Boeing announced today the first ever test firing of a real-life ray gun that could become US special forces’ way to carry out covert strikes with “plausible deniability.”

In tests earlier this month at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, Boeing’s Advanced Tactical Laser — a modified C-130H aircraft — “fired its high-energy chemical laser through its beam control system. The beam control system acquired a ground target and guided the laser beam to the target, as directed by ATL’s battle management system.”

“By firing the laser through the beam control system for the first time, the ATL team has begun to demonstrate the functionality of the entire weapon system integrated aboard the aircraft,” Boeing exec Scott Fancher said, in a statement.

Full Article

Hello Folks, well I remembered this week to post on Sunday. I think it won’t be a problem anymore. Yesterday was the first (annual?) Volunteer Appreciation Day at the 1941 Historical Aircraft Group Museum in Geneseo. I had a good time. I got a 20-minute ride in HAG’s C-45H, had great food and met once again with some great Folks. That was my fourth flight. One commercial to and from Chicago on our honeymoon, and two L-Bird flights at HAG events. I thoroughly enjoyed this one because the aircraft was larger and I wasn’t cramped. It’s strange though, I really enjoy aviation but not so much flying. I’ll jump at a chance to fly if it’s there (for free, of course), but I really could take it or leave it. Sim flying is more my speed, I guess. We had headsets and we could hear the radio and intercom chatter which I liked. The takeoff was so smooth I didn’t know we were climbing until I heard “The gear’s up.” Really great visibility. My goal is to take a flight in “W7″ our C-47, Natasha, our Antonov An-2 or maybe even the “Movie Memphis Belle.” We’ll see. Now, let’s get down to some serious history, shall we?
Take Care and Be Safe,
Tom K.

18 August 1903
German Carl Jatho ‘hops’ his 9 horse-power, gasoline-engined aeroplane a distance of 18 meters (59 feet).

22 August 1909
The first international air meeting takes place at Reims in France. 23 aircraft and their pilots compete for cash prizes in speed, distance and duration competitions.

20 August 1910
Lieutenant Jacob Earl Fickel of the United States Army, fires the first shots from an aeroplane at Sheepshead Bay in New York State. He fires a Springfield rifle at a target from the passenger seat of a Curtiss biplane.

20 August 1913
The first loop is performed by Lieutenant Nesterov of the Imperial Russian Army while flying a Nieuport Type IV monoplane over Kiev.

23 August 1914
Zeppelins LZ22 and LZ23 are shot down.

24 August 1914
The French airship Dupuy-de-Lôme is shot down by French ground troops in an early example of a ‘friendly fire’ incident. (Now called “Blue-on-Blue”).

20 August 1915
The first sustained bombing offensive is made against Austria-Hungary by Italian Caproni Ca2 3-engined biplanes.

21 August 1917
Zeppelin LZ66 (L23) is shot down near Jutland by a Sopwith Pup, flown from cruiser HMS Yarmouth by Flight Sub-Lieutenant B.A. Smart of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS).
The first two Fokker FI (DrI) single-seat, triplane fighters are received by Manfred von Richthofen’s ‘Flying Circus’.

24 August 1919
Delag airship Bodensee makes the first of its regular flights from Friedrichshafen to Berlin.

18 August1922
German glider (sailplane) pilot Herr Martens makes the first glider flight over 1 hour in duration. His glider is named ‘Vampyr’.

21 August 1923
In the USA, ground electric beacons are used to illuminate flight direction for the first time.

22 August 1923
The largest aircraft to date makes its first flight, but the Barling XNBL-1 triplane is found to be under-powered.

18 August 1932
Auguste Piccard and Max Cosyns ascend from Düberndorf in Switzerland, to set a new balloon height record of 16,201meters (53,153 feet).

23 August 1939
A non-aggression pact is signed between Germany and Soviet Union in Moscow.

18 August 1941
President Roosevelt announces that Pan American World Airways (Pan-Am) is to ferry United States-built warplanes to British forces in the Middle East.

20 August 1942
The 12th United States Army Air Force (USAAF) is activated at Bolling Field in Washington DC in preparation for the invasion of North Africa.

18 August 1943
The first operational use of the Henschel HS 293 remotely-controlled glide bomb. German Dornier Do 217Es of II/KG100 carry out an anti-shipping strike against British ships in the Bay of Biscay.

19 August 1945
Two Mitsubishi G4M ‘Betty’ transports carry the Japanese surrender delegation to Ie Shima.

21 August 1945
All existing United States Lend-Lease contacts are cancelled.

21 August 1948
C-54 Skymasters of the United States Air Force (USAF) Military Air Transport Command begin operations on the Berlin Airlift.

21 August 1951
It is announced that the Australian Commonwealth Government has approved money to be spent on improving the airfield on Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean and providing facilities for Qantas Empire Airways passenger service Perth to Johannesburg via Cocos Island and Mauritius.

24 August 1951
The first Congressional Medal of Honour to be given to a United States Air Force member during the Korean War is posthumously awarded to Major Louis J. Sebille, who was killed on 5 August 1951.

23 August 1953
The Martin license-built B-57 Canberra completes its final tests before entering service with the United States Air Force (USAF).

20 August 1955
Colonel H.A. Hanes sets a new world speed record of 1,323kph (822mph) flying a North American F-100C Super Sabre.

21 August 1956
A United States national speed record of 1,015mph is established by Commander Robert W. Windsor, flying a Chance Vought F-8U Crusader jet fighter.

23-24 August 1956
A specially prepared Hiller H-21 (Flying Banana), twin rotor helicopter, of the United States Army becomes the first rotary-wing aircraft to complete a non-stop transcontinental flight from California to Washington DC.

19-20 August 1957
Major David G. Simons of the United States Air Force (USAF), sets a balloon world altitude record of 30,942 meters (101,516 feet), ascending from Crosby, Minnesota.

