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<<	Selected anniversaries for April in aviation					>>
Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
	01	02	03	04	05	06
07	08	09	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
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28	29	30
An archive of historical anniversaries that appeared on the Aviation Portal 2024 day arrangement

April 1

• 2011 – A Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II from Spangdahlem Air Base crashed near Laufeld, Germany. The pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Scott Hurrelbrink, ejected and was not seriously injured.

• 2011 – Southwest Airlines Flight 812, the Boeing 737-3HR N632SW with 123 people on board, suffers an in-flight structural failure which opens a six-foot (1.8-meter)-long hole in its fuselage and triggers an explosive decompression and the deployment of oxygen masks. Only two people suffer minor injuries, and the airliner makes a successful emergency descent and landing at Yuma International Airport in Yuma, Arizona. Southwest Airlines grounds all 80 of its 737-300s for inspection. ^[1]

• 2011 – In the Libyan Civil War, a coalition airstrike attacking a Libyan government ground convoy in eastern Libya causes a truck carrying ammunition to explode, destroying two nearby houses. Seven civilians die and 25 are wounded. ^[2]

• 2011 – A Libyan rebel convoy near Brega fires into the air with an anti-aircraft gun, perhaps in celebration. A U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft believing it was under attack by Libyan government forces then returns fire, killing at least 13 people. ^[3]

• 2011 – Introduction: Denel Rooivalk

• 2009 – A Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma (G-REDL) flying from the BP Miller Oil Platform located 168 nautical miles (270 km) north-east from Aberdeen, Scotland to the heliport at Aberdeen Airport crashes into the North Sea 11 nautical miles (20 km) east of Peterhead, Aberdeenshire. The Super Puma helicopter owned by Bond Offshore Helicopters made a brief mayday call at 12:54 pm BST and was then seen to crash 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) from a supply vessel resulting in the death of 2 crew and 14 passengers. ^[4] The cause of the accident was the catastrophic failure of the main rotor gearbox, which caused the main rotor to detach and severed the pylon and tail boom. ^[5]

• 2006 – AH-64D Apache from 4–4th Aviation Regiment shot down southwest of Baghdad, killing the two crewmen.

• 2006 – F-14A Tomcat 158620 'NF-104' of VF-154 crashes; the pilots survive. ^{[6] [7]}

• 2003 – AV-8B+(R) Harrier 165391 of HMM-263 crashes off USS Nassau; the pilot was rescued. ^{[6] [8]}

• 2003 – S-3A Viking 160584 of VS-38 crashes off USS Constellation; two pilots survive. ^{[6] [9] [10]}

• 2001 – Hainan Island incident- An American Lockheed EP-3E Aries II surveillance plane, BuNo 156511, coded 'PR-32', of VQ-1, collided with a Chinese Shenyang J-8IID fighter jet, reported as 81192, and was forced to make an emergency landing at Lingshui air base on Hainan Island, China. The U.S. crew was detained for 10 days; the Chinese fighter pilot, Wang Wei, was reported missing and presumed dead. The Chinese refused to let the Orion be flown out, so it was dismantled and transported on chartered Antonov An-124-100 of Polyot.

• 1993 – Queen Elizabeth II of England reviews 70 Royal Air Force aircraft on the ground in celebration of the air force's 75th anniversary. A mass flypast is cancelled due to poor weather.

• 1982 – Air France flies the Concorde over to Rio de Janeiro and Caracas, Venezuela for the last time.

• 1978 – The Canadian Snowbirds aerobatic team officially becomes the 431 Air Demonstration Squadron.

• 1976 – Lufthansa's first two Airbus A300Bs enter service. They will fly between Frankfurt and Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart and London.

• 1975 – Republic of Singapore Air Force is formed

• 1972 – BOAC and British European Airways are merged to create British Airways

• 1971 – Entered Service: Hawker Siddeley Trident 3 B with British European Airways

• 1965 – Entered Service: NAMC YS-11 with Japan Domestic Airlines

• 1965 – Tasman Empire Airways becomes Air New Zealand

• 1965 – Tripartite Evaluation Squadron Hawker Siddeley Kestrel FGA.1, XS696, catches fire on take-off at RAF West Raynham and crashes.

• 1964 – In an unusual accident, the Number Three deck elevator of the USS Randolph tears loose from the ship during night operations and plunges into the Atlantic off Cape Henry, Virginia, taking with it a Grumman S-2D Tracker, five crewman, and a tractor. Three crew are rescued by the USS Holder, but two are lost at sea.

• 1961 – Venezuelan airline VIASA commences operations

• 1956 – TWA Flight 400, a Martin 4-0-4, crashes on takeoff at Greater Pittsburgh International Airport, killing 22 of the 36 on board; 14 survive.

• 1955 – post- World War II bans on powered flight in West Germany are lifted

• 1954 – Last operational flight by an RAF Spitfire, a photo-reconnaissance sortie against bandits in Malaya

• 1954 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.

• 1953 – The CF-100 entered Squadron service.

• 1953 – British European Airways and Air France introduce " tourist class" fares

• 1951 – U. S. Navy carrier-based jets are used as fighter-bombers for the first time as F9F Panthers of Fighter Squadron 191 (VF-191) aboard USS Princeton (CV-37) attack a railroad bridge near Songjin, Korea, with 100- and 250-pound (45- and 113-kg) bombs.

• 1949 – Tip tank of Dow AFB-based Republic F-84B Thunderjet comes off during Lewiston, Maine parade flyover and hits Lewiston Public Works Garage.

• 1949 – Entered Service: Boeing Stratocruiser with Pan American World Airways

• 1948 – First flight of the Convair XF-92, America's first delta-winged airplane

• 1947 – First flight of the Blackburn Firecrest

• 1945 – The Nakajima Aircraft Company comes under the control of the Japanese government and is renamed the First Munitions Arsenal.

• 1945 – Ohkas score hits on the USS West Virginia and three of her escorts.

• 1944 – U. S. Navy Task Force 58 carrier aircraft strike Woleai. During the March 30-April 1 raids on the Palau Islands, Yap, and Woleai, Task Force 58 aircraft have sunk or badly damaged 36 Japanese ships totaling 130,000 tons, trapped 32 more in harbors with naval mining, and destroyed many Japanese aircraft in exchange for the loss of 25 U. S. planes.

• 1943 – The Imperial Japanese Navy begins the I Operation, a land-based air offensive over the Solomon Islands and New Guinea, with a fighter sweep by 58 Japanese Mitsubishi A6 M Zeroes from Rabaul down New Georgia Sound toward Guadalcanal. Over the Russell Islands, 41 U. S. F4 F Wildcats, F4U Corsairs, and P-38 Lightnings intercept them. The Japanese lose 18 Zeros in exchange for six American fighters.

• 1943 – (1-2 ) U. S. Army Fifth Air Force bombers attack a Japanese convoy bound for Kavieng, sinking a merchant ship and damaging the heavy cruiser Aoba and a destroyer. Aoba is never again capable of steaming at maximum speed.

• 1942 – At Malta's submarine base, German aircraft sink the British submarine HMS Pandora, damage the submarine HMS P36 beyond repair, and badly damage the submarine HMS Unbeaten.

• 1940 – First flight of the Grumman XF5F Skyrocket

• 1939 – First flight of the Mitsubishi A6M Zero (Allied reporting name “Zeke”).

• 1939 – During a promotional sales tour of Europe, the Seversky 2PA-202 is wrecked after a demonstration in England.

• 1938 – Nationalist leader Francisco Franco announces that the Spanish Civil War has ended in a complete Nationalist victory. During the 32½-month war, the Nationalists have used about 1,300 aircraft and the Republicans about 1,500; about 10,000 people have died in air attacks. Early Republican numerical air superiority had been challenged almost immediately by the technical superiority of Italian Fiat CR.32 fighters and Savoia-Marchetti SM.81, and German Junkers Ju 52 bomber-transports; Soviet Polikarpov I-15 and I-16 fighters had given the Republicans air superiority in the winter of 1936- 1937, but the Nationalists had achieved lasting air superiority after German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters and Heinkel He 111 bombers and Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bombers had arrived in 1937. Germany has sent about 600 aircraft to Spain, Italy about 660, the Soviet Union 1,000, and other countries (principally France) about 350. The German, Italian, and Soviet air forces have learned a great deal about the employment of modern aircraft in warfare through their involvement, and the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion in particular has used the conflict to test new aircraft and revolutionary new air warfare concepts.

• 1937 – No. 3 Repair Depot authorized to form at Vancouver.

• 1935 – First flight of the North American T-6 Texan

• 1935 – Swissair begins services between Zürich and London

• 1933 – The Indian Air Force is formed

• 1928 – The Imperial Japanese Navy forms its first seagoing aircraft carrier organization, the First Carrier Division.

• 1926 – Italian airline Società Italiana Servizi Aerei begins operations linking Trieste, Venice, Pavia, and Turin with CANT 10 flying boats.

• 1924 – Most of the aviation work that had been done in British Columbia up to 1924 was done in conjunction with the Air Board, then the Canadian Air Force and finally the Royal Canadian Air Force which came into being. The RCAF withdrew from patrol duties despite its success in this role. A few of the people who had been flying for the military until this time decided to strike out on their own. They wanted to form independent companies, and still make a living doing what they enjoyed most – Flying. Don McLaren was one such person and he formed a company called Pacific Airways, in February 1925

• 1924 – The Royal Canadian Air Force is formed.

• 1924 – Britain's Fleet Air Arm is established

• 1924 – Imperial Airways is formed, with the backing of the British government.

• 1923 – The Royal Air Force abandons the squadron as the basic organizational unit for those of its aircraft operating from Royal Navy ships, reorganizing them into six-plane flights.

• 1921 – French pilot Adrienne Bollard takes off from Mendoza, Argentina in a Cauldron biplane to become the first woman to fly over the Andes. She completes the historic Andean crossing to the Chilean capital, Santiago in 10 hours.

• 1918 – The Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service combine to form the Royal Air Force. The Women's Royal Air Force is formed at the same time.

• 1916 – US Coast Guard Third Lieutenant Elmer F. Stone begins flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Pensacola, Florida. He is the first US Coast Guard aviator.

• 1915 – French pilot Lt Roland Garros scores the first kill using a non- synchronised machine gun when he shoots down an Albatros observation plane from his Morane Saulnier Type L.

• 1916 – French ace Jean Navarre, with an observer Lt. Robert, score the first kill.

• 1911 – The first flying unit of the British Military, the Air Battalion Royal Engineers formed.

• 1911 – First flight of the Avro Type D

• 1904 – Captain Ferdinand Ferber makes a failed attempt to fly an Archdeacon glider at Berck sur Mer, Picardy.

References

April 2

• 2012 – UTair Flight 120, a twin-engine UTair Aviation ATR-72-201, crashes in western Siberia near the city of Tyumen shortly after takeoff from Roschino International Airport, killing 31 of the 43 people on board and critically injuring all 12 survivors. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

• 2010 – An Embraer EMB 312 Tucano of the Brazilian Air Force "Smoke Squadron" crashed during an airshow at the Aeroporto Federal de Lages. The pilot, aged 33, died in the crash.

• 2009 – Chemtrad Aviation Britten-Norman Islander RP-C764 crashes at Baggao, Philippines, killing all thirteen people on board. The aircraft was destroyed.

• 2009 – A Spanish Air Force F/A-18 Hornet crashes in northern Spain. Pilot ejects safely.

• 2005 – Royal Australian Navy Westland Sea King Mk50a, N16-100, '(9)02', helicopter Shark 02 of 817 Squadron RAN crashes on the Indonesian island of Nias while providing humanitarian support following the 2005 Sumatra earthquake, killing 9 Australian Defence Force personnel on board.

