Warbirds Online » Blog Archive » This Week In Military/Aviation History 19

Well Folks, seven more gone. Let’s gather ’round to keep warm and get down to some history, shall we? Yes we shall.

Tom K.

=====================================================================

23 October 1906
Alberto Santos-Dumont wins the 3,000 franc Archdeacon Prize, flying his 14-bis biplane for nearly 60 meters (197 feet).

22 October 1909
Mademoiselle Elise Deroche, better known under her self awarded title ‘la Baronne de Laroche’, makes her first solo flight. She learnt to fly at Châlons in a Voisin biplane.

22 October 1910
The Aéronautique Militaire is formed from the French Service Aéronautique.

23 October 1910
The Infante Don Alfonso of Orleans and Bourbon becomes the first royal pilot. A cousin of King Alfonso of Spain, he learnt to fly on an Antoinette monoplane at Mourmelon in France. He was a lieutenant in the Spanish Army at the time.

22 October 1911
Capitano Carlo Piazza of the Italian Army becomes the first pilot to use an aeroplane in war. He flies a Blériot monoplane from Tripoli to Azzia, on a reconnaissance mission over Turkish forces, during the Italo-Turkish campaign in Libya.

25 October 1911
Captain Tokugawa makes the first flight of the Japanese Kai-1 biplane, in Japan.

22 October 1912
The first use of an aircraft in war. Captain Carlo Piazza of the Italian Army, flying a Blériot XI, flew from Tripoli to observe Turkish positions near Azizia.

23 October 1912
Teniente de Navio Melchor Z. Escola, Argentina’s first naval aviator, is awarded a pilot’s certificate by the Argentine Aero Club.

19 October 1917
Zeppelin LZ 50 (L16) is dismantled after being wrecked in an accident.

20 October 1917
Five Zeppelins are lost: Zeppelin LZ85 (L45) is forced down behind Allied lines and destroyed by the crew; LZ93 (L44) is shot down by anti-aircraft fire over St Clement in France; LZ96 (L49) is forced down in France and captured; LZ89 (L50) goes missing over the Mediterranean; LZ101 (L55) is wrecked during a forced landing in Germany.

21 October 1917
The American 400 horse-power Liberty engine is tested on a Curtiss HS-1 seaplane.

24 October 1918
The first strengthened Fokker DVIII, called the Fokker E.V, arrives at the Western Front and is an immediate success, with a good rate of climb and maneuverability complementing a maximum speed of 204 km/h (127 mph).

20 October 1922
Lieutenant H.R. Harriss of the United States Army Air Service (USAAS) makes the first parachute escape from a crippled aircraft in the USA, when he jumps from a Loening monoplane.

23 October 1922
The American Propeller Company demonstrates the first reversible pitch propeller.

21 October 1929
The Dornier DoX establishes a record by taking off with 10 crew,
150 passengers and 9 stowaways.

25 October 1930
The first American coast to coast air service is established by Transcontinental Western Air (TWA).

22 October – 4 November 1934
Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Captain Taylor make the first aeroplane flight between Australia and the United States in a Lockheed Altair.

23 October 1934
Italian Francesco Agello, flying a Macchi MC72 seaplane, establishes a new world speed record of 709kph (440mph).

25 October 1937
Hanna Reitch, flying a Focke Wulf Fw61, establishes a distance record for helicopters of 108 kilometers (67 miles).

22 October 1938
Italian Lieutenant Colonel M. Pezzi, flying a Caproni 161-bis at Montecelio, establishes a new world altitude record of 17,083 meters (56,046 feet). No piston engined aircraft has ever bettered this record.

21 October 1942
The United States Army Air Force (USAAF) 8th Bomber Command flies its first operation, attacking German submarine bases in occupied France.

23 October 1944
The Battle of Leyte Gulf begins and the Japanese introduce Kamikaze suicide attacks, which sink the light carrier USS St Lo.

25 October 1944
The Battle of Leyte Gulf ends, marking the end of the Japanese fleet as an effective fighting force. Japan lost 3 battleships, 4 aircraft carriers, 10 cruisers and 11 destroyers during the battle and the Americans lost 3 aircraft carriers, 3 destroyers and a submarine.

20 October 1950
The first parachute assault of the Korean War takes place when over 3,000 men of United States 11th Airborne Division drop at Sukchon and Sunchon from C-119 and C-47 aircraft.

22 October 1951
A 3rd atomic explosion in the Soviet Union is announced by the White House.

24 October 1951
A proclamation is signed, terminating the state of war between the United States and Germany.

20 October 1952
Pan American World Airways orders three de Havilland Comet IIIs.

22 October 1952
Details about the Rolls Royce Conway by-pass jet engine are released.

23 October 1954
Western nations agree to end the occupation of West Germany and to fully incorporate the German Federal Republic into the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

22 October 1962
United States President Kennedy announces that United States reconnaissance aircraft have established that offensive missile sites are being erected in Cuba.

23 October 1962
The Soviet Union puts its forces on alert and challenges the United States rights to be concerned with actions in Cuba.

24-29 October 1962
Following lengthy exchanges between Kennedy and Khrushchev the ‘Cuban missile crisis’ is ended. The United States agrees not to invade Cuba and the USSR agrees to halt the construction of missile sites and to remove the missiles.

20 October 1967
The first emergency use of the crew module of a United States Air Force (USAF) General Dynamics F-111A takes place over Texas. The two man crew remain within the module until it reaches the ground and are unhurt.

21 October 1973
The Militky MBE1 becomes the first electrically powered, piloted airplane to fly. It is powered by an electric motor driven by four rechargeable batteries.

24 October 1978
The United States airline industry is deregulated.

21 October 1998
The trial launch and re-entry of the Atmospheric Re-entry Demonstrator capsule is successfully accomplished.

25 October 2001
Lockheed Martin X-35 is selected as the winner of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) competition. A production run of up 6,000 ‘F-35′ aircraft and a contract worth $200 billion to supply the American and British Air forces and navies are the rewards.

24 October 2003
The Concorde makes its last scheduled commercial flight.

=====================================================================

That’s all for this week Folks. See ya in seven. Have a great week.

Share this post...

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Save to Browser Favorites / Bookmarks