Warbirds Online » Blog Archive » Today In Military/Aviation History 14

Well Folks, seven more down the pipe and I’m back. High point of my week was I had the staples removed from my operation. Sad, isn’t it? Let’s get down to some serious history, shall we?

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20 September 1904
Wilbur Wright makes the first ever circuit flight in an aeroplane.

17 September 1908
Lieutenant Thomas Etholen Selfridge of the United States Army Signal Corps, becomes the first person to be killed in a powered aeroplane when the Wright biplane in which he is a passenger crashes at Fort Myer. The pilot, Orville Wright, is badly injured.

14 September 1910
Zeppelin LZ6 is destroyed by fire at Boden-Oos.

The French Army use nine aeroplanes in maneuvers as Henry Farman sets up an army flying school.

15 September 1911
Edouard Nieport dies after making an emergency landing during army maneuvers in the Ardennes in France.

17 September 1911
Calbraith P. Rodgers begins the first coast-to-coast flight across the USA, from New York to Pasadena, in a Burgess-Wright aeroplane. He completes the flight on 5 November.

19 September 1911
The first airmail service in Italy starts between Bologna, Venice and Rimini.

19 September 1912
Delag’s Zeppelin LZ13 ‘Hansa’ commences the world’s first international commercial passenger service, flying from Hamburg to Copenhagen in Denmark and Malmo in Sweden.

14 September 1915
German pilot Ernst Udet loses part of the upper wing of his Aviatik B aeroplane during a bombing mission, but returns safely.

15 September 1916
Austrian Lohner flying-boat sinks the French submarine Foucault.

16 September 1916
Zeppelins LZ31 (L6) and LZ36 (L9) are destroyed by fire in their shed at Fuhlsbuttel.

17 September 1916
The German Albatros DI fighter enters service on the Western Front.

Rittmeister Manfred von Richthofen, flying an Albatros DII, is credited with his first combat victory, a British Royal Aircraft Factory FE2b of No.11 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps (RFC).

19 September 1919
Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes (CMA) begins its Paris to London passenger service with Breguet 14s.

16 September 1926
The Lioré et Olivier 20 heavy bomber creates a sensation with a new world record distance carrying a 2,000 kilo bomb-load.

18 September 1928
German airship LZ127 Graf Zeppelin is launched.

Don Juan de la Cierva flies from Croydon to Le Bourget in his C8L MkII autogiro, making the first cross-Channel flight in a rotary wing aircraft.

19 September 1935
Konstantin Tsiolkovski, the early Russian rocket pioneer dies.

14 September 1938
The first flight of Zeppelin LZ130 ‘Graf Zeppelin’.

14 September 1941
Messerschmitt Me321 heavy assault transport gliders (sailplanes) of Staffel [GS] 1 are used for the first time in an operational air assault on Saaremaa island in the Baltic, as part of an attempt to capture the fort of Kübarsaare.

16 September 1941
The Luftwaffe begins leaflet raids on Leningrad, threatening immediate destruction unless the city surrenders.

17-26 September 1944
In an attempt to secure bridges over the Maas, Waal and Lek, Allied paratroopers land at Arnhem, Eindhoven and Nijmegen. The operation is only a partial success as the British 1st Airborne Division is defeated at Arnhem. 2,200 survivors are evacuated but 7,000 are left dead or prisoners.

18 September 1947
The United States Air Force (USAF) is founded, and the new service becomes independent within a newly unified United States armed forces.

14 September 1948
Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) crews join operations on the Berlin Airlift.

20 September 1951
Greece and Turkey become members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

The United States Air Force (USAF) make a successful recovery of animals launched into space. The monkey and 11 mice are recovered with apparently no ill-effects.

15 September 1956
The Tupolev Tu104 turbo-jet powered airliner enters service with Aeroflot.

18 September 1959
The Douglas DC8 Srs10 enters United States domestic service.

15 September 1978
Professor Willy Messerschmitt, designer of the famous Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter and other aircraft, dies.

19 September 1980
Iran and Iraq go to war with one another, with both sides making extensive use of air power.

20 September 1981
The People’s Republic of China launches three satellites into orbit with a single-booster rocket, making this is the first multiple launch achieved by China.

14 September 1984
High-altitude parachute jumper, ex-United States Air Force (USAF) Colonel Joe Kittenger begins the first solo, non-stop balloon flight across the Atlantic. Kittenger’s flight takes two days.

19 September 1988
Israel launches its first satellite, the Offeq 1, using a Shavit booster rocket.

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

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