Brazilian naval personnel resign in protest.
  • 1962 – Death of Herbert Howard Snowden Fowler, Canadian WWI flying ace.
  • 1962 – NASA launches the Ranger 3 moon probe aboard an Atlas-Agena rocket. After a series of malfunctions, the spacecraft would miss the moon by 22,000 miles (35,400 km).
  • 1961 – First flight of the Fiat 7002, an Italian general-purpose medium-capacity prototype helicopter.
  • 1959 – Tenth of 13 North American X-10s, GM-52-3, c/n 10, on Navaho X-10 Drone BOMARC target mission 3, out of Cape Canaveral, Florida. The X-10 is launched with only one electrical generator due to a lack of any remaining spares. As it headed out over the ocean, that generator fails. It loses all electrical power, and crashes into the ocean 105 km downrange. This is the final X-10 mission, the Navaho program having been canceled on 13 July 1957.
  • 1958 – Entered Service: Lockheed F-104 Starfighter with the United States Air Force's 83rd Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Hamilton Air Force Base, California.
  • 1954 – A RAF Boeing Washington B.1, WF495, of 149 Squadron, disappears during the night en route from Prestwick to Laagens in the Azores. Aircraft is believed to have come down in Morecambe Bay but after an intensive search lasting several days no trace is ever found. Aircraft was on return flight back to USAF. Last message from pilot mentioned icing and it is thought this condition led to loss of control. Seven crew lost. Another source gives date as 27 January.
  • 1950 – 1950 Douglas C-54D-1-DC disappearance: AA Douglas C-54D-1-DC Skymaster, 42-72469, c/n 10574, of the Second Strategic Support Squadron, Strategic Air Command. out of Biggs AFB, Texas, departs Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, for Great Falls Air Force Base, Montana, with a crew of 8 and 36 passengers (34 service personnel and 2 civilians). Two hours into a planned eight-and-a-half hour flight, at 1709 hrs. it makes its last contact by radio and has been missing since. Despite a massive air and ground search at the time and repeated searches since 1950, as of 19 June 2011 no trace of the aircraft or its occupants has been found, nor has the cause of the aircraft's disappearance been determined.
  • 1947 – A KLM Douglas DC-3 Dakota crashes after take-off from Copenhagen, killing all 22 on board, including Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten of Sweden.
  • 1945 – First flight of the McDonnell FH Phantom, is the first jet aircraft to operate from a U. S. Navy aircraft carrier.
  • 1945 – First flight of the Miles Aerovan, a British twin engine short-range low-cost transport.
  • 1945 – The British aircraft carriers HMS Ameer and HMS Shah support the landings of the Royal Marines on Cheduba Island off the coast of Burma.
  • Focke Wulf Fw 190s
    damages a tank landing ship, seven patrol craft, two merchant ships, and a rescue tug.
  • 1944 – After Japanese fighters establish a pattern during the month of attacking American bombers as they retire from strikes on Maloelap, a squadron of U. S. Army Air Forces P-40 Warhawk fighters intercepts them for the first time, shooting down six Japanese aircraft.
  • 1943 – Three U. S. Army Air Forces Consolidated B-24 Liberators of the Seventh Air Force make the 704-nautical mile (1,304-km) flight from Funafuti to bomb Tarawa Atoll, where they discover a new Japanese airfield on the island of Betio.
  • Pan American Airways
    .
  • 1939 – In the Spanish Civil War, Barcelona surrenders to Nationalist forces. In the days leading up to the surrender, Nationalist aircraft have raided the city continually, especially targeting ships in port to prevent them from saving Republican refugees from capture.
  • 1938 – Spanish Republican Air Force aircraft bomb Seville and Valladolid.
  • 1932 – Death of Edward Anderson 'Eddie' Stinson, early American aviator and aircraft designer, founder of the Stinson Aircraft Company, in the crash of the Stinson-Detroiter he was demonstrating in Jackson Park, Clark Field of Kalamazoo, Michigan.
  • 1929 – The Pratt and Whitney Company announced the formation of a Canadian company, which would start operations in Longueil, Quebec.
  • 1928 – Death of Guido Nardini, Italian WWI flying ace, killed in an accident at Ciampino field when his parachute failed to open.
  • 1916 – Birth of Carlo Faggioni, Italian WWII pilot.
  • 1911 – First practical seaplane is flown. Built and flown by American Glenn Curtiss, the Curtiss Hydro lands and takes off in the waters off San Diego, California.
  • 1896 – Birth of Frank Tremar Sibly Menendez, British WWI flying ace.
  • 1896 – Birth of Charles Ronald Steele, British WWI flying ace, High-ranking officer in WWII and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at RAF Coastal Command post war.
  • 1896 – Birth of József Kiss, WWI flying ace for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, credited with 19 aerial victories. He was the most successful Hungarian ace in the war.
  • 1895 – Birth of Cesare Magistrini, Italian WWI flying ace, commercial pilot, Italian SAS pilot during WWII and pilot of the King of Yemen after WWII.
  • 1892 – Birth of Elizabeth "Bessie" Coleman, American civil aviator. She was the first female pilot of African American descent and first person of African American descent to hold an international pilot license.
  • 1889 – Birth of Alfred Victor Robert Auger, French WWI flying ace.
  • 1887 – Birth of Michal Scipio del Campo, Polish early aviator.

