Aviation began in the 18th century with the development of the
hot air balloon, an apparatus capable of atmospheric displacement through
buoyancy. Some of the most significant advancements in aviation technology came with the controlled gliding flying of
Otto Lilienthal in 1896; then a large step in significance came with the construction of the first powered
airplane by the
Wright brothers in the early 1900s. Since that time, aviation has been technologically revolutionized by the introduction of the
jet which permitted a major form of transport throughout the world. (Full article...)
Computer-generated image of Flight 1907 and N600XL about to collide. The Legacy's left winglet sliced off nearly half of the Boeing's left wing.
Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 was a
Boeing 737-8EH, registration PR-GTD, on a scheduled passenger flight from
Manaus, Brazil, to
Rio de Janeiro. On 29 September 2006, just before 17:00
BRT, it collided in midair with an
Embraer Legacy business jet over the Brazilian state of
Mato Grosso. All 154 passengers and crew aboard the Boeing 737 died when the aircraft broke up in midair and crashed into an area of dense
rainforest, while the Embraer Legacy, despite sustaining serious damage to its left wing and tail, landed safely with its seven occupants uninjured. The accident, which triggered a
crisis in Brazilian civil aviation, was the deadliest in that country's aviation history at the time, surpassing
VASP Flight 168, which crashed in 1982 with 137 fatalities near
Fortaleza. It was also the deadliest aviation accident involving a Boeing 737 aircraft at that time. It was subsequently surpassed by
Air India Express Flight 812, which crashed at Mangalore, India, on 22 May 2010 with 158 fatalities. The accident was investigated by both the
Brazilian Air Force's
Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center and the U.S.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), with a final report issued on 10 December 2008. CENIPA concluded that the accident was caused by errors committed both by
air traffic controllers and by the American pilots, while the NTSB determined that all pilots acted properly and were placed on a collision course by a variety of "individual and institutional"
air traffic control errors. (Full article...)
Image 3Concorde, G-BOAB, in storage at
London Heathrow Airport following the end of all Concorde flying. This aircraft flew for 22,296 hours between its first flight in 1976 and final flight in 2000 (from History of aviation)
Image 11Santos-Dumont's "Number 6" rounding the Eiffel Tower in the process of winning the Deutsch de la Meurthe Prize, October 1901 (from History of aviation)
Image 41"Map of Air Routes and Landing Places in Great Britain, as temporarily arranged by the Air Ministry for civilian flying", published in 1919, showing
Hounslow, near London, as the hub (from History of aviation)
Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager (born February 13, 1923) is a retired Brigadier-General in the
United States Air Force and a noted test pilot. In 1947, he became the first pilot (at age 24) to travel
faster than sound in level flight and ascent.
His career began in
World War II as a private in the
U.S. Army Air Forces. After serving as an aircraft mechanic, in September 1942 he entered enlisted pilot training and upon graduation was promoted to the rank of
Flight Officer (WW 2 U.S. Army Air Forces rank equivalent to
Warrant Officer) and became a
P-51 Mustangfighter pilot. After the war he became a
test pilot of many kinds of aircraft and rocket planes. Yeager was the first man to break the sound barrier on October 14, 1947, flying the experimental
Bell X-1 at
Mach 1 at an altitude of 45,000 ft (13,700 m). Although
Scott Crossfield was the first man to fly faster than Mach 2 in 1953, Yeager shortly thereafter exceeded Mach 2.4.[1] He later commanded fighter squadrons and wings in
Germany and in
Southeast Asia during the
Vietnam War, and in recognition of the outstanding performance ratings of those units he then was promoted to
Brigadier-General. Yeager's flying career spans more than sixty years and has taken him to every corner of the globe, even into the
Soviet Union during the height of the
Cold War.
The
DouglasDC-3 is a
fixed-wing,
propeller-driven
aircraft which revolutionized air transport in the
1930s and
1940s, and is generally regarded as one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made.
The DC-3 was engineered by a team led by chief engineer
Arthur E. Raymond and first flew on December 17, 1935 (the 32nd. anniversary of the
Wright Brothers flight at Kitty Hawk). The plane was the result of a marathon phone call from
American AirlinesCEOC.R. Smith demanding improvements in the design of the
DC-2. The amenities of the DC-3 (including sleeping berths on early models and an in-flight kitchen) popularized air travel in the United States. With just one refuelling stop, transcontinental flights across America became possible. Before the DC-3, such a trip would entail short hops in commuter aircraft during the day coupled with train travel overnight.