• 2003 – A UH-60A Black Hawk (94-26557) of B Company, 2–3rd Aviation Regiment is shot down near Karbala, killing 7 soldiers and injuring 4 more. ^[4]

• 2003 – F/A-18C Block 46 Hornet 164974 of VFA-195 is shot down by a US Patriot missile, killing the pilot. ^{[5] [6]}

• 2002 – A United States Navy Sikorsky MH-53E Sea Dragon of HM-14 BuNo 163051 crashed on the runway at Bahrain International Airport. All 18 men and woman on board survived with only a few cases of minor injuries.

• 1997 – A Boeing 777, powered by twin Rolls-Royce Trent 892 turbofans, returns to Seattle to set a new Eastbound speed around the world record of 553 mph. En route, the twinjet sets a Great Circle distance without landing record of 12,455.34 miles when flying from Seattle to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

• 1997 – Craig D. Button (November 24, 1964—April 2, 1997), a United States Air Force pilot, dies when he mysteriously crashes an Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft in the Colorado Rockies. Before the incident, Captain Button inexplicably flew hundreds of miles off-course without radio contact, appeared to maneuver purposefully and did not attempt to eject before the crash. His death is regarded as a suicide because no other theory explains the events. His aircraft carried live bombs, which were never recovered. It took three weeks to find the crashsite. During that time, there was widespread public speculation about Captain Button's intentions and whereabouts.

• 1987 – A Royal Air Force Vickers VC-10 sets a new record time between the UK and Australia, landing in Perth after a flight of 16 hours 1 min.

• 1986 – TWA Flight 840, a Boeing 727, is bombed by Palestinian militants, killing four out of 121 people on board. The plane manages to land safely in Athens.

• 1984 – Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma is launched aboard Soyuz T-11, and becomes the first Indian in space.

• 1982 – The Falklands War begins as Argentina invades the Falkland Islands and South Georgia Island.

• 1982 – An Armada de la República Argentina (ARA) Westland Lynx HAS.2 from the 1ra Escuadrilla Aeronaval de Helicópteros supporting the Argentinian invasion of the Falklands crashes into the sea near the ARA Santísima Trinidad.

• 1971 – Last internal Yukon flight from Victoria to Trenton.

• 1969 – LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165, an Antonov An-24, crashes in southern Poland, killing all 53 people on board.

• 1965 – First flight of the Partenavia Oscar

• 1957 – First flight of the Short SC.1 (CTOL)

• 1956 – Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2, a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, ditches into Puget Sound after takeoff from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after the cowl flaps are incorrectly set for takeoff; four passengers and a flight attendant die, probably of hypothermia, while waiting for rescue; 33 survive.

• 1955 – Trans-Canada Airlines introduced the Vickers Viscount airliner into regular service, making it the first North American airline to use turbine power aircraft.

• 1949 – First flight of the SNCASE Armagnac

• 1944 – The first United States Army Air Forces B-29 Superfortress arrives at Calcutta, India, after an 11,530-mile (18,567-km) trip from Kansas, which includes stops at Presque Isle, Maine; Gander, Newfoundland; Marrakech, Morocco; Cairo, Egypt; and Karachi, and a 2,700-mile (4,348-km) non-stop transatlantic flight between Gander and Marrakech.

• 1937 – Swedish airplane manufacturer Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (SAA is established in Trollhättan, Sweden.

• 1917 – The prelude to the battle of Vimy Ridge began as the Canadian gunners started pounding the German defences, from small howitzers to huge naval guns, using a nearly limitless supply of ammunition. It was the largest artillery poundings in history up to that point, using over one million shells. The attack lasted for seven days, and was loud enough to be heard in London. Germans in the front line trenches later called it “the week of suffering. ”

• 1794 – Establishment of the first airship company in the French Army who use a balloon named Entreprenant for reconnaissance of the Austrian forces at the Battle of Fleurus. Two companies of balloon observers are formed, but disband the following year.

References

April 3

• 2009 – Quebec Service Aérien Canadair CL-415 C-GQBG makes a belly landing at Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport, Canada and suffers substantial damage.

• 2008 – In the 2008 Suriname plane crash, an Antonov An-28 operated by Blue Wing Airlines crashes near Benzdorp in Suriname. All nineteen on board are killed.

• 2008 – ATA Airlines ceased all operations due to unrecovering bankruptcy.

• 2006 – USAF Lockheed C-5B Galaxy, 84-0059, of 436th Airlift Wing/512th Airlift Wing AF Reserve, crashes in a field one mile (1.6 km) short of the runway during landing approach to Dover AFB, Delaware. All 17 on board survive, although three are seriously injured. The cause was found to be aircrew error as the pilots and flight engineers did not properly configure, maneuver and power the aircraft during approach and landing.

• 1996 – 1996 Croatia USAF CT-43 crash: A USAF Boeing CT-43, 73-1149 (c/n 20696), call sign IFO 21, of the 76th Airlift Squadron, 86th Airlift Wing, Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on an official trade mission, crashed on approach to Dubrovnik Airport, Croatia, killing United States Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown and 34 other people. The crash board findings, announced 7 June 1996, blamed the crash on a failure of command, aircrew error and an improperly designed instrument approach procedure.

• 1985 – First Kamov V-80-01, prototype of Kamov Ka-50 "Hokum", '010', crashes, killing the pilot.

• 1982 – First flight of the Airbus A310

• 1981 – Pan Am founder Juan Trippe dies in Los Angeles.

• 1980 – The prototype of the Bombardier Challenger 600 crashes in the Mojave Desert in California, killing its pilot.

• 1970 – A USAF Boeing B-52D-60-BO Stratofortress, 55-089, c/n 464-17205, of the 28th Bomb Wing caught fire and crashed during landing at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota, skidding into a brick storage building containing 25,000 gallons of jet fuel. Heroic efforts by crash crew save all nine on board, although one suffered broken limbs, and three firefighters were injured. One of the eight jet engines ran for forty minutes following crash.

• 1968 – The RCAF’s Lockheed P2V Neptune flew its last operational mission. A few would later be activated when the Canadair Argus was grounded after cracks were discovered in some.

• 1968 – President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration restricts American bombing of North Vietnam to targets south of the 19th Parallel.

• 1965 – United States Air Force and U. S. Navy aircraft begin covert Operation Steel Tiger armed reconnaissance flights over southeastern Laos.

• 1965 – The first jet-to-jet combat of the Vietnam War occurs. Although all American aircraft involved return safely, the North Vietnamese Air Force claims to have shot down a U. S. Navy Vought F-8 Crusader fighter and in future years celebrates April 3 as "North Vietnamese Air Force Day. "

• 1965 – The U. S. Air Force mounts the first and largest U. S. air strike against the Thanh Hoa Railroad and Highway Bridge in North Vietnam, which the bridge survives. Despite 873 sorties against it over the next seven years, the bridge will not be destroyed until April 1972.

• 1954 – Qantas introduces tourist-class services on its Kangaroo route from Sydney to London.

• 1953 – BOAC introduces a weekly service to Tokyo by de Havilland Comet jet airliner.

• 1952 – A United States Air Force Boeing B-29A-65-BN Superfortress, 44-62164, crashes at night. Suspected reason – Fuel line issues. The crew bailed out over a farmer's field 8 miles (13 km) N/5.5 miles W of Onaga, Kansas, United States. The captain died in the crash and one airman perished when his parachute failed to open. In addition, several cattle were killed. The surviving crew was fired at by the farmer, who believed them to be invading "ruskies".

• 1951 – Sole prototype Hawker P.1081, converted from second prototype Hawker P.1052, VX279, with 5,000 lb (2,300 kg). s.t. Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet, first flown 19 June 1950, crashes this date at high speed on the South Downs, killing pilot Squadron Leader T. S. "Wimpy" Wade, DFC, AFC, Hawker's chief test pilot. He attempts ejection but his non-Martin-Baker seat fails. Cause was never fully established, but aircraft may have gone out of control during dive and exceeded limitations, witnesses reported hearing sonic boom as it came down. Australian interest in building type under license disappears, both they and the Royal Air Force acquiring Canadair Sabres to fill requirement for a high-speed fighter. Program abandoned.

• 1948 – Alitalia recommences services to the United Kingdom

• 1944 – American aircraft raid Wotje.

• 1944 – The U. S. Army Forces’ Fifth Air Force resumes attacks on Japanese airfields around Hollandia on New Guinea with the heaviest raid yet, including nearly a hundred Douglas A-20 Havoc bombers. They encounter only sporadic Japanese resistance.

• 1944 – In Operation Tungsten, a raid launched from the British aircraft carriers HMS Victorious, HMS Furious, HMS Emperor, HMS Fencer, HMS Pursuer, and HMS Searcher, 42 Fleet Air Arm Fairey Barracuda aircraft escorted by 40 fighters scores 14 hits with 1,600-lb (726-kg) bombs on the German battleship Tirpitz in Altenfjord, Norway, badly damaging her and killing 122 of her crew. Two Barracudas are lost.

• 1942 – The US 303rd Bomb Group, activated at Pendleton Field, Oregon, on 3 February 1942, suffers its first fatal aircraft accident when three flying officers and five enlisted crew are killed in the crash of a Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress, 41-9053, six miles (10 km) N of Strevell, Idaho during a training mission.

• 1941 – The British aircraft carrier HMS Argus flies off 12 Royal Air Force Hawker Hurricanes to Malta from a point south of Sardinia.

• 1939 – First flight of the Gloster F.9/37 (or Gloster G.39), a British twin-engined design for a cannon-armed fighter.

• 1933 – United States Navy airship USS Akron, encounters severe weather and crashes into the Atlantic off the coast of New Jersey. 73 passengers and crew, including Rear Admiral William A. Moffett, were killed. It did not have the Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawks deployed aboard when it was lost. The new Naval Airship Station at Sunnyvale, California is named Moffett Field in honour of the lost admiral.

• 1933 – The Royal Air Force reinstates the squadron of nine to 12 planes as the basic organizational unit for its aircraft assigned to Royal Navy aircraft carriers, retaining the six-plane flight as the basic organizational unit only for aircraft assigned to operate from battleship and cruiser catapults.

• 1933 – Two British aircraft, the Westland PV-3 and Westland PV-6 make the first flight over Mount Everest

• 1926 – Gus Grissom, American astronaut, was born (d. 1967). Virgil Ivan Grissom, more widely known as Gus Grissom, was one of the original NASA Project Mercury astronauts and a United States Air Force pilot. He was the second American to fly in space. Grissom was killed along with fellow astronauts Ed White and Roger Chaffee during a training exercise and pre-launch test for the Apollo 1 mission at the Kennedy Space Center. He was a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross and, posthumously, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

• 1904 – Gabriel Voisin successfully flies a modified Archdeacon glider at Berck sur Mer, Picardy. Voisin added a canard to the design. His longest flight on this day was 25 seconds.

References

April 4

• 2012 – An inexperienced military contractor operating an unarmed United States Air Force MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle by remote control mistakenly makes the Reaper take off without permission from Seychelles International Airport on Mahé in the Seychelles, accidentally commands the Reaper's engine to shut down a minute later without realizing it, then forgets to put down the landing gear as he attempts an emergency landing at the airport. The Reaper bounces on the runway and crashes into the Indian Ocean along the edge of the airport six minutes after takeoff. ^[1]

• 2011 – In the 2011 United Nations Bombardier CRJ-100 crash, a Georgian Airways plane operated by the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) crashes on landing at N'djili Airport, Democratic Republic of the Congo; all but one of the 33 on board are killed.

