Archive for the 'Warbird' category
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This Week In Military/Aviation History 5-11 July
July 4, 2010 9:45 pmWell Folks, It’s official. It’s been four years since I started this little weekly post. My actual anniversary was last week. You see, I did a little research on how long I’ve been here because of my mini-rant last week, which, by the way was a monumental FLOP! Nothing showed up on WIX about this site. Looks like I’m gonna have to do it myself….again. That’s OK Folks, it’ll just be all business from now on. No lead-in, just the facts, man, just the facts. You know, maybe subconsciously I knew it was four years and that’s why what happened, happened. I don’t know. Oh, by the way, The 1941 Historical Aircraft Group Museum Geneseo Airshow, AKA “The Greatest Show On Turf” is next weekend, so I will be skipping this post next week. I will be there at the Airshow all weekend representing the Message Board I moderate for the Museum and hopefully signing up new members to the Museum. Stop by the Membership Tent and say hi. So, I hope last week went well for you and you had a safe and enjoyable 4th of July holiday and the next two weeks also go well also. Well, I think it’s about time to start our little stroll down History Lane, shall we? Yes, I think we should and we shall.
Tom K. 
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8 July 1908
A Frenchwoman Madame Thérèse Peltier becomes the first woman to fly as a passenger in an aeroplane when she is taken up by Léon Delagrange in a Voisin biplane.
7 July 1910
The Belgian war ministry establishes a flying corps.
10 July 1910
The first flight at an altitude of over a mile is made by Walter Brookins, flying at 1,900 meters (6,234 feet) in a Wright biplane in Indianapolis, USA.
6 July 1911
The Aerotechnical Institute of Saint-Cyr, France, opens in a building rented from Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe.
7 July 1911
Lieutenant de Vaisseau Conneau wins the Circuit of Europe air race in a Blériot monoplane.
5 July 1912
Americans Captain Charles Chandler and Lieutenants Thomas Milling and Henry Arnold are presented with certificates qualifying them as the first United States ‘Military Aviators’.
7 July 1914
Dr Robert H. Goddard receives a United States patent for a two-stage rocket with solid fuel propellant.
5 July 1915
German Army airship Schutte-Lanz SL5 is wrecked after it is forced to land during a gale.
7 July 1917
A large formation of Gotha and Friedrichshafen bombers attacks London, leaving 57 dead and many injured.
10 July 1918
Leutnant F. Rumey is awarded the Pour le Mérite.
7 July 1937
Following clashes with Chinese troops at Lukouchiao near Peiping, Japan initiates a full scale invasion of China.
11 July 1938
Germany’s Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG becomes Messerschmitt AG. All existing aircraft designs retain the Bf prefix, for example, Messerschmitt Bf109, but all new projects are prefixed Me.
8 July 1940
The first airliner with a pressurised cabin, the Boeing 307 Stratoliner, enters service with Transcontinental Airways on the New York to Burbank in California route.
9-10 July 1943
Following a month of air bombardment on Sicily, Sardinia and Italy an Anglo-American force invades Sicily. The amphibious landings are preceded with an assault by paratroopers and a large number of cargo carrying gliders (sailplanes). This operation is not a resounding success, with 69 gliders of the 137 released, coming down in the sea. A further 56 land at various points on the Sicilian coast and only twelve alight on their intended targets. The paratroop drop is also dispersed and is far less effective than had been intended.
10 July 1945
The final United States aircraft carrier operations begin against targets on the Japanese home islands.
11 July 1945
The United States announces the transfer of the 8th United States Army Air Force (USAAF) via the United States to the Far East.
6 July 1951
Four United States RF-80As are refuelled by a KB-29 tanker over North Korea. This is the first in-flight refuelling under combat conditions.
7 July 1953
A Sikorsky S55 makes the first international helicopter flight into central London.
9-28 July 1960
Following the granting of independence to the Belgian Congo the Belgian state airline Sabena begins to airlift 25,711 Belgian nationals back to Europe.
10 July 1962
The Telstar 1 communications satellite is placed in earth orbit. The first transatlantic exchanges of television programs are now possible.
7 July 1978
Development of the Airbus A310 is announced.
8 July 1983
General Dynamics completes its 1,000th F-16 aircraft at the company’s Fort Worth factory.
5 July 1995
The first Panavia Tornado F3 leased from the Royal Air Force (RAF) enters service with the Italian Air Force.
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That’s it for this week Folks. See ya in fourteen (two weeks).
This Week In Military/Aviation History 28 June - 4 July
June 27, 2010 11:22 pmHello Folks, looks like it’s just me here again this week. Darn, it’s lonely at the top, which is where I seem to wind up every Sunday. I’m getting too old to support this huge site all by myself. Why don’t you Folks get on the proprietors of this thing and tell them to get on the stick. Go on WIX and let them know. I’ve been trying to get them to teach me how to work this thing the right way for a heck of a long time, but no joy. Actually, I don’t even know if you are out there anyway. I hope you are and you enjoy our little strolls. Logically, if you’re not out there, don’t bother. However, if you are, raise a !@###$$ ruckus. This site has so much potential it’s not funny. Oops, I’m getting wound up so I better calm down and start our little stroll down History Lane. Care to join me? OK let’s get started.
Tom ( a bit disgruntled….again) K.
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1 July 1907
An Aeronautical Division is established within the office of the Chief Signal Officer of the United States Army and becomes the first ‘heavier-than-air’ military unit. Under the command of Captain Charles de Forest Chandler, the unit’s strength was one officer, one non-commissioned officer and one enlisted man. A contract was placed with the Wright brothers for an aircraft and flight tests began in August.
30 June 1910
American Glenn Hammond Curtiss drops dummy bombs on the shape of a battleship marked out on Lake Keuka.
28 June 1911
An English aviator, Tom Sopwith, makes the first charter flight, when hired by the firm Wanamaker’s to deliver a pair of spectacles to Mr W.A. Burpee. Mr Burpee was a passenger on the liner Olympic, which had left New York harbor on a transatlantic voyage. Sopwith, flying his Howard Wright biplane overhauled the liner, then several miles out to sea, and dropped the carefully wrapped package onto the deck.
1 July 1911
The first United States Navy (USN) aeroplane, a Curtiss A1 Triad hydro-aeroplane, is flown.
28 June 1912
Delag passenger-carrying airship Zeppelin LZ10 ‘Schwaben’ is destroyed by fire while in its shed.
2 July 1912
The Danish Army Flying School is established.
1 July 1913
The Dutch Luchtvaartafdeling is formed.
28 June 1914
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, is assassinated in Sarajevo.
July 1914
German R. Böhm remains airborne for 24 hours 12 minutes, flying an Albatros BI to establish the last international flight endurance record before the First World War.
Another German, H. Oelerich, flying a DFW BI, reaches an altitude of 8,150 meters (26,740 feet) and establishes the last international altitude record before the First World War.
1 July 1915
German Fokker E1 monoplane fighters, the first aeroplanes to be fitted with synchronized machine-guns, enabling them to be fired through the propeller arc, are introduced on the Eastern Front.
The Office of Naval Aeronautics is formed to oversee United States naval air operations.
A French Morane-Saulnier monoplane is destroyed by Leutnant Kurt Wintgens, flying a Fokker M5K with synchronized machine-gun equipment.
1 July 1916
The Russian Aviation Experimental Bureau (RIB) is established at the Moscow Higher Technical School.
28 June 1917
Commercial airmail flights are instituted between Naples and Palermo in Italy.
30 June 1917
Lieutenant Colonel William ‘Billy’ Mitchell replaces Major T.F.Dodd as Aviation Officer of the American Expeditionary Forces.