References

  1. ^ Alexander, David, and Phil Stewart, "U.S. to Provide Eerial Refueling For French Offensive in Mali," Reuters, January 26, 2013.
  2. ^ "Four US soldiers killed in Iraq helicopter crash". AFP. 2009-01-26. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  3. ^ Anthony Shadid (2009-01-27). "2 U.S. Copters Crash in N. Iraq". Washington Post Foreign Service. p. A13. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  4. ^ John Lammers (2009-02-27). "Enemy fire caused copter crash that killed Fort Drum soldiers". Associated Press. Retrieved 2010-02-15.
  5. ^ Monte Morin (2009-02-27). "4 U.S. soldiers killed when helicopters crash in Iraq". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-02-15.
  6. ^ "Four U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq crash". CNN.com. 2009-02-26. Retrieved 2010-02-22.
  7. ^ "Deadliest day for U.S. in Iraq war – Weather suspected in chopper crash that killed 31 troops". CNN.com. 2005-01-26. Retrieved 2007-06-08.
  8. ^ "Marine Helicopter Crash Kills 31 in Iraq". Iraqi Freedom Heroes. 2005-01-26. Retrieved 2008-06-07. U.S. Marine helicopter transporting troops crashed Wednesday January 26, 2005, in the desert of the restive Anbar province of western Iraq not far from the Jordanian border, killing 31 people, American military officials said. A senior administration official said there was bad weather at the time.
  9. ^ "Iraq air crash kills 31 US troops". BBC. 2005-01-26. Retrieved 2009-01-30.

January 27

  • 2010 – Death of Lee Andrew Archer Jr. American Fighter aircraft pilot in the African-American WWII unit the Tuskegee Airmen, first African American military aviators in the United States Army Air Corps earning the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
  • 2002 – Boeing’s 737, the world’s most widely use twin jet, becomes the first jetliner in history to amass more than 100 million flying hours. The 737 was launched onto the market 1965.
  • 2002 – Shelkovskaya Mil Mi-8 crash in Chechnya killed 14 people, including senior Russian officers, among them the deputy Interior Minister Mikhail Rudchenko.
  • 2001 – The Oklahoma State University men’s basketball team plane crash occurred when a Beechcraft Super King Air 200, registration N81 PF carrying the Oklahoma State University basketball team, crashed near Strasburg, Colorado. The pilot had become disoriented in a snow storm. The plane was flying from Jefferson County Airport to Stillwater Regional Airport after a game against the Colorado Buffaloes men’s basketball. The plane was carrying two players, as well as the pilot and members of the media. There was a total of 10 fatalities.
  • 1998 – A Myanma Airways Fokker F27 crashed while taking off from Yangon, Myanmar killing 16 of the 45 people on board.
  • 1997 – Death of Cecil Arthur Lewis, British WWI flying ace, Vickers Instructor for Chinese pilots. Last surviving WWI ace, He co-founded the BBC and enjoyed a long career as a writer.
  • 1992 – Death of Harold Edgar Mott, Canadian WWI flying ace.
  • 1991 – Two U. S. Air Force F-15 C Eagles of the 53rd Tactical Fighter Squadron shoot down two Iraqi MiG-23 s and two Iraqi Mirage F1 s 60-100 miles (97-161 km) south of Baghdad using Sparrow and Sidewinder missiles. United States Central Command claims that Iraqi naval losses thus far in the Gulf War total one oil platform, two patrol boats, one tanker, and four unidentified ships presumed sunk and four mine warfare ships, one hovercraft, three patrol boats, and two unidentified vessels confirmed as sunk. Coalition aircraft have inflicted most of the losses.
  • 1989 – Thomas Sopwith, British aviation pioneer, dies (b. 1888). In June 1912 Sopwith with Fred Sigrist and others set up The Sopwith Aviation Company. The company produced key British World War I aircraft, most famously the Sopwith Camel.
  • 1985 – Landed: Space Shuttle Discovery STS-51-C at 21:23:23 UTC. KSC, Runway 15. Mission highlights: First classified Department of Defense (DoD) mission; Magnum satellite deployment.
  • 1983 – Five are killed and eight injured when a USAF Boeing B-52G-90-BW Stratofortress, 57-6507, c/n 464212, of the 319th Bomb Wing, catches fire due to an overheated fuel pump and explodes at 0930 hrs. on the ramp at Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota. The Stratofortress was undergoing routine fuel cell maintenance after flying a training mission the previous night.
  • 1973 – A ceasefire agreement between the United States, North Vietnam, and South Vietnam ends U. S. participation in the Vietnam War. Since January 1962, the United States Armed Forces have lost 3,339 fixed-wing aircraft in Southeast Asia, 2,430 of them in combat. American aircraft have shot down 200 enemy aircraft in exchange for 76 of their own lost in air-to-air combat. The United States has also lost 4,870 helicopters in Southeast Asia, 2,588 of them in combat.
  • 1973 – A U. S. Navy F-4 Phantom II from USS Enterprise (CVA(N)-65) piloted by Lieutenant Commander Harley Hall is shot down over South Vietnam near the Demilitarized Zone. It is the last American fixed-wing aircraft lost in the Vietnam War.
  • 1971 – Death of Norman William Reginald ‘Bill’ Mawle, British WWI flying ace.
  • 1967 – Apollo 1 launchpad fire kills three U.S. astronauts. Apollo 1 is the official name that was later given to the never-flown Apollo/Saturn 204 (AS-204) mission. Its command module, CM-012, was destroyed by fire during a test and training exercise at Pad 34 (Launch Complex 34, Cape Canaveral, then known as Cape Kennedy) atop a Saturn IB rocket. The crew aboard were the astronauts selected for the first crewed Apollo program mission: Command Pilot Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee. Although the ignition source of the fire was never conclusively identified, the deaths were attributed to a wide range of lethal design hazards in the early Apollo command module. Among these were the use of a high-pressure 100 percent-oxygen atmosphere for the test, wiring and plumbing flaws, inflammable materials in the cockpit (such as Velcro), an inward-opening hatch that would not open in this kind of an emergency and the flight suits worn by the astronauts.
  • Fairchild FH-227
  • 1967 – The Outer Space Treaty, outlawing nuclear weapons in space, was signed by the United States, the UK and the USSR.
  • 1953 – A point to point record between London and Mauripur in Karachi starts with Flight Lieutenant L. M. Whittington and Flight Lieutenant J. A. Brown in an English Electric Canberra.
  • 1951 – First test of operation Ranger. For ‘Able’ test, A B-50 drops a 5 Kiloton Bomb over Nevada test site for Testing compression against critical mass.
  • 1947 – United States Army Air Force Silverplate Boeing B-29-36-MO Superfortress, 44-65385, of the 428th Base Unit, Kirtland Army Air Field, New Mexico, for Los Alamos bomb development testing, crashed immediately after take-off from Kirtland on routine maintenance test flight. No specific cause is documented - a fire in one engine and the pilot's failure to compensate for loss of power is believed to have caused the accident. Twelve crew KWF.
  • 1945 – Twentieth Air Force B-29 s based at Calcutta bomb Saigon, French Indochina.
  • 1944 – The Japanese have 150 operational aircraft in the Marshall Islands.
  • 1943 – The USAAF makes its first daylight raid on Germany over Wilhelmshaven. 91 B-17 s and B-24 s attack the U-Boat construction yards.
  • 1943 – (27-28) For the first time, Oboe-equipped British Mosquitos leading the way for a British raid on Düsseldorf drop ground markers rather than sky markers to guide follow-on Pathfinder aircraft, clearly improving British night-bombing accuracy over that experienced before.
  • 1941 – First combined operation between Malta’s reconnaissance and strike aircraft. German vessel Ingo (3,950 tons) is sunk by the Fairey Swordfish of No.830 and No.806 Squadrons Fleet Air Arm.
  • 1939 – First flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, a WWII American Twin-engine, single seat fighter aircraft. It had distinctive twin booms and a single, central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament.
  • 1929 – First flight of the Saunders A.10, a private venture prototype four-gun fighter. single-seat, single-engined biplane.
  • 1928 – First rigid airship to aircraft carrier mooring is achieved when United States Navy (USN) dirigible (steerable airship) ‘Los Angeles’ moors to USS Sagatoga while the latter vessel is at sea.
  • 1928 – Death of Walbanke Ashby Pritt, British WWI flying ace.
  • 1927 – First flight of the Douglas T2D, an American twin engine torpedo bomber contracted by the military, and required to be usable on wheels or floats, and operating from aircraft carriers. first twin-engined aircraft to be operated from an aircraft carrier.
  • 1920 – Death of Louis Honore Martin, French WWI flying ace.
  • 1920 – Birth of Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, Japanese WWII fighter ace.
  • Freiburg
    , Germany.
  • 1912 – Birth of Francis Melvin Rogallo, American aeronautical engineer inventor credited with the invention of the Rogallo wing, or “flexible wing”, a precursor to the modern hang glider and paraglider.
  • 1906 – Death of Stanley Spencer, early English aeronaut, famous for ballooning and parachuting in several countries.
  • 1905 – Death of Paul Haenlein, German engineer and flight pioneer.
  • 1898 – Birth of Charles Roger Lupton, British WWI flying ace.
  • 1897 – Birth of Kurt Wüsthoff, German WWI fighter ace, 2nd youngest winner of Germany’s highest decoration for valor, the Pour le Merite or Blue Max, Aerobatic pilot and flying advertiser.
  • 1897 – Birth of Rudolf Friedrich Otto Windisch, German WWI flying ace.
  • 1895 – Birth of Thomas Rose, DFC, British Flying Ace in WWI.
  • 1894 – Captain B. F. S. Baden-Powel (the brother of the first Chief Boy Scout) makes a kite ascent from Pirbright Army Camp, England in what appears to be the first use of man-carrying kites outside China.

