Warbirds Online » Blog Archive » Today In Military/Aviation History 27 April

Hello Folks, yeah seven more down and dirty. To be honest, I’ve spent a very busy day on the Message Board I moderate on the 1941 Historical Aircraft Group Museum Website, and I’m suffering from ODD (Ocular-digital Disorder) this shows up when I get tired and what it is is my eyes see one thing and my fingers type another. It could get ugly, so let’s get down to some serious history, shall we?

Have an AB FAN week,

Take Care and Be Safe,

Tom K,

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May 1909
The first aerial navigational chart is published. It is a 5-color chart showing routes out of Paris by Cartes Guides Campbell.

30 April 1910
Alberto Santos-Dumont retires from flying, suffering from multiple sclerosis.

May 1911
A Belgian female pilot, Helene Dutrieu, wins the Coppa del Re (Kings Cup) after beating 14 male rivals.

27 April 1912
The first passenger flight in Central America is piloted by Bob Fowler. En Route in the floatplane Raymond Duhem makes the first aerial film of Central America.

30 April 1915
German Navy Zeppelin L9, commanded by Kapitaltn Mathys, makes an attack on three British submarines, damaging the conning tower of one of them.

May 1915
The first Canadian flying school, the Curtiss Aviation School, opens at Long Branch.

1 May 1916
The German Schutte-Lanz airship crashes near Gotland.

May 1917
Fast and well-armed Spad XIII single-seat fighters enter service with French squadrons on the Western Front.

The first Airmail stamps are issued by the Italian Post Office. 200,000 25c Express Letter stamps were overprinted ‘Esperimento Posta Aerea - Maggio 1917 - Torino-Roma-Roma-Torino’

29 April 1918
Captain Edward Vernon Rickenbacker, who would later become America’s top ace of the First World War, with 26 victories, claims his first victory, an Albatros Scout.

May 1919
Two Italian ex-military SCA M-class semi-rigid airships are used to inaugurate a passenger and mail service between Rome and Naples.

2-3 May 1923
Lieutenant O.G. Kelly and Lieutenant J.A. Macready of the United States Army Air Service (USAAS) make the first non-stop flight across the United States. Flying a Fokker T2, the journey time is 26 hours 50 minutes. They leave Roosevelt Field, Long Island and land at Rockwell Field in California.

1 May 1925
The Imperial Japanese Army Air Corps is formed.

2 May 1935
France concludes an alliance with the Soviet Union.

May 1941
The Soviet Union brings RUS-1 and RUS-2 air defense radar sets into service.

1 May 1944
A major allied offensive against the rail transportation system in Europe begins

28 April 1945
Benito Mussolini is captured at Dongo, near Lake Como and is shot by Italian Communist partisans.

29 April 1945
The war in Italy comes to an end with German envoys signing terms of unconditional surrender.

30 April 1945
Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide in the air raid bunker beneath the German Chancellery in Berlin.

1 May 1949
The Air Arm, Hong Kong Defense Force is established with Royal Air Force (RAF) assistance. It adopts the title Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force in 1970.

29 April 1952
An Air France airliner is attacked by Russian jet fighters near Koennern in the Frankfurt-Berlin international air corridor.

1 May 1952
Pan American World Airways inaugurates its Rainbow tourist fare services to Europe with Douglas DC6 airliners.

30 April 1953
A civil aviation agreement is signed between Denmark and South Africa.

A Polish pilot who landed on Bornholm Island leaves Britain for the United States.

29 April 1954
The Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation becomes the Convair Division of the General Dynamics Corporations.

1 May 1954
The first United States Air Force (USAF) airborne Early Warning and Control Division is formed and equipped with Lockheed R121 Constellation aircraft for radar surveillance.

28 April 1956
United States Military Assistance Advisory Group begins work in South Vietnam.

30 May 1957
The United States Air Force (USAF) discloses the development of the Hughes Falcon air-to-air guided missile armed with a nuclear warhead.

28 April 1961
The Soviet Union regains the world altitude record when Colonel G. Mossolov, flying a Mikoyan Ye 66A, reaches 34,714 meters (118,898 feet).

30 April 1962
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) pilot Joe Walker takes the North American X-15A to a new altitude record of 75,195 meters (246,700 feet).

30 April - 12 May 1963
American Betty Miller makes the first transpacific solo flight by a woman. The 4-stop flight is from Oakland in California to Brisbane in Australia.

1 May 1963
Jacqueline Cochran, flying a Lockheed TF-104G Starfighter sets a new 100 kilometer closed circuit world speed record for women of 1,937kph (1,203mph).

1 May 1965
Colonel R.L. Stevens, flying a Lockheed YF-12A establishes a new world speed record of 3,331kph (2,070mph).

30 April 1975
The last United States Personnel leave Vietnam in a dramatic helicopter air lift from secured locations in Saigon. In total, 7,014 United States and South Vietnamese personnel are evacuated in the days before the North Vietnamese capture the city, ending American involvement in the Vietnam conflict.

30 April 1982
Pilatus Britten-Norman delivers its 1,000th Islander/Trislander aircraft.

30 April 1985
The Lockheed Starfighter ends all front-line service when the Danish Air Force disbands its ESK726 squadron.

May 1988
The Soviet Union begins to withdraw its armed forces from Afghanistan.

May 1992
Plans to retire the McDonnell Douglas F-4G Phantom II from American service are shelved. As a result of its success in Operation Desert Storm, it has been decided to keep the F-4G in service in the anti-aircraft radar countermeasures role with the United States Air Force (USAF) for several more years.

28 April 1997
The first five production V-22 Osprey tiltrotors are delivered by Bell Boeing for use by the United States Marines.

28 April 2000
Lockheed Martin delivers the 4,000th F-16 aircraft. The F-16C is delivered to the Egyptian Air Force as part of an order of 21 machines.

30 April 2001
The Pentagon appointed panel investigating the V-22 Osprey program publishes its recommendation that it should not be abandoned, although extensive redesign and repair work is required to return it to flight. With a disastrous safety record of 23 deaths in 4 crashes, the fleet had been grounded since December.

May 2001
United States Marine Corps (USMC) Commandant General James L. Jones reaffirms support for the V-22 Osprey Tiltrotor aircraft, saying it remains the program of choice for the USMC. The V-22 program faces cancellation by the Government.

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

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