19 August 1960
The Soviet Sputnik 5 satellite is launched into earth orbit, carrying two dogs named Belka and Strelka. They complete 18 orbits before being recovered successfully.

24 August 1968
France detonates a two-megaton thermonuclear device in the atmosphere over Mururoa Atoll.

22 August 1970
Two Sikorsky HH-53C helicopters complete a non-stop transpacific flight of 14,484 kilometers (9,000 miles) using in-flight refuelling.

19 August 1981
United States Navy (USN) Grumman F-14 Tomcat aircraft shoot down two Libyan fighters in Gulf of Sirte off the Libyan coast.

19 August 1982
Boeing delivers the first Model 767-200 for commercial use to United Airlines.

19 August 1983
Lockheed completes the 250th and last TriStar at Palmdale in California.

24 August 1983
A new world distance record for business jets is set by a Canadair Challenger 601. The aircraft covers 7,023 kilometers (4,364 miles) between Calgary and London Heathrow in 9 hours 4 minutes

18 August 1989
Qantas Boeing 747-400 ‘Spirit of Australia’ flies from London Heathrow to Sydney non-stop in 19 hours 10 minutes.

22 August 1989
The Soviet aircraft designer Alexander Yakovlev dies aged 84.

23 August 1990
The first of two new Air Force Ones, VIP variants of the Boeing 747-200, for the use of the United States President and his staff, are delivered.

18 August 1999
The formation of a Franco-Russian private partnership to build a prototype Mil 38 helicopter, weighing 15 tons and capable of carrying 30 passengers, is announced.

23 August 2005
TANS Peru Flight 204 crashes in Peru.
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That’s it for this week, Folks. See ya in seven. Have an AB FAB week.

11 August 1906
Mrs C.J. Miller becomes the first American woman passenger in a dirigible (steerable airship).

17 August 1910
Franco American John B. Mosiant’s mechanic becomes the first passenger to fly across the English Channel, in a Blériot monoplane.

15 August 1912
In an effort to encourage the development of fighter aircraft, the Michelin brothers give a prize of 50,000 francs to Frenchmen Gaubet and Scott for dropping bombs on a target.

12 August 1914
Oberleutnant Reinhold Jahnow of the German Air Service becomes the first German airman to lose his life on active service when he is killed at Malmédy in Belgium.

Sergeant Bridou becomes the first French aviator to be killed on active service when he dies in an accident while returning to base from a reconnaissance mission.

14 August 1914
Frenchmen Lieutenant Cesari and Corporal Prudhommeau attack the Zeppelin sheds at Metz-Frescaty.

15 August 1914
The first recorded air battle has been censored so its location is unknown. A Reuters dispatch recorded “In another place a French aeroplane yesterday encountered a German aeroplane. The French pilot chased the German, firing with a Browning. The German aviator did not reply, but fled”.

17 August 1916
The Wright Martin Aircraft Corporation is formed in the USA after a merger of the Wright and Glenn Martin companies.

12 August 1917
The last large-scale, daylight bombing raid on England by German Gothas leaves 78 casualties.

13 August 1917
The United States 1st Aero Squadron, commanded by Major Ralph Royce, sails for France.

17 August 1917
In France, an airmail service is instituted between Paris, Le Mans and St Nazaire.

11 August 1918
Eighteen Brandenburg W29 floatplane fighters attack six British patrol craft near Borkum, sinking three and damaging three more. The remaining three boats escape to Holland, where they are interned.

12 August 1918
The United States Post Office takes over airmail services from the Army.

13 August 1921
The ‘Royal’ prefix granted to Australian Air Force.

17 August 1933
The Soviet Union tests its first semi-liquid fuelled rocket, the GIRD-IX.

15 August 1935
Will Rogers and Wiley Post are killed in a take-off crash near Point Barrow in Alaska.

14 August 1936
Frenchman G. Detre, flying a Potez 50, establishes a new world altitude record of 14,843 meters (48,698 feet).

17 August 1942
The United States Army Air Force (USAAF) makes its first European heavy bomber raid of the Second World War. Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 97th Bombardment Group attack Rouen-Scotteville marshalling yards in occupied France.

13 August 1943
Northwest African Air Force aircraft attack Wiener Neustadt. This is the first attack on Austria by United States Army Air Force (USAAF) forces based in the Mediterranean.

17 August 1943
During daylight attacks on Regensburg and Schweinfurt the 8th United States Army Air Force (USAAF) loses 59 heavy bombers.

14-15 August 1944
Mediterranean Air Forces, with 2,000 aircraft based in Corsica, begin the invasion of southern France This is the start of over 4,000 operational sorties and the transport of more than 9,000 airborne troops. 400 gliders (sailplanes) are used in the landings.

16 August 1944
Messerschmitt Me163 rocket interceptor fighters are used operationally for the first time, to make attacks on Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses of the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) .

14 August 1945
754 Boeing B-29s and 169 fighters are sent on the last wartime mission of the 20th United States Army Air Force (USAAF).

14-15 August 1945
The unconditional surrender of Japan is announced.

15 August 1945
Seven Japanese suicide aircraft make the last Kamikaze attack of the war.

Andrei G. Kochetkov, Head of NII-VVS Fighter Testsection, becomes the first Soviet pilot to fly a jet powered aircraft, a captured Messerschmitt Me262A, at Shcholkovo near Moscow.

17 August 1946
Sergeant L. Lambert of the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) becomes the first person in the United States to make a manned test of an ejection seat. A Northrop P-61 Black Widow flying at 483kph (300mph) at 2,375 meters (7,800 feet) is used as the test aircraft.

14 August 1947
Following the partition of India, the Royal Pakistan Air Force is established. It drops Royal from its title on 23 March 1956.

