Warbirds Online » Blog Archive » This Week In Military/Aviation History 16

Hello Folks, yet another 7 gone and I’m back again. Did ya miss me? To be honest, I really don’t have anything to talk about this week either. You decide if this is a good thing or not. In the meantime, lets get down to some serious history, shall we?

Have an AB FAN week,

Be Safe,

Tom K.

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18 February 1911
Under the auspices of the British Army, Mr Henri Pecquet in a Humer-Sommer biplane made the first official airmail flight at the United Provinces Exhibition in Allahabad, India. He flew 6,000 letters and cards 5 miles from Allahabad to Naini Junction where they were transferred to rail.

22 February 1911
Henri Pequet and Captain W.G. Windham begin a regular airmail service between Allahabad and Naini Junction in India, to coincide with the Universal Postal Exhibition in Allahabad.

16 February 1912
Frank Coffyn films New York from the air using a cinema camera while controlling his aircraft with his feet and knees.

17 February 1912
French military aircraft make their first flights in Algeria.

17 February 1915
Zeppelin LZ34 (L3) is stranded and destroyed in a gale at Jutland.

20 February 1915
Allan Loughhead is given permission to start an air service during the Panama-Pacific Exhibition at San Francisco, flying 600 passengers across the bay in 50 days.

19 February 1916
Austrian physicist Ernst Mach, remembered for his research into aerodynamics and the speed of sound, dies aged 77.

21 February 1916
Zeppelin LZ47 is attacked and destroyed during a raid.

18 February 1918
The first American fighter squadron, the 95th Aero (Pursuit) Squadron, arrives in France.

19 February 1934
All existing air mail contracts are cancelled and the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) begins flying internal mail services.

19 February 1936
Brigadier General William ‘Billy’ Mitchell, the United States Army Air Corps’ advocate of air power, dies in the Doctor’s Hospital in New York.

19 February 1942
The first air attack on Australia takes place when Japanese bombers attack shipping in the harbor at Port Darwin.

22 February 1942
The first United States Army Air Force (USAAF) headquarters in Europe are established in the United Kingdom with Brigadier General I.C. Eaker commanding.

17 February 1944
Twelve radar equipped United States Navy (USN) Grumman TBF1C Avengers, from the USS Enterprise, attack Truk by night. This is the first night bombing attack launched by an American aircraft carrier.

16 February 1945
United States Army Air Force (USAAF) C-47s drop more than 2,000 paratroopers on Corregidor. The island has already been ‘softened up’ by a major bombardment of Japanese positions.

17 February 1945
Softening up operations begin against Iwo Jima. United States Navy (USN) carrier aircraft and naval guns combine with the 7th United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Consolidated B-24 Liberators to pound Japanese positions.

19 February 1945
United States Marines, with massive air and sea bombardment support, begin landing on Iwo Jima.

21 February 1945
The American carrier USS Saratoga is hit and badly damaged by a Kamikaze attack.

16 February 1953
Two Republic F-84 Thunderjets flown by Japanese Defense Force pilots intercept two Russian piston-engined fighters over north Japan.

18-19 February 1953
United States aircraft make heavy attacks on Communist forces in North Korea.

18 February 1956
Finnair inaugurates airline services to Moscow.

19 February 1957
The Bell X-14 makes its first hovering flight.

17 February 1959
The United States Navy (USN) launches the weather-reporting Vanguard II satellite into Earth orbit.

20 February 1962
The United States’ first earth orbit astronaut is launched into space. Lieutenant Colonel John H. Glenn of the United States Marine Corps (USMC) completes 3 orbits in a flight time of 4 hours 55 minutes 23 seconds.

21 February 1973
Israeli fighters shoot down a Libyan Airlines Boeing 727, killing all 104 passengers and crew. Israel claims the aircraft had flown into restricted airspace over the Sinai peninsula and that all attempts to communicate with the pilot had failed.

22 February 1974
Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Barbara Ann Allen becomes the first woman transport pilot in the United States Navy.

18 February 1981
John K. Northrop, founder of Northrop Aircraft, dies.

16 February 1982
The first Airbus A310 is completed at Toulouse. The aircraft is destined for service with Swissair.

20 February 1986
A permanently manned space station, the Soviet Union’s ‘Mir’ (Peace), is launched.

22 February 1988
It is announced that the Air Industries Division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in Iran has produced an in-house two-seat light aircraft.

17 February 2005
Opening of a new international airport in Nagoya, Japan. It is the third Japanese international airport.

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

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