Warbirds Online » Blog Archive » This Week In Military/Aviation History 23

Hello Folks, Another seven we’ll not be gettin’ back. Hope your week went well. Geez, June’s about gone. Summer is officially here. School’s out for summer. Air Show season has begun. The Geneseo Air Show is only 17 days away. Well, Arrival Day, anyway. The week before “The Greatest Show on Turf” is the “Olde Aerodrome Days” Biplane Rally. This year we will be celebrating the 90th Anniversary of the First Regularly Scheduled Air Mail Service. On the 9th and 10th of July mail will be flown from the Geneseo Airport to Rochester, Niagara Falls and Buffalo. You stamp collectin’ Folks out there should check HAG’s Website for special covers which will be available. Along with the P-40 Gathering, these should be a couple of once-in-a-lifetime moments. Hope to see you there. Now, let’s get down to some serious history, shall we?
Take Care and Be Safe,
Tom K.;)

28 June 1911
An English aviator, Tom Sopwith, makes the first charter flight, when hired by the firm Wanamaker’s to deliver a pair of spectacles to Mr W.A. Burpee. Mr Burpee was a passenger on the liner Olympic, which had left New York harbor on a transatlantic voyage. Sopwith, flying his Howard Wright biplane overhauled the liner, then several miles out to sea, and dropped the carefully wrapped package onto the deck.

26 June 1912
The Japanese government forms a Kaigun Kokujutsu Kenkyu Kai (Naval Committee for Aeronautical Research).

27 June 1912
The Italian Aviation Service is formed from the Battaglione Aviatori (Aviation Battalion).

28 June 1912
Delag passenger-carrying airship Zeppelin LZ10 ‘Schwaben’ is destroyed by fire while in its shed.

29 June 1914
The first meal is served on an aeroplane, aboard Sikorski Ilya Mourometz I, during a flight from Petrograd to Kiev.

23 June 1916
Victor Emmanuel Chapman of the Lafayette Escadrille, becomes the first American pilot to be killed in action.

26 June 1917
Prompted by the entry of the United States into the war, the German Army Air Service unveils its Amerika-programm (America Program), which provides for the creation of 40 new fighter squadrons and the expansion of aircraft manufacturing output from 1,000 to 2,000 aircraft per month.

28 June 1917
Commercial airmail flights are instituted between Naples and Palermo in Italy.

23 June 1919
Seven German Navy Zeppelins are scuttled by their crews at Nordholz to prevent them being handed over to the Allies as part of the Versailles Peace Treaty.

25 June 1919
The world’s first purpose-built all metal commercial aircraft flies as the German Junkers F13. 322 are eventually built.

28 June 1919
The Versailles Peace Treaty is signed. Under the treaty, Germany is forbidden from having an air force or producing military aircraft.

27 June 1923
The first air-to-air flight refuelling is demonstrated by Captain L.H. Smith and Lieutenant J.P. Richter of the United States Army Air Service (USAAS) flying two de Havilland DH-4Bs over San Diego in California.

28-29 June 1927
Lieutenant A. Hegenberger and Lieutenant L. Maitland, fly from Oakland in California to Honolulu in Hawaii in a Fokker C2 monoplane.

23 June - 1 July 1931
Wiley Post and Harold Gatty fly round the world in a Lockheed aircraft, the ‘Winnie Mae’. 15,474 miles are completed in 8 days 15 hours 51 minutes.

26 June 1935
The first flight of the Breguet-Dorand Gyroplane Laboratoire helicopter in France.

26 June 1936
German Ewarld Rohlfs makes the first flight of the Focke Wulf Fw 61 twin rotor helicopter. Although it lasts for only about 30 seconds, the flight establishes the aircraft as the world’s first completely successful helicopter.

25 June 1938
Deutche Luft Hansa introduces the Focke Wulf Fw 200 on its Berlin to London route.

27-28 June 1938
Russian airmen, Kokkinski and Briandinsky, fly from Moscow to Vladivostock in 24 hours, covering a total distance of 4,375 miles.