References

  1. ^ "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 17 September 2009.

January 28

  • Sahara Desert.[3]
  • 2008 – A Portuguese Air Force Lockheed Martin F-16B Block 20 MLU Fighting Falcon, 83-1171, crashes in Monte Real, Portugal while performing a test run after going through extensive maintenance. The pilot, Lt. Col. João 'Skipper' Pereira, safely ejects.
  • 2007 – AH-64D Apache from 4th Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division shot down by hostile fire during the Battle of Najaf, killing the two pilots.[4]
  • 2005 – An OH-58 Kiowa 96-0019 from 1–7th Cavalry Regiment crashes in Baghdad after hitting electrical wires, killing the two crewmen.
  • 2002 – TAME Flight 120, a Boeing 727, crashes into a volcano on approach to Tulcán, Ecuador in low-visibility conditions; all 94 on board are killed.
  • 1999 – McDonnell-Douglas F-15C-30-MC Eagle. 82-0020, c/n 834/C251, of the 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron, 53rd Wing, piloted by Joe "Corn" Hruska, has mid-air collision at 35,000 feet over the Gulf of Mexico with McDonnell Douglas F-15C-37-MC Eagle. 84-0011, c/n 0920/C314, of the 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron, 53rd Wing, 80 miles S of Eglin over Eglin water range during a 2 versus 3 Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT). Both pilots eject, pilot of 82-0020 slightly injured. Pilots rescued after 45 minutes in the water by MH-53, call sign COWBOY 22, on instrument check-flight out of Hurlburt Field.[383]
  • 1998 – Andy Nelson and navigator Bertrand Piccard, lift off in the Breitling Orbiter II in an attempt of a round the world flight.
  • 1998 – A Eurocopter Super Puma helicopter operated by Bristow Helicopters lifts a record payload of 2 crew and 41 passengers, more than twice the normal number of passengers, during flood relief operations in Northern Australia.
  • 1993 – Death of James William Pearson, American WWI fighter ace, Believed to be the last American surviving ace of WWI.
  • 1992 – Azerbaijani Mil Mi-8 shoot-down: Azerbaijani transport helicopter Mil Mi-8 was shot down, killing all 44 people on board.
  • 1991 – (28-29) U. S. Navy A-6 Es conduct two days of attacks on Iraqi ships in Bubiyan Channel, at the Umm Qasr naval base, and in Kuwait Harbor.
  • 1991 – Iraqi antiaircraft artillery shoots down a U. S. Marine Corps AV-8 B Harrier II over Faylakah Island, and an U. S. Army attack helicopter is lost to non-combat causes.
  • 1986 – Launch: Space Shuttle Challenger STS-51-L at 5:58:51 am PST. Mission highlights: Planned TDRS deployment, Loss of vehicle and crew, Teacher in Space Flight.
  • 1983 – T-33 #133345 logged 10,000 h at Baden.
  • 1971 – Commander Donald H. Lilienthal, USN flew a P-3 C Orion to a world speed record for heavyweight turboprops. Over 15–25 km, he reached 501 mph.
  • 1964 – An unarmed USAF North American CT-39A-1-NO Sabreliner, 62-4448, c/n 276-1, the first Air Force T-39, of the 7101st Air Base Wing, departed Wiesbaden, West Germany, at 14:10 on a routine three-hour training flight. Shot down over Erfurt, Germany by two Soviet MiG-19s after errantly entering Soviet airspace over East Germany. All three crewmembers were killed.
  • 1963 – Death of Jean Felix Piccard, also known as Jean Piccard, Swiss-born American chemist, engineer, professor and high-altitude balloonist.
  • 1963 – Death of René Paul Louis Dousinelle, French WWI flying ace.
  • 1962 – Death of Robert John Orton Compston DSC**, DFC, British WWI fighter ace.
  • 1953 – A point to point record between London and Mauripur in Karachi is set by Flight Lieutenant L. M. Whittington and Flight Lieutenant J. A. Brown in an English Electric Canberra covering 3,921 statute miles in 8 hours 52 min 28 seconds.
  • 1951 – Birth of Leonid Kostyantynovych Kadenyuk, Soviet test pilot and only NASA astronaut of independent Ukraine.
  • 1951 – World War II fighter ace and test pilot Don S. Gentile is KWF Lockheed T-33A-1-LO Shooting Star, 49-905, of the 1053d AMS, 1050th AMG, which crashes at Forestville, Maryland, near Andrews AFB. Second crew also killed. Gentile Air Force Station, Kettering, Ohio, was named in his honor.
  • 1950 – Birth of David Carl Hilmers, USMC officer and NASA astronaut.
  • 1948 – “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)” is a protest song with lyrics by Woody Guthrie detailing the crash of a plane near Los Gatos Canyon, 20 miles west of Coalinga in Fresno County, California, United States. The crash occurred in Los Gatos Canyon and not in the town of Los Gatos itself, which is in Santa Clara County, approximately 150 miles away. Guthrie was inspired to write the song by what he considered the racist mistreatment of the passengers before and after the accident. The crash resulted in the deaths of 32 people, 4 Americans and 28 migrant farm workers who were being deported from California back to Mexico.
  • 1946 – First prototype Short Shetland I, DX166, the largest British-built flying boat, burns out at its mooring from fire in galley before flight testing can be completed.
