Warbirds Online » Blog Archive » This Week In Military/Aviation History 20

Hello Folks, betcha thought I’d forget again didn’t ya. Well I didn’t. Of course the strip of paper across the top of my monitor that says ” Don’t forget Sunday Night post Air Head” helped. Ok, it doesn’t say Air Head, the two words there have the same number of letters and the same starting letters, but from there differ a bit. Have you noticed the words “can’t afford” are popping up in political ads a lot more? “We can’t afford to send another liberal trial judge in Congress” and the such. Believe me Folks, with all the perks these Folks vote themselves, they’re the only ones who can afford to send anyone anywhere. And then there’s “Joe the Plumber” whose name isn’t Joe, doesn’t have a plumber’s license, is $1,200 behind in his taxes, (Hey, close enough for government work, right?) but is a REAL person! I’m so glad to see Mr. McCain isn’t coming up with imaginary playmates. And the “We” stuff. “We” don’t want his/her type of possible legislation after the election. What’s this “We” stuff, got a frog in your pocket? YOU don’t want this person elected so that YOU can be elected instead, and YOU are hoping WE go along with you. One of our local candidates has the entire national committee bashing him. According to them, it seems the company he owned moved some jobs to China, the mention of this being done was – spelled he – removed from his campaign website. Then, according to the ad, he sold his company to another company which had sent military secrets to China, admitted the crime, and paid a $100 million penalty. The Federal prosecutors said this put our troops in danger. This is so wrong on so many levels. His opponent doesn’t need to say anything except good about himself. They’re doing all the dirty work. Nice position, eh? Well, while I’m calming myself down, let’s get down to some serious history, shall we?
Have an AB FAN (ABsolutely FANtastic) week,
Take Care and Be Safe,
Tom K.;)

23 October 1906
Alberto Santos-Dumont wins the 3,000 franc Archdeacon Prize, flying his 14-bis biplane for nearly 60 meters (197 feet).

26 October 1907
Henry Farman sets the official distance record of 771 meters (2,530 feet) in a Voisin-Farman I.

22 October 1909
Mademoiselle Elise Deroche, better known under her self awarded title ‘la Baronne de Laroche’, makes her first solo flight. She learned to fly at Châlons in a Voisin biplane.

26 October 1909
2nd Lieutenant Frederic E. Humphreys of the United States Army becomes the first pilot officer to fly solo, at College Park in Maryland, with a flight lasting 3 minutes in a Wright biplane.

22 October 1910
The Aéronautique Militaire is formed from the French Service Aéronautique.

23 October 1910
The Infante Don Alfonso of Orleans and Bourbon becomes the first royal pilot. A cousin of King Alfonso of Spain, he learned to fly on an Antoinette monoplane at Mourmelon in France. He was a lieutenant in the Spanish Army at the time.

26 October 1910
A Lebaudy airship purchased by the British government flies a 230 mile flight from Aldershot to Moisson in France.

22 October 1911
Capitano Carlo Piazza of the Italian Army becomes the first pilot to use an aeroplane in war. He flies a Blériot monoplane from Tripoli to Azzia, on a reconnaissance mission over Turkish forces, during the Italo-Turkish campaign in Libya.

25 October 1911
Captain Tokugawa makes the first flight of the Japanese Kai-1 biplane, in Japan.

22 October 1912
The first use of an aircraft in war. Captain Carlo Piazza of the Italian Army, flying a Blériot XI, flew from Tripoli to observe Turkish positions near Azizia.

23 October 1912
Teniente de Navio Melchor Z. Escola, Argentina\’s first naval aviator, is awarded a pilot\’s certificate by the Argentine Aero Club.

26 October 1912
American Lieutenant John H. Towers conducts trials into the use of aeroplanes for anti-submarine duties.

20 October 1917
Five Zeppelins are lost: Zeppelin LZ85 (L45) is forced down behind Allied lines and destroyed by the crew; LZ93 (L44) is shot down by anti-aircraft fire over St Clement in France; LZ96 (L49) is forced down in France and captured; LZ89 (L50) goes missing over the Mediterranean; LZ101 (L55) is wrecked during a forced landing in Germany.

21 October 1917
The American 400 horse-power Liberty engine is tested on a Curtiss HS-1 seaplane.

24 October 1918
The first strengthened Fokker DVIII, called the Fokker E.V, arrives at the Western Front and is an immediate success, with a good rate of climb and maneuverability complementing a maximum speed of 204 km/h (127 mph).