17 August 1951
A world record of 635mph, over a 100 kilometer closed course, is achieved by Colonel Fred J. Ascani in a North American F-86E Sabre jet fighter during the National Air Races at Wayne Major Airport in Detroit.

12 August 1960
Major Robert White of the United States Air Force (USAF), pilots the North American X-15 research aircraft to an altitude of 41,600 meters (136,500 feet)

The United States launches a communications satellite named Echo I.

16 August 1960
Captain Joseph W. Kittinger Jr. the United States Air Force (USAF), jumps from a balloon at 31,150 meters (102,200 feet) making a free fall of 25,815 meters (84,700 feet).

16 August 1969
United States test pilot Darryl Greenamyer, flying a modified Grumman F8F2 Bearcat sets a new world speed record for piston engined aircraft of 769kph (477mph).

12- 17 August 1978
A balloon duration record of 137 hours 5 minutes 50 seconds, a record distance of 5,001 kilometers (3,107 miles) and the first transatlantic crossing by a gas balloon is recorded by Double Eagle II, crewed by Ben L. Abruzzo, Maxie L. Anderson and Larry M. Newman.

14 August 1979
Steve Hinton sets a new speed record for piston engined airplanes when he flies his North American P-51D Mustang ‘Red Baron’, modified with a new engine, at 499mph, which is nearly 22mph faster than the previous record.

14 August 1985
The Sultanate of Oman Air Force signs a contract for eight Panavia Tornado aircraft and weapons worth £250 million.

17 August 1986
Boeing completes the construction of its 5,000th jet airliner, a Model 737-300 for KLM.

17 August 1988
President Zia of Pakistan is killed when the Pakistan Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules in which he is traveling crashes soon after take-off from Bakawalpur.

16 August 1995
An Air France/British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) Concorde sets a new speed record for a round-the-world flight. The Concorde returns to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York after a journey lasting 31 hours 27 minutes, staging through Toulouse, Dubai, Bangkok, Guam, Honolulu and Acapulco.

15 August 1996
Rockwell International Space & Defense operations are acquired by Boeing.

16 August 1998
Steve Fossett’s attempt at the first non-stop, round-the world balloon flight fails but he sets a new absolute distance record of 22,923 kilometers (14,239 miles) on his flight from Argentina to the Coral Sea.

13 August 2002
Midway Airlines files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

11 August 2003
The Spirit of Butts Farm becomes the first flight across the Atlantic by a computer-controlled model aircraft.

Skip Holm, flying the modified P-51D ‘Dago Red’, sets a new closed-course piston-engine speed record of 507 mph at the Reno Air Races.

14 August 2005
Helios Airways Flight 522 crashes into a mountain north of Marathon and Varnavas, Greece, killing all 121 passengers and crew.

16 August 2005
West Caribbean Airways Flight 708, a charter flight, crashes into the mountains of Venezuela with no survivors.
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That’s it for this week Folks. See ya in seven.

Preservation Award
Lewis Shaw, Dallas, TX, North American P-51 Mustang, N6168C

Preservation Award
John O Connor, Downers Grove, IL, North American P-51D Mustang, N151MC

Preservation Award
Charlie Grott, Jim Johnson, Pat Devine & Bob Vasquez, St. Charles, MO, Aeronca L-16A Grasshopper, N1143V

Preservation Award
Timothy McDonald, Niceville, FL, North American AT-6G Texan, N92778

Preservation Award
William L. Greene, Groveland, IL, North American T-6G Texan, N3172G

Judges’ Choice: SNJ
Open Cockpit LLC, New York, NY, North American SNJ-5, N3259G

Judges’ Choice: T28
Malte Lorenz, Islip, NY, North American T-28B Trojan, N128BS

Judges’ Choice: Primary Trainer
Mark Howard, Edmond, OK, Fairchild PT-26A Cornell, N9279H

Judges’ Choice: L-19
Stephen Frushour, Storm Lake, IA, Cessna L-19 Bird Dog, N140R

Judges’ Choice: CJ-6
Ron Lee, Palos Verdes Estates, CA, Nanchang CJ-6A, N250RL

Judges’ Choice: Yak 52
Ed Noel, Houston, TX, Yakovlev Yak-52, N713YK

Judges’ Choice: L-Bird
Joseph J. Miller & Tim Trimble, York, PA, Aeronca L-3B Grasshopper, N39563

Judges’ Choice: T-6
Nathan Davis, Tipton, IN, North American AT-6D Texan, N43826

Best T-6
A & M Flight, Eden Prairie, MN, North American T-6 Texan, N85696
Silver Wrench: Gary Allan, Seattle, WA

Best Yak 52/CJ-6
Dave Jester, Pensacola, FL, Yakelov Yak-52 TD, N152TD
Silver Wrench: Dave Jester, Elmore, AL

Best Primary Trainer
Commemorative Air Force - Wisconsin Wing, Waukesha, WI, Fairchild PT-26 Cornell, N103JC
Silver Wrench: Joe and Mark Denest, Westchester, PA

Best O/L-Bird
Duncan Cameron, Lebanon, TN, Consolidated Vultee OY-1 Sentinel, N452WB
Silver Wrench: Duncan Cameron, Lebanon, TN

Best Military Classic
Lil’ Dawg Aviation Inc, Huntsville, AL, Hiller OH-23D Raven, N2770
Silver Wrench: Pat Pockrus, Mineral Wells, TX
Silver Wrench: Bob Tumlin, Oxford, MO

Best T-34
George Frey, Fredrick, MD, Beechcraft T-34B Mentor, N5QN
Silver Wrench: Blackwell Aviation, Belle Vernon, PA

Best Jet
Stewart Fred, Houston, TX, Aero Vodochody L-39 Albatross, N626SF
Silver Wrench: Worldwide Warbirds, Phoenix, AZ

Best P-51
JTS Historical Aviation Foundation, Seattle, WA, North American P-51B Mustang, N5087F
Silver Wrench: Pacific Fighters, Idaho Falls, ID