28 June 1919
The Versailles Peace Treaty is signed. Under the treaty, Germany is forbidden from having an air force or producing military aircraft.
July 1919
Compagnie des Transports Aéronautiques du Sud-Ouest is formed as a charter operator flying to points around the Bay of Biscay.
1 July 1924
The first regular transcontinental airmail flights begin in the USA.
2 July 1926
The United States Army Air Service (USAAS) changes its name to the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC).
28-29 June 1927
Lieutenant A. Hegenberger and Lieutenant L. Maitland, fly from Oakland in California to Honolulu in Hawaii in a Fokker C2 monoplane.
3-5 July 1928
A Savoia-Marchetti S64 monoplane, flown by Italians Captain Arturo Ferrarin and Maggiore Carlo Del Prete, breaks distance records with a flight of over 7,000 kilometers.
3 July 1929
A successful conclusion to the ‘parasite’ trials is reached when a modified Vought VO-1, flown by Lieutenant A.W. Gordon, hooks onto United States Navy (USN) airship ‘Los Angeles’.
1 July 1933
Unable to immediately purchase Boeing Model 247s, Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA) had requested that the Douglas Aircraft Company develop a competitor. The Douglas DC1 makes its first flight on this date.
1-15 July 1933
24 Italian Savoia-Marchetti S55X flying boats, under the command of General Italo Balbo, make the first transatlantic formation flight. The flight between Italy and Chicago in Illinois is to take part in the Century of Progress Exposition.
2 July 1937
Amelia Earhart and Captain Fred Noonan are lost over the Pacific during an attempted round the world flight.
28 June 1939
Germany and Italy undertake discussions which will lead to “the closest co-operation between German and Italian Air Forces.”
July 1939
The first operational use of Soviet 82mm RS82 air-to-ground rockets takes place near Khalkin Gol in Outer Mongolia.
1 July 1942
The first Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress for the 8th United States Army Air Force (USAAF) lands at Prestwick in Scotland.
1 July 1945
With air support from the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and the 5th and 13th United States Army Air Force (USAAF), the Australian 7th division lands on the South-east coast of Borneo.
2 July 1945
Japanese authorities begin a major evacuation of people from Tokyo, due to heavy and continuous air attacks by the Americans.
1 July 1946
Operation Crossroads: a Boeing B-29 of the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) drops an atomic bomb over 73 naval vessels anchored at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
3 July 1947
The Philippine Air Force is re-established.
28 June 1948
British Berlin Airlift operations begin.
28 June 1950
A Lockheed RF80A surveys North Korean troops completing the United States Air Force’s first reconnaissance mission by a jet.
30 June 1950
It is announced that American ground forces have left Japan for operations in Korea and that No.77 Fighter Squadron Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), with American Mustang fighters, has been offered for service in Korea.
3 July 1950
The first United States naval jet fighters are involved in air combat, including Grumman F9F2 Panthers flown from the carrier USS Valley Forge.
1 July 1952
The Portuguese Air Force is formed, with the unification of Portuguese Arma da Aeronautica and Aviacao Maritima.
1 July 1953
Civil air traffic control in West Germany is handed over to the Federal German Government.
1 July 1954
Japanese National Defense Forces are officially constituted.
3-4 June 1955
Canadian Pacific Air Lines inaugurates a polar route, flown by Douglas DC06B ‘Empress of Amsterdam’.
1 July 1958
Royal Nepal Airlines is formed as a wholly government-owned airline, operating domestic services.
30 June 1968
The Lockheed C-5A Galaxy makes its first flight from Dobbins Air Force Base in Georgia.
4 July 1969
The modern hang glider is developed in United States by Australian Bill Moyes, while working for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The first flight is made by fellow Australian Bill Bennett who takes off on water skis near Staten Island in New York and then flies over the Statue of Liberty.
30 June 1977
United States President Carter announces the cancellation of the B1 bomber project, favouring instead cruise missiles in place of the piloted bomber.
4 July 1977
Patricia Undall and Nan Gaylord win the 30th and final annual women’s United States transcontinental air race, nicknamed ‘The Powder Puff Derby’.
3 July 1981
Aeroflot inaugurates its first international service with the Ilyushin Il86 on the airline’s Moscow-East Berlin route.
1 July 1982
Denmark integrates its three armed services, although each will retain a separate identity.
2 July 1982
The first 112 Panavia Tornados for the Federal German Marineflieger are delivered.
Free Enterprise, designed to fly around the world non-stop and without refuelling, crashes on a test flight, killing its pilot Tom Jewett.
2 July 1984
Escadron de Chasse (EC) ½ at Dijon is the first unit to become operational with the Dassault-Breguet Mirage 2000.
2-3 July 1987
Per Lindstrand and Richard Branson complete the first transatlantic balloon flight in ‘Virgin Atlantic’, the largest hot-air balloon the world had ever seen, with a capacity of 60,314 cubic meters (2,130,000 cubic feet). Virgin Atlantic covers 3,075 miles from Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine to Eglinton in County Londonderry in 31 hours 41 minutes.
July `1988
A proposal for a cease-fire in the Iran-Iraq war is advanced.
1 July 1988
CAAC, the Chinese state airline, changes its name to become Air China.
3 July 1988
An Iranian Air Airbus 300 is shot down by the United States Navy (USN) guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes, after mistaking it for an Iranian Grumman F-14 Tomcat, killing all 286 people on board.
1 Jul 1989
The crowd at the Paris air show is stunned when the Soviet Sukhoi Su-27 performs its ‘Cobra’ maneuver. The Cobra sees the aircraft transfer from level flight to a vertical attitude and back to level flight with negligible changes in altitude.
4 July 1989
One person is killed when a Soviet Air Force Mikoyan MiG-23 crashes near Courtrai in Belgium. The pilot had ejected over Polish airspace due to technical problems with the aircraft. The MiG-23 was then escorted by two United States Air Force (USAF) McDonnell Douglas F-15s under orders not to attack unless the aircraft was about to come down on a town.
29 June 1990
The Canadian aerospace company Bombardier takes over the manufacture of the Learjet from Integrated Resources of the USA.
29 June 1992
The first Advanced Light Helicopter developed by Hindustani Aeronautics and Messerschmitt Bolkow-Blohm is rolled out in Bangalore.
4 July 1992
The aircraft carrier USS George Washington comes into service.
29 June 1996
The original ‘Air Force One’, the Boeing VC-137 used as the official aircraft of United States Presidents since 1959, is taken out of service.
4 July 1997
The Mars Pathfinder lands on the surface of Mars after its 6 month journey from Earth.
July 2000
United Airlines buys its rival, United States Airways, in a $11.6 billion deal. The deal strengthens the Star alliance, a group of airlines that includes United and Lufthansa, and puts pressure on British Airways to consolidate its rival OneWorld grouping.
Negotiations are finalized by the Indian Navy for a further six Tupolev Tu-142M maritime surveillance aircraft from Russia, costing approximately $200 million.
3 July 2001
More than three months after its emergency landing at Lingshui airbase in China, the United States Navy EP-3E Aries III is air freighted back to America on a chartered Russian An-124. The Chinese Government insist that a civilian aircraft be used to remove the aircraft.
2-3 July 2005
Steve Fossett and co-pilot Mark Rebholz recreated the first direct crossing of the Atlantic by the British team of John Alcock and Arthur Whitten-Brown on 14 June 1919 in a Vickers Vimy bi-plane.
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That’s it for this week Folks. See ya in seven.