  • 1944 – Col. Robin E. Epler, deputy commander (Technical) of the Air Proving Ground Command, Eglin Field, Florida, is killed this date in crash of Douglas A-20G-10-DO Havoc, 42-54016, one mile (1.6 km) NE of Crestview, Florida. Eglin Auxiliary Field No. 7 is named in his honor.
  • 1943 – A U. S. Army Air Forces P-40 Warhawk fighter squadron begins operations from Amchitka, the first Allied aircraft to do so. They intercept attacking Japanese aircraft for the first time the following day, shooting down both attacking “Rufes. ”
  • 1943 – The Japanese begin to use their new airfield on Betio.
  • 1942 – Piloting a PBO-1 Hudson patrol bomber over the North Atlantic, U. S. Navy Chief Aviation Machinist’s Mate Donald Francis Mason attacks a German submarine, which submerges and escapes. Thinking he had sunk it, he signals “SIGHTED SUB, SANK SAME. ” It becomes one of the most famous signals of World War II.
  • 1942 – The United States Army Air Forces activate the Eighth Air Force to serve in England as a strategic air force in Europe.
  • 1941 – Final air battle of the French-Thai War. Martins B-10 of the 50th Bomber Squadron set out on a raid on Sisophon, escorted by thirteen Hawk 75Ns of the 60th Fighter Squadron. Japanese-mediated armistice goes into effect later in the day.
  • 1939 – Birth of John McCreary Fabian, USAF pilot and NASA Astronaut.
  • 1938 – A 90-second air raid on Barcelona by nine Majorca-based Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bombers kills 150 people and injures 500.
  • 1935 – Entered Service: Grumman F2 F with United States Navy Fighter Squadron 2 (VF-2 B) aboard USS Lexington (CV-2) and Fighter Squadron 3 (VF-3 B) aboard USS Ranger (CV-4).
  • 1935 – First flight of the Potez 62, a French twin-engine civil airliner.
  • 1931 – Death of Gunther Plüschow, German aviator, aerial explorer and author, Only German Prisoner of war (in either WW) to escape from Britain back to Germany. Killed in a crash near the Brazo Rico, part of Lake Argentino.
  • 1928 – Lieutenant John Moncrieff and Captain George Hood were two New Zealanders who vanished while attempting the first trans-Tasman flight from Australia to New Zealand. Radio signals were received from their aircraft for 12 hours after their departure from Sydney, but despite a number of purported sightings in New Zealand, and many land searches in the intervening years, no trace of the aviators or their aircraft has ever been found.
  • 1927 – Death of William Geoffrey Meggitt, British WWI flying ace, killed in an accident at Norbury while flying an Armstrong Whitworth Siskin.
  • 1920 – Disbandment of Nos. 1 & 2 Squadrons Canadian Air Force and No. 1 Wing HQ. in U. K.
  • 1919 – Francis Gabreski, American fighter pilot, was born (d. 2002). Francis Stanley “Gabby” Gabreski (Franciszek Gabryszewski) was the top American fighter ace in Europe during World War II, a jet fighter ace in Korea, and one of only seven U. S. pilots to become an ace in two wars.
  • 1918 – Dr. John McCrae died in Guelph Ontario; he was author of the World War I poem, In Flanders Fields.
  • RAE Farnborough
    , when it breaks up in flight. At the time of his death, Goodden was one of Britain's most experienced pilots. Inspection found that the wings had suffered failure in downward torsion. Plywood webs were added to the compression ribs, curing the trouble and were standardized on all later S.E.5s and 5a's.
  • 1917 – First flight of the Junkers J.I (manufacturer's designation J 4 / Not to be confused with the J 1), a German armored sesquiplane low-level ground attack, observation aircraft, first all-metal aircraft to enter mass production.
  • 1911 – Theodore Gordon 'Spuds' Ellyson becomes the first Naval Aviator as he took off in a Curtiss “grass cutter” plane. . With a blocked throttle, this ground plane was not supposed to fly, and Ellyson was not proficient enough to fly. He slewed off left, cracking up the plane somewhat by making a wing-first landing.
  • 1899 – Birth of David Sinton Ingalls, DSC and DFC, only United States Navy Flying Ace of WWI, and first ace in U. S. Navy history.
  • 1894 – Birth of Bernard Henri Barny de Romanet, French WWI fighter ace and successful sporting pilot.
  • 1892 – Birth of David Mary Tidmarsh, Irish WWI flying ace who also served in WWII.
  • 1892 – Birth of Willi Rosenstein, German WWI flying ace.
  • 1891 – Birth of David Luther Burgess, Canadian WWI flying ace and politician.
  • 1884 – Birth of Jean Felix Piccard (twin brother of Auguste), also known as Jean Piccard, Swiss-born American chemist, engineer, professor and high-altitude balloonist.
  • 1884 – Birth of Auguste Antoine Piccard (twin brother of Jean), Swiss physicist, inventor and explorer.
  • 1871 – The last balloon to leave Paris during the Persian siege takes off with orders for the French fleet to bring food and supplies to replenish the French capital, an armistice having been signed. The flight of the General Cambronne ends a period of almost exactly 5 months during which the advantages of balloons were put to efficient use.