• 2009 – Air China Airbus A321-213 B-6556 is substantially damaged in a heavy landing and tailstrike at Beijing Capital International Airport. A vertical deceleration of 3.03G is recorded. A go-around is initiated and the aircraft subsequently lands safely.

• 2008 – A USAF Rockwell B-1B Lancer, 86-0116, of the 28th Bomb Wing, suffers hydraulic failure while taxiing after landing at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, veering off runway and catching fire. Four crew evacuate safely but airframe is burnt out after bomb load explodes.

• 2007 – Heavy rain caused the crash of a Brazilian Air Force EMBRAER Super Tucano near Boa Vista International Airport, the pilot, Fernando Wilmers de Medeiros, did not survive. 3 other Super Tucanos from the same squad were able to make an emergency landing.

• 2004 – Alaska Airlines discontinues service between San Francisco and Tucson.

• 2001 – A Sudan Air Force Antonov An-24 crashes during a sandstorm in Adar Yeil, Sudan. Of the 30 people on board, 14 were killed; among them, Sudan's deputy defense minister as well as other high-ranking officers.

• 1997 – Launch: Space Shuttle Columbia STS-83 at 2:20:32.074 p.m. EST. Mission highlights: Truncated due to fuel cell problem.

• 1995 – Russian Air Force warplanes are deployed to support the mobilisation of troops into Chechnia

• 1994 – KLM Cityhopper Flight 433, a Saab 340, crashes while trying to return to Schiphol Airport, due to pilot error and equipment failure; the pilot and two passengers die, nine passengers are injured.

• 1993 – First flight of the Fokker 70

• 1991 – United States Senator H. John Heinz III and six others are killed when his Piper Aerostar and a Bell 412 helicopter collide over Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, and crash.

• 1990 – CF-18 #792 crashes on the weapons range at Cold Lake, pilot killed.

• 1987 – Garuda Indonesia Flight 035, a Douglas DC-9-32, strikes a pylon and crashes on approach to Medan-Polonia Airport in Medan on Sumatra in Indonesia. A fire following the crash kills 23 of the 45 people on board; all 22 survivors are injured.

• 1984 – Oleg Antonov, Soviet airplane engineer, dies (b. 1906). Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov was a Soviet aircraft designer and painter, the founder of Antonov Aeronautical Scientific/Technical Complex (ASTC), a world-famous aircraft company in Ukraine, later named in his honor.

• 1983 – Launch: Space shuttle Challenger STS-6 at 18:30:00 UTC. Mission highlights: TDRS deployment; first flight of Challenger; first space shuttle extra-vehicular activity.

• 1979 – Trans World Airlines Flight 841, a Boeing 727-31 with 89 people on board on a flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in Minneapolis, Minnesota, suddenly rolls sharply to the right over Saginaw, Michigan, and goes into a spiral dive from 39,000 feet (11,887 m) including two 360-degree rolls despite corrective measures taken by both the autopilot and the human pilot, losing 34,000 (10,363 m) of altitude in 63 seconds before the flight crew manages to pull out of the dive at 5,000 feet (1,524 m). Eight passengers suffer minor injuries caused by exposure to high G forces. The plane makes an emergency landing at Detroit, Michigan, without further incident.

• 1977 – Southern Airways Flight 242, a Douglas DC-9, crash-lands on a highway near New Hope, Georgia after dual engine failure encountered in a thunderstorm; 63 out of 85 aboard are killed, along with 9 people on the ground.

• 1975 – 1975 Tan Son Nhut C-5 accident: A USAF Lockheed C-5A Galaxy, 68-0218, c/n 500-0021, taking part in Operation Babylift, a mass evacuation of children from South Vietnam during the Fall of Saigon, experiences an explosive decompression about 40 mi (64 km) outside Saigon when the rear ramp and pressure door blow out, damaging the plane's flight controls. The plane, carrying 328 crew, troops, children, and adult escorts, crashes into a rice paddy after the pilot loses control while trying to return to Tan Son Nhut Air Base; 155 die, including 76 orphans.

• 1968 – In the Apollo Program, Apollo-Saturn mission 502 (Apollo 6) is launched as the second and last unmanned test flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle.

• 1966– British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) opens its first scheduled service to Mexico, flying to Mexico City via Bermuda and Kingston, Jamaica.

• 1965 – The first model of the new Saab Viggen fighter aircraft plane is unveiled.

• 1965 – During a U. S. Air Force strike on the Thanh Hoa Bridge, North Vietnamese Air Force MiG-17 fighters attack a formation of U. S. Air Force F-105 Thunderchief strike aircraft, shooting down two F-105 s. They are the first aircraft lost in air-to-air combat by either side during the Vietnam War.

• 1960 – A USAF North American F-100D-65-NA Super Sabre, 56-2994, of the 77th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 20th Tactical Fighter Wing, based at Wethersfield, Essex, crashed into mud flats at the Holbeach Range in eastern England, killing pilot 1st Lt. Thomas R. Winsford. A cause was never clearly determined.

• 1957 – First flight of the English Electric Lightning

• 1957 – CIA Lockheed U-2, Article 341, (no military serial), the first U-2, is lost in a crash N of the Nevada Test Range during a Project Rainbow test flight, killing test pilot Bob Sieker. Engine fails at 65,000 feet (20,000 m). As pilot's pressure suit inflates, the faceplate clasp fails, pilot suffers hypoxia, loses consciousness. Aircraft goes into descending flat spin. Pilot recovers somewhat at lower altitude and bails out, but too late - parachute does not have time to fully deploy. Airframe hits flat with only small fire. Crashsite, 40 miles (64 km) N of the Ranch, takes four days to find by air. Pilot and aircraft are only 200 feet (61 m) apart. Kelly Johnson calls for new faceplate design, a dual oxygen regulator, and an ejection seat that can be used interchangeably with existing design.

• 1955 – 1955 MacArthur Airport United Airlines crash, a Douglas DC-6 crashes after take-off from Long Island MacArthur Airport, New York, killing all 3 on board.

• 1952 – A United States Air Force Douglas C-124A-DL Globemaster II, 50-1260, collides at night in midair with a Douglas VC-47D Skytrain, 45-926, c/n 16929/34187, over Mobile, Alabama, United States; 15 die.

• 1950 – First flight of the Jodel D11 F-BBBF

• 1949 – The North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO is formed by member nations in Washington, DC.

• 1947 – One of Canada’s first TCA pilots Bill Straith is killed in an accident in New Mexico.

• 1947 – The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is officially founded in Montreal, Canada. It is an intergovernmental organization, established to regulate air transportation on a worldwide basis, its authority restricted only by the number of signatory nations.

• 1946 – Sears, Roebuck & Company begins a new, regular weekly overnight shipment of women’s clothing from New York to the West Coast by airplane.

• 1944 – The U. S. Army Air Forces activate the Twentieth Air Force, which will conduct a strategic bombing campaign against Japan.

• 1943 – Lady Be Good was an American B-24D Liberator, AAF serial number 41-24301, which flew for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. Based at Soluch Field in Soluch (today Suluq and Benina International Airport, Libya) as part of the 514th Bomb Squadron, 376th Bomb Group, it failed to return from a bombing raid on Naples, Italy. At the time, the plane was assumed to have crashed into the Mediterranean Sea and its nine crew members were classified as Missing in Action. In 1958 the nearly intact Lady Be Good was discovered 440 miles inland. Subsequent searches uncovered the remains of all but one of the crew.

• 1943 – North American B-25C Mitchell, 41-12634, of the 376th Bomb Squadron, 309th Bomb Group (M), ditches in Lake Murray, South Carolina, during skip-bombing practice, after starboard engine failure. Crew of five escapes before Mitchell sinks after seven minutes afloat, about two miles (3 km) west of the Lake Murray Dam in 150 feet (46 m) of water. On 19 September 2005, the bomber was raised to the surface by aircraft recoverer Gary Larkins for preservation (not restoration) at the Southern Museum of Flight, Birmingham, Alabama

• 1942 – S/L L. J. Birchall and crew sighted a Japanese flotilla 350 miles south of Ceylon. Thereafter he was known as the Saviour of Ceylon. He was shot down and taken prisoner.

• 1942 – At Malta, German aircraft sink the Greek submarine Glaucos and badly damage the Polish submarine Sokol.

• 1939 – Joaquín García Morato, the leading Spanish Nationalist ace of the Spanish Civil War (credited with over 40 victories over Republican aircraft), is killed in the crash of his Fiat CR.32, 3-51, while performing aerobatics for newsreel cameras. While flying inverted at low-level over Griñón airfield, his engine fails. He is posthumously awarded the Individual Medal and promoted to substantive major for meritorious war service.

• 1938 – Les Ateliers de Constructions Aéronautiques Belges LACAB GR.8, dubbed unofficially the Doryphore by its pilots, "a singularly ugly multi-rôle combat aircraft intended for long-range bombing, and reconnaissance missions, and also as a heavy fighter", crashes during landing, writing off the undercarriage, both starboard wings, and suffering damage to the aft fuselage. The two-bay unequal-span staggered biplane of mixed construction, powered by two Gnôme-Rhône 14Kdrs radial engines, had first flown 14 May 1936, and was taken over by Belgium's Aéronautique Militaire on 2 June 1936 for testing and evaluation. Surprisingly, SABCA was contracted to repair the airframe, although no further testing appears to have been done. The airframe was found in a hangar at Evere in May 1940 by German troops who subsequently scrapped it.

• 1936 – Italian aircraft drop mustard gas and 73 tons (66.2 tonnes/metric tons) of high-explosive bombs on a force of 20,000 Ethiopian troops retreating across the plain of Lake Ashangi, killing thousands.

• 1933 – U.S. Navy airship J-3, A7382, sent out from NAS Lakehurst to search for USS Akron survivors, experiences engine failure, ditches in the surf of the New Jersey shore. Two crew lose their lives.

• 1922 – The Colombian Ministry of War opens a flying school (the Escuela de Aviación) at Flandes.

• 1918 – Royal Flying Corps SPAD 12, S.449/B6877, equipped with engine No. 9253, crashes during flight from Martlesham Heath to the Isle of Grain. Records do not indicate any attempts to repair or replace the sole example of this model received by the RFC.

• 1918 – A two-seater aircraft takes off from a flying-off platform on a ship for the first time, when a Royal Air Force Sopwith 1½ Strutter launches from a platform mounted on a 12-inch (305-mm) gun turret of the Australian battlecruiser HMAS Australia. By November 1918, ships of the British Grand Fleet will carry over 100 aircraft on flying-off platforms, by which time 22 light cruisers will have a flying-off platform and every battleship and battlecruiser will carry a two-seat aircraft on a platform mounted on a forward turret and a single-seat fighter on a platform mounted on an after turret.

• 1917 – First flight of the SPAD S.XIII

• 1913 – The Greek aviator Emmanuel Argyropoulos becomes the first pilot victim of the Hellenic Air Force when his plane crashes.

• 1907 – Santos-Dumont, disappointed by his failure on March 27 and shocked by Charles Voisin’s flight of 197 feet shortly afterwards, tries again with his Nº 14bis. He makes a short flight of 164 feet in Saint-Cyr, France.