This Week In Military/Aviation History 21-27 June
June 20, 2010 10:18 pmHello Folks, well, seven more in the books which means there are now 20 days until aircraft arrival day for the Geneseo Airshow 2010. Boy, is it flying by. (No pun intended…..really). I hope your week went well and all you Dads out there had one AB FAN Father’s Day. My son is grown so no more handmade presents. Pity. He does owe me dinner and a movie when a half way decent movie I’d like to see comes up. Right now nothing out there floats my boat. Oh well. What say we get started on our weekly stroll down History Lane shall we? Yes, I think we should and we shall.
Tom K.
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21 June 1911
Edouard Nieport flies at 87mph in his Nie-2N monoplane.
26 June 1912
The Japanese government forms a Kaigun Kokujutsu Kenkyu Kai (Naval Committee for Aeronautical Research).
27 June 1912
The Italian Aviation Service is formed from the Battaglione Aviatori (Aviation Battalion).
21 June 1913
American Miss Georgia ‘Tiny’ Broadwick is the first woman to descend from an aeroplane by parachute when Glenn L Martin flies her up to 2,000 feet above Griffith Park in Los Angeles.
23 June 1916
Victor Emmanuel Chapman of the Lafayette Escadrille, becomes the first American pilot to be killed in action.
26 June 1917
Prompted by the entry of the United States into the war, the German Army Air Service unveils its Amerika-programm (America Program), which provides for the creation of 40 new fighter squadrons and the expansion of aircraft manufacturing output from 1,000 to 2,000 aircraft per month.
23 June 1919
Seven German Navy Zeppelins are scuttled by their crews at Nordholz to prevent them being handed over to the Allies as part of the Versailles Peace Treaty.
25 June 1919
The world’s first purpose-built all metal commercial aircraft flies as the German Junkers F13. 322 are eventually built.
27 June 1923
The first air-to-air flight refuelling is demonstrated by Captain L.H. Smith and Lieutenant J.P. Richter of the United States Army Air Service (USAAS) flying two de Havilland DH4Bs over San Diego in California.
23 June - 1 July 1931
Wiley Post and Harold Gatty fly round the world in a Lockheed aircraft, the ‘Winnie Mae’. 15,474 miles are completed in 8 days 15 hours 51 minutes.
26 June 1935
The first flight of the Breguet-Dorand Gyroplane Laboratoire helicopter in France.
26 June 1936
German Ewarld Rohlfs makes the first flight of the Focke Wulf Fw61 twin rotor helicopter. Although it lasts for only about 30 seconds, the flight establishes the aircraft as the world’s first completely successful helicopter.
25 June 1938
Deutche Luft Hansa introduces the Focke Wulf Fw200 on its Berlin to London route.
27-28 June 1938
Russian airmen, Kokkinski and Briandinsky, fly from Moscow to Vladivostock in 24 hours, covering a total distance of 4,375 miles.
22 June 1941
Operation Barbarossa: the German invasion of the Soviet Union, opens with a massive air assault. By nightfall Soviet losses amount to 1,811 aircraft of which 1,489 were destroyed on the ground. The Luftwaffe losses are light, with only 35 aircraft destroyed.
At 0430hrs Lieutenant Kokorev of the 124th Fighter Regiment, Red Air Force deliberately rams a German Messerschmitt Bf110. This is the first recorded instance of a battering ram attack during the Second Word War.
24-25 June 1944
The Luftwaffe uses the Mistel composite aircraft for the first time. This initial night operation sees five composite aircraft, combining the Messerschmitt Bf109F and Junkers Ju-88A deployed against Allied shipping in the Seine Bay.
25 June 1944
2,400 Allied bombers make a saturation raid on German positions at St Lo in France. The operation occurs in front of the American positions, in an attempt to ’soften up’ the enemy prior to an allied breakout.
25 June 1945
The National Skyway Freight Corporation is established as the first all freight airline in the USA. In 1946 it will adopt the title Flying Tiger Line Inc.
22 June 1946
Two United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Lockheed P80 Shooting Star fighters carry the first United States airmail to travel by turbojet powered aircraft, from Shenectady to Washington DC and Chicago in Illinois.
26 June 1946
The United States Army Air Force (USAAF) and United States Navy (USN) officially adopt the knot and nautical mile as standard aeronautical units for speed and distance.
24 June 1948
For ‘technical reasons’, the Soviet military authorities stop all rail services between Berlin and West Germany.
26 June 1948
The first airlift of supplies into Berlin is organized by the United States Air Force (USAF), using C47s based at Frankfurt. This marks the beginning of the Berlin Airlift.
26 June 1949
The first anniversary of the Berlin Airlift - 1.8 million tons of supplies has been airlifted in.
25 June 1950
The Korean War begins, with North Korean forces invading South Korea - Yak fighters attack Kimpo airfield.
27 June 1950
President Truman announces that the United States Air Force (USAF) will assist South Korea. The first enemy aircraft, a Yak 9 is shot down by Lieutenant William G. Hudson, USAF, flying an F82 Mustang.
23 June 1952
A civil aviation agreement between Britain and Denmark is signed in London.
23 June 1955
United States Navy (USN) aircraft are attacked by Russian planes near the Bering Strait.
27 June 1962
The North American X15A is piloted by Joe Walker to a new top speed of 6,693kph (4,159mph).
Colonel G. Mosolov establishes a new world speed record for the Soviet Union, flying the Mikoyan Ye166 to record a speed of 2,681kph (1,666mph).
22 June 1975
A new world speed record for women is established in the Soviet Union by Svetlana Savitskaya, flying a Mikoyan Ye133 at a speed of 2,683kph. (1,667mph).
22 June 1976
The Soviet Union launches the Salyut space station into orbit.
27 June 1979
The McDonnell Douglas F15 Eagle makes its combat debut, serving with the Israeli Air force, they destroy five Syrian MiG21s.
26 June 1988
An Airbus Industrie A320 airliner crashes into trees at low speed after making a low-level display pass at the Mulhourse air show, killing 3 people out of 130 on board.
21 June 1994
The role of women pilots in the French Air Force is extended to include combat flying.
22 June 1995
The result of the United States’ Joint Primary Aircraft Training System (JPATS) joint service trainer competition is announced and the Beech/British Aerospace (BAe) version of the Pilatus PC9 turboprop is the winner.
25 June 1997
The Russian space station Mir and its re-supply craft collide in orbit forcing the Mir astronauts to shut down most of the spacecraft’s systems.
23-24 June 2001
The Lockheed Martin X35B Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Short Take-Off Vertical Landing (STOVL) demonstrator begins flight testing vertical take-off, hovering and the transition to forward. The rival Boeing X32B completes its first hover and transition to forward flight on 24 June.
21 June 2004
SpaceShipOne is the first non-government built spacecraft to transport a person into space and return safely to earth.
24 June 2004
Volga-AviaExpress Flight 1303 and Siberia Airlines Flight 1047 explode south of Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow. The Russian government declares the explosions to have been caused by Chechen terrorists.
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That’s it for this week Folks. See ya in seven.
This Week In Military/Aviation History 14-20 June
June 13, 2010 10:06 pmHello Folks, yep, here I am again, That must mean another seven days are gone that we can’t ever get back. Darn, that was fast. I hope your week went well. A bit more work was done on the A-20 being reassembled in Geneseo. The engine cowlings have been installed. I don’t know why, but because the cowlings are on, it looks more like an aircraft to me. This aircraft will be on display in the hanger for all to see during the airshow for which aircraft arrival day is only 27 short days away. I will, (God willing), of course, be there promoting the Website Message Board and signing up new members. Hope to see you Folks there. Well, i think it’s about time we take our weekly trip down History Lane, shall we? Yes, once again, I think should and we shall.