References

  1. ^ Anonymous, "Missile Caused 1980 Plane Crash: Italian Court," Associated Press, January 28, 2013.
  2. ^ Pullella, Philip, "Italy 1980 Plane Crash Probably Caused by Missile, court says ," Reuters, January 28, 2013, 9:16 p.m. GMT.
  3. ^ Massalatchi, Abdoulaye, "Niger Gives Green Light to U.S. Drone Deployment: Source," Reuters, January 29, 2013, 6:06 a.m. EST.
  4. ^ "US-Iraqi Forces Kill 250 Militants in Najaf". Melbourne: The Age. 2007-01-29. Retrieved 2009-02-01.

January 29

  • 2013 – SCAT Airlines Flight 760, a Bombardier CRJ200, crashes in thick fog near Kyzyltu, Kazakhstan, 5 km (3.1 miles) short of the runway at Almaty, killing all 21 people on board.
  • Sukhoi PAK FA
    “Prospective Airborne Complex of Frontline Aviation”, a Russian twin-engine stealth jet fighter prototype.
  • 2005 – An Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet crashes into ocean while landing on USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63). The No. 3 arresting wire snapped, resulting in the plane plunging into the Pacific Ocean 100 miles SE of Yokosuka, Japan, hitting an SH-60F and an EA-6B Prowler en route to the water. Crew LTJG Jon Vanbragt, LCDR Markus Gudmundsson ejected safely.
  • 1996 – An Grumman F-14A-135-GR Tomcat, BuNo 162599, of VF-213, crashes on take-off from Nashville Airport, Nashville, Tennessee, killing both crew and three people on ground as fireball engulfs three houses. The U.S. Navy determines that the accident was the result of pilot error, when pilot Lt. Cmdr. John Bates, attempted a high speed, steep-angle take-off, the review board announces in April 1996.[335] Pilot loses spatial orientation in overcast, suffers vertigo.[336] Bates had previously cracked up an F-14 in April 1995.
  • 1991 – U. S. Air Force F-15 C Eagles of the 33rd Tactical Fighter Wing shoot down two Iraqi MiG-23 s using Sparrow missiles. After a British frigate detects 17 Iraqi small boats in the Persian Gulf carrying commandos for use in a seaborne assault during the Battle of Khafji, Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Lynx helicopters attack them with Sea Skua missiles. Soon more Lynxes and Royal Navy Sea King Commando and U. S. Navy LAMPS III helicopters – with some of the helicopters using door machine guns and hand grenades – And Royal Air Force Jaguar and U. S. Navy carrier-based A-6E Intruder bombers join in. The attacks sink 14 of the boats and drive the other three ashore, preventing the planned commando operation.
  • 1989 – A RCAF Lockheed CC-130E Hercules, 130318, formerly 10318, c/n 4124, of 43 Squadron, participating in annual Brim Frost exercises hits runway lights and a river bank short of the runway and crashes onto the runway at Wainwright AAF, Alaska at -46 degrees Fahrenheit. Eleven of the eighteen occupants are killed.
  • 1988 – Boeing 747SP owned by United Airlines start a round-the-world air speed record from seattle. The Friendship Foundation, was established and all money went to children’s charities. A ticket on the flight cost $5,000, and in total the flight raised more than $500,000 for children.
  • 1979 – Death of John Elmer “Jack” Drummond, Canadian WWI flying ace.
  • EgyptAir Ilyushin Il-18 crashes
    in the Kyrenia mountain range while on approach to Nicosia International Airport; all 37 on board die.
  • 1972 – Death of Viktor Fedorovich Bolkhovitinov, Soviet engineer, Aircraft designer and team-leader of the developers of the Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1 aircraft.
  • 1971 – Entered Service: EA-6 Prowler with VAQ-129 at NAS Whidbey Island.
  • 1971 – A Lunar Landing Training Vehicle crashes at Ellington AFB, Texas. NASA test pilot Stuart Present ejects safely.
  • 1970 – Death of Viktor Fedorovich Bolkhovitinov, Soviet engineer, team-leader of the developers of the Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1 aircraft.
  • 1969 – A Wisconsin Air National Guard Boeing KC-97L Stratotanker, 52-0904, c/n 16598, arriving at Milwaukee-General Mitchell Airport, (MKE/KMKE) on flight from Key West International Airport, Florida, in fog and rain (ceiling reported as 200 feet with 1/2 mile visibility), contacts ground 1/2 mile (.8 km) short (S) of runway, breaks up and catches fire with fatalities to four of 11 on board.
  • 1959 – The first jet passenger service across the United States is begun by American Airlines using Boeing 707 jet airliners.
  • 1952 – Convair B-36D Peacemaker, 44-92080, of the 92nd Bomb Wing, lands short at Fairchild AFB, written off. All crew survive. Aircraft had been built as a B-36B-20-CF, upgraded.
  • 1948 – Birth of Mamoru “Mark” Mohri, Japanese scientist, NASDA and NASA astronaut.
  • 1945 – The Germans scuttle the incomplete aircraft carrier Seydlitz – The proposed name “Weser” for her had never been officially assigned – At Königsberg to prevent her capture by the Soviet Union.
  • 1945 – Twentieth Air Force B-29 s bomb Iwo Jima.
  • 1944 – German raids of 30 and 47 fighter-bombers attack Allied ships off Anzio with guided bombs, sinking the British light cruiser HMS Spartan and a Liberty ship and badly damaging a salvage tug.