References

April 5

• 2013 – Boeing makes the second of two Boeing 787 Dreamliner test flights to show that modifications to the 787's lithium-ion battery system have solved the problem of battery overheating experienced by Dreamliners earlier in the year. The aircraft, bearing the livery of LOT Polish Airlines, makes a 755-mile (1,216-kilometer) flight along the United States West Coast in just under two hours without incident. The completion of two successful test flights is a major step toward ending the worldwide grounding of 787s. ^[1]

• 2011 – Coalition airtsrikes against an eight-vehicle Libyan government military convoy approaching rebel positions 30 km (18.6 miles) east of Brega destroy two vehicles. The rest turn back. ^[2]

• 2010 – Launch: Space Shuttle Discovery STS-131 at 10:21:22 UTC. Mission highlights: ISS assembly flight 19A: Utility and Logistics Flight 4: Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo. Last night launch of the Shuttle Program.

• 2008 – Skybus Airlines ceased operations due to poor economy and rising fuel prices.

• 2008 – An Antonov An-26 operated by 918 Air Transport Regiment crashes near Hanoi in Northern Vietnam. All five military pilots on board are killed.

• 2007 – A UH-60 Black Hawk carrying nine is shot down in Latifiya about 20 miles south of Baghdad around 0730hrs local time. using anti-aircraft heavy machine guns, 4 were wounded. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

• 2003 – AH-1W SuperCobra 161020 of HMLA-267 crashes, killing both pilots. ^[6]

• 1996 – First flight of the Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules.

• 1994 – A U.S. Navy Grumman A-6 Intruder, based at NAS Alameda, crashes into the San Francisco Bay, California at 1200 hrs., close to the mid-span of the San Francisco-Oakland bridge, killing two crew, the Coast Guard said.

• 1991 – Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2311, an Embraer 120RT Brasília, rolls sharply and crashes on final approach to Brunswick, Georgia, killing all 23 people on board, including former Texas senator John Tower, his adult daughter, and astronaut Sonny Carter.

• 1991 – Launch: Space Shuttle Columbia STS-37 at 09:22:44 EST. Mission highlights: Compton Gamma Ray Observatory deployment.

• 1982 – Royal Navy aircraft carriers HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible depart the United Kingdom for the Falkland Islands.

• 1976 – Howard Hughes dies aboard a Learjet, aged 70 (b. 1905).

• 1968 – To protest the lack of an aerial display to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Air Force four days earlier and to demonstrate against the government of Prime Minister Harold Wilson, Flight Lieutenant Alan Pollock of the RAF's No. 1(F) Squadron makes an unauthorized display flight in a Hawker Hunter during which he "beats up" (i. e., buzzes) several RAF airfields and flies low over London, where circles the Houses of Parliament, dips his wings to the Royal Air Force Memorial, and flies under the top span of Tower Bridge, becoming the first person to fly under the bridge's upper span in a jet aircraft. He is arrested upon his return to base.

• 1966 – A Hurlburt Field, Florida-based North American T-28 Trojan makes a forced landing on the Eglin AFB, Florida, reservation, but suffers little damage and the two crew are unhurt.

• 1965 – A U. S. Navy RF-8 Crusader reconnaissance aircraft photographs an SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missile (SAM) site under construction in North Vietnam for the first time, but President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration does not authorize strikes against North Vietnamese SAM sites until late July. To meet the threat the SA-2 s pose, during April the U. S. Air Force adds radar homing and warning equipment to its Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft and deploys EB-66 B Destroyer electronic countermeasures aircraft to Southeast Asia.

• 1964 – 1964 Machida F8 crash: A United States Marine Corps F8U-2 Crusader returning from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa to its home base of Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture suffered a mechanical malfunction and crashed into a residential neighborhood in Machida, Tokyo, Japan. The crash killed four people and injured 32 others on the ground. The aircraft's pilot successfully ejected and was not seriously injured.

• 1959 – The Aero L-29 Delfín, the first jet aircraft designed and built in Czechoslovakia, made its first flight. Over 3,000 of these jet trainers are produced for the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact air forces.

• 1956 – A Boeing B-47 Stratojet of the 307th Bomb Wing departs Lincoln AFB, Nebraska, at ~1125 hrs. on a northern heading. Approximately 15 minutes later, it exploded and burst into flames at ~2,000 feet (610 m) altitude, crashing three miles (5 km) S and ¾ miles E of Ceresco, Nebraska. The crew of four, one over the normal crew complement, is killed.

• 1951 – First of two pilotless Royal Australian Air Force GAF Pikas, (Project 'C'), A92-1, C-1, "P", crashes at Woomera, Australia, and is subsequently broken up. Second prototype is now on display at the RAAF Museum at Point Cook. Production drones will be built as GAF Jindiviks.

• 1950 – AMartin JRM-3 Mars flying boat, BuNo 76822, c/n 9266, "Marshall Mars", destroyed by fire near Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands – force landed in Keehi Lagoon, Oahu with engine fire. Crew were rescued after which aircraft exploded.

• 1949 – Judith Resnik, American astronaut, was born (d. 1986). Judith Arlene Resnik was an American engineer and a NASA astronaut who died in the destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger during the launch of mission STS-51-L.

• 1948 – 1948 Gatow air disaster: A Soviet Yakovlev Yak-3 fighter buzzes a British European Airways Vickers VC.1B Viking, G-AIVP, c/n 229, while it is on a scheduled flight to Berlin, Germany, then collides with the wing of the airliner, killing the pilots of both aircraft and ten passengers on the Viking. Total fatalities is 15.

• 1947 – First complete flight from take-off to safe landing of the Hughes XF-11 piloted by Howard Hughes.

• 1946 – Brewster Aeronautical Corporation is dissolved by its shareholders.

• 1945 – Prototype Ryan XFR-1 Fireball, BuNo 48234, piloted by Ryan test pilot Dean Lake, on test flight over Lindbergh Field, San Diego, California, loses skin between the front and rear spars of the starboard wing, interrupted airflow over the wing causes it to disintegrate. Pilot bails out, airframe breaks up, wreckage strikes brand new Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer, BuNo 59836, just accepted by the Navy and preparing to depart for the modification center at Litchfield Park, Arizona. Bomber burns, Navy crew of pilot Lt. D. W. Rietz, Lt. J. E. Creed, and Aviation Machinists Mates G. R. Brown and J. H. Randall, evacuate burning PB4Y, only Randall suffering injuries, first, second, and third-degree burns and minor lacerations.

• 1944 – First flight of the Miles Monitor

• 1944 – Fifth Air Force aircraft again attack Japanese airfields around Hollandia.

• 1942 – 105 aircraft from the Japanese aircraft carriers Akagi, Hiryū, Sōryū, Shōkaku, and Zuikaku strike Colombo, Ceylon. A second wave sinks the British heavy cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire southwest of Ceylon.

• 1940 – First flight of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-1, Soviet fighter aircraft.

• 1937 – The Douglas Aircraft Company takes over Northrop.

• 1910 – The first built Canadian built monoplane and the first airplane for export, Canadian Aerodrome Hubbard Monoplane, was flown at Baddeck. Nova Scotia.

• 1907 – First flight of the Blériot V monoplane by Louis Blériot.

References

April 6

• 2013 – A Syrian Air Force strike against anti-government Kurdish militia forces in Aleppo, Syria, kills at least 15 people, nine of them children. ^[1]

• 2012 – A McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet of the United States Navy crashed on take-off from Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia Beach, Virginia. Both crew ejected. The aircraft crashed into a block of apartment complexes. No ground injuries were reported. However, another report states that the pilot and one individual on the ground suffered unspecified injuries of unknown severity. CNN U.S. News confirmed that the crew had ejected, but their condition is not specified.

• 2011 – An VFA-122 Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet from Naval Air Station Lemoore crashed just outside the base, killing its two crewmembers.

• 2009 – An Indonesian Air Force Fokker F27 crashed in Bandung, Indonesia killing all 24 occupants on board. The cause of the incident was said to be heavy rain. The plane reportedly crashed into a hangar during its landing procedure and killed all on board. The casualties include: 6 crew, an instructor and 17 special forces trainee personnel.

• 2003 – UH-60 Black Hawk 93-26522 from B Company, 4–101st Aviation Regiment crashes inside Iraq, crew survive. ^[2]

• 1994 – A surface-to-air missile shoots down the presidential jet of Rwanda, a Dassault Falcon 50, as it prepares to land at Kigali International Airport at Kigali, Rwanda, killing all 12 aboard, including President of Rwanda Juvénal Habyarimana and President of Burundi Cyprien Ntaryamira. Their assassination will spark the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.

• 1993 – China Eastern Airlines Flight 583, a McDonnell-Douglas MD-11, makes an emergency landing at Shemya Air Force Base after the slats were accidentally deployed in mid-air near the Aleutian Islands; all on board initially survive, but two die later.

• 1991 – Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force Grumman F-14A Tomcat crashed at unknown location, killing unidentified pilot, and RIO Lt. Col. Gholamreza Khorshidi.

• 1984 – Launch: Space shuttle Challenger STS-41-C at 13:58:00 UTC. Mission highlights: Solar Max servicing (first satellite rescue by astronauts), LDEF deployment.

• 1967 – Trans World Airlines (TWA) becomes the first American airline to have a fleet composed entirely of jet aircraft.

• 1966 – Two Hurlburt Field pilots are killed shortly before 1200 hrs. when their North American T-28 Trojan fails to pull out of a dive during a routine dive-bombing and gunnery-training mission on Range 77 at Eglin AFB, Florida, about eight miles from the field. The wreckage is located in such a remotely wooded area that it takes more than an hour before news of the accident can be released that it had taken place. KWF are pilot Capt. Dennis L. Anderson, 30, of Guernsey, Wyoming, from the 3646th Pilot Training Wing, and co-pilot Capt. Hubert L. Blake, 28, of Garland, Texas from 3651st Pilot Training Squadron. Both were TDY to the 4410th Combat Crew Training Wing. Cause of the crash is investigated, and in the meantime, all Tactical Air Warfare Center T-28s are grounded as a precautionary measure.

• 1965 – United Air Lines places orders for new aircraft worth $US 750 million – The largest airliner purchase at the time.

• 1965 – The BAC TSR.2 is cancelled in favour of the General Dynamics F-111 for the Royal Air Force (which is not, in the end, bought either)

• 1962 – The RCAF retired the last Canso flying boat (162 Squadron) at Downsview, Ontario.

• 1958 – Capital Airlines Flight 67, a Vickers 745D Viscount, crashes at Tri-City Airport (now MBS International Airport) near Freeland, Michigan, killing all 47 passengers and crew; an undiscovered ice buildup on the wing and windy conditions are possible causes.

• 1957 – Olympic Airways is created by shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, from the ashes of bankrupt Hellenic state airline T. A. E. (Technical and Aeronautical Exploitations).

• 1949 – A Sikorsky S-51 completes a record helicopter flight of 3,750 miles from Elizabeth, New Jersey to Port Angeles, Washington.

• 1945 – (6-7) The Japanese begin Operation Ten-Go with the first and largest of ten major Kikusui (“Floating Chrysanthemum”) kamikaze attacks against Allied naval forces off Okinawa, committing 355 kamikazes and 341 bombers. On the first day, they sink two destroyers, a destroyer-minelayer, a tank landing ship, and two civilian ammunition ships and badly damage eight destroyers, a destroyer escort, and a minelayer. The Americans claim 357 Japanese planes destroyed. On the second day, the Japanese damage the battleship USS Maryland (BB-46), a destroyer, and a destroyer escort.

• 1938 – First flight of the Bell P-39 Airacobra

• 1937 – (6-9) Masaaki Iinuma (pilot) and Kenji Tsukagoshi (flight mechanic and navigator) fly the Mitsubishi Ki-15 J-BAAI Kamikaze 15,366 km (9,542 statute miles) from Tachikawa, Japan, to Croydon Airport in London in a record 94 hours 17 min 56 seconds, of which 51 hours 17 min 23 seconds is spent in the air at an average speed of 162 km/hr (101.2 mph). It is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe.