Tom K.
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20 June 1909
Zeppelin LZ3 is delivered to the German Army.
17 June 1910
The Vlaicu I parasol monoplane makes it’s first flight in Romania.
Zeppelin LZ7 ‘Deutschland’ begins passenger services in Germany.
18 June 1911
The Circuit of Europe air race starts in Paris.
17 June 1912
Julie Clark becomes the first American woman to be killed flying when she hits a tree at Springfield in Illinois.
18 June 1916
Oberleutnant Max Immelman ,’The Eagle of Lille’, is killed in combat with 2nd Lieutenant G.R. McCubbin of No.25 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps (RFC).
H.Clyde Balsley of the Lafayette Escadrille, becomes the first American pilot to be shot down, but although wounded, he survives the engagement.
14 June 1917
Zeppelin LZ92 (L43) is shot down by British aircraft over the North Sea.
16 June 1917
93 civilian mechanics sail from the United States for England to study the British and French aviation industries.
17 June 1917
Zeppelin LZ95 (L48) is shot down by British aircraft over Suffolk in England by British aircraft.
Zeppelin LZ28 (L40) is wrecked at Neuenwald in Germany.
16 June 1922
Henry A. Berliner demonstrates his helicopter at College Park in Maryland.
14 June 1923
The New Zealand Permanent Air Force is formed.
19 June 1931
The Canadian opera singer Lissaint Beardmore uses a Professor glider (sailplane) to make the first cross-Channel glider flight from Lympne in Kent to St. Inglevert near Boulogne.
20 June 1939
The first flight of the Heinkel He176 is piloted by Flugkapitän Erich Warsitz at Peenemünde in Germany. This is the first flight of a manned, specifically designed rocket-powered aircraft.
20 June 1941
The United States Army Air Force (USAAF) is formed with Major General H.H. Arnold as its Chief.
18 June 1942
Major General Carl Spaatz is appointed to command the 8th United States Army Air Force (USAAF) in the United Kingdom.
15 June 1944
With massive air support from Task Force 58 carrier aircraft, United States forces begin landings on Saipan in the Mariana Islands.
15-16 June 1944
Boeing B-29 Superfortress aircraft of the 20th United States Army Air Force (USAAF) carry out their first raid against Japan from airfields near Chengtu in China. The raid is a night attack on the iron and steel mills at Yawata, Kyushu.
18-19 June 1948
All road traffic between Berlin and West Germany is halted by Soviet military authorities.
15 June - 1 July
The 19th International Air Exhibition is held in Paris.
17 June 1951
United States Air Force (USAF) Superfortresses bomb Pyongyang and Sariwon airfields. Air fighting between USAF North American Sabre jet fighters and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15s results in one enemy aircraft being shot down.
18 June 1951
An agreement is signed between the United States and Saudi Arabia giving the United States special rights to use Dharan airfield on the Persian Gulf for the next 5 years.
In air fighting over Korea between Sabre and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 aircraft, five North Korean aircraft are destroyed.
20 June 1951
North Korea loses ten planes, including four Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15s, in air fighting over North West Korea.
16 June 1952
Russian Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 jet fighters attack a Swedish Consolidated Catalina amphibian.
17 June 1952
The world’s largest non-rigid airship (ZPN1) is delivered by the Goodyear Aircraft Company to the United States Navy (USN).
14 June 1953
Communist aircraft bomb Kimpo and Inchon near Seoul.
18 June 1953
The world’s first air disaster involving more than 100 deaths occurs when a United States Air Force C-124 Globemaster II crashes after take-off in Japan.
20 June 1956
The United States Navy (USN) commissions its first helicopter assault carrier, the USS Thetis Bay.
16 June 1963
The launch of the second Soviet spacecraft in two days. Vostok 6 carries the first woman into space, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, who makes 48 orbits of the earth.
17 June 1967
The Chinese People’s Republic detonates its first thermonuclear device.
17 June 1977
The Soviet Union’s Cosmos 918 satellite is launched and intercepts the Cosmos 909 target, which was launched on 19 May.
20 June 1980
Beech Aircraft return to the commuter airliner market with the first flight of their C99 aircraft.
15 June 1981
The Pakistani Foreign Minister announces the purchase of General Dynamics F-16s for the national air force.
18 June 1983
The Space Shuttle Challenger launches on a mission that will see the first satellite retrieval and the first American woman in space. Dr Sally Ride, aged 32, is also the youngest United States astronaut to date.
20 June 2004
Frontier Airlines begins service to Nashville, Tennessee.
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That’s it for this week Folks. See ya in seven.
This Week In Military/Aviation History 7-13 June
June 6, 2010 10:17 pmHello again Folks. Yep, another week shot to heck already. I hope yours went well with a minimum of stress. That’s a rare thing today, isn’t it? Oh well. We’ll put this one to rest, and take a nice no-stress stroll down History Lane, shall we? Yes, I think we shall. Of course, 66 years ago today was extremely stressful for the hundreds of thousands of Folks involved in the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Let’s never forget their sacrifices that day and the sacrifices of so many others made during the wars before and after WWII and including today where sacrifices continue to be made. Pray for our troops and respect our vets. This is the land of the free because of the brave.
Tom K.
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10 June 1908
The Aeronautical Society of New York, the first flying club, opens with facilities at Morris Park Racetrack.
12 June 1909
The Blériot Type XII becomes the first aeroplane to carry two passengers (Santos-Dumont and Fournier) at Issy-les-Moulineaux in France.
9 June 1910
The first aircraft reconnaissance is made by Captain Marconnet and Lieutenant Fequant of the French Army. They used a single seat Henri Farman biplane on a 2½ hour, 145 kilometer flight from Camp de Châlons at Mourmelon to Vincennes. Fequart piloted the aircraft while Marconnet, armed with a hand held camera, squeezed into a narrow space between the seat and the engine. During the flight, photographs were taken of roads, railways, towns and the countryside.
10 June 1910
The French Army obtains a Wright biplane.
13 June 1910
Charles Hamilton wins the New York Times’ $10,000 prize for a return flight between New York and Philadelphia.
7 June 1912
Pioneer Anglo-French aviator, Hubert Latham, is killed by a buffalo while on safari in Central Africa.
10 June 1912
The first German airmail is flown by airships ‘Schwaben’ and ‘Gelber Hund’ from Darmstadt to Frankfurt/Main.
10 June 1913
The longest flight between sunrise and sunset wins Marcel Brindejonc des Moulinais the Pommeroy cup. He flies 900 miles from Paris to Warsaw.
13 June 1917
Fourteen Gotha bombers execute the first large-scale daylight bombing raid on London, leaving 162 dead and 432 injured. These casualties represent nearly 20% of all those caused in Britain by aeroplanes between 1914 and 1918.
Hauptmann Ernst von Brandenburg, the leader of the mass Gotha raids, wins the Pour le Mérite.
12 June 1918
American aircraft of the 96th Aero Squadron carry out the first bombing raid by US aircraft on the Western Front, attacking the railway yards at Dommany-Baroncourt.
This Week In Military/Aviation History 31 May-6 June
May 30, 2010 11:05 pmWell Folks, the speedy seven have flashed by again and like a bad penny, here I am again. Of course today is Memorial Day (traditional) and I hope your day was safe and peaceful. I also hope you took some time today to remember our military, both those who have passed on (Gone West) and those still serving along with their families. That is what this day is really about. I hope you also got a chance to thank a veteran or serving member of our military for their dedication and sacrifice. You have another chance tomorrow and I, for one, will try to make the most of it. In the meantime, what say we take our weekly stroll down History Lane, shall we? Yes, I think we should and shall, once again.