Best Fighter
Rod Lewis, San Antonio, TX, Supermarine Spitfire MK VB, N628BL
Silver Wrench: Warren Denholm, AVSPECS, Auckland, NZ

Returning Best of Class
Frank Vranicar, Corona Del Mar, CA, Cessna L-19A Bird Dog, N5199G

Returning Grand Champion
Randy Maiville, Onondaga, MI, Cessna O-1G Bird Dog, N16886

Phoenix Award
JTS Historical Aviation Foundation, Seattle, WA, North American P-51B Mustang, N5087F

Dirty Bird
Barry Hancock, Provo UT, Nanchang CJ-6, N8120L

Reserve Grand Champion World War II
Jack Roush, Old Crow, Livonia, MI, North American P-51B Mustang, N551E
Gold Wrench: Cal Pacific Airmotive, Salinas, CA

Grand Champion World War II
North American P-51D Mustang, NL74190
FTRESC LLC, Happy Jack’s Go Buggy, San Antonio, TX
Gold Wrench: Midwest Aero Restorations Ltd., Danville, IL

source: BomberGuy 

http://members3.boardhost.com/1941AirMuseum/msg/1217416335.html

Have an AB FAB week,
Take Care and Be Safe,
Tom K.;)

8 August 1908
One of the Wright brothers, Wilbur Wright, makes his first European flight at Le Mans in France in the new two-seat Model A.

8 August 1910
The first aircraft tricycle landing-gear is installed, on a United States Army Wright biplane.

5 August 1912
United States Army officers gain double pay for volunteering for flying training, after the Hardwick Bill is passed in Washington, USA.

10 August 1912
During United States Army maneuvers, the Signal Corps fly aeroplanes for the first time.

The Argentinean Servico Aeronautico del Ejercito (Military Aviation Service) is formed.

6 August 1913
Johnny Bryant becomes the first pilot to be killed in Canada when his floatplane disintegrates in flight at Victoria.

10 August 1913
An automatic stabilizer is demonstrated by Lawrence Sperry and Lieutenant Berringer in a Curtiss F flying boat. It is based on the ship’s gyroscope which Sperry’s father, Elmer Sperry, invented.

8 August 1914
An unnamed observer of a French aircraft, piloted by Sadi Lecointe, is wounded by German rifle fire and becomes the first French casualty of the First World War.

6 August 1915
German Naval Zeppelin LZ28 (L5) is hit by Russian ground fire and forced to land.

10 August 1915
During a raid on England, German Naval Zeppelin LZ43 (L12) is damaged and is accidentally destroyed while being towed back to Ostend.

6 August 1916
French fighter pilot Rene Paul Fonck claims his first victory by forcing down a German Rumpler biplane.

8-9 August 1917
The first Allied bomber is shot down by German night fighter defenses near Frankfurt in Main.

7 August 1918
The first Fokker E.V parasol wing fighters are received on the Western Front by Jagdgeschwarder I, commanded by Goering. However, wing failures result in the quick withdrawal of the type by August 21.

10 August 1918
German fighter ace, Oberleutnant E. Loewenhardt is killed in a mid-air collision with another German pilot. He had scored 53 victories, and would be the third most successful German pilot by the end of the war.

7-8 August 1919
Captain Earnest Hoy, flying a Curtiss JN4 Jenny, makes the first aeroplane flight across the Canadian Rocky Mountains, from Vancouver to Calgary, in 12 hours 34 minutes.

10 August 1921
The United States Navy Bureau of Aeronautics is formed.

8-29 August 1929
German LZ127 Graf Zeppelin makes the first airship circumnavigation of the world. It leaves and returns to Lakehurst in New Jersey. The journey takes 21 days 5 hours 31 minutes and goes via Germany, Japan and Los Angeles. The distance covered is 35,200 kilometers (21,873 miles).

5-7 August 1933
French Air Force pilots Lieutenant Maurice Rossi and Paul Codes establish a new world distance record of 9,104 meters (5,657 miles) from New York in the United States to Rayak in Syria, using a Blériot Zapata aircraft.

7 August 1936
Six Heinkel He 51 fighters, plus pilots and ground crew, arrive in Spain. This is the first consignment of German assistance to the Nationalist forces of General Franco.

10-11 August 1938
Focke Wulf Fw 200 D-ACON Brandenburg makes a non-stop flight from Berlin to New York.

7-8 August 1941
A small force of Soviet Naval Aviation Il-4 (DB3F) bombers takes-off from Estonian Islands of Dagö and Saaremaa and attacks the Berlin area. The city was brightly lit and the raid precipitates the introduction of blackout regulations in the German capital.

7-8 August 1942
With considerable early air cover United States Marines begin landings on Guadalcanal.

4 August 1944
The first ‘Aphrodite’ mission is undertaken by the United States Army Air Force (USAAF). Radio-controlled Boeing B17 Flying Fortresses, packed with 9,072 kilos (20,000 pounds) of TNT, are launched against German V2 sites under construction in the Par de Calais in France.

7 August 1944
United States Carrier Division 11 is commissioned. This is the first division intended for night operations and consists of the carriers USS Ranger and USS Saratoga.

8-9 August 1944
Mediterranean Air Forces begin dropping arms and supplies to the Polish Home Army in Warsaw.

6 August 1945
Boeing B-29 ‘Enola Gay’ of the 509th Composite Group, piloted by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets Jr, drops the world’s first operational atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima. The bomb is dropped at 0815hrs local time at a height of 1,900 feet and generates a yield equivalent to 12,500 tons of TNT.

Of the 76,000 buildings in Hiroshima, 48,000 were destroyed and 22,000 damaged. The bomb destroyed 4.7 square miles of the city and over 80% of its buildings. Japanese estimates put casualties at 71,379 killed or missing and 68,023 wounded.