• 1930 – Flying the Wright XF3 W-1 Apache, United States Navy Lieutenant Apollo Soucek sets a world altitude record, climbing to 43,166 feet (12,157 m).

• 1926 – Varney Speed Lines begins operations in the US. It will later become Continental Airlines

• 1924 – (Apr 6 – Sep 28) The first successful flight around the world starts as four United States Army Air Service Douglas World Cruisers leave from Seattle, Washington. Of the four, only two complete the circumnavigation (two were lost to crashes) as they each fly 27,553 miles (44,340 km) in 175 days, and return to Seattle on September 28. The actual flying time is 371 hours, 11 min, and the successful pilots were Lt. Lowell H. Smith and Lt. Erik Nelson with a total of 58 stops.

• 1917 – The United States enters World War I, declaring war on Germany.

• 1909 – The first machine wholly designed by Anglo-French air pioneer Henry Farman takes to the air at Bouy, France. Called either the Henry Farman III or, because it represents a new departure, the HF1, the biplane is the first aircraft to incorporate practical ailerons attached to the trailing edges of the wings.

• 1907 – Horatio Phillips achieves the first, limited, powered heavier-than-air flight in the United Kingdom when his multiplane makes a 500 ft (150 m) hop.
• 1890 – Anthony Herman Gerald Fokker, Dutch pioneer airman and aircraft manufacturer, is born in Kediri, Java. His Fokker D.VII was one of the finest all-around fighters of the WWI. He became a naturalized U. S. citizen and his Fokker T-2 made the first non-stop flight across the U. S. In 1926, the North Pole was over flown in a Fokker trimotor airplane.

References

April 7

• 2013 – Widespread Syrian airstrikes against rebel forces in seven cities and regions kill at least 20 people. ^[1]

• 2011 – Unaware that Libyan rebels had taken possession of any tanks, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) aircraft mistakenly strike a Libyan rebel tank convoy near Ajdabiya, killing thirteen and wounding many, ^{[2] [3]} Other NATO airstrikes mistakenly kill two rebels and wound 10 in Brega. ^{[4] [5]}

• 2010 – United Airlines Flight 663 incident was a "minor international incident" in 2010 involving a Qatari diplomat on the leg of a United Airlines flight from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (Washington, DC) to Denver International Airport (Denver, Colorado). The diplomat prompted a mid-air terrorism alert after smoking in the airplane lavatory, which led the Qatari government to recall him two days later.

• 2009 – A Philippine Air Force Bell 412 helicopter crashes in bad weather in a heavily forested area at Mount Mangingihe, Sitio Tawangan, Kabayan, Benguet, Philippines. The helicopter was travelling from Loakan Airport to Ifugao in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon when it crashed killing the 3 crew and 5 government officials.

• 2006 – First Fight: First free-flight of Boeing X-37

• 2004 – OH-58D Kiowa crashes near Baquba after being hit by ground fire; pilots rescued.

• 2003 – F-15E 88-1694/SJ of 4th FW/335th FS crashed on a combat bombing mission near Tikrit, Iraq. Both the pilot and Weapon Systems Officer (WSO) were killed. ^{[6] [7] [8]}

• 2001 – The robotic spacecraft Odyssey launches on its mission to orbit Mars, arriving at the planet the following October. The craft later collects data that would guess water to be on the plant. This is later confirmed by the Phoenix lander in July of 2008.

• 1999 – A Boeing KC-135R-BN Stratotanker, 57-1478, c/n 17549, of the 151st Air Refueling Squadron, Tennessee Air National Guard, is written off while undergoing maintenance at the Oklahoma ALC, Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, when the cabin is over-pressurized during a test and ruptures, tearing a 35 foot (10.6 m) hole in the aft fuselage, allowing tail section to drop to the ground.

• 1994 – TAAG Angola L-100 (C-130) D2-THC catches fire while taxiing to a parking spot due to overheated brakes in Malengue, Angola. All 4 occupants escaped unharmed.

• 1994 – Federal Express Flight 705, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30, experiences an attempted hijacking by a FedEx employee; the three crew members are severely injured, but manage to subdue the attacker and land the aircraft safely with no loss of life.

• 1992 – Azerbaijan Airlines were established.

• 1983 – STS-6, using space Shuttle Challenger, launches. The mission is the first perform to a spacewalk.

• 1972 – Both CF Bomarc SAM Squadrons closed.

• 1972 – American aircraft resume regular bombing of North Vietnam in response to the North Vietnamese "Easter Offensive" invasion of South Vietnam.

• 1969 – Mitsubishi-assembled, from Sikorsky components, Sikorsky HSS-1N Seabat, 8567, c/n 58-1528, of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, crashes this date, the sole loss of the type during Japanese service.

• 1967 – (7-22) The U. S. Army's first Cavalry Division (Airmobile) conducts Operation Lejeune, a helicopter and ground assault against Viet Cong forces in Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam.

• 1967 – First flight of the Aérospatiale Gazelle.

• 1961 – Boeing B-52B-30-BO Stratofortress, 53-0380, c/n 16859, "Ciudad Juarez", of the 95th Bomb Wing, Biggs AFB, Texas, shot down by inadvertent launch of AIM-9 Sidewinder from a 188th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, New Mexico ANG North American F-100A-20-NA Super Sabre, 53-1662. Two F-100s, piloted by 1st Lt. James W. van Sycoc and Capt. Dale Dodd, had made five passes at the bomber when, on the sixth pass, pilot 1st Lt. van Sycoc radioed "Look out! One of my missiles is loose!" The heat-seeker missile struck one of the BUFF's engine pods on the port wing causing failure of the wing structure, and subsequent break-up of the bomber. Pilot, co-pilot, crew chief and tail gunner successfully eject, but three other crew are KWF when the B-52 crashed on Mount Taylor, New Mexico.

• 1961 – Moisture condensing in a connector plug causes a GAR-8 Sidewinder air-to-air missile carried by a New Mexico Air National Guard F-100A Super Sabre of the 188th Fighter Interceptor Squadron to fire accidentally while the F-100A is practicing bomber interception tactics against the U.S. Air Force B-52B Stratofortress Ciudad Juarez of the Strategic Air Command's 95th Bombardment Wing. The missile blows off the B-52B's port wing, and the bomber crashes on Mount Taylor in New Mexico, killing three members of its crew. ^[9]

• 1958 – AREA Ecuador Flight 222, a Douglas C-47 (DC-3) registered HC-ACL, crashes into a Chugchilan range of mountains after not maintaining the proper heading, resulting the fatalities of all 32 aboard.

• 1957 – A Varig Curtiss C-46 Commando (PP-VCF) crashes shortly after takeoff due to a fire in the left main gear wheel well. The pilot thought it was one of the engines, and shut it down unnecessarily. A go-around during a landing attempt when the gear doesn’t drop (due to the fire), allows more time for the fire to spread, leading to the left wing separating from the aircraft after the metal fatigue. All 40 aboard the aircraft perish.

• 1956 – USAF Douglas C-124C-DL Globemaster II, 52-1078, c/n 43987, of the 1501st Air Transport Wing, crashes just after takeoff from Travis AFB, California, killing three of the seven crew on board. Aircraft stalled at 100 feet, dropped one wing and plunged to the ground just SW of the base. Airframe splits into three sections, burns. The cause is attributed to incorrect assembly of the elevator and aileron control cables.

• 1950 – ASole prototype, Nord NC 1080 single-engine naval fighter, F-WFKZ, first flown 29 July 1949, is completely destroyed in a flight accident. Pilot Pierre Gallay dies in the accident. Cause is never determined and the project is abandoned.

• 1948 – The Royal Canadian Navy’s aircraft carrier, HMCS Magnificent, was commissioned to replace HMCS Warrior.

• 1945 – Accompanying B-29 Superfortresses, P-51 Mustangs of the U. S. Army Air Forces’ 15th, 21st, and 506th Fighter Groups based on Iwo Jima become the first Allied fighters to escort bombers all the way to Tokyo, Japan, and back. The escort flights last seven to eight hours. Fifty-four B-29 s land on Iwo Jima during the day.

• 1945 – 386 carrier aircraft of Task Force 58 attack an Imperial Japanese Navy task force bound for Okinawa while it is steaming in the East China Sea, sinking the battleship Yamato, the light cruiser Yahagi, and four of their eight escorting destroyers. It ends the last offensive sortie by Japanese surface ships of World War II.

• 1945 – The P-51 s flew for their first mission to Japan. The were escorted by the B-29.

• 1941 – Entered Service: Douglas Havoc night fighter with No. 85 Squadron, Royal Air Force

• 1940 – Entered Service: Amiot 354

• 1936 – TWA Flight 1, a Douglas DC-2, crashes near Uniontown, Pennsylvania due to pilot error, killing 12 of the 14 passengers and crew aboard.

• 1924 – Portuguese Commander Brito Pais and Captain Sarmento de Beires depart Lisbon eastbound in the Breguet 16.Bn2 Patria, beginning an attempt to fly around the world. They will crash Patria in India, but will continue in the de Havilland DH.9 A Patria II before being forced to end their attempt in June in Macau.

• 1922 – A Daimler Airways de Havilland DH.18 collides with a Cie des Cgrands Express Aériens Farman Goliath over France. A total of seven people – Everyone aboard the two aircraft – Is killed in the first mid-air collision of two airliners.

• 1922 – In the first mid-air collision of airliners, a Daimler Hire Ltd.-operated de Havilland DH.18 A, G-EAWO, collides with a Compagnie des Grands Express Aériens (CGEA)-operated Farman F.60 Goliath, F-GEAD, over the Thieulloy-St. Antoine road near Picardie, France, killing all seven people on both aircraft; the pilots of both machines were using the road as a route marker in bad weather and poor visibility

• 1922 – The United States’ Corps Observation Group makes its first patrol, becoming the first American aviation unit to enter action in Europe.

• 1908 – The members of the Aerial Experiment Association enter a competition sponsored by the Scientific American, which has offered $25,000 for a flight of over 0.62 miles. The Wrights refuse to enter because the rules state the airplane must take off without help.

• 1906 – Charles Rolls, in his new balloon, races Frank Hedges Butler and friends aboard the Aero Club III. Rolls outdistances his opponents, who come down at Wimbledon, while he lands at Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England.

References

April 8

• 2010 – A Dassault Mirage F1 of the French Air Force was conducting the basic training of Rheims when it crashed about 1140 hrs. in a field near a highway, four miles (6 km) from the base of Orléans.

• 2010 – A MFI-17 Mushshak of the Pakistan Army crashed in an open field, Nelavia area, near Peshawar's suburbs of Tagman.

• 2009 – SA Airlink Avro RJ-85 ZS-ASW is substantially damaged when it jumps its chocks and subsequently collides with a fence then a brick wall at OR Tambo International Airport, South Africa.

• 2008 – An Antonov An-26 operated by Vietnam's 918 Air Transport Regiment crashes near Hanoi. All five military pilots on board are killed.

• 2008 – An Antonov An-26 aircraft on a training mission, possibly belonging to Vietnam's 918 Air Transport Regiment, crashed into a field in Thanh Tri District, Hanoi, Vietnam, killing five military pilots. It had taken off from Gia Lam Airport, and crashed on its way back. The cause of the accident was unknown.

• 2003 – A-10A 78-0691 of 124th Wing/190th FS shot down by Iraqi Roland SAM; pilot survived. ^[1]

• 2002 – Launch: Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-110 at 20:44:19 UTC. Mission highlights: ISS assembly flight 8A: S0 truss.