Tom K.
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6 June 1905
Gabriel Voisin, in a boxkite glider (sailplane) of his own design, lifts off from the River Seine. To enable take-off, the glider was towed by a motor boat.
6 June 1910
Robert Martinet wins the first cross-country air race between Angers and Saumur in France, a distance of 27 miles, in a Farman aeroplane.
1 June 1912
Lieutenant Hans E. Dons makes the first flight by an aeroplane in Norway, flying a German Start across Oslo Fjord.
2 June 1912
A machine-gun is fired from an aeroplane for the first time. Captain Charles de Forest Chandler of the United States Signal Corps fires a Lewis gun from a Wright Model B biplane piloted by Lieutenant Thomas de Witt Milling at Maryland, USA.
31 May 1915
German Zeppelin LZ38 makes the first bombing raid on London, dropping 3,000 pounds of bombs, killing seven civilians and injuring fourteen.
Spring 1915
The German D-type reconnaissance biplane, produced by various firms, is introduced.
June 1915
Rene Paul Fonck joins Escadrille C47 and flies Caudron GIV bombing and reconnaissance aircraft, eventually becoming the highest scoring Allied pilot of the First World War.
1 June 1915
The United States Navy (USN) order their first airship, the A1 (DN1), from the Connecticut Aircraft Company.
31 May 1917
Austrian pilot Linienschiffleutnant G.Banfield, at the controls of a Pfalz AII fighter, forces down an Italian seaplane, achieving the first Austro-Hungarian victory against enemy night bombers.
June 1917
The first German Staaken RVI four-engined bomber becomes operational.
2 June 1917
The Aviation Section of United States Army Signal Corps becomes the Airplane Division.
5 June 1917
England is attacked by a force of 22 Gotha bombers at Sheerness in Kent.
The United States Army’s First Aeronautic Detachment arrives in France.
6 June 1917
French fighter ace Georges Guynemer is awarded entry into the Legion d’Honneur.
31 May 1918
1st Lt Douglas Campbell shoots down his fifth German airplane to become the US Army’s first ace.
June 1918
Oberleutnant Ernst Udet receives the Pour le Mérite.
2 June 1918
Oberleutnant Erich Löwenhardt receives the Pour le Mérite.
June 1919
The German airline Lloyd Luftverkehr Sablatnig is founded as a domestic operator.
1 June 1919
A permanent forest fire patrol, equipped with Curtiss Jenny aircraft is established at Rockwell Field, near San Diego.
4 June 1920
United States Army Air Service (USAAS) is created following the Army Re-organization Act.
4-6 June 1927
Charles A. Levine becomes the first transatlantic passenger in an aircraft. The flight, in a Wright-Bellanca WB2 Columbia, from New York to Eisleben in Germany, is piloted by Clarence D. Chamberlain and covers a distance of 6,294 kilometers (3,911 miles).
5 June 1927
The Society for Space Flight is formed in Germany. Amongst its founders and first members is a young Wernher von Braun, who would become one of the most important rocket developers and champions of space exploration between the 1930s and the 1970s.
6 June 1933
The Dornier Do8t Wal makes a flight across the South Atlantic. One refuelling stop is required, using a refuelling ship.
1 June 1934
United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) internal mail services end. The service has carried 347 tons of mail and flown about 2.6 million kilometers (1.6 million miles).
6 June 1936
The Socony-Vacuum Oil Company at Paulsboro in New Jersey begins production of 100 octane aviation fuel.
June 1938
Pabst von Ohain’s Heinkel HeS 3B turbojet is test flown beneath a Heinkel He118.
31 May 1939
A German/Danish non-aggression pact is signed in Berlin.
2 June - 4 July 1942
A costly but successful German assault on Sevastopol takes place, supported by concentrated German Air Force bombing attacks.
3-4 June 1942
The Battle of Midway is fought. The Japanese carriers Akagi, Hiryu, Kaga and Soryu are sunk by United States carrier-based aircraft and the United States Navy (USN) loses the carrier USS Yorktown. This is one of the decisive battles of the Second World War. as the Japanese Navy is deprived of much of its carrier force and, prevented from taking the initiative, it is forced back onto the defensive.
June 1943
The Messerschmitt Me262 is ordered into production.
1 June 1944
A United States Navy (USN) airship crosses from South Weymouth in Massachusetts to Port Lyautey in Morocco via the Azores, to complete the first Atlantic crossing by a non-rigid airship. .
3 June 1944
A Luftwaffe Junkers Ju290A transport lands in Greenland to evacuate 26 men of the Bassgeiger weather station who have been based there for 10 months.
6 June 1944
The Allied invasion of Normandy begins. The amphibious landings, which are the largest in history, are preceded by airdrops. The whole operation is supported by massive air operations, with the allied air forces flying 14,674 sorties in the 24 hours up to midnight on the 6 June.
31 May 1945
The United States War Department announces that a woman and five children have been killed by a Japanese bomb-carrying balloon on 5 March at Lake View in Oregon.
1 June 1946
A Pan American World Airways (Pan-Am) Constellation lands at London Heathrow on the Airline’s first scheduled New York to London service.
31 May 1950
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is to send a squadron of Douglas Dakota transport aircraft to assist British forces in Malaya.
31 May 1951
Captain Charles F. Blair lands at Idlewild Airport in New York after flying non-stop in a Mustang from Fairbanks in Alaska, covering 3,450 miles in 9 hours 31minutes. This is the first solo flight across the North Pole in a single engined aircraft.
2 June 1954
A Douglas DC-3 freighter belonging to Sabena, the Belgian airline is attacked by Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 jet.
3 June 1954
Capital airlines announces the purchase of three Vickers Viscount propeller-turbine airliners.
31 May 1955
Jacqueline Auriol flies the Dassault Mystere IVN to a speed of 715mph to obtain the women’s world speed record.
3-4 June 1955
Canadian Pacific Air Lines inaugurates a polar route, flown by Douglas DC06B ‘Empress of Amsterdam’.
6 June 1955
French pilot Jean Moine lands a Bell 47G2 helicopter on the summit of Mont Blanc at an altitude of 15,772 feet.
1 June 1956
The Douglas DC-7C long range piston-engined airliners goes into service on Pan American World Airways between the United States and Europe.
3 June 1959
American satellite Discovery 3 is launched carrying four mice.
4 June 1959
A new lightplane distance record of 12,365 kilometers (7,683 miles) is set by Max Conrad in his Piper Comanche, with a non-stop flight from Casablanca to New York.
1 June 1964
The Kenya Air Force is officially established, with British assistance.
3 June 1965
The Americans launch Gemini 4 with James McDivitt and Edward White onboard. During the mission, White makes a 21 minute space walk.
5 June 1967
The Boeing company delivers its 1,000th jet airliner, a Model 707-120B, to American Airlines.
The outbreak of the Arab-Israeli ’six day war’: pre-emptive strikes by Israeli Air Force virtually destroy all Egyptian, Jordanian and Syrian air response to the attack.
5 June 1969
United States Air Force (USAF) bombers renew attacks on North Vietnam.
3 June 1973
The 30th Paris Air Show closes with the crash of the second production Tupolev Tu-144 supersonic airliner, killing all six crew members and eight people on the ground.
4 June 1974
Second Lieutenant Sally D. Woolfolk becomes the United States Army’s first woman pilot.
5 June 1979
The first production Panavia Tornado GR1 rolls off the production line.
1 June 1980
The Dutch Fokker company changes its name to Fokker BV with the end of the merged activities of VFW-Fokker.