  • 1944 – Two squadrons of U. S. Navy PB2Y Coronados bomb Wake Island, the tenth American strike of the war against Wake and the first since October 1943.
  • 1944 – The 12 aircraft carriers of Task Force 58—the Fast Carrier Forces, United States Pacific Fleet—begin operations to destroy Japanese airpower in the Marshall Islands prior to the American invasion of the islands; it is the first time that the American Fast Carrier Forces are used in this way. During the day, U. S. Navy carrier aircraft in a single strike put the 100-aircraft-strong base at Roi permanently out of action; they also attack Kwajalein Island and Maloelap and Wotje atolls. A Japanese fighter shot down over Roi-Namur at 0800 hours is the last Japanese aircraft encountered in the air during the Marshall Islands campaign. Eight American aircraft are lost.
  • 1943 – (29-30) In the last naval battle of the Guadalcanal Campaign, the Battle of Rennell Island, Japanese land-based (Allied reporting name “Betty”) torpedo bombers attack a U. S. convoy bound for Guadalcanal while it is steaming east of Rennell Island in the southeastern Solomon Islands. They sink the U. S. Navy heavy cruiser USS Chicago (CA-29).
  • 1942 – Birth of Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, Cuban AIr force pilot and Cosmonaut, first Cuban citizen and the first person from a country in the Western Hemisphere other than the USA to travel into earth orbit. He was also the first Hispanic and first Black person in space.
  • 1941 – Brewster F2A-2 Buffalo of VF-2, assigned to the USS Lexington, is lost prior to embarkation when a squadron pilot engaged in dive-bombing practice out of Pearl Harbor, H.I., loses both ailerons during 6G pull-out from what was claimed to be a 400 mph (643 km/h) 45-degree angle dive. With little control remaining, pilot successfully bails out.
  • 1941 – First flight of the Tupolev Tu-2 (Development names ANT-58 and 103, NATO reporting name: Bat), a twin-engine Soviet (high) speed daylight bomber.
  • 1940 – First flight of the Bolkhovitinov S (Sparka – Twin/joined (engine)), a Russian high speed bomber prototype aircraft powered by two M-103 inline engines in tandem in a fuselage nose, driving two contra-rotating coaxial three-blade propellers.
  • 1939 – Carl Bode sets an altitude record of 3427 m with the 2nd prototype helicopter Focke-Wulf Fw 61.
  • 1936 – Entered Service: Grumman F3 F, last biplane fighter to enter service with the United States Navy.
  • 1936 – N0. 7 (GP) Squadron formed at Ottawa to include previous Test Flight, GP Flight and two Mobile Photo Detachments.
  • 1932 – Imperial Japanese Navy seaplanes from the seaplane carrier Notoro attack Nationalist Chinese military positions in Shanghai, China, beginning Japanese air operations in the Shanghai Incident. The operations, which will continue into February, are the first significant military air operations to take place in East Asia.
  • 1932 – First flight of the Bristol Type 118, a British general-purpose military aircraft, two-seat biplane prototype for overseas markets, evolution of the Type 118 with a powerful engine.
  • 1926 – John A. Macready set a U. S. altitude record of 38,704 feet in an XC05 A with Liberty 400-horsepower engines at Dayton, Ohio.
  • 1924 – Raoul Pateras Pescara flies an experimental helicopter in Paris. The machine flew 800 m (2,640 ft) in just over 10 min.
  • 1920 – President Woodrow Wilson appoints Orville Wright to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).
  • 1919 – Birth of Helma Sjuts, German balloonist.
  • 1918 – First unqualified air combat victory at night against another aeroplane takes place, when two Sopwith Camels of No.44 Squadron shoot down a Gotha bomber during a raid on London.
  • 1916 – The second and last Zeppelin raid on Paris inflicts 54 casualties.
  • 1910 – Birth of Philip Gerald Cochran, American USAAC WWII pilot developed many tactical air combat, air transport, and air assault techniques.
  • 1908 – The Imperial All-Russia Aero Club is founded and raises money through public subscription by imperial decree.
  • 1895 – Birth of Paul Frank Baer, American WWI flying ace who scored the first aerial victory ever for American military aviation. Post war he became an Aeronautic inspector and Commercial pilot.
  • 1895 – Birth of George Robert Howsam, Canadian WWI fighter ace, Director of Training for the RCAF during WWII.
  • 1895 – Birth of James “Robbo” Milne Robb, Scottish WWI flying ace, Fleet aviation officer and during WWII high-ranking officer in the RAF. One of the Only to have flown a Jet fighter (a Gloster meteor) on service.
  • 1894 – Birth of Karl Meyer, German WWI flying ace.
  • 1850 – Birth of Lawrence Hargrave, English Born Australian engineer, explorer, astronomer, inventor and aeronautical pioneer.

References

  1. ^ "Regional carrier MacAir shut down with loss of 200 jobs". The Courier-Mail. 5 February 2009. Retrieved 23 December 2009.

