Warbirds Online » Blog Archive » This Week In Military/Aviation History 5

Hello Folks, yep, it’s that time again. Seven gone and four into 2009. It’s kinda nice that the whole year is out there so full of hope and promise. I wonder how long my optimism will hold out. Stay tuned. I made a resolution to get back into my model building hobby. I have no shortage of projects to choose from. I’m getting close to finishing a 1/32nd scale P-40 in AVG (Flying Tiger) markings. I’m also hoping to spend more time on this site this year. We’ll have to see what happens. I hope all your holidays worked out well for you and yours. Before we make more history, let’s get down to some serious history, shall we?

Have an AB FAN week,

Be Safe,

Tom K.

7 January 1910
Hubert Latham makes the first flight to an altitude over 1,000 metres (2,281 feet) at Chalons in France when he flies an Antoinette VII to 3,280 feet.

10 January 1910
The first United States aeroplane meeting is held at the Dominquez Field in Los Angeles and organised by the Aero Club of California.

6 January 1911
750,000 Indians watch a flying display at Calcutta by Henri Jullerot in his Military Biplane.

7 January 1911
Lieutenant Myron Sydney Crissy of the United States Army, drops the first live bomb from an aeroplane when he conducts a test drop on a target in San Francisco from a Wright biplane piloted by Philip O. Parmelee.

9 January 1911
J.J. Hammond reaches speeds estimated at 44-47mph and an altitude of 2,500 feet while giving a demonstration attended by the Governor of Western Australia.

10 January 1912
Glenn Curtiss flies the first proper flying-boat, a converted Curtiss A2.

6 January 1913
The United States Navy (USN) uses aircraft on maneuvers for the first time off Cuba.

6 January 1915
The Friedrichshafen FF29a seaplane is successfully launched from the deck of a submarine by the German Navy during trials to extend the aircraft’s range.

7 January 1915
The Italian Corpo Aeronautico Militare is formed.

6 January 1917
In Washington DC a report recommends that the United States Army and Navy build airships similar to Zeppelins.

5 January 1918
Five German Navy Airships are destroyed in an explosion at the Ahlhorn sheds.

8 January 1919
The German Air Ministry restores civil flying.

A military airmail service is started in Switzerland by the Militär-Flugwesen, flying Haefeli DH3s between Zurich and Berne. Passenger services follow later.

9 January 1923
The first flight of the Cierva C4 Autogiro prompts the beginning of wide interest in this type of aircraft.

6 January 1926
Deutsche Lufthansa airline is formed, but does not begin commercial operations until 6 April.

7 January 1928
The first flight of the Polikarpov U2.

6 January 1931
The first formation flight across the South Atlantic, from Portuguese Guinea to Brazil, is made by ten Italian Savoia seaplanes led by General Balbo.

11-12 January 1935
Amelia Earhart flies solo in a Lockheed Vega from Hawaii to California in 18 hours 15 minutes and becomes the first person to fly this route.

5 January 1943
United States Army Air Force (USAAF) North West African Air Forces are activated under the command of Major General Carl Spaatz.

6 January 1944
Lieutenant General Carl Spaatz assumes command of the United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe and Major Generaa James H. Doolittle takes command of the 8th United States Army Air Force (USAAF) in the United Kingdom.

10 January 1946
A United States Army Sikorsky R5 sets an unofficial helicopter height record of 6,400 meters (21,000 feet) at Stratford in Connecticut.

5 January 1951
An advance party of No.421 Squadron, No.1 Fighter Wing of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) arrives at London airport.

A Military aid agreement between the United States and Portugal is reached.

5 January 1952
The first all cargo air service across the North Atlantic is inaugurated by Pan American World Airways (Pan-Am) using Douglas DC-6 pressurized aircraft.

6 January 1953
The German airline Luftag is formed.

10 January 1955
Civil airlines in Pakistan is nationalized and the Pakistan International Airlines Corporation is established.

9 January 1956
Air Austria Luftgahrts is founded.

10 January 1956
The first United States built rocket engine, with a thrust in excess of 181,437 kilos (400,000 pounds), is run successfully for the first time.

10-11 January 1962
Major Clyde P. Evely and crew establish a new world distance record in a Boeing B-52H Stratofortress. Flying from Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands to Madrid in Spain a total distance of 20,168 kilometers (12,532 miles).

5 January 1972
United States President Richard Nixon announces $5.5 billion funding to develop the Space Shuttle.

10 January 1978
The first mail delivery in space: the Soviet Union’s Soyuz 27 launches, to dock with Salyut 6/Soyuz 26 in Earth orbit, carrying mail and supplies to the cosmonauts.

6 January 1979
The first General Dynamics F16A fighter is handed over to the United States Air Force (USAF).

8-10 January 1982
A Gulfstream III, owned by the United States National Distillers and Chemical Corporation, circumnavigates the globe in 47 hours 39 minutes, breaking three world records and setting ten new ones.

7 January 1983
Marine squadron VMFA-314 at El Toro in California, becomes the first American unit to become operational with the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A Hornet.

5 January 1989
Two United States Navy (USN) Grumman F-14A Tomcat fighters shoot-down two Libyan Mikoyan MiG-23s over international waters. Libya claims that the aircraft were on unarmed reconnaissance duty, while the United States claims that the aircraft were potentially hostile.

8 January 1989
The Soviet Union announces that it will begin the destruction of its chemical weapons stockpile. Estimates of the Soviets arsenal range from 50,000 tons to ten times that. The United States is thought to possess 30,000-42,000 tons.

11 January 1990
The three-engined MD11 airliner is rolled out at the McDonnell Douglas Long Beach factory.

5 January 1995
Ben Rich, the designer of the Lockheed F-117 Stealth Fighter, dies in Los Angeles aged 69.

9 January 1997
Balloonists Per Lindstrand and Richard Branson abandon their non-stop, round-the-flight in Virgin Global Challenger, when its hydrogen gas buoyancy cell develops a leak.

5 January 1999
The first engagements between United States and Iraqi aircraft for seven years take place over the southern Iraqi ‘no-fly’ zone. The United States McDonnell Douglas F-15s and F-14s fire six missiles at the Iraqi Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25s but all the Iraqi aircraft escape.

8 January 2001
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announces its expectation for the Voyager 1 spacecraft to reach the beginnings of interstellar space in 2002/2003. This will be indicated by the measurement of the ‘termination shock’ where the solar and interstellar winds interact, which marks the beginning of interstellar space. Voyager 1, the farthest human made object from Earth, was launched in 1977.

9 January 2001
China launches a ‘Shenzhou’ spacecraft on its second unmanned test flight and the Chinese government has plans to launch a manned Shenzhou in 2005.

==================================================================== That’s it for this week Folks. See ya in seven.

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