Warbirds Online » Blog Archive » This Week In Military Aviation History: 26 March

Hello Folks, hard to believe another month almost gone. I enjoy building aircraft models and I got myself a beauty. 1/32 scale Trumpeter (from China) A-10A. Its got some stuff I haven’t tried before like resin engines, photoetched metal parts and metal landing gear. Its got 600 plus parts and a 28 page instruction book. I’m planning on putting my trials and tribulations with this guy on the HAG Message Board as I go along. I’ll start it April 1st as I have got some finishing touches to put on my last project. Stop down and maybe get a chuckle or two at my expense.
Be Safe,
Tom K.

April 1910
The French Army formed a ‘Service Aeronautique’.

Two Japanese army officers, Captain Tokugawa and Humazo Hino, were sent to France and Germany respectively to learn to fly.

29 March 1912
The French Aeronautique Militaire was reorganized into three Groups, based in Lyon, Reims and Versailles.

April 1914
The Fokker M5k was developed and became the prototype for the famous Fokker EIII Eindecker fighter monoplane.

The battleship USS MISSISSIPPI and the cruiser USS BIRMINGHAM became the first aircraft carriers to be used in warfare. They operated off of Vera Cruz with five United States Navy seaplanes making reconnaissance flights over Mexican lines. The seaplanes were lowered over the side and took-off and landed on the water.

1 April 1915
Lieutenant Roland Garros shot down a German Albartros two-seater with the Hotchkiss machine-gun fitted to his Morane-Saulnier Type L monoplane. Steel wedge deflectors allowed the bullets to pass through the propeller arc without damaging the propeller.

April 1916
The Japanese Naval Air Corps was established.

1 April 1916
Zeppelin LZ48 was was brought down by anti-aircraft gunfire over England.

27 March 1918
A Curtiss H16 flying boat, the first production aircraft to be built by the United States Naval Aircraft Factory, made its first flight.

April 1918
Fokker DVII biplane fighters became operational on the Western Front with Jagdegschwader I. The DVII proved itself to be the best German fighter of the First World War.

1 April 1918
A pilot of Jasta 56 was the first to bail out in an emergency when his Albatros DVa was sot down over British lines. He was probably using a Heinecke cushion-type parachute, landed safely and was taken prisoner.

April 1919
The Japanese Army Aviation Department was formed.

31 March 1921
The Australian Air Force was formed from the Air Corps.

April 1922
The Columbian Army Air Arm was formed.

Following the signature of the German-Soviet Rapallo treaty, preparations were made to establish a clandestine flight training and experimental center at Lipetsk. In the 9 years it was open, over 450 German military flying personnel were trained there.

29 March 1923
Lt. Russell Maughan set a world speed record of 236.587 m.p.h. in a Curtiss R-6.

1 April 1924
The Canadian Air Force was granted the ‘Royal’ prefix.

30 March 1928
Major Mario di Bernardi of the Italian Air Force established a new world speed record. Flying a Macchi M52bis, he achieved 318 m.p.h.

1 April 1933
The Indian Air Force, Bharatiya Vayu Sena was formed.

1 April 1937
The New Zealand Permanent Air Force adopted a new name, the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

30 March 1939
A Heinkel He100V-8 piloted by Flugkapitan Hans Dieterle established a new world speed record of 463 m.p.h.

27 March 1945
The last V2 rocket to fall on the United Kingdom landed at Orpington in Kent at 1645 hrs killing one person and injuring 23 others.

31 March 1945
The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan officially ended. 137,739 trainees had passed through, of which 54,098 were pilots. In addition over 155,000 air crew members were trained in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Southern Rhodesia. Over 14,000 British air crew members were trained in the United States.

1 April 1945
Japanese Ohka suicide aircraft scored their first major successes when they severely damaged the battleship USS WEST VIRGINIA and three other vessels. One of the other vessels was the British carrier HMS INDEFATIGABLE.

30 March 1949
A Bill in the U.S. authorized the establishment of a permanent radar defense network.

28 March 1951
The Federal Bureau of Statistics in Bonn announced figures relating to German casualties at home and on the battle fronts in the Second World War. These totaled over 5 million (3,200,000 in action or missing, 500,000 civilians during bombing raids and 200,000 disabled war veterans) but they stated that the exact numbers will never be known and the figures were probably higher.

1-2 April 1951
United States Air Force Boeing B-29 Superfortresses bombed bridges and carrier-borne aircraft attacked enemy communications in North Korea.

1 April 1952
All United States Air force combat aircraft were ready or nearly ready to carry atomic weapons.

27 March 1953
The Royal Netherlands Air Force was established as an independent service.

1 April 1954
President Eisenhower signed into law a bill creating the U.S. Air Force Academy.

28 March 1968
Colonel Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, was killed when his MiG 15 UTI crashed near Kirzhatsk, north of Moscow.

1 April 1972
Air Training Command activated the Community College of the Air Force at Randolph AFB, Texas.

1 April 1975
The Republic of Singapore Air Force was formed.

26 March 1982
Funding was approved for the Hughes AH-64A Apache attack helicopter.

31 March 1982
The first SEPECAT Jaguar, built by Hindustan Aeronautics for the Indian Air Force, made its first flight.

31 March 1987
The French Armee de l’Air began testing a Mirage II with verbal command recognition software. The system would allow the pilot to control the aircraft using spoken commands.

31 March 1993
Myrtle Beach AFB, S.C., closed and flying operations ceased at MacDill AFB, Fla.

27 March 1999
A combat search and rescue team rescued an F-117 Nighthawk pilot shot down during Operation Allied Force.

30 March 1999
The 1,000th McDonnell Douglas AH-64 Apache helicopter was delivered. The Apache had been in service with the United States Army for 15 years.
————————————————————————————
That’s it for this week Folks, see ya in seven.