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 |January 1

References

  1. ^ Roughneen, Simon, "Myanmar Launches Airstrikes on Kachin Rebels," The Christian Science Monitor, 2 January 2013.
  2. ^ "1993 USAF Serial Numbers". Retrieved 2010-02-17.

January 31

  • 2011 – Death of Charles Huron Kaman, American aeronautical engineer, businessman, inventor and philanthropist, known for his work in rotary-wing flight and also in musical instrument design.
  • Baghdad. A US military helicopter rescues the passengers and crew.[2][3]
  • 2005 – A Colombian government Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter on an anti-narcotics mission crashes in heavy fog near Manguipayan, Colombia killing all 20 on board.
  • 2002 – Death of Francis Stanley "Gabby" Gabreski (Franciszek Gabryszewski), top American fighter ace in Europe during WWII, and jet fighter ace in Korea.
  • 2000 – Alaska Airlines Flight 261, an MD-83, crashes into the Pacific Ocean off Point Mugu, California after problems with its horizontal stabilizer. All 83 passengers and 5 crew members are killed.
  • 1991 – An Iraqi shoulder-launched Strela 2 surface-to-air missile hits a U. S. Air Force AC-130 H Spectre gunship over Kuwait during the Battle of Khafji; the aircraft crashes into the Persian Gulf, killing all 14 on board. It is the largest Coalition loss of life in a single aviation incident during the Gulf War.
  • 1989 – Death of William Samuel Stephenson, Canadian WWI fighter ace, businessman, inventor, spymaster, considered as the real-life inspirations for James Bond.
  • war on drugs
    ".
  • 1980 – Lockheed U-2C, 56-6714, Article 381, 21st airframe of first USAF order, delivered August 1957, to 4080th SRW, Laughlin AFB, Texas, as a 'hard nose' sampling aircraft; transferred to the Central Intelligence Agency and converted to U-2G in mid-1965; transferred to Strategic Air Command; flyable storage at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, 1969. Returned to U-2C configuration for Advanced Location and Strike System (ALSS) project, 1972; damaged 2 May 1974 on landing at Davis-Monthan AFB, repaired. Written off after crash on 31 January 1980, Capt. Edward Beaumont surviving. Pilot suffered catatonic seizure, and, amazingly, descended to make uncontrolled landing in cow pasture near Oroville, California, even clipping power lines just before touchdown. Cessna T-37 Tweet trainer, flying locally, had rendezvoused with U-2 and two crew could see pilot unconscious in the cockpit. After landing, pilot revived sufficiently to shut down engine, but then, as he climbed out of the aircraft, accidentally caught the D ring of his ejection seat, which he had not safed, which fired, tossing him in a somersault, but suffered only a chipped tooth. Airframe repaired for display at 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing headquarters, Beale AFB, California. Pilot removed from U-2 program on medical grounds.
  • 1977 – First flight of the Cessna Citation II, an American light corporate jet development of the Citation I.
  • 1971 January 31 Surgut Aeroflot Antonov An-12 crash
    , an An-12 crashes due to icing while on approach to Surgut International Airport; all 7 on board are killed. This was the second of the two nearly identical accidents 9 days apart.
  • 1971 – Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon.
  • 1970 – Mikhail Mil dies, aged 61. He was the founder of the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant, which is responsible for many of the well-known Russian helicopter models, notably the Mil Mi-24 'Hind'.
  • 1966 – Launch of Luna 9, Soviet uncrewed space mission and first spacecraft to achieve a soft landing on any planetary body other than Earth and to transmit photographic data to Earth.
  • 1966 – The United States resumes Operation Rolling Thunder over North Vietnam.
  • 1963 – Sikorsky HSS-1N Seabat BuNo 149133, c/n 58-1375, coded '140', and BuNo 147635, c/n 58-1160, coded '145', ex-'H-9', both from 8 Squadron of the Koninklijke Marine, both ditch near Gibraltar and are lost.
  • 1961 – American space mission Mercury-Redstone 2 (MR-2): Ham the Chimp is the first chimpanzee launched into outer space in the American space program. He flew 16 min in Mercury spacecraft No. 5.
  • 1958 – First flight of the North American T-2 Buckeye, a US Navy's intermediate training aircraft, intended to introduce Student Naval Aviators to jets.
  • 1958 – Explorer 1 is The first successful American satellite launched into orbit.
  • 1958 – During simulated Strategic take-off from Sidi Slimane air base, French Morocco, a USAF Boeing B-47E-25-LM Stratojet, 52-0242, of the 368th Bomb Squadron, 306th Bomb Wing, MacDill AFB, Florida, suffers failure of left-rear landing gear casting, tail strikes ground, rupturing fuel tank. Aircraft burns for seven hours. Fortunately, Mk. 36, Mod 1 TN nuclear weapon on board, in strike configuration, does not detonate, although weapon burns to slag within the confines of the wreckage.
  • 1957 – A Douglas DC-7 B being operated by the Douglas Aircraft Company on a test flight with a crew of four prior to delivery to Continental Airlines collides in mid-air over California's San Fernando Valley with a U. S. Air Force F-89 J Scorpion on a test flight with a crew of two to check its radar equipment. The F-89 J crashes in La Tuna Canyon in the Verdugo Mountains, killing its pilot and injuring the other crew member, who ejects to a parachute landing in Burbank, California. The DC-7 B remains airborne for several minutes, dropping debris into neighborhoods below, before crashing into the grounds of a church and the athletic field of Pacoima Junior High School in the Pacoima district of Los Angeles, California, where 220 boys are gathered; the crash kills all four people on the plane and three boys on the ground, and injures an estimated 74 students.
