Warbirds Online » Blog Archive » This Week In Military/Aviation History 18

Hello Folks, well yet another week has gone by and I’m back again. The 2008 Geneseo “GREATEST SHOW ON TURF” Airshow was in the news today. There was a press conference held at the Greater Rochester International Airport where it was publicized that the theme is Flying Tigers Reunion and the hope is to have a large gathering of P-40 aircraft, which were built in Buffalo, New York. An appeal was made for sponsorships to help with the costs of having these aircraft at the gathering. Please Folks, if you would like to sponsor an aircraft or know of someone who would like to, contact Frank Schaufler at (585) 392-4859 for the details. This does involve a substantial bit of cash, so make sure you’re serious before calling. Okay, the commercials over. Let’s get down to some serious history, shall we?
Take Care and Be Safe,
Tom K.

18 February 1911
Under the auspices of the British Army, Mr. Henri Pecquet in a Humer-Sommer biplane made the first official airmail flight at the United Provinces Exhibition in Allahabad, India. He flew 6,000 letters and cards from Allahabad to Naini Junction where they were transferred to rail.

22 February 1911
Henri Pecquet and Captain W.G. Windham began a regular air mail service between Allahabad and Nani Junction in India, to coincide with the Universal Postal Exhibition in Allahabad.

20 February 1915
Alan Loughhead was given permission to start an air service during the Panama-Pacific Exhibition at San Francisco, flying 600 passengers across the bay in 50 days.

19 February 1916
Austrian physicist Ernst Mach, remembered for his research into aerodynamics and the speed of sound, died aged 77.

21 February 1916
Zeppelin LZ47 was attacked and destroyed during a raid.

18 February 1918
The first American fighter squadron, the 95th Aero (Pursuit) Squadron, arrived in France.

19 February 1934
All existing airmail contracts were canceled and the United States Army Air Corps began flying internal mail services.

19 February 1936
Brigadier General William ‘Billy’ Mitchell, the United States Army Air Corps advocate of air power, died in the Doctor’s Hospital in New York.

19 February 1942
The first air attack on Australia took place when Japanese bombers attacked shipping in the harbor at Port Darwin.

19 February 1945
United States Marines, with massive air and sea bombardment support, began landing on Iwo Jima.

21 February 1945
The American carrier USS Saratoga was hit and badly damaged by a Kamikaze attack.

23 February 1945
The German air force sank its last ship of the Second World War; the Henry Bacon belonging to convoy RA64.

24 February 1949
Termination of the Arab-Israeli war was confirmed by an Armistice signed on Rhodes.

23 February 1951
USAF Republic Thunderjet fighters shot down four Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15s.

22 February 1953
Four MiG-15 jet fighters were shot down during air fighting over North Korea.

18 February 1956
Finnair inaugurated airline services to Moscow.

19 February 1957
The Bell X-14 made its first hovering flight.

20 February 1962
The United States’ first earth orbit astronaut was launched into space. Lieutenant Colonel John H. Glenn of the United States Marine Corps completed 3 orbits in a flight time of 4 hours 55 minutes 23 seconds.

21 February 1973
Israeli fighters shot down a Libyan Airlines Boeing 727, killing all 104 passengers and crew. Israel claimed the aircraft had flown into restricted airspace over the Sinai peninsula and that all attempts to communicate with the pilot had failed.

22 February 1974
Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Barbara Ann Allen became the first woman transport pilot in the USN.

18 February 1981
John K. Northrop, founder of Northrop Aircraft, died.

24 February 1982
The Australian government confirmed the purchase of HMS Invincible from the Royal Navy.

20 February 1986
A permanently manned space station, the Soviet Unions ‘Mir” (Peace), was launched.

22 February 1988
It was announced that the Air Industries Division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in Iran had produced an in-house two-seat light aircraft.

25 February 1988
India first launched the indigenously developed Prithyi tactical missile.

23 February 1997
93 construction workers were rescued by helicopter from a burning Bankok skyscraper, which caught fire during building work.

21 February 2001
A General Atomics RQ-1 Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) test fired a laser guided AGM-114 Hellfire missile.
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That’s it for this week Folks. See ya in seven.

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