9 August 1945
Lieutenant Robert H. Gray of the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) is killed attacking a Japanese destroyer. Attached to the Fleet Air Arm and flying a Corsair, he is posthumously awarded the last air force Victoria Cross to be won.

A second atomic bomb is dropped over Nagasaki from Major Charles W. Sweeney’s Boeing B-29 ‘Bock’s Car’. The primary target is Kokura but weather over this city forces a diversion to the secondary target.

Due to the topography of Nagasaki with its hills and rivers, damage was far less than Hiroshima. However, 1.4 square miles of a built up area of 3.8 square miles was destroyed. Japanese estimates, which were comparatively low, put the casualties at 25,680 killed and 23,345 wounded.

9 August 1949
The first use in the United States of an ejection seat for an emergency escape from an aircraft. Lieutenant J.L. Fruin of the United States Navy (USN) ejects from a McDonnell F2H-1 Banshee flying in excess of 925kph (575mph) near Walterboro in South Carolina.

10 August 1949
The first jet airliner air mail is flown in a Canadian Avro Jetliner from Toronto to New York.

6 August 1950
A French memorandum on rearmament and defense is given to the United States Ambassador in Paris.

7 August 1951
The United States Navy’s ‘Viking’ single-stage rocket reaches a height of 135 miles at 4,100mph after launching at White Sands in New Mexico. Major William Bridgeman, test pilot for Douglas flies the United States Navy’s Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket research aircraft reaching 1,238mph.

7 August 1959
National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Explorer 6 is launched into Earth orbit and returns the first television pictures of the Earth as seen from space.

6 August 1961
The Soviet Union launches its second man into space in Vostok 2. Cosmonaut Herman Titov completes 17 earth orbits before landing 1 day 1 hour 19 minutes after lift off.

5 August 1964
President Johnson orders United States carrier aircraft to attack North Vietnamese naval bases as retaliation for the two earlier attacks on United States destroyers.

7-9 August 1964
Turkish aircraft attack Greek Cypriot positions on Cyprus, but the United Nations intervenes and the attacks stop.

7 August 1980
Janice Brown pilots the MacCready Gossamer Penguin on its first solar powered flight.

8 August 1980
The death of Jacqueline Cochran is announced. A successful businesswoman, she was also the first female to fly an aircraft at more than the speed of sound and held over 200 United States aviation records simultaneously.

6 August 1981
The United States President Ronald Reagan sacks all striking Air Traffic Controllers.

5 August 1982
Australian Dick Smith begins the first solo helicopter flight around the world.

4 August 1995
A new world altitude record for manned, piston-engined aircraft of 18,545 meters (60,867 feet) is set by a Grob G820 Strato 1c high altitude environmental research aircraft.

10 August 2002
US Airways files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

6 August 2005
A Tuninter ATR-72 heading from Italy to Tunisia crashes into the Mediterranean Sea, killing 16 of 39 on board.
——————————————————————————————————————————–
That’s it for this week, Folks. See ya in seven.

August 1907
The first aerodrome with hangars, opens at Issy-les-Moulineaux in France.

2 August 1909
The United States Government buys its first aeroplane, a Wright Model A, for $30,000. This includes a bonus of $5,000 because the aeroplane exceeds the official specification.

August 1910
Harry Ferguson pilots the first passenger flight to be flown in Ireland.

2 August 1911
Harriet Quimby becomes the first American female pilot.

3 August 1911
A Voisin biplane lands on the River Seine using the aircraft’s amphibious landing gear.

31 July 1912
Lieutenant T.G. Ellyson pilots the first aeroplane to be catapult-launched from a wall platform at Annapolis, USA.

2 August 1913
The Sikorsky Le Grand (Russky Vityaz) makes a flight of 1 hour 54 minutes with 8 passengers on board.

30 July 1914
Norwegian Tryggve Gran makes the first flight across the North Sea, flying a Blériot monoplane.

31 July 1914
The Swiss air arm is formed as the Fliegertruppe.

1 August 1914
Germany declares war on Russia.

30 July 1915
Leutnant Max Immelman flies a Fokker M8 in preparation for his first flight in an armed E1 fighter the next day.

1 August 1915
Leutnant Max Immelman shoots down his first enemy aircraft in his Fokker E1 monoplane, equipped with a single synchronized LMG 08 machine gun.

2-3 August 1916
The German airship Schutte-Lanz SL11 is shot down over London, losing the entire crew.

31 July 1917
The Third Battle of Ypres, better known as Passchendaele, begins. Approximately 850 Allied aircraft contend with some 600 German for control of the air over the battlefield.

1 August 1917
The Australian naval air fleet is formed.

August 1918
During this month, German Fokker DVII fighters claim 565 kills over the Western Front.

30 July 1921
Flying a Caudron, Francois Durafour lands and takes off from Mont Blanc.

3 August 1921
The first experiments in aerial crop dusting are carried out by Lieutenant John B. Macready on behalf of the Ohio Agricultural Experimental Station at Troy in Ohio. Using a Curtiss JN6 with a specially designed hopper fitted to the side of the fuselage 175 pounds of powdered arsenate of lead is distributed over 4,815 trees in an orchard.

The flight takes place at 20-35 feet and is accomplished in six nine-second discharges. Two days later C.R. Neillie, the Cleveland entomologist who had suggested the idea, reported “evidences of the wholesale destruction of insects were everywhere apparent.” Less than 1% of the insects in the dusted area had survived.

August 1924
The Bolivian Air Force (Cuerpo de Aviación) is formed.

28 July 1926
The first recovery of a seaplane by a submarine is completed by the United States Navy (USN) during experimental trials.

30 July 1927
Don Juan de la Cierva becomes the first passenger to fly in an autogyro when he flies in the Cierva C6D, which had made its first flight the day before.