  • 1956 – USAF North American TB-25N Mitchell, 44-29125, on cross country flight from Nellis AFB, Nevada to Olmsted AFB, Pennsylvania, after departing Selfridge AFB, Michigan suffers fuel starvation NE of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in mid-afternoon, attempts to divert to Greater Pittsburgh AFB, ditches in the Monongahela River at the 4.9-mile (7.9 km) marker, west of the Homestead High-Level Bridge, drifts ~1.5 miles (2.4 km) downstream in 8–10 knots. current, remaining afloat for 10–15 minutes. All six crew evacuate but two are lost in the 35 °F (2 °C) water before rescue. Search for sunken bomber suspended 14 February with no success – aircraft is thought to have possibly settled in submerged gravel pit area in 32 feet (9.8 m) of water, ~150 feet (46 m) from shore, possibly now covered by 10–15 feet of silt. This crash remains one of the Pittsburgh region's unsolved mysteries.
  • 1953 – United States Air Force Captain Ben L. Fithian (pilot) and Lieutenant Sam R. Lyons score the first aerial victory in a Lockheed F-94 Starfire, shooting down a Lavochkin La-9 (NATO reporting name "Fritz") over Korea. It is the first of four kills by F-94 s during the Korean War.
  • 1953 – A Lockheed P2V-5 Neptune of VP-22 goes missing out of Naha Air Base, Okinawa. Subsequent search reveals the wreckage with 11 victims on a mountainside at the northeast end of Okinawa.
  • 1953 – A USAF North American F-86F Sabre crashes in bad weather while on final approach to Truax Field, Wisconsin, killing the pilot Major Hampton E. Boggs a former Korean War pilot and second ranking ace with the 459th Fighter Squadron flying the Lockheed P-38 Lightning during the China-Burma-India campaign (1943–1945).
  • 1951 – Captain Charles Blair flies a P-51 Mustang (christened "Excalibur III") piston engine fighter non-stop from New York to London to test the jet stream, traveling 3,478 miles (5,597 km) at an average speed of 446 miles per hour (718 km/h) in 7 hours 48 min.
  • 1949 – Pan Am receives the first Boeing Model 377 Stratocruiser to be delivered.
  • 1945 – During January, B-29 s raiding Japan have suffered a 5.7 percent loss rate.
  • 1945 – The U. S. Army Air Forces' Seventh Air Force begins two weeks of day-and-night bombing of Iwo Jima.
  • 1944 – Since December 1, 1943, American daylight combat air patrols over the Gilbert Islands have been so effective that 34 of the 35 Japanese raids that get through to attack Tarawa Atoll and Butaritari strike at night. The Japanese also raid Abemama three times during the period. All the Japanese strikes combined during the two months destroy 33 American planes, damage nine, and sink a landing craft.
  • 1944 – The American invasion of the Marshall Islands, Operation Flintlock, begins with landings on Kwajalein Island, Roi-Namur, and Majuro. The American carrier raids have been so successful that the Japanese have no operational aircraft left in the islands with which to oppose them. Six American fleet aircraft carrier, two light aircraft carriers, and six escort aircraft carriers support the landings at Kwajalein Atoll and two escort carriers cover the landings at Majuro. American carrier aircraft also bomb Eniwetok, Maloelap, and Wotje.
  • 1943 – Bad weather has so restricted operations of the U. S. Army Air Forces' Eleventh Air Force during the January that it has dropped only 10½ tons (9,526 kg) of bombs on Japanese bases in the Aleutian Islands during the month and lost eleven aircraft, none to enemy action.
  • 1943 – The DeHavilland Mosquitos bombed Berlin to disrupt parade as it's being addressed by Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering.
  • 1942 – During the winter of 1941–1942, Royal Air Force Bomber Command experiences a 2.5 percent loss rate among its aircraft attacking Germany.
  • 1941 – First Harvard built in Canada was delivered to RCAF Rockcliffe.
  • 1934 – Death of Walter Wellman, American journalist, explorer, and aeronaut.
  • 1928 – The Cackle Corner Poultry Farm in Garrettsville, Ohio stated that low flying planes were affecting egg production; thus becoming the first aircraft noise complaint reported to the Aeronautics Branch of the Commerce Department
  • 1923 – First flight of the Cierva C.4 autogyro, flies a 4-kilometer (2.5-statute mile) circuit at Cuatro Vientos airfield in Spain.
  • 1911 – The USS Pennsylvania conducts the United States Navy's only experiment with a man-lifting kite.
  • 1911 – Employing an aircraft platform installed in November 1910 that had a hinged extension that could be lowered to sea level to assist Canadian civilian aviator John A. D. McCurdy if he had to land on the sea while attempting a flight from Key West, Florida, to Havana, Cuba, the United States Navy destroyer Pajulding recovers McCurdy after he is forced down at sea. The hope that he could use the platform to take off and resume his journey is dashed when his airplane is too badly damaged during the recovery to continue its journey.
  • 1896 – Birth of Richard Burnard Munday, British WWI flying ace and balloon buster, notable for scoring Britain's first night victory.
  • 1892 – Birth of Heinrich Bongartz, Pour le Merite, Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, Iron Cross, German WWI fighter ace. He also served as a night fighter commander in WWII.
  • 1890 – Birth of Jeffery Batters Home-Hay, Scottish-born Canadian WWI Bomber pilot and flying ace, pioneering Canadian bush pilot. By the end of his aviation career, he was the oldest pilot still flying in Canada.
  • 1883 – Birth of Jacob Earl "Jake" Fickel, USAF Major General usually associated with being an instructor of aviation. He is credited with firing the first recorded gunshot ever from an airplane.
  • 1785 – Birth of Charles Green, British famous balloonist.
  • 1769 – Birth of André-Jacques Garnerin, French inventor of the frame-less parachute.

References

  1. ^ Hradecky, Simon. "Accident: Guicango YK40 at Luanda on January 31st 2010, gear collapse on landing". Aviation Herald. Retrieved 31 January 2010.
  2. ^ Richard A. Oppel Jr. & James Glanz (2007-02-07). "Loss of Copters Suggests Shift in Iraqi Tactics". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-05-31.
  3. ^ "Officials report sixth helicopter downing in Iraq". Reuters. 2007-02-08. Retrieved 2009-02-01.
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