Portal:Aviation/Today in aviation

2011 – LOT Polish Airlines Flight 016, a Boeing 767-300ER, makes a successful belly landing at Warsaw Chopin Airport in Warsaw, Poland, after its landing gear fails to extend. None of the 231 people on board are injured.^{[citation needed]}

2009 – 2009 Yakutia Ilyushin Il-76 crash: An Ilyushin Il-76 operated by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs crashed shortly after take-off from Mirny Airport. All eleven crew are killed.

2007 – Paul Tibbets, US Air Force retired Brigadier General and Pilot of B-29 “Enola Gay” over Hiroshima, dies (b. 1916).

2004 – Pan American Airways, or Pan Am III, turned down operations once again, but gave operations to Boston-Maine Airways.

2000 – Hellenic Air Force LTV A-7H Corsair II, 159666, of the 345th Mira, crashes near Cape Tainaros, Crete, Greece, pilot survives.

1993 – Landing: Space Shuttle Columbia STS-58 at 10:05.42 am EST, Runway 22, Edwards AFB, Calif. It would be Columbia‘s final landing at Edwards.

1992 – Landing: Space Shuttle Columbia STS-52 at 9:05:53 am EST, Runway 33, Kennedy Space Center. Fla.

1984 – British Airways and some other international airlines begin relief flights carrying food and supplies to Ethiopia.

1968 – President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration suspends all American bombing of North Vietnam; Operation Rolling Thunder is suspended.

1968 – Força Aérea Brasileira Aerotec A-122 Uirapuru pre-production two-place trainer crashes, killing Centro Técnico Aeroespacial test pilot José Mariotto Ferreira, one of the Centre's most experienced pilots.

1966 – Air Canada begins the first North American air services to the Soviet Union

1964 – Viet Cong infiltrators stage a mortar attack on Bien Hoa Air Base in South Vietnam, destroying five U. S. Air Force B-57 Canberra bombers, a U. S. Air Force HH-43 F helicopter, and four South Vietnamese Air Force A-1 Skyraider attack aircraft, and damaging 15 B-57 s and some HH-43Fs.

1957 – The Comets returned to RCAF service after being grounded for modifications since January 1954.

1956 – No. 445 Squadron flew from Uplands, Ontario to Marville, France. It was the first Avro Canada CF-100 equipped squadron to join No. 1 Air Division.

1956 – During the day, British Fleet Air Arm de Havilland Sea Venoms, Chance Vought Corsairs, and Hawker Sea Hawks from the aircraft carriers HMS Eagle, HMS Albion, and HMS Bulwark conduct a series of daylight strikes against Egyptian airbases, destroying 200 aircraft by nightfall and knocking the Egyptian Air Force out of action. It begins the first large-scale action by the Fleet Air Arm since the end of World War II in 1945 The Egyptian President Abdel Nasser orders Egyptian pilots to fly all surviving aircraft to southern Egypt and avoid further action against British, French, and Israeli forces.

1955 – United Airlines Flight 629, a Douglas DC-6 B, is bombed by Jack Gilbert Graham over Longmont, Colorado; all 44 on board are killed.

1954 – No. 409 Squadron was reformed at Comox and equipped with Avro Canada CF-100 fighters.

1951 – No. 1 Fighter Wing was formed in England; on 15 Nov was established at North Luffenham.

1950 – Lt Khominich Semen Fedorovich shoots down a F-80 Shooting Star from his MiG-15, the first victory by a jet over another jet.

1949 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 537, a Douglas DC-4, on approach to Washington National Airport, suffers a mid-air collision with a Lockheed P-38; all 55 people on board the DC-4 died, including Congressman George J. Bates, New Yorker cartoonist Helen E. Hokinson, and former Congressman Michael J. Kennedy; the pilot and sole occupant of the P-38 is seriously injured.

1949 – A Lockheed P-38L Lightning, NX26297 flown by a Bolivian Air Force pilot, collides in midair with Eastern Airlines Flight 537, a Douglas DC-4 airliner, N88727, on its final approach to National Airport. All 55 people on board the Douglas DC-4 die; the P-38 pilot survived with injuries. Bridaux was considered one of Bolivia's most experienced pilots. Among the dead were Congressman George J. Bates and former Congressman Michael J. Kennedy. DC-4 wreckage comes down on Virginia shoreline of the Potomac River, north of Mount Vernon. It was (at the time) the worst plane crash in the history of civil aviation. The P-38 pilot was accused of causing the accident, later tried and cleared of the charges, which now is believed to have been an ATC error.

1945 – First prototype McDonnell XFD-1 Phantom, BuNo 48235 crashes as a result of aileron failure[66] killing McDonnell's chief test pilot Woodward Burke.

1944 – A Boeing F-13 Superfortress photographic reconnaissance aircraft conducts a mission over Tokyo. It is the first Allied aircraft to fly over Tokyo since the April 1942 Doolittle Raid.

1944 – Japanese kamikazes attack the United States Seventh Fleet in Leyte Gulf, sinking one and damaging five destroyers.

1944 – (1–11) U. S. Army Air Forces aircraft attack Japanese convoys landing troops and supplies at Ormoc Bay on Leyte with limited success.

1943 – U. S. Marines land at Cape Torokina on Bougainville Island. Two Japanese air raids on the ships offshore – The first by 53 and the second by approximately 100 Japanese planes – Are ineffective.

1943 – The U. S. Army Air Forces activate the Fifteenth Air Force in the Mediterranean as a strategic air force.

1943 – (1-2) Carrier aircraft from USS Saratoga (CV-3) and USS Princeton (CVL-23) raid two Japanese airfields adjacent to the Buka Passage between Buka Island and Bougainville.

1943 – 173 Japanese carrier aircraft land at shore bases at Rabaul to reinforce about 200 Imperial Japanese Navy 11th Air Fleet aircraft already there.

1940 – Entered Service: Avro Manchester with the Royal Air Force’s No. 207 Squadron

1939 – The first jet-powered plane, the Heinkel He 178, is demonstrated to officials of the Reich Air Ministry for their consideration as a warplane. The Nazi bigwigs pass on the design despite its superior speed, preferring to continue using proven piston-driven aircraft rather than investing in the new jet technology.

1926 – The Air Commerce Act is passed into law. Created at the urging of aviation industry leaders and President Calvin Coolidge, the act mandates for the first time such fundamentals as pilot licenses, aircraft airworthiness certificates, airways and investigation of accidents.

1920 – The US Post Office awards a contract for international air mail to Aeromarine West Indies Airways.

1919 – West Indies Airways begins exploitation of a route between Key West in Florida and La Havana, in Cuba.

1918 – The French fighter pilot René Fonck scores his 75th and final aerial victory. He ends the war as the highest-scoring Allied ace of World War I.

1911 – 2nd Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti of the Italian Air Flotilla drops several small bombs on Turkish troops during the Italo-Turkish War. This was the first time bombs had been dropped from an aeroplane in war.

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