During
World War II, many civilian DC-3s were drafted for the war effort and thousands of military versions of the DC-3 were built under the designations
C-47, C-53, R4D, and Dakota. The armed forces of many countries used the DC-3 and its military variants for the transport of troops, cargo and wounded. Over 10,000 aircraft were produced (some as licensed copies in Japan as
Showa L2D, and in the USSR as the
Lisunov Li-2).
2012 – Slovenian pilot Matevž Lenarčič returns to
Slovenia, completing a 62,000-mile (99,839-km) round-the-world flight in a
Pipistrel Virus SW914ultralight aircraft, claiming to be the first person to circle the world in an ultralight without a copilot. The flight, sponsored as the "GreenLight World Flight," had begun from Slovenia on 8 January 2012 and had included passing
Mount Everest at an altitude of 29,344 feet (8.944 meters), some 300 feet (91 meters) above the mountain's peak.[2][3][4]
2011 – Tawang Town Mil Mi-17 crash was an accident of a Pawan Hans Mil Mi-172. The helicopter has 18 passengers and 5 crew. The flight took off from Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Assam to a heliport near the town Tawang Town in Tawang district. The flight was trying to land at the heliport which is on top of a hill but the helicopter crashed into a gorge 15 m height from the heliport and caught fire. The accident occurred at around 1:30 pm. Reports say that 17 of 23 passengers and crew were killed in the accident.
2009 – A Kenyan Air Force Habin Y-12 crashes at Marsabit killing 14 of the 17 people on board. Among the dead are four Members of Kenya's parliament and two Deputy Ministers.
2009 –
CanJet Flight 918 is seized on the ground by an armed man who slipped through security checks at Sangster International Airport, Montego Bay, Jamaica; all passengers are released early on; six crew members are kept as hostages for several hours before being freed unharmed.
2006 – Launch of New Horizons, NASA robotic spacecraft mission to the dwarf planet Pluto. It is expected to be the first spacecraft to fly by and study Pluto and its moons, Charon, Nix, and Hydra. NASA may also attempt flybys of one or more other Kuiper belt objects.
2006 – Scott Crossfield, American pilot, first man to fly at Mach 2, dies (b.
1921). On November 20,
1953, Crossfield flew at twice the speed of sound as he piloted the Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket to a speed of 1,291 mph (2,078 km/h, Mach 2.005).
2006 – Jet Airways announces its purchase of Air Sahara, creating the largest domestic airline in India.
2006 – A Slovak Air Force Antonov An-24 crashes in Hungary.
2001 – Launch: Space Shuttle Endeavour
STS-100 at 18:40:42 UTC. Mission highlights: ISS assembly flight 6A: robotic arm; First spacewalk by a Canadian Chris Hadfield.
2000 –
Air Philippines Flight 541, a Boeing 737-200, crashes in a coconut grove on Samal Island, Davao del Norte while preparing to approach the Davao International Airport, killing all 131 people on board in the worst ever accident involving the 737-200.
2000 – A Rwandan Air Force Antonov An-8, TL-ACM, chartered from Central African Airlines, crashes near Pepa, Democratic Republic of the Congo after engine failure caused by a suspected bird strike. All 24 on board were killed. A Rwanda army major, two captains, two lieutenants, and some soldiers were killed along with the 4 Russian crewmembers on take-off from Pepa. The soldiers were returning on home leave, while others were planning to attend the president's swearing-in ceremony. Other sources report a death toll of around 57 and suggest the Antonov might have been imported into Rwanda illegally.
1993 – South Dakota governor George Mickelson and seven others aboard a state-owned aircraft crashed in Iowa. All eight perished in the crash.
1993 – STS-54, space shuttle Endeavour is back on earth.
1991 – Death of Paul F. Bikle, American Engineer, Record setting glider pilot and Director of the NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility.
1988 – Kwon Ki-ok, first Korean female pilot, dies (b.
1901). Ki-ok was the first Korean female aviator, as well as being the first female pilot in China.