• 2000 – A Bell-Boeing MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor prototype, BuNo 165436, coded 'MX-04', of HMX-1, rolls over and crashes during a rapid descent to land at Marana Northwest Regional Airport, Marana, Arizona, United States, killing all 19 US Marines on board. Cause of crash was pilot losing control due to high vertical rate of descent causing vortex ring state. MV-22B, BuNo 165433, (which was also taking part in the exercise) landed heavily when the resulting explosion blew out its ground cushion. It was struck off charge on 16 July 2001. In 2012, Representative Walter B. Jones, Jr., (R-N.C.), seeks for the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps to issue a statement that "human factors" initially blamed for the accident were incorrect, and requests a statement exonerating Lt. Col. John S. Brow, pilot, and Maj. Brooks S. Gruber, co-pilot of the Osprey.

• 1998 – A Swiss Air Force McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18 Hornet crashes near Crans-Montana, Switzerland.

• 1993 – Launch: Space Shuttle Discovery STS-56 at 5:29:00 UTC. Mission highlights: ATLAS-2 science platform.

• 1991 – Three Chinooks seen for the last time at CFB Edmonton.

• 1988 – Pacific Southwest Airlines shut down operations and was integrated to USAir (now US Airways).

• 1972 – Hawker-Siddeley Andover C.1, XS609, c/n Set 16, bound for the United Kingdom, carrying 18-man paratroop exhibition team, crashes on take-off at Siena, Italy, digging in starboard wingtip before skidding 300 yards across airfield and catching fire. Four killed, four injured, of 21 on board, most escaping before fuel tank ignited. Dramatic photo, distributed worldwide, showed aircraft at almost 90 degree angle from ground with wingtip digging in.

• 1970 – Israeli Air Force F4 Phantom II fighter bombers carried out a raid on a school in Bahr el-Baqar Sharqia Governorate, Egypt. Of the 130 school children who attended the school, 46 were killed, and over 50 wounded, many of them maimed for life. The school itself was completely demolished, in what is called Bahr el-Baqar massacre.

• 1968 – BOAC Flight 712, a Boeing 707, suffers an engine fire after takeoff from London Heathrow Airport; the plane makes an emergency landing at Heathrow, but five of 127 aboard die in the resulting fire.

• 1967 – First flight of the Beagle Pup

• 1959 – The Italian World War I ace and famed seaplane racing pilot Mario de Bernardi is performing aerobatics in a light plane over a Rome airport when he begins to experience a heart attack. He lands the plane safely, but dies minutes later at the age of 65.

• 1954 – Construction of Pine Tree defensive line announced.

• 1954 – South African Airways Flight 201, a de Havilland Comet flying from Rome to Cairo bound for Johannesburg, disintegrates in mid-air, killing all 14 passengers and seven crew; as in BOAC Flight 781, the cause is metal fatigue at stress risers at the corners of the square windows in the aluminum skin; subsequently, all pressurized aircraft windows are constructed with wide radius corners.

• 1954 – A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard collides with a Trans-Canada Airlines Canadair North Star over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 36 people on the aircraft and 1 person on the ground.

• 1951 – A Douglas C-47D Skytrain (built as a C-47B-1-DK), 43-48298, c/n 25559, of the 123d Air Base Group, Godman AFB, Kentucky crashes ~eight miles NE of Kanawha Airport, Charleston, West Virginia, when it clips the top of a hill at ~1156 hrs.

• 1950 – Soviet Lavochkin La-11 shoots down an American PB4Y Privateer over the Baltic Sea with all 10 crew lost.

• 1946 – A Beechcraft C-45F Expeditor, 44-87062, of the United States Army Air Force crashes into Mount Diablo, California, killing both crew members.

• 1945 – U.S. Navy Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer, BuNo 59442, Zebra 442, of VPB-108, based at Tinian, Northern Marianas Islands, is lost on aircrew search mission over the Pacific Ocean, crew becomes disoriented, ditches at 1800 hrs. Spotted by two PB4Ys on 11 April, crew is rescued from rafts by submarine USS Queenfish on 12 April.

• 1945 – First prototype Rikugun Ki-93, '1', twin-engine fighter makes only flight from Tachikawa airfield, a successful 20 minute test of its low-speed handling characteristics, piloted by Lt. Moriya of the Koku Shinsa-bu (Air Examination Department) with 2nd Lt. Ikebayashi in the second seat. Unfortunately, pilot undershot the runway and touched down in soft soil, ground-looping airframe and tearing off port undercarriage leg, engine mount, and bending six-blade propeller. Repairs completed in four weeks, but the night before the scheduled second test flight, a B-29 bombing raid on Tachikawa destroyed the hangar housing the airframe.

• 1944 – Fifth Fisher XP-75 Eagle, 44-32163, out of the Fisher Plant No.2, Cleveland, Ohio, crashes at Cleveland after pilot engaged in low-level aerobatics that reportedly exceeded the placarded limitations. Pilot Hamilton J. Wagner killed.

• 1943 – 177 Japanese Rabaul-based aircraft – 67 Aichi D3 A (Allied reporting name “Val”) dive bombers escorted by 110 Zeroes – conduct the largest Japanese air attack since the attack on Pearl Harbor, targeting U. S. shipping in Ironbottom Sound off Guadalcanal and Tulagi. They sink a U. S. destroyer, a New Zealand corvette, and a U. S. tanker. Seventy-six U. S. fighters intercept the Japanese, losing seven of their number while shooting down 12 Vals and an estimated 27 Zeroes. U. S. Marine Corps Reserve First Lieutenant James E. Swett shoots down seven Japanese aircraft, all Vals, during his flight.

• 1943 – First flight of the Douglas BTD Destroyer

• 1940 – The U. S. Navy places a contract with Grumman for two prototypes of the XTBF-1, later named Avenger, a chunky mid-wing monoplane that would become the U. S. Navy’s standard carrier torpedo bomber of World War II.

• 1931 – Amelia Earhart climbs to a record altitude of 18,415 feet in a Pitcairn autogyro at Willow Grove, near Philadelphia.

• 1920 – First flight of the de Havilland DH.18

• 1913 – Lieutenants Rex Chandler and Lewis H. Brereton on training flight from North Island, San Diego, California, in Curtiss F floatplane, Signal Corps 15, with Brereton as pilot, crashes and Chandler is knocked unconscious and drowns.

References

April 9

• 2010 – A U.S. Air Force Bell Boeing CV-22 Osprey crashed near Qalat, Zabul Province, killing 4.

• 2009 – Aviastar Mandiri BAe 146-300 PK-BRD crashes into Gunung Pike on approach to Wamena Airport, Indonesia, killing all six people on board.

• 2002 – A Portuguese Air Force 552 Squadron Alouette III crashes, killing the three crewman.

• 1997 – The first production F/A-22 was unveiled at a roll out ceremony hosted by Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Pratt & Whitney.

• 1994 – The Boeing 777 twinjet, the newest member of the Boeing jet family, rolls out.

• 1994 – Launch: Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-59 at 7:05 am EDT. Mission highlights: Shuttle Radar Laboratory-1.

• 1993 – USAF aircraft attack and destroy an Iraqi anti-aircraft battery

• 1990 – Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight 2254 operated under 14 CFR 135 by Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia N217AS from Muscle Shoals, Alabama to Atlanta, Georgia with an intermediate stop at the Northeast Alabama Regional Airport in Gadsden, Alabama collided in mid-air with Civil Air Patrol Cessna 172 N99501 on April 9, 1990 over Gadsden. Following departure from Northeast Alabama Regional Airport Runway 24, the ASA flight turned left toward the east along its intended flight path to Atlanta at an assigned altitude of 5,000 feet. The Cessna 172 was west bound at the same altitude, facing the setting sun. During the head-on collision at 6:05 p. m. Central Daylight Time, the right horizontal stabilizer of the Embraer was torn from the aircraft. Though significantly damaged, the ASA flight managed to return to Northeast Alabama Regional Airport with no injuries to occupants, the Cessna 172 crashed into a field, resulting in fatal injuries to both occupants. An eyewitness to the event did not report any evasive maneuvers by either aircraft prior to the collision.

• 1983 – Landing: Space shuttle Challenger STS-6 at 18:53:42 UTC. Mission highlights: TDRS deployment; first flight of Challenger; first space shuttle extra-vehicular activity.

• 1976 – Air France opens its second supersonic service, from Paris to Caracas, Venezuela; the Concorde takes six hours, including a stop at the Azores.

• 1971 – The last major airmobile operation of the Vietnam war, Operation Lam Son 719, ends after North Vietnamese Army forces drive all South Vietnamese forces out of Laos with heavy casualties. Facing the heaviest antiaircraft artillery fire of the war, American helicopter crews have suffered casualties of 176 killed, 1,942 wounded, and 42 missing, with 107 helicopters destroyed and 600 damaged. The operation has demonstrated a need for the U. S. Army to develop a specialized antitank attack helicopter.

• 1969 – The first United Kingdom assembled supersonic transport, Concorde 002, makes its first successful flight in England.

• 1967 – First flight of the Boeing 737

• 1965 – U. S. Navy F-4 Phantom IIs of Fighter Squadron 96 (VF-96) clash with Chinese MiG-17 fighters over the South China Sea south of Hainan. One F-4 B is shot down, but VF-96 claims one MiG-17 destroyed.

• 1965 – Entered Service: BAC One-Eleven with British United Airways

• 1964 – Official retirement of the Lancaster at Downsview, Ontario.

• 1964 – First flight of the de Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo

• 1960 – The giant Tupolev Tu-114 Rossiya sets a new world speed record for propeller-driven airplanes of 545.07 mph. It was carrying a 55,116-pound payload at the time and flew around an official 3,107-mile closed circuit in the USSR.

• 1959 – Mercury program – NASA announces the selection of the United States’ first seven astronauts, which the news media quickly dub the “Mercury Seven”.

• 1958 – Entered Service: Handley Page Victor with No. 10 Squadron RAF at RAF Cottesmore

• 1948 – A six-month fatality-free period at Eglin AFB, Florida, (the longest since the base opened) ends when Capt. William Robbins, 26, is killed in the crash of a North American P-51D-30-NA Mustang, 44-74913, in a wooded area N of Crestview, Florida. The pilot in the Friday morning accident was father of three and was well known for his involvement with the Boy Scouts of America. A resident of Cinco Bayou, Florida, Robbins is buried in his hometown of Tampa, Florida on 11 April.

• 1945 – Over 300 Royal Air Force bombers raid the dockyard at Kiel, Germany. They capsize the German “pocket battleship” Admiral Scheer with a direct hit and several near misses.

• 1945 – The United Kingdom transfers the escort aircraft carrier HMS Biter to France, which immediately commissions her into the French Navy as Dixmude. Dixmude is France’s first aircraft carrier since the demilitarization of Béarn in 1942.

• 1944 – B-24D Liberator #42-41128 crashes south-west of Mojave while on a routine training mission to simulate a long range bombing mission. All ten crew members die in the crash.

• 1944 – Royal Air Force Fairey Albacore, X9117, of 415 Squadron, engaged in a fighter affiliation exercise, crashes near Bosham, Hants. while making a low turn. All four crew KWF.

• 1943 – Lockheed P-38G-10-LO Lightning, 42-12937, flown by Col. Ben Kelsey, gets into inverted spin during dive flap test, loses one wing and entire tail section. Kelsey bails out, suffers broken ankle, while P-38 hits flat on hillside near Calabasas, California.

• 1942 – No. 421 (Fighter) Squadron was formed in England.