August 1938
Soviet Air Group in Spain begins its withdrawal and its equipment is handed over to the Republican forces.

1 August 1941
The first use of Soviet ‘parasite’ Polikarpov I16SPB dive bombers, a variant of the standard fighter, carried under wings of the Tupolev TB3 heavy bomber, occurs during a successful attack on Constanza in Romania.

The United States bans the export of aviation fuel, except to the United Kingdom and unoccupied nations. This comes as severe blow to the Japanese and their continuing war in China.

1 August 1943
A female Russian fighter pilot, Junior Lieutenant Lydia Litvak of the 73rd Guards Fighter Air Regiment, is killed in action.

United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Consolidated B-24 Liberators based in the Mediterranean make a low level attack on the Ploesti oil refineries in Romania. This is the first low level mission against this vital Axis target and is the longest bombing raid to date. 177 aircraft are dispatched, 164 reach their targets, 49 are shot down and a further 7 are interned in Turkey.

29 July 1944
A battle damaged Boeing B-29 Superfortress of the 20th United States Army Air Force (USAAF) lands at Vladivostok and is immediately seized by the Soviets, followed by another three, seized later in the year. The aircraft are carefully dismantled, examined and serve as pattern aircraft for the construction of the Tupolev Tu4 ‘Bull’ aircraft.

2 August 1944
The 1st Allied Airborne Army is formed under the command of Lieutenant General Lewis H. Brereton.

28 July 1945
A North American B-25 Mitchell bomber of the United States Army Air Force (USAAF), flying in bad visibility, collides with the 79th floor of the Empire State Building in New York. 19 people are killed, including the crew of six, and twenty-six people are injured.

30 July 1945
The Mediterranean Allied Air Forces are disbanded.

1 August 1945
851 Boeing B-29s mount the largest operation against Japanese cities.

3 August 1947
The first public appearance of the Tupolev Tu4 heavy bomber takes place at the Soviet Aviation Day parade. The aircraft is a reverse engineered copy of the American B-29.

1 August 1951
An American and Canadian agreement, leading to the development and construction of an early warning system, is ratified.

Japan Air Lines is formed.

29 July 1952
The first non-stop transpacific flight by a jet aircraft is completed by a North American RB-45 flying from Alaska to Japan.

3 August 1954
The 2nd prototype of Convair XF2Y1 Sea Dart exceeds Mach 1 in a shallow dive, becoming the first water-based aircraft in the world to exceed the speed of sound.

29 July 1955
The United States announces its intention to launch a small earth-satellite during the International Geophysical Year from July 1957.

1 August 1955
The United States begins its first zero-gravity research experiments using Lockheed T-33 trainers to study the effects of weightlessness.

31 July 1957
The North American Distance Early Warning (DEW) line early warning system is reported as fully operational.

31 July 1964
A.H. Parker, flying an Arlington Sisu 1A, sets the first flight distance record over 1,000 kilometre in a glider (sailplane) of 1,040 kilometres (646 miles).

2 & 4 August 1964
United States destroyers are attacked by North Vietnamese patrol boats. The attacks are largely countered by air action.

28 July 1976
Captain E.W. Joersz and Major G.T. Morgan Jr set a new world speed record for an air breathing craft, of 3,529kph (2,193mph) in a Lockheed SR71 Blackbird.

1-8 August 1980
The Experimental Aircraft Association’s 28th Convention at Oshkosh in Wisconsin sets a new visitor record with 250,000 people and 6,000 aircraft attending the first day.

3 August 1981
The Boeing company delivers its 4,000th jetliner, a 727-200, for Ansett Airlines of Australia.

29 July 1982
Mexico’s main airline Compania Mexicana de Aviacion is nationalised.

28 July 1986
Seven American aircraft companies submit designs for the Advanced Tactical Fighter program and of these, the Lockheed-Burbank YF-22A and Northrop YF-23A are later chosen for development.

1 August 1988
The Soviet Union begins the destruction of its SS20 missiles in accordance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

31 July 1997
The McDonnell Douglas company is taken-over by Boeing.

August 2000
Airbus Industrie announces its reorganization from a consortium of companies to a single corporate entity called the Airbus Integrated Company. The reorganization comes as a means to acquire sufficient funding for the A3XX program and the new company will formally exist from 1 January 2001.

2 August 2005
Air France Flight 358 bursts into flames after skidding off the end of a runway after landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport. All 309 people aboard survive.
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That’s it for this week Folks. See ya in seven.

Hello Folks, another seven dead and gone. Let’s try something different. I’m not very typeative tonight so let’s get down to some serious history, shall we?
Take Care and Be Safe,
Tom K.

23 July 1905
The first flight of the Wright Flyer No.III. This is the first fully controllable and practical version of the original Flyer.

25 July 1909
A Frenchman, Louis Blériot, becomes the first man to fly across the English Channel by aeroplane. Flying his Blériot Type XI he takes off from Les Baraques near Calais at 0441hrs and lands at Northfall Meadow next to Dover Castle 36½ minutes later. Blériot wins the Daily Mail £1,000 prize.

21 July 1910
The Wright brothers begin experimenting with wheeled landing gears.

24 July 1910
German August Euler patents a machine-gun armament arrangement for an aeroplane.

21 July 1911
Whilst on a solo flight in a Farman, Denise Moore becomes the first woman to be killed in an aeroplane when she crashes at Chalons in France.

27 July 1912
The first wireless message is transmitted from an airship to a ship, the torpedo boat USS Stringham. Lieutenant John Rodgers and Ensign Charles Maddox send it from a Wright B1 Flyer.

23 July 1917
Major B.D. Foulois takes command of United States Army Signal Corps’ Airplane Division.

24 July 1917
The United States Congress in Washington DC passes a bill earmarking $640 million for expenditure on military aviation.