1985 – Landed: Space Shuttle Discovery
STS-51-D at 13:54:28 UTC KSC, Runway 33. Mission highlights: Multiple comsat deployments, first flight of a sitting politician in space, Jake Garn, first impromptu EVA of program to fix Syncom F3 (Leasat 3).
1975 – Death of Antonio Reali, Italian WWI fighter ace.
1972 – North Vietnamese Air Force aircraft bomb U. S. Navy ships at sea, the only such attack during the Vietnam War. Two MiG-17 s cause minor damage to the guided-missile light cruiser USS Oklahoma City (CLG-5) and heavy damage to the destroyer USS Higbee (DD-806).
1968 – The U. S. Army's First Cavalry Division (Airmobile) begins Operation Delaware in the A Shau Valley in South Vietnam, a helicopter-borne assault on North Vietnamese Army forces there. Facing heavy antiaircraft fire, it loses 10 helicopters shot down and 13 more damaged on the first day of the operation.
1968 – Death of Gaetano Arturo Crocco, Italian scientist and aeronautics pioneer, founder of the Italian Rocket Society.
1966 – U. S. Navy aircraft strike the coal port of Cam Pha, North Vietnam, only 35 miles (56 km) from North Vietnam's border with the People's Republic of China.
1965 – Suborbital flight of Gemini 2, US unmanned mission intended as a test flight for the Gemini spacecraft's heat shield.
1950 – First flight of the
Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck (affectionately known as the "Clunk"), Canadian jet interceptor/fighter.
1949 – Larry Walters, American “lawn chair” pilot was born (d.
1993). Walters took flight to altitudes of 16,000 into controlled airspace near Long Beach airport on July 2,
1982 in a homemade aircraft, dubbed Inspiration I that he had fashioned out of a Sears’s patio chair and 42 helium-filled weather balloons.
1947 – A Boeing B-29A-85-BW Superfortress, 44-87638, of the 30th Bomb Squadron, 19th Bomb Group, 20th Air Force, crashes and explodes one mile off shore at Kwajalein Island after take-off. Sixteen KWF, no bodies are recovered. One of the dead is Capt. Quitman B. Jackson, 24, of Columbia, South Carolina, a 1944 graduate of West Point. He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Charlotte R. Jackson, and their child, Susan, of Kansas City, Missouri, and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Q. B. Jackson, of 1523 Lady Street, Columbia, South Carolina
1945 – The International Air Transport Association (IATA), an inter-airline body to fix rates and ensure cooperation on safety procedures, is formed; it succeeds the International Air Traffic Association, set up in
1919.
1945 – During an Eighth Air Force raid on a rail marshaling yard at Aussig, Czechoslovakia, Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Me 262s shoot down five Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses. The fifth, Boeing B-17G-5-BO Flying Fortress, 42-31188, named "Dead Man's Hand", of the 709th Bomb Squadron, 447th Bomb Group,[28] piloted by Lt. Robert F. Glazener, on its 111th combat mission, becomes the last heavy bomber of the 8th Air Force lost to enemy fighters in the European theatre. Seven of eight crew escape the falling bomber, although no chutes were reported being seen (by this point, the two waist gunners were not being carried.)
1944 – U.S. Navy airship K-133, of ZP-22, operating out of Naval Air Station Houma, Louisiana, is caught in a thunderstorm while patrolling over the Gulf of Mexico. Ship goes down and twelve of thirteen crew are lost. Sole survivor is recovered after spending 21 hours in the water.
1944 – The British Eastern Fleet makes the first British air strike against Japanese-held territory as Barracudas and Corsairs from the British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious and SBD Dauntlesses and F6 F Hellcats from the U. S. carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3) raid Sabang, Sumatra, damaging harbor facilities and destroying a radar station and Japanese aircraft on nearby airfields. One Hellcat is lost.
1938 – The Aragon Offensive ends, with Spanish Nationalists having routed Republican forces and cut Republican-controlled Spain in two. Nationalist air superiority has proven decisive in their victory, and both the Germans supporting the Nationalists and the Soviets supporting the Republicans have learned a great deal about fighter support to infantry.
1937 – Flying a redesigned H-1 Racer featuring extended wings, Howard Hughes set a new transcontinental airspeed record by flying non-stop from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 min and 25 seconds (beating his own previous record of 9 hours, 27 min). His average speed over the flight was 322 mph (518 km/h).