26 October 1918
The Inter-allied Independent Air Force is created and Marshal Foch of France is made the supreme commander, with Britain’s General Sir Hugh Trenchard as commander in chief.

20 October 1922
Lieutenant H.R. Harriss of the United States Army Air Service (USAAS) makes the first parachute escape from a crippled aircraft in the USA, when he jumps from a Loening monoplane.

23 October 1922
The American Propeller Company demonstrates the first reversible pitch propeller.

21 October 1929
The Dornier Do X establishes a record by taking off with 10 crew, 150 passengers and 9 stowaways.

25 October 1930
The first American coast to coast air service is established by Transcontinental Western Air (TWA).

22 October – 4 November 1934
Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Captain Taylor make the first airplane flight between Australia and the United States in a Lockheed Altair.

23 October 1934
Italian Francesco Agello, flying a Macchi MC72 seaplane, establishes a new world speed record of 709 kph (440 mph).

25 October 1937
Hanna Reitch, flying a Focke Wulf Fw 61, establishes a distance record for helicopters of 108 kilometers (67 miles).

22 October 1938
Italian Lieutenant Colonel M. Pezzi, flying a Caproni 161-bis at Montecelio, establishes a new world altitude record of 17,083 meters (56,046 feet). No piston engined aircraft has ever bettered this record.

26 October 1940
The North American NA 73 fighter prototype, better known as the ‘Mustang’, makes its first flight.

21 October 1942
The United States Army Air Force (USAAF) 8th Bomber Command flies its first operation, attacking German submarine bases in occupied France.

23 October 1944
The Battle of Leyte Gulf begins and the Japanese introduce Kamikaze suicide attacks, which sink the light carrier USS St Lo.

25 October 1944
The Battle of Leyte Gulf ends, marking the end of the Japanese fleet as an effective fighting force. Japan lost 3 battleships, 4 aircraft carriers, 10 cruisers and 11 destroyers during the battle and the Americans lost 3 aircraft carriers, 3 destroyers and a submarine.

20 October 1950
The first parachute assault of the Korean War takes place when over 3,000 men of United States 11th Airborne Division drop at Sukchon and Sunchon from C-119 and C-47 aircraft.

22 October 1951
A 3rd atomic explosion in the Soviet Union is announced by the White House.

24 October 1951
A proclamation is signed, terminating the state of war between the United States and Germany.

20 October 1952
Pan American World Airways orders three de Havilland Comet IIIs.

22 October 1952
Details about the Rolls Royce Conway by-pass jet engine are released.

23 October 1954
Western nations agree to end the occupation of West Germany and to fully incorporate the German Federal Republic into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

22 October 1962
United States President Kennedy announces that United States reconnaissance aircraft have established that offensive missile sites are being erected in Cuba.

23 October 1962
The Soviet Union puts its forces on alert and challenges the United States rights to be concerned with actions in Cuba.

24-29 October 1962
Following lengthy exchanges between Kennedy and Khrushchev the ‘Cuban missile crisis’ is ended. The United States agrees not to invade Cuba and the USSR agrees to halt the construction of missile sites and to remove the missiles.

20 October 1967
The first emergency use of the crew module of a United States Air Force (USAF) General Dynamics F-111A takes place over Texas. The two man crew remain within the module until it reaches the ground and are unhurt.

21 October 1973
The Militky MBE1 becomes the first electrically powered, piloted airplane to fly. It is powered by an electric motor driven by four rechargeable batteries.

24 October 1978
The United States airline industry is deregulated.

26 October 1988
The United States Air Force (USAF) receives its first Hughes Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile, (AMRAAM).

21 October 1998
The trial launch and re-entry of the Atmospheric Re-entry Demonstrator capsule is successfully accomplished.

26 October 1999
A Learjet 35 crashes in South Dakota killing all five occupants, including the United States golfer Payne Stewart. It is believed that the aircraft’s occupants lost consciousness as the result of a pressurization failure.

25 October 2001
Lockheed Martin X-35 is selected as the winner of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) competition. A production run of up 6,000 ‘F-35′ aircraft and a contract worth $200 billion to supply the American and British air forces and navies are the rewards.

24 October 2003
The Concorde makes its last scheduled commercial flight.
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That’s it for this week Folks. See ya in seven.

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