• 1942 – 129 aircraft from the Japanese aircraft carriers Akagi, Hiryū, Sōryū, Shōkaku, and Zuikaku strike Trincomalee, Ceylon. A second wave sinks the British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes that afternoon off Batticaloa, Ceylon. Hermes becomes the first aircraft carrier ever to be sunk by aircraft.

• 1941 – The United States Army re-designates the Northeast Air District as the First Air Force. It is responsible for the northeastern United States.

• 1940 – Germany invades Denmark and Norway, making extensive use of paratroops

• 1937 – The Kamikaze, a Mitsubishi Ki-15 aircraft, arrives at Croydon Airport in London – It is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe.

• 1929 – The French airline Air Union starts to operate a nightly service from Paris to London.

• 1919 – Second of only two Bristol M.R.1 metal-covered, two-seat biplanes built, A5178, powered by 180 hp Wolseley Viper engine, flown by Capt. Frank Barnwell, strikes pine tree on approach to RAE Farnborough's North Gate and is written off.

• 1899 – James Smith McDonnell, an aviation pioneer and founder of McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, was born (d. 1980).

References

April 10

• 2011 – NATO announces that its airstrikes in Libya under Operation Unified Protector have destroyed 11 Libyan government tanks near Ajdabiya and 14 near Misrata during the day. ^[1] Libyan rebels announce that NATO airstrikes have helped them hold Ajdabiya and drive Gaddafi's forces out during the weekend's attack. ^[2]

• 2010 – A Polish Air Force Tupolev Tu-154M carrying the Polish President Lech Kaczyński and many other Polish officials crashes on approach to Smolensk, Russia.

• 2010 – Jamaican airline Air Jamaica ceased operations. All services taken over by Caribbean Airlines.

• 2009 – A Kenyan Airforce Harbin Y-12 crashes into a hillside on approaching an airstrip near Marsabit, Eastern Province, Kenya killing 14 personnel.

• 1986 – Johan Åhling of Sweden introduces the "Mosquito", a foot-launched powered hang glider harness.

• 1981 – First flight of the Aermacchi S-211

• 1981 – Japan Air Lines carries its 10 millionth passenger

• 1979 – First flight of the Westland 30

• 1973 – First flight of the Boeing T-43

• 1973 – Invicta International Airlines Flight 435, a Vickers Vanguard 952 from Bristol Lulsgate to Basle, flies into a hillside near Hochwald, Switzerland, somersaults and breaks up, killing 108 with 40 survivors.

• 1972 – LCol Roy Windover awarded the Louis Bleriot medal by the FAI for reaching an altitude of 30,800 ft in a glider.

• 1970 – The first of four Boeing 707‘s designated the CC 137 arrived at Trenton.

• 1969 – The Royal Norwegian Air Force is the first European air service to take delivery of the Lockheed P-3 B Orion.

• 1967 – Gates Rubber Company acquires a controlling interest in Lear Jet Industries.

• 1965 – The U. S. Joint Chiefs of Staff submit a plan for Operation Rolling Thunder which includes a list of major fixed targets in North Vietnam in its section Alpha. It begins the U. S. Navy use of the term "Alpha strike", meaning a large attack by an aircraft carrier air wing.

• 1963 – First flight of the EWR VJ 101, the world's first supersonic V/STOL aircraft

• 1960 – BOAC re-opens its air routes to Cairo. They had been suspended at the time of the Suez Crisis.

• 1958 – A USAF Boeing B-47E-90-BW Stratojet, 52-0470, c/n 450755, the first Block E-90-BW, of the 376th Bombardment Wing (Medium) out of Lockbourne AFB, Ohio, crashes near North Collins, New York, after disintegrating in flight at ~20,000 feet (6,100 m) altitude. It had been scheduled to rendezvous with a KC-97 Stratotanker of the 341st Air Refueling Squadron, out of Dow AFB, Maine, when it exploded. The tanker was about one mile ahead of the bomber when it went down. All four crew KWF. Dead are Maj. Harold L. Kelly, aircraft commander, 34, Eugene, Oregon; Lt. Col. John R. Glyer, pilot, 38, Wilmington, Delaware; 1st Lt. Richard Tellier, co-pilot, Pompano Beach, Florida; and 1st Lt. Albert Gene Moncla, navigator, 24, Shreveport, Louisiana.

• 1959 – First flight of the Northrop T-38 Talon

• 1958 – A Convair F-102 Delta Dagger crashes between two houses in Rio Linda, California. A witness said he thought the pilot dove the plane to miss houses in the area. Pilot was the only casualty.

• 1953 – No. 1 Air Division now located at new HQ at Metz, France.

• 1948 – Eglin AFB, Florida, suffers second accident in two days when Douglas A-26 Invader from Biggs AFB, El Paso, Texas, goes down in the Gulf of Mexico S of Destin, Florida. Two of three crew survive by parachuting from stricken bomber, TDY here for firing exercises over the Gulf. First Lieutenant John Kubo and T/Sgt. Joseph A. Riley (ages, hometowns not given) are rescued by Eglin crash boats. KWF is T/Sgt. John E. Brizendine, officially listed as missing.

• 1945 – The Luftwaffe flies its final sortie over England (with an Arado Ar 234 on a reconnaissance mission)

• 1942 – No. 132 (Fighter) Squadron was formed at Tofino, BC.

• 1942 – The Japanese carrier raiding force departs the Indian Ocean, having destroyed an aircraft carrier, two heavy cruisers, two destroyers, three lesser warships, 23 merchant ships, and over 40 aircraft. No Japanese aircraft carrier will operate in the Indian Ocean again.

• 1942 – (Overnight) The Royal Air Force introduces its new 8,000-lb (3,629-kg) “Super Cookie” bomb – Its largest bomb to date and second of its “blockbuster” bombs – Into service in a raid on Essen, Germany. Too big for the bomb bay of the Stirling and Wellington, it can be carried only by the Halifax and Lancaster

• 1940 – German Dornier Do 17 s and Heinkel He 111 s attack British towns and shore facilities in the Scapa Flow area in the Orkney Islands. Defending Gloster Sea Gladiators of the Fleet Air Arm’s No. 804 Squadron shoot down one He 111.

• 1940 – Sixteen Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Blackburn Skua dive bombers sink the German light cruiser Königsberg at Bergen, Norway. It is the first time in history that dive bombers sink a major warship. One Skua is lost.

• 1933 – First flight of the Airspeed Courier

• 1933 – Francesco Agello sets a new airspeed record of 682 km/h (424 mph) in the Italian Macchi M. C.72 seaplane.

• 1931 – C. W. A. Scott breaks the record for the fastest solo flight from England to Australia. Flighing from April 1–10 in a time of 9 days 4 hr. 11 min.

• 1930 – The English aviatrix and ornithologist Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford, and her personal pilot C. D. Barnard make a record-breaking flight in the Fokker F.VII Spider (G-EBTS) of 9,000 miles (14,493 km) from Lympne Airport in Lympne, England, to Cape Town, South Africa, in 100 flying hours over 10 days.

• 1926 – Lindberg becomes chief pilot for Robertson Aircraft Corp, flying a Saint Louis to Chicago mail route.

• 1926 – Three United States Army aircraft take photographs of an eruption of Mauna Loa volcano on the island of Hawaii, providing valuable scientific information.

• 1923 – Daimler Airways begins the first scheduled service between London and Berlin (via Bremen and Hamburg).

• 1837 – The earliest known aeronautical experiment in Canada is conducted by Canadian schoolteacher John Rae. He successfully launches a paper balloon able to carry weight. Its lift is provided by the heating of its blackened surface by the sun.

References

April 11

• 2012 – An MV-22B from USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) crashed near Agadir, Morocco, during a joint training exercise. Two Marines were killed and two others were seriously injured, and the aircraft was lost.

• 2011 – NATO announces that its Operation Unified Protector airstrikes have destroyed 49 Libyan government tanks since 9 April, including 13 on 9 April, 25 on 10 April, and 11 on 11 April. ^[1]

• 2008 – In the 2008 Chişinău Antonov An-32 crash, a Sudanese airline Antonov An-32 crashes when returning shortly after taking off from Chişinău International Airport, Moldova for Turkey. All eight on board are killed.

• 2004 – An AH-64D Apache 02-5301 from C Company, 1–227 Aviation Regiment, 4th BCT, 1st Cavalry Division shot down west of Baghdad, killing both pilots.

• 1996 – Cessna 177B, N35207. Jessica Dubroff, a seven-year-old pilot trainee who was attempting to become the youngest person to fly an airplane across the United States, died when her aircraft crashes after takeoff from Cheyenne Regional Airport in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

• 1969 – Lockheed SR-71A, 61-7954, Article 2005, crashes on runway during take off from Edwards Air Force Base, California. Pilot Lt. Col. Bill Skliar and RSO Maj. Noel Warner escape without injury.

• 1961 – A USAF McDonnell F-101 Voodoo of the 75th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, returning from an Air Defense Command patrol over the Atlantic Ocean, dropped too low in poor visibility on approach to Dow AFB, Maine, and struck Bald Mountain, near Ellsworth, Maine, killing pilot Capt. Vernal Johnson and Lt. Edward Masaltis. Wreckage remains in place and the Maine Aviation Historical Society has erected a plaque commemorating the crew and asking that the wreck remain undisturbed.

• 1955 – North American Aviation is issued a preliminary contract to build prototypes of the XF-108 long-range interceptor aircraft for the USAF.

• 1955 – An Air India Lockheed L-749 Constellation named Kashmir Princess explodes under suspicious circumstances; 16 people are killed and three survive.

• 1954 – S/L RG Christie flew from Vancouver to Ottawa in 3 hrs, 46 mins flying time with stops at Calgary and Winnipeg. He was flying a Canadair-built North American Sabre.

• 1952 – The Piasecki H/CH-21 Shawnee tandem-rotor helicopter makes its first flight.

• 1952 – Pan Am Flight 526A, a Douglas DC-4, suffers engine failure and is forced to ditch in the Atlantic 11 mi (18 km) north of San Juan, Puerto Rico; 52 of 69 on board die.

• 1950 – A USAF Boeing B-29-100-BW Superfortress, 45-21854, of the 830th Bomb Squadron, 509th Bomb Group (M), on a ferry mission crashes into mountain on Manzano Base Nuclear Weapons Storage Area (WSA), three minutes after take-off from Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, killing 13 crew. One fully assembled bomb casing (a Mark IV atomic bomb) on board is completely shattered when detonators explode. A fuel capsule, carried separately, is recovered. ^[2]

• 1945 – Second of two Northrop XP-61E Black Widows, 42-39557, modified from P-61B with cut-down fuselage and bubble canopy, is written off when over-eager pilot tries P-38 Lightning trick of retracting landing gear on take-off while still on runway, but heavier Widow settles onto runway, hollow steel props shatter, airframe strikes tool shack on side of runway, airframe written-off, pilot survives. First XP-61E, 42-39549, is modified into sole XF-15 photo-reconnaissance prototype, 36 of which will be built as Northrop F-15A Reporter.

• 1944 – Short Stirling B.Mk.III, EH947, of 75 Squadron, suffers engine failure during non-operational flight, force-landed at Icklingham, Suffolk.

• 1943 – Frank Piasecki flies the P-V Engineering Forum PV-2 helicopter to become the second successful helicopter to fly in the United States.

• 1940 – The first aerial torpedo attack of World War II and the first coordinated torpedo attack launched from an aircraft carrier in history takes place, as Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers from the British aircraft carrier HMS Furious attack two German destroyers in Trondheimsfjord, Norway. The torpedoes all ground in the shallows and no hits are achieved; three aircraft are lost.

