Warbirds Online » Blog Archive » This Week In Military/Aviation History 3

Hello Folks, hope your week went well. Last night I sat down and watched “Sands of Iwo Jima” with John Wayne. I had not seen this movie in a long time and wanted to see how it compared with “Flags of Our Fathers.” Putting aside all the new whiz-bang special effects of the latter, I found that as a movie they were both just as entertaining to me. For 1949, “Sands” was a well-made movie. It kind of surprised me. The realism of the attacks on Tarawa and Iwo Jima, for their time, were interestingly compelling. I’m not anywhere near being an expert on accuracy of equipment and such, so it looked fine to me. The flag raising did have a glitch though, I noticed that for a couple of seconds it looked like the raisers froze and then continued. Apparently, the three real flag raisers who survived took part in the re-creation raising. I thought that was a nice touch. I surprised myself when I got emotional when Stryker bought the farm. All in all an enjoyable evening. Well, let’s shift from Hollywood history to some serious history, shall we ?
Take Care and Be Safe,
Tom K.

5 March 1906
The Vuia I, built by Romanian born aviator Trajan Vuia, was the first aircraft with pnematic tires and was first tested at Montesson, France. However, the aircraft was virtually flightless. Five “flights” were made of which the longest was 24 meters.

8 March 1910
Mademoiselle Elise Deroche, better known under her self awarded title “la Baronne de Laroche”, became the world’s first qualified female pilot and the 36th French pilot, when she was awarded her brevet.

5 March 1911
The Belgian Army Balloon Company was formed as the Compagnie des Ouviers et Aerostiers.

5 March 1912
Bob Fowler completed a west to east coast-to-coast crossing of the USA, from Los Angeles to Jacksonville, after four months.

5 March 1913
The first Aero Squadron of the United States Army was formed.

3 March 1915
The United States National Advisory Committee was established by Congress to investigate the problems of flight and find solutions to them. This organization was a forerunner to NASA.

4 March 1915
$300,000 funding was passed by Congress for the development of army aviation in 1916.

5 March 1915
Zeppelin LZ33 (L8) crashed near Ostend after being hit by gunfire over Nieuport during a mission to attack Britain.

7 March 1915
Paris came under attack by German Zeppelins.

8 March 1917
Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the father of the rigid airship, died of pneumonia aged 78.

3 March 1918
The AEF began airship operations with the French Astra-Torres AT-1 non-rigid dirigible (steerable airship).

5 March 1918
The 2nd Balloon company was established, becoming the first balloon unit to serve operationally in France with AEF ground forces.

3 March 1919
William Boeing and Edward Hubbard used the Boeing Model CL45 to carry out the first United States international mail service, between Seattle in America and Victoria in Canada.

5 March 1923
Igor Sikorsky, having previously escaped from Russia, formed the Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation in the USA.

8 March 1926
Dr, Robert H. Goddard statically tested one of his first rockets.

9 March 1935
It was announced in Germany that the Luftwaffe had been established.

4 March 1936
The world’s largest rigid airship, the German Zeppelin Company’s LZ129 ‘Hindenburg,’ made its first flight.

7 March 1936
Hitler renounced the 1925 Locano Treaty and German troops smashed unopposed into the Rhineland.

3 March 1939
The first Pan American World Airways Boeing 314 flying boat was named ‘Yankee Clipper’ by Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt at a ceremony in Washington, DC.

5 March 1944
Brigadier General Orde Wingate’s special force landed at “Broadway” in North Burma, in a night glider operation.

6 March 1944
During the first USAAF attack on Berlin, 69 of 60 heavy bombers were lost and 11 escort fighters were shot down.

9 March 1945
German forces, including air units, continued to attack the bridge at Remagen in an effort to eliminate this allied bridgehead over the Rhine.

9-10 March 1945
279 Marianas-based Boeing B29s began a new campaign of low-altitude incendiary night attacks against Japanese cities with an attack on Tokyo.

8 March 1946
The Bell Model 47 was granted the first commercial helicopter certificate to be awarded by the United States Civil Aviation Authority.

6 March 1951
The USAF approved license production of the English Electric Canberra by the Glenn L. Martin Company, under the designation B-57. It was the first operational aircraft of non-United States design to be accepted into service with the USAF since the 2nd World War.

5 March 1953
A Polish Air Force pilot landed a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 jet and seeked political asylum on the Danish island of Bornholm.

8 March 1954
The United States and Japan signed a mutual defense agreement.

8 March 1956
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines ordered twelve Lockheed Electras. It was the first European order for American propeller-turbine engine airliners.

3 March 1959
United States Pioneer 4 space probe was launched in an attempt to obtain pictures of the Moon’s surface while making a fly-past of about 20,000 miles.

6 March 1965
A Sikorsky SH-3A Sea King made the first non-stop helicopter flight across North America. Taking off from the carrier USS Hornet at San Diego in California, it landed on the carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt at Jacksonville in Florida. The distance traveled was 2,116 miles and a new international straight-line distance record for helicopters was established.

9 March 1966
General de Gaulle, the President of France, announced that France was to withdraw from the NATO Alliance.

8 March 1967
The West German Air Force announced that all ejection seats in their Lockheed F-104G Starfighter fleet would be replaced with Martin-Baker GQ7 seats.

8 March 1974
Charles De Gaulle Airport, 15.5 miles from the center of Paris and Europe’s newest international airport, was officially opened by the French Prime Minister.

9 March 1987
USAir made public its buy-out of Piedmont Airlines for $1.59 billion.

3 March 2001
A Thai Airways Boeing 747-400 was destroyed while parked at bangkok International Airport. The explosion and subsequent fire occurred 35 minutes before Thailand’s Prime Minister was due to board the aircraft for a flight to Chaing Mai.

6 March 2001
The Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk UAV was cleared for production and testing with the USAF.

4 March 2002
Ansett (Mark II) permanently ceased operations.

5 March 2005
Steve Fossett completed the first non-stop, solo circumnavigation of the world in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, completing the trip in 67 hours 2 minutes.
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That’s it for this week Folks. See ya in seven.

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