Braniff International terminates its agreement to lease Concorde aircraft from British Airways and Air France citing fuel costs, which have almost doubled since the lease began.
5 June 1980
The Soviet Union launch their first manned space capsule to incorporate an automatic docking system, the Soyuz T.
June 1986
Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH is formed in Munich. The company will oversee the production of the European Fighter Aircraft program.
June 1988
Personal television sets for airline passengers are introduced by Northwest Airlines on the Detroit to Tokyo route.
1 June 1988
Per Lindstrand establishes a new balloon altitude record, reaching an altitude of 19,810 meters (65,000 feet) over Texas. His balloon has a capacity of 17,000 cubic meters (6,000,000 cubic feet).
June 1991
For the first time the secrets of a current Russian combat aircraft are openly displayed to a Western audience as a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-31 goes on show at the Paris Air Show.
2 June 1996
The Raytheon Beech T-6A Texan II is rolled out.
June 2000
Four MiG27 ‘Flogger’ ground attack aircraft are delivered to the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) for use in the ongoing conflict against the insurgent group the Tamil Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE).
1 June 2004
America West Airlines starts service between Phoenix and Anchorage.
6 June 2004
Alaska Airlines starts service between Denver and Anchorage and discontinues service between San Jose and Tucson.
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That’s it for this week Folks. See ya in seven.
This Week In Military/Aviation History 24-30 May
May 23, 2010 10:04 pmHello Folks. Another quick seven has blown by me and here I am again. I hope you had a good week. The weather for this week looks great, mostly in the 80s. Wow! A short month ago I was glad it was in the 60s. I don’t think I’ll complain too much about the heat. The older I’ve gotten the more I detest being cold. I’d rather be sweating my butt off than shivering. Don’t get me started about snow shoveling either. Oh well, what say we start our weekly stroll down History Lane, shall we? Yes, I think we shall.
Tom K.
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26 May 1904
The Wright brothers begin a series of over 100 flights in Flyer No.II.
24 May 1910
Prince Charles of Romania becomes the first royal aeroplane passenger, in a Farman piloted by M. Osmontat at Bucharest.
25 May 1910
The Wright brothers fly together for the first time at Dayton in Ohio.
27 May 1910
Italian Ugo Tabachi pilots the first trial flight of the Caproni Ca1 monoplane, built by Gianni Caproni.
24 May 1912
Anthony Fokker crashes his Goedecker-built B1912 monoplane at Berlin, just 10 days after demonstrating it to the German Army.
30 May 1912
Pioneer aviator Wilbur Wright dies from typhoid fever.
28 May 1913
The full-size ‘Aerodrome’, designed by Samuel Pierpont Langley, is flown after modifications during reconstruction.
26 May 1915
Seventeen French Voisin biplanes of Groupe de Bombardment I conduct an attack on a strategic military target at Ludwigshafen in Germany.
Oberleutnant Kastner and Leutnant Georg Langhoff (observer) attack and shoot down a French Voisin in their Halberstadt C-type at Dournai in France. This is the first intentional attack by a German aeroplane on another armed aeroplane.
27 May 1915
Four days after Italy declares war, an Austrian Lohner L1 flying-boat is captured by the Italians off the Italian coast.
24 May 1917
French Premier Alexandre Ribot requests American aid in the shape of 5,000 pilots, 4,500 aircraft and 50,000 mechanics.
25 May 1917
Twenty-one aircraft attack Folkestone and Shorncliffe in Kent, in the first large daylight raid by German Gotha bombers. The attack leaves 95 dead and 260 injured and one Gotha is destroyed and another damaged by fighters based in France.
30 May 1917
After flying overnight from Chicago, the United States Navy’s B1 dirigible (steerable airship) arrives at Akron, Ohio.
24 May 1918
US Army Air Service is formed.
The Chief Directorate of the Workers and Peasants Military Air Fleet (GU-RKKVF: Glavoce Upravlenie-Raboche-Krestyanskogo Vozdushhnogo Flota) replaces the All-Russian Air Board.
29 May 1918
Brigadier General Mason Patrick is made Chief of the US Air Service in France.
27 May 1927
The first French aircraft carrier, ‘Béarn’, is finally completed after 7 years of construction.
27 May 1933
Japan withdraws from the League of Nations.
29 May 1937
German battleship ‘Deutchland’ is attacked by Spanish Republican air units near Ivaza in the Balearic Islands. 28 people are killed and 71 injured.
29 May 1945
An advance party of the 509th Composite Group of the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) arrives in the Mariana Islands.
29 May 1951
The first solo trans-Polar flight is made by American C. Blair, flying a North American P-51 Mustang from Bardufoss in Norway to Fairbanks in Alaska. He covers 3,375 miles in 10 hours 29 minutes.
26 May 1953
Twelve Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 jet fighters are shot down over North Korea.
25 May 1954
United States Navy (USN) ZPG2 airship, flown by Commander M.H. Eppes and crew, lands at Key West Florida after being airborne for just over 200 hours.
27 May 1956
Performance figures for Russian Tu-104 twin jet airliner are published at the Zurich airshow.
29 May 1956
The formation of Air League of New Zealand is announced.
24 May 1957
The Canadian airline Nordair begins scheduled operations.
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.
24 May 1958
The Bell X-14 Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft makes its first transition from hovering to forward flight.
28 May 1959
Two monkeys, Able and Baker are recovered unharmed after a 483 kilometer (300 mile) flight in a compartment in the nose cone of a Jupiter rocket.
24 May 1962
Mercury capsule Aurora 7 takes Lieutenant Commander M. Scott Carpenter of the United States Navy (USN) into a three orbit space flight. Problems with re-entry mean the capsule splashes down 420 kilometers (260 miles) from the intended target area.
29 May 1969
Following the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Airbus program, France and Germany sign an agreement to initiate joint development of the A300B.
25 May 1970
The United States Government announces that its nuclear missiles are to be equipped with multiple warheads, called Multiple Individual Re-entry Vehicles (MIRVs).
26 May 1972
The Cessna aircraft company announces the completion of the company’s 100,000th aircraft, the first company in the world to achieve this figure.
30 May 1972
Three Japanese terrorists kill 25 people and injure 72 at Tel Aviv Airport in Israel when they remove guns and grenades from their luggage and begin shooting. The terrorists had just stepped off a flight from Rome.
30 May 1975
The European Space Agency (ESA) is founded.
24 May 1976
Filipino Troops storm a Philippines Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC9 that was hijacked the day before by six terrorists and flown to Zamboanga airport. Three hijackers are killed, among ten deaths in the ensuing battle, and the remaining three hijackers are captured.
25 May 1979
In a serious accident on take-off from Chicago Airport, involving a McDonnell Douglas DC10 which loses its engine - the aircraft is lost and the type is grounded for safety reasons.
29 May 1985
The world’s largest aircraft, the Antonov An-124 arrives at Le Bourget airport for the Paris Air Show, and makes its first public appearance.
29 May 1987
19 year old West German Mathias Rust lands a light plane in Moscow’s Red Square.
27 May 1988
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom celebrates 30 years of flying and is still operational with twelve air forces.
25 May 2003
Boeing 727 mysteriously disappears in Angola, along with pilot Ben Charles Padilla.
27 May 2004
Delta Air Lines begins service between Cincinnati and New Haven.
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That’s it for this week Folks. See ya in seven.
This Week In Military/Aviation History 17-23 May
May 16, 2010 10:09 pmHello Folks. I hope your week went well. My Computer is still working right and I’m still horizontal and breathing, and since that’s about all I can ask for, my week went well. Let’s just start our weekly stroll down History Lane, shall we? Yes I think we shall.