1936 – Italian aircraft bomb Ethiopian forces attacking Italian troops at Birkut.
1933 – The U. S. Navy conducts the first mass seaplane flight from Oahu to French Frigate Shoals, a 759-mile flight. The aircraft return via the Gardner Pinnacles, completing the round trip in 8 hours 10 min.
1927 – Canadian Vickers Vanessa made its first flight, from the St Lawrence at the Canadian Vickers plant by Flt Lt R. S. (Bill) Grady, who then made a series of flights, terminating on 27 April.
1926 – Death of Leopoldo Eleuteri, Italian WWI flying ace.
1924 – The Argentinean Marquis de I. Pescara’s helicopter establishes in France a flying record of 2,550 feet (c. 777 m) in 4 min, 11 seconds. This helicopter provides for auto-rotation (free blade rotation) in case of engine failure. This invention is a life-saving device, as it allows for a measure of control and lift.
1923 – The De Bothezat helicopter lifted 2 persons to a height of 1.2 m
1922 – Erich Hartmann, German, world’s most successful fighter pilot, is born (d.
1993). Erich Alfred “Bubi” Hartmann, also nicknamed “The Blond Knight Of Germany” by friends and “The Black Devil” by his enemies, was a German fighter pilot and still is the highest scoring fighter ace in the history of aerial combat with 352 kills.
1920 – Two aircraft written-off in separate accidents at
Bolling Field, Washington, D.C.
1919 – Jules Védrines claims an FF25,000 prize by landing an aircraft (a Caudron G-3) on the roof of a department store in Paris. Védrines is injured and his aircraft is damaged beyond repair in the hard landing in a space only 28 m x 12 m (92 ft x 40 ft).
1918 – Birth of Tadeusz Góra, Polish glider pilot and WWII pilot.
1916 – Birth of Ennio "Banana" Tarantola, Spanish War and WWII Italian fighter ace.
1916 – During the Gallipoli campaign, the Royal Navy balloon ship Manica lofts her observation balloon operationally for the first time in the first operational use of a balloon ship during World War I. The observer in her balloon directs fire against Ottoman positions for the armored cruiser Bacchante. Manica’s work during the campaign impresses the British Admiralty for it to order additional balloon ships.
1916 – First Zeppelin raid on the UK by the German Navy. They bomb the towns of Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn in the United Kingdom killing more than 20, in the first major aerial bombardment of a civilian target.
1910 – Lieutenant Paul Ward Beck drops sandbag "bombs" over Los Angeles from an aeroplane piloted by Louis Paulhan.
1907 – Louis Blériot flies and crashes his powered monoplane Nº V at Bagatelle, France.
1899 – Birth of George Ebben Randall, British WWI Flying ace.
1898 – Birth of Basil Henry Moody, South African WWI Flying ace.
1898 – Birth of Carl-August von Schoenebeck, German WWI flying ace, Raid pilot, Arado test pilot and WWII high-ranking officer.
1895 – Birth of Air Marshal Sir Arthur "Mary" Coningham KCB, KBE, DSO, MC, DFC, AFC, RAF, Royal Flying Corps flying ace during WWI, Conningham was later a senior Royal Air Force commander during WWII, as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief 2nd Tactical Air Force and subsequently the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Flying Training Command.
1895 – Birth of Ivan Alexandrovich Orlov, Russian WWI flying ace, Self Glider and Aircraft designer.
1893 – Birth of Maurice Joseph Emile Robert, French WWI flying ace.
1888 – Birth of Millard Fillmore Harmon Jr. American WWI pilot and Lieutenant General in the USAAF during the Pacific campaign in WWII.
1883 – Birth of James McKinley Hargreaves, Scottish WWI flying ace, One of the first Aces in history.
1784 – One of the largest hot-air balloon ever made, called 'Le Flesselle' by the Montgolfier brothers, makes an ascent at Lyon, France. The balloon's capacity is 700,000 cubic feet and it goes up to 3,000 feet.
References
^Yeager, Chuck and
Janos, Leo. Yeager: An Autobiography. p. 252 (paperback). New York: Bantam Books, 1986.
ISBN0-553-25674-2.
^Associated Press, "Lofty Achievement," Washington Post Express, April 20, 2012, p. 8.