26 July 1917
German Jagdgeschwader I, comprising Jastas 4, 6, 10, and 11 is formed and led by Manfred von Richthofen, it soon acquires the nickname of the ‘Flying Circus’.

27 July 1917
In Washington DC a naval aircraft factory is approved for Philadelphia.

A British Airco (de Havilland) DH4 bomber arrives in USA for evaluation and the first American manufactured DH4, powered by a Liberty engine, appears in February 1918.

21 July 1919
Anthony Fokker founds the Dutch aircraft company of the same name at Schiphol near Amsterdam.

21 July 1921
United States Army MB2 biplane bombers bomb and sink the German battleship Ostfriesland with six 2,000 bombs. The aircraft were under the overall command of Brigadier General William ‘Billy’ Mitchell.

24 July - 26 September 1926
Two Junkers G24s fly from Berlin to Peking and back.

25 July 1929
The Dornier DoX makes its first flight.

23 July 1931
Russell N. Boardman and John Boardman establish a distance record of 8,065 kilometers (5,011 miles) in a Wright J6.

21 July 1932
A Dornier Wal, piloted by von Gronau, begins the first round the world flying boat flight and is completed in 111 days.

25 July 1932
The Soviet Union signs non-aggression pacts with Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Poland.

26 July 1936
The Imperial Japanese Army Air Force is established as a separate arm of Japanese defense forces.

25-29 July 1939
A plane of Deutche Lufthansa flies from Berlin to Bangkok in Siam, inaugurating a regular service operated by Focke Wulf Fw 200 aircraft.

21-22 July 1941
Luftwaffe bombers make their first night attack on Moscow.

25 July 1943
Benito Mussolini is overthrown and King Victor Emmanuel takes over command of the Italian Armed Forces.

25 July 1944
The first jet aircraft combat takes place, when a German Messerschmitt Me 262 from the experimental unit Ek262 intercepts a Royal Air Force (RAF) Mosquito reconnaissance aircraft from No.544 Squadron over Munich. The British plane managed to survive the encounter.

21 July 1945
Japanese forces are decimated by air attacks as they attempt to retreat across the Sittang river in Burma.

21 July 1946
A McDonnell XFD-1 Phantom jet takes off from, and lands on, an aircraft carrier, the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, while she lies off Cape Henry in Virginia. The aircraft is piloted by Lieutenant Commander James J. Davidson.

25 July 1946
Just over 10 years after his death, Brigadier General William ‘Billy’ Mitchell is posthumously awarded the United States Congressional Medal of Honor.

26 July 1947
President Truman signs the United States Armed Forces Unification Act.

23 July 1948
The United States Air Force (USAF) Military Air Transport Command is ordered to establish an Airlift task force for the possible long term support of Berlin and its citizens.

24 July 1950
The first rocket is launched at Cape Canaveral test range.

27 July 1953
The Korean war ends.

23 July 1954
A Douglas DC4 airliner of Cathay Pacific Airways is shot down by Communist Chinese fighters.

26 July 1954
Two United States Navy (USN) carrier-borne Douglas Skyraiders shoot down two Chinese fighters who attack them whilst searching for the Cathay Pacific airliner.

27 July 1954
An Anglo-Egyptian agreement on the evacuation of British forces from the Suez Canal zone is initiated.

26 July 1956
Egypt seizes control of the Suez Canal from the privately owned Suez Canal Corporation.

23 July 1958
It is announced that the Boeing Vertol VZ2A has made its first successful transition from vertical to horizontal flight and vice versa.

21 July 1961
The United States puts a second man, Virgil Grissom, into sub-orbital flight in the Mercury capsule Liberty Bell 7.

25 July 1962
Air-to-ground public telephone service are started on Trans World Airlines (TWA) St Louis to Chicago-East Coast route.

25 July 1963
A nuclear test ban treaty is finalized after 3 years of discussion, bringing an end to tests in the Earth’s atmosphere.

26 July - 7 August 1971
Apollo 15 makes the fourth successful United States Moon landing and makes first use of the Lunar Roving Vehicle, driven by Apollo 15 commander David R. Scott.

21 July 1975
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Launches Viking 1, which subsequently lands on, and transmits pictures of, the surface of Mars back to Earth.

23 July 1981
A new helicopter altitude record is set by Charles Praether, flying an Augusta A109A at a height of 6,096 meters (20,000 feet).

23 July 1982
Japan unveils plans to purchase over 500 new aircraft as part of a £35 billion defense review.

22 July 1983
Australian Dick Smith achieves the first solo circumnavigation of the globe in a helicopter. Smith makes the 56,742 kilometer (35,258 mile) journey in stages using a Bell JetRanger III named ‘Australian Explorer’.

26 July 1993
The 1,000th Boeing 747 comes off the production line 26 years after the first 747 was built.

25 July 2000
An Air France Concorde crashes onto a hotel shortly after take-off from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, killing 114 people, including the crew and passengers of the aircraft. It is the first crash involving Concorde. The crash is later attributed to a debris from another aircraft causing an explosive tyre puncture that ruptures a fuel tank in the wing.
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That’s it for this week Folks. See ya in seven.

18 July 1914
The Aviation Section of the United States Army Signal Corps is formed.

18 July 1915
Katherine Stinson becomes the first woman to loop-the-loop while performing aerobatics at Chicago.

19 July 1915
Georges Marie Ludovic Jules Guynemer scores his first victory while flying a Morane-Saulnier Parasol 2-seat monoplane, eventually he becomes the highest scoring French pilot in the First World War.

15 July 1916
Pacific Aero Products is founded by William E. Boeing.

15 July 1918
General Ludendorff launches the final major attack of the German spring Offensive at Reims. It fails by the 18th.

14 July 1919
An Italian Fiat BR light bomber makes the first non-stop flight between Rome and Paris.

18 July 1919
Self-styled Baroness Raymonde de Laroche, the first French women to get her flying license, is killed in a flying accident in northern France.