Tom K.
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20 May 1909
A Frenchman, Paul Tissandier, makes the first officially recognized world speed record for an aeroplane in a Wright biplane, achieving 54kph (34mph).
18 May 1910
International talks open in Paris to form a legal basis for flight between countries.
21 May 1910
Frenchman Jacques de Lesseps wins 12,500 francs for a 37 minute flight from Calais and the £100 Daily Mail cup for the second English Channel flight.
21 May 1911
French Minister of War Maurice Berteaux is killed and Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe is injured when a Train monoplane crashes in Paris at the start of the Paris-Madrid air race.
22 May 1912
A United States Marine Corps (USMC) officer is ordered to commence flying training.
17 May 1913
Domingo Rosillo flies from Key West in Florida to Havana in Cuba, in a Morane-Saulnier monoplane.
18 May 1914
The first regular Airmail service is inaugurated in German South West Africa with a Roland biplane, making its first flight between Swakopmund and Windhoek. The service comes to an end when British forces invade the country at the outbreak of the First World War.
21 May 1915
The Spad A2 biplane fighter undergoes it’s first flight tests in France.
18 May 1916
Lieutenant Kiffin Rockwell of the Escadrille Americaine, becomes the first American pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft.
19 May 1917
The United States Government agrees to send an Army division to France.
22 May 1917
Italian military air mail service is established between Turin and Rome.
18 May 1918
The 96th Aero Squadron, the first American bomber unit, forms in France.
19 May 1918
In the latest of a series of monthly raids on London and the Home Counties by German Gotha bombers and Staaken airships, 49 civilians are killed and 179 injured as bombs fell in residential areas before midnight
Hauptmann H Kohl receives the Pour le Mérite for flying 800 missions.
20 May 1918
Overman Act creates the Bureau of Aircraft Production and the Division of Military Aeronautics. The United States Army Air Service is formed from these on 24 May.
17 May 1919
The United States War Department orders the use of the national star insignia on all United States military aircraft.
22 May 1919
French born hotelier Raymond Orteig offers a prize of $25,000 for the first non-stop flight, in either direction, between Paris and New York.
19 May 1924
Wing Commander Goble and Flight Lieutenant McIntyre of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) complete their round-Australia flight. The flight took 90 hours in a Fairey IIID.
20-21 May 1927
Captain Charles Lindbergh makes the first solo, west to east transatlantic crossing in a specially-built Ryan NYP (New York to Paris) Monoplane, ‘Spirit of St Louis’.
It took Lindberg 33 hours 39 minutes to complete the flight from Long Island in New York to Paris in France. The distance covered was 5,778 kilometers (3,590 miles).
23 May 1928
The Italian airship ‘Italia’ attempts a flight to North Pole, but crashes on the return flight.
20 May 1929
The Peruvian Army and Naval Air Services are amalgamated into the Cuerpo de Aeronautica del Perú.
18 May 1930
The German airship LZ127 Graf Zeppelin makes its first crossing of the South Atlantic.
19-24 May 1932
A Dornier DoX flying boat flies back from New York to its base at Friedrichshafen in Germany.
20-21 May 1932
Amelia Earhart, flying a Lockheed Vega, becomes the first woman to make solo flight across the North Atlantic. The flight is from Harbor Grace in Newfoundland to Londonderry in Northern Ireland.
18 May 1935
The world’s worst air disaster to date occurs when ANT-20 Maxim Gorky collides with another aircraft near Tushino, causing the death of 56 people..
20 May 1939
The first large scale air battle between Soviet and Japanese aircraft occurs in Outer Mongolia near Khalkin Gol.
22 May 1945
United States authorities disclose that Japanese balloon attacks have been, and continue to be made on the United States. One ballon had come down in Montana and another in British Columbia.
20 May 1948
The Israeli air force is in action against Arab forces for the first time.
18 May 1949
The first New York helicopter station is established at Pier 41 East River.
21 May 1949
A Sikorsky S52 helicopter establishes a new helicopter altitude record of 6,468 meters (21,220 feet) over Stratford in Connecticut.
17 May 1950
Transcontinental & Western Air changes its name to Trans World Airlines (TWA), to reflect its world-wide operations.
20 May 1951
Captain James Jabara of the 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing of the United States Air Force (USAF) in Korea, an F-86 Sabre pilot, becomes the first jet pilot to score five unconfirmed victories over jet aircraft, by destroying two Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15s.
18 May 1953
American airwoman Jacqueline Cochran becomes the first woman to fly faster than the speed of sound, piloting a Canadian built version of the North American F-86E Sabre at a speed of Mach 1.01 (652mph).
20 May 1953
Another Polish pilot lands a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 jet on Bornholm Island.
17 May 1956
Douglas Aircraft Company announces that the DC7C, the first airliner with sufficient range for non-stop crossings of the North Atlantic or North Pacific, has been granted an airworthiness certificate.
18 May 1956
The United States press highlights the ‘Colonel’s revolt’, revealing bitter interservice rivalry.
21 May 1956
The first United States hydrogen bomb is released from an aircraft, a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress eight-engined jet bomber, and exploded over Bikini atoll in the Pacific.
23 May 1958
Frenchwoman Colette Duval sets a new world record by parachuting into the Atlantic without oxygen from an altitude of 40,700 feet.
17 May 1960
Khrushchev angrily denounces American spying activities over the Soviet Union, resulting from the Gary Powers incident, causing the break-up of a Summit conference in Paris.
19 May 1972
An Indian Government spokesman in New Delhi says that Indian security forces have orders to destroy all Pakistani aircraft violating India’s airspace.
23 May 1974
Europe’s first wide-body airliner, an Airbus A300B2 of Air France, makes its inaugural fare paying flight from Paris to London.
21 May 1977
Concorde makes a special flight from New York to Paris on the 50th anniversary of Charles Lindbergh’s flight of the same route. Whereas Lindbergh took 33 hours 29 minutes, Concorde took just 3 hours 44 minutes.
20 May 1978
McDonnell Douglas delivers its 5,000th McDonnell Douglas F4 Phantom aircraft, twenty years after the first flight of the prototype.
21 May 1978
Tokyo’s new Narita International Airport becomes operational 4 years late, largely due to protest action.
20 May 1981
Hughes Helicopters announces the beginning of construction of a prototype helicopter that will use pressurised air instead of a standard tail rotor.
17 May 1982
The crew of Salyut 7 place an amateur radio satellite into earth orbit. This is believed to be the first launch of a satellite from a space station.
20 May 1982
Boeing Vertol delivers the first production CH-47D to the United States Army.
17 May 1987
An Iraqi Exocet missile hits the USS Stark, killing 37 people.
23 May 1988
The first Bell/Boeing V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft is completed.
22 May 1990
The final flight of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter in Luftwaffe service, before the aircraft is withdrawn from service.
20 May 1998
France and Germany order the first 160 Tiger attack helicopters from Eurocopter.
23 May 2004
Frontier Airlines begins service to Philadelphia, Billings, Montana and Spokane, Washington.
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That’s it for this week Folks. See ya in seven.
This Week In Military/Aviation History 10-16 May
May 9, 2010 11:43 pmWell Folks, it turned out that my poor little computer was sicker than originally thought. This time last week it was back in the shop and I was unable to do this post. It’s feeling much better now, thanks for asking. Today, I did a lot of typing trying to catch up with some things so we’ll just move on to our weekly trip down History Lane, shall we? Yes I think we shall. Phew, it’s gonna be a slow trip for me.
Tom K.