28 June 1939
Germany and Italy undertake discussions which will lead to “the closest co-operation between German and Italian Air Forces.”

24-25 June 1944
The Luftwaffe uses the Mistel composite aircraft for the first time. This initial night operation sees five composite aircraft, combining the Messerschmitt Bf 109F and Junkers Ju 88A deployed against Allied shipping in the Seine Bay.

25 June 1944
2,400 Allied bombers make a saturation raid on German positions at St Lo in France. The operation occurs in front of the American positions, in an attempt to ’soften up’ the enemy prior to an allied breakout.

25 June 1945
The National Skyway Freight Corporation is established as the first all freight airline in the USA. In 1946 it will adopt the title Flying Tiger Line Inc.

26 June 1946
The United States Army Air Force (USAAF) and United States Navy (USN) officially adopt the knot and nautical mile as standard aeronautical units for speed and distance.

24 June 1948
For ‘technical reasons’, the Soviet military authorities stop all rail services between Berlin and West Germany.

26 June 1948
The first airlift of supplies into Berlin is organized by the United States Air Force (USAF), using C-47s based at Frankfurt. This marks the beginning of the Berlin Airlift.

28 June 1948
British Berlin Airlift operations begin.

26 June 1949
The first anniversary of the Berlin Airlift - 1.8 million tons of supplies has been airlifted in.

25 June 1950
The Korean War begins, with North Korean forces invading South Korea - Yak fighters attack Kimpo airfield.

27 June 1950
President Truman announces that the United States Air Force (USAF) will assist South Korea. The first enemy aircraft, a Yak 9 is shot down by Lieutenant William G. Hudson, USAF, flying an F-82 Mustang.

28 June 1950
A Lockheed RF-80A surveys North Korean troops completing the United States Air Force’s first reconnaissance mission by a jet.

23 June 1952
A civil aviation agreement between Britain and Denmark is signed in London.

23 June 1955
United States Navy (USN) aircraft are attacked by Russian planes near the Bering Strait.

29 June 1955
The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress enters service with the United States Air Force (USAF).

27 June 1962
The North American X-15A is piloted by Joe Walker to a new top speed of 6,693kph (4,159mph).

Colonel G. Mosolov establishes a new world speed record for the Soviet Union, flying the Mikoyan Ye-166 to record a speed of 2,681kph (1,666mph).

27 June 1979
The McDonnell Douglas F15 Eagle makes its combat debut, serving with the Israeli Air force, they destroy five Syrian MiG-21s.

26 June 1988
An Airbus Industrie A320 airliner crashes into trees at low speed after making a low-level display pass at the Mulhourse air show, killing 3 people out of 130 on board.

29 June 1990
The Canadian aerospace company Bombardier takes over the manufacture of the Learjet from Integrated Resources of the USA.

29 June 1992
The first Advanced Light Helicopter developed by Hindustani Aeronautics and Messerschmitt Bolkow-Blohm is rolled out in Bangalore.

29 June 1996
The original ‘Air Force One’, the Boeing VC137 used as the official aircraft of United States Presidents since 1959, is taken out of service.

25 June 1997
The Russian space station Mir and its re-supply craft collide in orbit forcing the Mir astronauts to shut down most of the spacecraft’s systems.

23-24 June 2001
The Lockheed Martin X35B Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Short Take-Off Vertical Landing (STOVL) demonstrator begins flight testing vertical take-off, hovering and the transition to forward. The rival Boeing X32B completes its first hover and transition to forward flight on 24 June.

24 June 2004
Volga-AviaExpress Flight 1303 and Siberia Airlines Flight 1047 explode south of Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow. The Russian government declares the explosions to have been caused by Chechen terrorists.
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That’s it for this week, Folks. See ya in seven.

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