Warbirds Online » Blog Archive » Today In Military/Aviation History 7

Well, well, Sunday already. Let’s get into some serious history, shall we?

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13 September 1906
Alberto Santos-Dumont’s 14-bis biplane makes a first hop of 7 metres (23 feet).

7 September 1909
Eugène Lefebvre crashes his Wright Model A at Port Aviation Juvisy and is killed, becoming the first pilot of a powered aeroplane to die while flying.

8 September 1910
The first recorded aerial collision occurs when two brothers named Warchalovski crash in Austria.

8 September 1911
Emmanuel Helen wins a Michelin cup at Etamples in France, covering 777 miles in 14 hours 4 minutes 40 seconds, with 3 stops.

9 September 1912
Jules Vedrines wins the Gordon Bennett cup by flying a world record speed of 173kph (108mph) in his Monocoque Deperdussin monoplane at Chicago.

11 September 1912
Lieutenant Moizo, an Italian, is the first pilot to be captured in warfare when his Nieuport makes a forced landing at Azizia during the Libyan campaign. Moizo, at the time of his capture, was the longest serving pilot in the theatre with 11 months and 82 sorties to his name.

12 September 1912
The first French naval aeroplane, a Maurice Farman fitted with pontoons, is purchased.

9 September 1913
The first German Navy airship, Zeppelin LZ14 (L1), crashes into the North Sea off Heligoland, killing most of the 20-man crew.

12 September 1916
A Hewitt-Sperry radio-controlled flying bomb is tested in America. Powered by a 29kW (10 horse-power) engine it carries a payload of 140 kilos (308 pounds) of explosives up to 80 kilometers (50 miles).

11 September 1917
French fighter ace Capitaine Georges Guynemer is killed.

12-15 September 1918
An assault on the Saint Mihiel Salient, during the Battle of Bapaume, sees the largest number of aircraft assembled for a single operation. 1,483 aircraft of all types, under the command of Brigadier General William ‘Billy’ Mitchell, support American and British ground forces.

7 September 1927
The Cessna Aircraft Company is established by Clyde V. Cessna.

7 September 1932
United States Navy Lieutenant T. Settle and W. Bushnell establish a new world distance record for balloons while taking part in the International Balloon Race at Basle in Switzerland. They land at Vilna in Poland, 1,550 kilometers away (963 miles).

12 September 1942
The 89th Bombardment Squadron of the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) makes the first use of para-fragmentation bombs, during sweeps over Buna airstrip in New Guinea.

9 September 1943
The 46,200 ton Italian battleship Roma is sunk by two Ruhrstahl/Kramer Fritz X1 radio controlled bombs launched from Luftwaffe Dornier Do217s.

12 September 1943
Benito Mussolini is rescued by German glider (sailplane) troops from a hotel in the Gran Sasso mountains where he is being held prisoner. He is airlifted to safety in a Fieseler Fi 156 Storch aircraft.

8 September 1944
Two German V2 ballistic rockets land in Paris and, later in the day, the first V2 launched against England lands at Chiswick in West London. Two people are killed and several injured.

10 September 1945
USS Midway, the first of the United States Navy’s 45,000 ton class carriers is commissioned at Newport News in Virginia.

11-12 September 1946
The first post war meeting of the Fédération Aéronautique International (FAI).

8 September 1951
Japan signed a peace treaty with the United States and 47 other countries at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco.

13 September 1951
The impending formation of the United States Air Force’s first guided-missile squadron is announced. The squadron will be equipped with Matador B61s, a surface-to-surface jet powered pilotless bomber.

11 September 1953
The United States Air Force (USAF) announces that the Sidewinder air-to-air missile (AAM) has made its first completely successful interception, destroying a Grumman F6F Hellcat drone.

7 September 1956
The Bell X2 research aircraft is flown by Captain Iven C. Kincheloe to an altitude of 38,466 meters (126,200 feet).

9 September 1959
NASA’s test version of the mercury astronaut capsule is recovered successfully from the Caribbean Sea.

12 September 1959
The Soviet Union’s Luna 2 space probe is launched. and becomes the first man-made object to impact on the Moon.

13 September 1965
The first hot air balloon record is homologated by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. B. Bogan of the United States reaches an altitude of 2,978 meters (9,780 feet).

12 September 1970
The three airliners hijacked on the 6 September are blown up by Palestinian Terrorists after they release most of the 255 passengers. The Pan American World Airways (Pan-Am) 747 is blown up after all aboard have been freed. These incidents highlight the vulnerability of international air travel as a terrorist target.

11 September 1971
Israel shoots down an Egyptian Sukhoi Su7 fighter bomber.

7 September 1981
Edwin A. Link, inventor of the Link Trainer, dies aged 77. The Link Trainer was the first flight simulator.

12 September 1995
The first of 72 McDonnell Douglas F15S Eagles, ordered for the Royal Saudi Arabian Air Force, is delivered.

7 September 1997
Initial flight trials of the first pre-production Martin/Boeing F22 Raptor commence. The Raptor is to succeed the United States Air Force’s McDonnell Douglas F15 Eagle in the air dominance fighter role.

8 September 1997
The Boeing 777-300 is rolled out. At 73 meters (242 feet) it is the longest airliner ever built.

11 September 2001
An American Airlines and a United Airlines Boeing 767, each flying from Boston to Los Angeles, are hijacked by terrorists. The commandeered aircraft are flown by the terrorists themselves to New York, where they are crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. The attack results in the collapse of the Twin Towers and the deaths of 2,800 passengers and office workers.

An American Airlines Boeing 757, en route from Washington Dulles to Los Angeles is also hijacked and hits the Pentagon in Washington. A second Boeing 757 is hijacked while flying from Newark to San Fransisco, but passengers overpower the hijackers and the aircraft crashes near Pittsburgh, killing all 45 people on board. The attacks force the closure of American airspace and exacerbate the downturn in the international airline industry.

12 September 2001
Australia’s second biggest airline, Ansett, declares bankruptcy. Although on the verge of bankruptcy for some time, it is thought the terrorist attacks in America pushed the company over the edge.

5 September 2005
Mandala Airlines Flight 091 737 crashes in Indonesia killing at least 117.

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

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