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14 May 1908
Charles W. Furnas of Dayton in Ohio, becomes the first aircraft passenger. One of the Wright brothers’ mechanics, Wilbur Wright took him on a flight of 1,968 feet which lasted 29 seconds at Kill Devil Hills in Kittyhawk, North Carolina.
16 May 1911
Delag passenger carrying Zeppelin LZ8 ‘Ersatz Deutschland’ is destroyed in a docking accident, but there are no casualties.
10 May 1913
Didier Masson drops bombs from an aeroplane on Mexican gunships in Guaymas Bay.
13 May 1913
The Russky Vitiaz is the first aeroplane fitted with a lavatory. The aircraft was a passenger transport, designed by Igor Sikorski and test flown on this date. It has not been possible to confirm if the lavatory was a water closet although some references identify it as such. This 4-engined precursor to the heavy bomber was piloted by Igor Sikorsky at St Petersburg and had a wingspan of 28 meters (92 feet).
11 May 1915
Continuous airship raids on England are ordered by the German High Command.
14 May 1915
The United States Navy (USN) orders it’s first airship from the Connecticut Aircraft Company.
10 May 1916
The French Air Force places an order for 268 Spad VII fighters.
14 May 1917
Zeppelin LZ64 (L22) is shot down by a British flying boat with the loss of all hands.
15 May 1917
German Leutnant Heinrich Gontermann is awarded the Pour le Mérite. Gontermann achieved eighteen victories against Allied balloons, once shooting down four in three minutes. He is killed in a crash while testing a new Fokker DRI.
11 May 1918
The American Expeditionary Force receives the first United States built de havilland DH4.
Italian Corpo Aeronautico Militare aircraft are used to fly an air service across the Tyrrhenian Sea, which lasts for a month.
15 May 1918
The United States Army Signal Corp establishes the first American airmail service between New York and Washington, using Curtiss JN and Standard J aircraft.
Captain Rudolph W. Schroeder attains a height of 10,093 meters. (33,113 feet) flying from Dayton, Ohio, in a Packard-Le Père LUSAC-11 fighter, powered by a liberty12 engine, fitted with a Turbocharger.
11-14 May 1926
In the first airship flight over the North Pole, Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian expedition leader, uses the airship ‘Norge’ to fly from Spitzbergen to Teller in Alaska.
15 May 1928
The first Australian flying doctor service commences, with Dr K.H. Vincent Welsh using a de Havilland DH50.
15 May 1930
Miss Ellen Church, a registered nurse from Iowa, becomes the first air hostess as she welcomes 11 passengers on board a United Airlines Boeing 80A tri-motor at Oakland in California. For $125 a month the United Airlines female hostesses were involved in ground handling duties and in the air they dispensed unvarying meals consisting of fruit cocktail, fried chicken and rolls, and tea or coffee.
13 May 1934
United States airmail pilot Jack Frye sets a new United States coast-to-coast record, carrying mail from Los Angeles to Newark. The journey is completed in 11 hours 31 minutes.
16 May 1935
Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union conclude an alliance.
13 May 1936
Italy annexes Abyssinia.
15 May 1938
H.L. Ickes, United States Secretary of State for the Interior, confirms his refusal to supply helium gas to Germany.
10 May 1940
The German invasion of the Low Countries begins. There is extensive use of paratroops and airborne Troops and Belgium’s Fort Eban Emael, considered impregnable, is quickly and easily overcome by glider-borne assault troops. Luftwaffe records show their losses for the first day are 304 gliders destroyed and 51 damaged.
13 May 1940
The Sikorsky VS300 single rotor helicopter, which uses a small rotor at the tail to overcome main rotor torque, makes its first free flight.
14 May 1940
The Rotterdam business center is bombed during surrender discussions. The raid is an error, as all bomber groups were recalled as soon as the negotiations began, but unfortunately one group failed to receive the recall instructions. The world is shocked by this bombing.
10-11 May 1941
Rudolf Hess, Deputy Führer of Germany, flies to United Kingdom in a Messerschmitt Bf 110 and lands by parachute in Scotland. While the purpose of the flight is still a matter of controversy, it is thought that when he eventually identified himself he claimed his mission was one of peace.
13-14 May 1941
The first major deployment of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft in the Pacific. The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) flies 21 aircraft from Hamilton Field in California to Hickham Field in Hawaii.
10 May 1942
USS Ranger, operating off the west African Gold Coast flies off sixty United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Curtiss P40 aircraft to Accra. They are then flown on by stages, to 10th USAAF in India.
13 May 1943
Axis troops in North Africa surrender.
10 May 1944
A major engineering task to construct bomber and fighter airfields in China, the Chengtu Project, is completed. The project used over 400,000 Chinese coolies, often using the most primitive of equipment, to finish the task.
12 May 1949
The Soviet Union ends the blockade of Berlin, but the Allied airlift continues until 30 September 1949 to build up stocks in the city.
14 May 1953
India’s air transport companies are nationalized, with the formation of Air India International Ltd for long distance flights and Indian Air Lines for internal routes and services to nearby countries.
15 May 1953
Central British Columbia Airways adopts the name Pacific Western airlines.
15 May 1954
Qantas Empire Airways takes over the Australia to United States and Canada service, previously operated by British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines, which then ceases to exist as a separate company.
16 May 1955
Lufthansa begins its European international operations.
12 May 1958
The joint United States-Canada, North American Air Defense Command (NORAD), is formally established.
16 May 1958
The first world speed record over 2,000kph is set by Captain W.W. Irvin of the United States Air Force (USAF), in a Lockheed F-104A Starfighter attaining a speed of 2,259kph (1,403mph).
11 May 1960
A United States Army Signals Corps balloon ascends to an altitude of 43,890 meters (144,000 feet) before bursting. This is a record breaking night time altitude ascent.
11 May 1964
Jacqueline Cochran sets a new world speed record for women over a 15/25 kilometer course of 2,300kph (1,499mph). Her aircraft is a Lockheed F-104G Starfighter.
12 May 1964
American Joan Merriam becomes the second woman to fly solo round the world. She takes 56 days to complete the journey in a route originally planned by Amelia Earhart. She makes the flight in a Piper Apache.
10 May 1972
Lieutenant Randy Cunningham and Lieutenant (Junior Grade) William Driscoll of the United States Navy (USN) shoot down Colonel Toon, the top North Vietnamese ace and two other MiG17 aircraft and become the first United States aces of the Vietnam war. Later in the same mission, their aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom, is hit by a surface-to-air missile (SAM), but they successfully return to their aircraft carrier.
15 May 1980
Lufthansa-Unternehmen inaugurates Lockheed L101 1-500 TriStar services on its Dusseldorf to Los Angeles route.
12 May 1982
The airline Braniff International collapses due to the recession in the United States.
13 May 1982
Soyuz T5 is launched from Baikonur with two cosmonauts and successfully links up with the Salyut 7 orbiting laboratory.
15 May 1982
A SOCATA TB10 Tobago makes its first flight after having its Avco Lycoming engine converted to run on liquid petroleum gas (LPG).
14 May 1999
The United States Marine Corps (USMC) takes delivery of its first Bell Boeing MV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor.
16 May 2000
Singapore Airlines announces it is ‘in talks’ with Airbus with a view to purchasing up to sixteen A3XX aircraft.
15 May 2001
The Joint Strike Fighter Program Office begins talks with Brazil and Germany on possible participation in the engineering and manufacturing development phases of the program.
12 May 2004
The last F-4 Phantom fighters are withdrawn from service with the Israeli Air Force.
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That’s it for this week Folks. See ya in seven.