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

Hello Folks, well I remembered this week to post on Sunday. I think it won’t be a problem anymore. Yesterday was the first (annual?) Volunteer Appreciation Day at the 1941 Historical Aircraft Group Museum in Geneseo. I had a good time. I got a 20-minute ride in HAG’s C-45H, had great food and met once again with some great Folks. That was my fourth flight. One commercial to and from Chicago on our honeymoon, and two L-Bird flights at HAG events. I thoroughly enjoyed this one because the aircraft was larger and I wasn’t cramped. It’s strange though, I really enjoy aviation but not so much flying. I’ll jump at a chance to fly if it’s there (for free, of course), but I really could take it or leave it. Sim flying is more my speed, I guess. We had headsets and we could hear the radio and intercom chatter which I liked. The takeoff was so smooth I didn’t know we were climbing until I heard “The gear’s up.” Really great visibility. My goal is to take a flight in “W7″ our C-47, Natasha, our Antonov An-2 or maybe even the “Movie Memphis Belle.” We’ll see. Now, let’s get down to some serious history, shall we?
Take Care and Be Safe,
Tom K.

18 August 1903
German Carl Jatho ‘hops’ his 9 horse-power, gasoline-engined aeroplane a distance of 18 meters (59 feet).

22 August 1909
The first international air meeting takes place at Reims in France. 23 aircraft and their pilots compete for cash prizes in speed, distance and duration competitions.

20 August 1910
Lieutenant Jacob Earl Fickel of the United States Army, fires the first shots from an aeroplane at Sheepshead Bay in New York State. He fires a Springfield rifle at a target from the passenger seat of a Curtiss biplane.

20 August 1913
The first loop is performed by Lieutenant Nesterov of the Imperial Russian Army while flying a Nieuport Type IV monoplane over Kiev.

23 August 1914
Zeppelins LZ22 and LZ23 are shot down.

24 August 1914
The French airship Dupuy-de-Lôme is shot down by French ground troops in an early example of a ‘friendly fire’ incident. (Now called “Blue-on-Blue”).

20 August 1915
The first sustained bombing offensive is made against Austria-Hungary by Italian Caproni Ca2 3-engined biplanes.

21 August 1917
Zeppelin LZ66 (L23) is shot down near Jutland by a Sopwith Pup, flown from cruiser HMS Yarmouth by Flight Sub-Lieutenant B.A. Smart of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS).

The first two Fokker FI (DrI) single-seat, triplane fighters are received by Manfred von Richthofen’s ‘Flying Circus’.

24 August 1919
Delag airship Bodensee makes the first of its regular flights from Friedrichshafen to Berlin.

18 August1922
German glider (sailplane) pilot Herr Martens makes the first glider flight over 1 hour in duration. His glider is named ‘Vampyr’.

21 August 1923
In the USA, ground electric beacons are used to illuminate flight direction for the first time.

22 August 1923
The largest aircraft to date makes its first flight, but the Barling XNBL-1 triplane is found to be under-powered.

18 August 1932
Auguste Piccard and Max Cosyns ascend from Düberndorf in Switzerland, to set a new balloon height record of 16,201meters (53,153 feet).

23 August 1939
A non-aggression pact is signed between Germany and Soviet Union in Moscow.

18 August 1941
President Roosevelt announces that Pan American World Airways (Pan-Am) is to ferry United States-built warplanes to British forces in the Middle East.

20 August 1942
The 12th United States Army Air Force (USAAF) is activated at Bolling Field in Washington DC in preparation for the invasion of North Africa.

18 August 1943
The first operational use of the Henschel HS 293 remotely-controlled glide bomb. German Dornier Do 217Es of II/KG100 carry out an anti-shipping strike against British ships in the Bay of Biscay.

19 August 1945
Two Mitsubishi G4M ‘Betty’ transports carry the Japanese surrender delegation to Ie Shima.

21 August 1945
All existing United States Lend-Lease contacts are cancelled.

21 August 1948
C-54 Skymasters of the United States Air Force (USAF) Military Air Transport Command begin operations on the Berlin Airlift.

21 August 1951
It is announced that the Australian Commonwealth Government has approved money to be spent on improving the airfield on Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean and providing facilities for Qantas Empire Airways passenger service Perth to Johannesburg via Cocos Island and Mauritius.

24 August 1951
The first Congressional Medal of Honour to be given to a United States Air Force member during the Korean War is posthumously awarded to Major Louis J. Sebille, who was killed on 5 August 1951.

23 August 1953
The Martin license-built B-57 Canberra completes its final tests before entering service with the United States Air Force (USAF).

20 August 1955
Colonel H.A. Hanes sets a new world speed record of 1,323kph (822mph) flying a North American F-100C Super Sabre.

21 August 1956
A United States national speed record of 1,015mph is established by Commander Robert W. Windsor, flying a Chance Vought F-8U Crusader jet fighter.

23-24 August 1956
A specially prepared Hiller H-21 (Flying Banana), twin rotor helicopter, of the United States Army becomes the first rotary-wing aircraft to complete a non-stop transcontinental flight from California to Washington DC.

19-20 August 1957
Major David G. Simons of the United States Air Force (USAF), sets a balloon world altitude record of 30,942 meters (101,516 feet), ascending from Crosby, Minnesota.

19 August 1960
The Soviet Sputnik 5 satellite is launched into earth orbit, carrying two dogs named Belka and Strelka. They complete 18 orbits before being recovered successfully.

24 August 1968
France detonates a two-megaton thermonuclear device in the atmosphere over Mururoa Atoll.

22 August 1970
Two Sikorsky HH-53C helicopters complete a non-stop transpacific flight of 14,484 kilometers (9,000 miles) using in-flight refuelling.

19 August 1981
United States Navy (USN) Grumman F-14 Tomcat aircraft shoot down two Libyan fighters in Gulf of Sirte off the Libyan coast.

19 August 1982
Boeing delivers the first Model 767-200 for commercial use to United Airlines.

19 August 1983
Lockheed completes the 250th and last TriStar at Palmdale in California.

24 August 1983
A new world distance record for business jets is set by a Canadair Challenger 601. The aircraft covers 7,023 kilometers (4,364 miles) between Calgary and London Heathrow in 9 hours 4 minutes

18 August 1989
Qantas Boeing 747-400 ‘Spirit of Australia’ flies from London Heathrow to Sydney non-stop in 19 hours 10 minutes.

22 August 1989
The Soviet aircraft designer Alexander Yakovlev dies aged 84.

23 August 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.

18 August 1999
The formation of a Franco-Russian private partnership to build a prototype Mil 38 helicopter, weighing 15 tons and capable of carrying 30 passengers, is announced.

23 August 2005
TANS Peru Flight 204 crashes in Peru.
——————————————————————————————————————————–
That’s it for this week, Folks. See ya in seven. Have an AB FAB week.

Share this post…

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Save to Browser Favorites / Bookmarks