17 July 1927
United States Marine Corps (USMC) de Havilland DH4s attack hostile Nicaraguan forces surrounding the Marine Corps garrison at Ocotal in Nicaragua.

17 July 1929
American Dr Robert H. Goddard successfully launches a camera equipped rocket.

15-22 July 1933
Wiley Post, flying a Lockheed Vega, makes the first round the world solo flight. His flight begins and ends at Floyd Bennett Field in New York, with a route via Berlin, Moscow, Irkutsk and Alaska - a total distance of 5,099 kilometers (15,596 miles).

18 July 1936
Simultaneous revolts in seventeen military garrisons in Spain and Spanish Morocco mark the start of the Spanish Civil War.

20 July 1936
Twenty Ju52/3m bomber transports arrive in Seville. In the following six weeks these aircraft undertake the world’s first large scale airlift, moving 7,350 Nationalist troops and artillery from Morocco to Spain.

14 July 1938
Howard Hughes, the American aviator, and four companions arrive in New York after a round the world flight of 15,432 miles. They complete the journey in 3 days 19 hours 17 minutes.

18 July 1943
The United States Navy (USN) airship K74 is shot down off the Florida coast by a German submarine. This is the only United States airship to be destroyed by enemy action during the Second World War.

17 July 1944
United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Lockheed P-38 Lightnings use napalm for the first time, during attacks on a fuel depot at Coutances, south-west of St Lo in France.

14 July 1945
United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Douglas A-20s operating from Hollandia attack Japanese-held oil fields at Boela on Ceram Island. They use rocket bombs for the first time in the southwest Pacific.

16 July 1945
The first atom bomb is successfully detonated at Alamogordo in New Mexico in the United States.

Major General Curtis LeMay takes command of the 20th United States Army Air Force (USAAF).

20 July 1948
The first west to east crossing of the North Atlantic by turbojet powered aircraft is recorded by sixteen Lockheed F-80 Shooting Stars. They fly from Selfridge Field in Michigan to Scotland.

15-31 July 1952
The first helicopter crossing of the North Atlantic is made by by Captain Vincent H. McGovern and Lieutenant Harold Moore, flying Sikorsky S-55 helicopters from Massachusetts to Ayrshire in 42 hours 25 minutes.

19 July 1952
The United States Air Force (USAF) announces that it has successfully flown free balloons at controlled constant altitudes in the stratosphere, for periods of over 3 days.

16 July 1953
Lieutenant Colonel W.F. Barnes of the United States Air Force (USAF), flying a North American F-86D Sabre, sets the world’s first speed record over 700mph. The record of 1,151kph (715mph) is ratified by the FI.

16 July 1958
Ghana Airways inaugurates its first international operations.

14 July 1959
A new world altitude record of 28,852 meters (94,659 feet) is set by Major V. Ilyushin flying the Sukhoi T431.

19 July 1961
Trans World Airlines (TWA) becomes the first airline to introduce regular in-flight movies. Screened only in the first-class section of aircraft flying between New York and Los Angeles, the first film was ‘By Love Possessed’ with Lana Turner and Efrem Zimbalist Jr.

19 July 1963
Joe Walker increases the height record for the North American X-15A to 106,010 meters (347,800 feet).

16-24 July 1969
NASA’s Apollo 11, crewed by Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E.A. ‘Buzz’ Aldrin and Michael Collins, is launched to the Moon and on 21 July Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to set foot on the Moon.

20 July 1974
Turkey makes extensive use of air power in the invasion of Cyprus.

15-24 July 1975
A combined United States/USSR space mission is held, during which Soyuz 19 and the Apollo/Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) dock together in Earth orbit. General Thomas Stafford and Colonel Alexei Leonor shake hands 140 miles above Bognor Regis, marking a new era of co-operation in space.

17 July 1980
Cathay Pacific become the first airline to operate the Boeing 747 between Hong Kong and London.

15 July 1989
French air-traffic controllers go on strike, causing delays and frustration for thousands of holiday makers.

17 July 1989
The Northrop B-2, the most expensive aircraft in history, at a cost of $516 million, makes its first flight.

17 July 1991
$1 million in cash is stolen during a scheduled Air France flight from Corsica to Paris. The thief hides in the aircraft’s hold during the flight, and breaks into two sealed sacks in which the cash is being carried.
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That’s all for this week Folks. See ya in seven.

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 metres (6,234 feet) in a Wright biplane in Indianapolis, USA.

13 July 1910
A German Erbslon non-rigid airship explodes near Opladen, killing five people.

7 July 1911
Lieutenant de Vaisseau Conneau wins the Circuit of Europe air race in a Blériot monoplane.

7 July 1914
Dr Robert H. Goddard receives a United States patent for a two-stage rocket with solid fuel propellant.

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.

12-14 July 1937
Soviet ANT-25 (RD-2) Colonel M.M. Gromov, Commandant A.B. Yumashev and Ing S.A. Danilin establish a new distance record for the Soviet Union. The flight covers a total distance of 10,148 kilometers (6,306 miles) from Moscow to San Jacinto in California via the North Pole.

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 pressurized cabin, the Boeing 307 Stratoliner, enters service with Transcontinental Airways on the New York to Burbank in California route.

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.

13/14 July 1945
The Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Forces is disbanded at midnight.

7 July 1953
A Sikorsky S-55 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.

12 July 1966
The Northrop/NASA M2F2 lifting-body research aircraft makes its first un-powered flight after being dropped from a Boeing B-52 ‘motherplane’.

7 July 1978
Development of the Airbus A310 is announced.

13 July 1979
The McDonnell Douglas DC10 is re-cleared for flight, after being grounded on 25 May following an accident.

8 July 1983
General Dynamics completes its 1,000th F-16 aircraft at the company’s Fort Worth factory.
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That’s it for this week Folks. See Ya in seven.