• 1939 – The North American NA-40B, NX14221, is destroyed in a crash during USAAC testing at Wright Field, Ohio, when it loses one engine and spins into the ground. Crew escapes. The type is revised into the Model NA-62 and is ordered into production as the B-25 Mitchell.

• 1934 – Renato Donati sets a new altitude record of 14,433 m (47,352 ft) in a Caproni Ca 113.

• 1933 – (11-20) Departing England on April 11 in the Avro Mark VIA Avian Southern Cross, William N. “Bill” Lancaster begins an attempt to set a speed record for a flight to South Africa. He crashes in the Sahara Desert on April 12 and dies on April 20 while awaiting rescue. His mummified body and wrecked aircraft will not be discovered until February 1962.

• 1929 – The Boeing P-12 fighter makes its first flight. The Navy version, the F4 B-1, will make its first flight on May 6. The military will order 586 airplanes in the series.

• 1929 – Edmond Thieffry (28 September 1892] – 11 April 1929) was a Belgian First World War air ace and aviation pioneer. He made, with Léopold Roger and Jef de Bruycker, the first successful flight between Belgium and Congo (then the Belgian Congo).

• 1921 – The first Canadian Air Force flying fatality occurred at Camp Borden, Ontario when S/L K. Tailyour crashed in an Avro 504 K while performing aerobatics. 1917 – First flight of the Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M. F.3

• 1921 – First flight of the Short Cromarty flying boat.

• 1911 – Imperial Japanese Army officer Yoshitoshi Tokugawa makes the first flight from Japan’s first permanent airfield at Tokorozawa, piloting a Farman III biplane.

• 1911 – The U. S. Army sets up its first permanent flying school at College Park, Maryland.

• 1908 – Delagrange flies 12,878 feet in six minutes, 30 seconds in his Voisin-Delagrange Nº 2 in Paris.

References

April 12

• 2011 – The Air France Airbus A380 F-HPJD collides on the ground with the Comair^{[ disambiguation needed]} Bombardier CRJ-700 N641CA at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, spinning the CRJ-700 through 90°. The Airbus sustains slight damage, but the CRJ-700 is substantially damaged. ^[1]

• 2010 – A United States Navy Rockwell Sabreliner crashed in Morganton killing all four crew on board.

• 2007 – An unarmed Panavia Tornado ECR of the German Air Force crashes in a rock face 46.550328°N 7.923805°E near Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland, killing the pilot. The weapons system officer ejects and is rescued severely injured from the rock face by a local helicopter rescue team. The crash occurs minutes after refueling in Emmen during an authorized navigation training in the Swiss Alps while returning to Germany from a long-distance flight to Corsica, France.

• 2005 – A GT Air de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 100 aircraft crashes in Indonesia, all 18 on board die.

• 2004 – MH-53M Pave Low 69-5797 of 16th SOW/20th SOS shot down by RPG near Fallujah, three on board are wounded. Helicopter was later destroyed. ^{[2] [3]}

• 2001 – Magyar Légierő, Hungarian Air Force Mil Mi-24D, 579, collides with Mil Mi-24V, 715, while performing low-level formation flight over the range near Gyulafirátót, killing both crews.

• 1990 – Widerøe Flight 839, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter, crashes into the Norwegian Sea just after takeoff from Værøy Airport in Værøy, Norway, when strong winds crack its tail rudder and tailplane, rendering it uncontrollable. All five people on board die. Værøy Airport is closed after the accident due to the danger posed by bad weather and replaced by Værøy Heliport farther to the south.

• 1989 – A British Airways Concorde loses a large piece of its rudder on a flight between Christchurch and Sydney

• 1985 – Launch: Space Shuttle Discovery STS-51-D at 13:59:05 UTC. 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).

• 1981 – Launch: Space shuttle Columbia STS-1 at 12:00:03 UTC. It is the first reusable orbital spacecraft flight and the first flight of Columbia.

• 1980 – Transbrasil Flight 303 was a flight from São Paulo-Congonhas to Florianópolis. The aircraft was a Boeing 727-27 C aircraft, registration PT-TYS with 58 people on board. The aircraft crashed on approach to the Hercilio Luz Airport. Only three individuals survived. The aircraft was on a night instrumental approach to Florianópolis Airport under a severe thunderstorm. The aircraft went off course, struck a hill (Morro da Virgínia) and exploded. Probable causes are misjudgment of speed and distance, inadequate flight supervision, failure to initiate a go-around and improper operation of the engines.

• 1975 – United States Marine Corps helicopters from the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli (LPH-10) and the attack aircraft carrier USS Hancock (CVA-19) evacuate the staff of the U. S. Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

• 1973 – A USN Lockheed P-3C-125-LO Orion, BuNo 157332, c/n 185-5547, of VP-47 and a Convair 990-30A-5, N711NA, '711', "Galileo", c/n 30-10-1, (formerly N5601G of American Airlines), belonging to NASA, collided while on final approach to NAS Moffett Field in Sunnyvale, California and crashed short of the runway. The planes fell on the Sunnyvale Municipal Golf Course and 16 of the 17 people aboard the two planes were killed.

• 1971 – The US Air Force’s 3first Aerospace Rescue Squadron evacuate Charles Lindbergh and a group of scientists from Mindanao Island, Philippines, after their helicopter had crashed.

• 1966 – U. S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortresses strike targets in North Vietnam for the first time.

• 1966 – First flight of the Pilatus PC-7 (Prototype)

• 1961 – Yuri Gagarin makes the first human spaceflight in Vostok 1, orbiting the Earth once, in 108 min.

• 1951 – 48 USAF B-29 Superfortresses attack the Sinuiju Railway Bridge on the Yalu River.

• 1945 – USS Mannert L. Abele is sunk by an Ohka

• 1944 – Fifth Air Force aircraft again attack Japanese airfields around Hollandia.

• 1943 – The Japanese conduct their largest air raid in the Southwest Pacific thus far in World War II, with 174 planes – 131 fighters and 43 medium bombers – Attacking Port Moresby, New Guinea. The raid causes little damage, and the 44 Allied fighters that intercept the Japanese shoot down five aircraft, all fighters, for the loss of two of their own.

• 1942 – The Admiral Superintendent of Malta Dockyard reports that due to German air attacks on Malta’s naval base “practically no workshops were in action other than those underground; all docks were damaged; electric power, light and telephones were largely out of action. ”

• 1940 – RAF Bomber Command loses six Hampdens and three Wellingtons in a daylight raid against German forces at Stavanger, Norway. It is the last daylight raid by the two types of aircraft in northwestern Europe.

• 1937 – Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft at the British Thomson-Houston factory in Rugby, England.

• 1935 – First flight of the Bristol Blenheim, a British light bomber, makes takes off from Filton, England on its maiden test flight.

• 1928 – (12-13) Major James Fitzmaurice (pilot), Baron guenther Von Huenefeld and Captain Hermann Koehl made the first east to west crossing of the Atlantic in a Junkers Bremen. They flew from Baldonell, Ireland to Greenley Island, Canada in 37 hours.

• 1918 – The final Zeppelin raid on England is carried out.

• 1918 – The Loughead brothers fly their seaplane, the F-1, from Santa Barbara to San Diego.

• 1918 – Captain H. W. Woollett of No. 43 Squadron RAF scores six victories in two sorties, including five Albatros D.Vs.

• 1911 – Pierre Prier makes the first non-stop flight from London to Paris

• 1911 – Lieutenant T. Gordon Ellyson became the Navy’s first pilot.

References

April 13

• 2013 – Lion Air Flight 904, a Boeing 737-8GP carrying 108 people, ditches in shallow water off Bali 0.6 nautical miles (1.1 km) from the runway while attempting to land at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Indonesia. All on board survive, although 22 people are injured.

• 2013 – The Syrian Air Force strikes Saraqib, Syria, reportedly killing 20 people. ^[1]

• 2010 – Aerounion – Aerotransporte de Carga Union Flight 302 operated by Airbus A300B4F XA-TUE crashed on approach to General Mariano Escobedo International Airport, Monterrey, Mexico. All five crew were killed, as was one person in a car that was hit by the crashing aircraft.

• 2010 – Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 836 operated by Boeing 737–300 PK-MDF overran the runway at Rendani Airport, Manokwari, Indonesia. All 103 passengers and crew escape alive.

• 2010 – Unable to adjust their thrust settings due to an engine malfunction, the flight crew of Cathay Pacific Flight 780, an Airbus A330-342 with 322 people on board, is forced to land at Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong, China, at 230 knots (265 mph; 426 km/h), 95 knots (109 mph; 176 km/h) higher than normal landing speed. The aircraft makes a successful landing, but 57 passengers are injured during the subsequent emergency evacuation.

• 2010 – A Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet E122/F-TERD of the French Air Force (Patrouille de France) crashed near Plan de Dieu Airport (LF51), Vaucluse area. The pilot ejected and escaped with minor injuries.

• 2006 – Eagle III MBB Bo 105 accident occurred at GRBC Rescue Heliport in Green Bay, Wisconsin during a post-maintenance flight of a MBB Bo 105 air ambulance helicopter operated by Eagle III. This crash claimed the life of James Vincent Jr, the sole occupant and an experienced pilot flying with Eagle III since 2004. This was the first accident for County Rescue's air ambulance service, which took delivery of its first helicopter in May 1998, and was also believed to be the first among the 12 or so air ambulance services operating in the state of Wisconsin. As of June 2007, the cause of the crash is still under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board, but is believed to be caused by a mechanical failure of the tail rotor.

• 1990 – First flight of the Sukhoi Su-34

• 1989 – The first flight-tests of the Pratt & Whitney / Alison prop-fan engine are carried out in the U. S.

• 1989 – Two U.S. Navy North American T-2C Buckeyes, BuNos. 156694, 'A 994' and 159724, 'A 996' of VT-19, suffer mid-air collision and crash near Macon, Mississippi, killing two crew of one, but two crew of other parachute safely.

• 1984 – Landed: Space Shuttle Challenger STS-41-C at 13:38:07 UTC Edwards AFB. Mission highlights: Solar Max servicing (first satellite rescue by astronauts), LDEF deployment.

• 1970 – An oxygen tank aboard Apollo 13 explodes, putting the crew in great danger.

• 1967 – Lockheed SR-71A, 61-7966, Article 2017, crashed near Las Vegas, New Mexico, after a night refuelling devolved into a subsonic high-speed stall. Pilot Boone and RSO Sheffield eject safely.

• 1966 – Royal Iraqi Air Force de Havilland DH.104 Dove 1, RF392, c/n 04032, crashes near Basra, Iraq on flight from Baghdad during a Haboob, killing all seven on board, including President of Iraq Colonel Abd-al-Salam Mohammad Arif (8 February 1963 - 13 April 1966), and two ministers. Some sources report this accident as a helicopter crash.

• 1966 – Boeing announces in Seattle an order worth $525 million from Pan Am for 25 Model 747 jumbo jets.

• 1963 – United States Marine Corps UH-34 Seahorse transport helicopters based at Da Nang, South Vietnam, airlift 435 South Vietnamese troops to attack a suspected Viet Cong stronghold in mountains along the Thu Bồn River. For the first time, Marine Corps helicopters receive attack helicopter escort in the form of United States Army UH-1 B gunships.

• 1960 – The United Kingdom terminates ballistic missile research, preferring to simply purchase the US-developed Skybolt missile.

• 1958 – A USAF Douglas C-133A-10-DL Cargomaster, 54-0146, c/n 44716 of the 1607 ATW crashed inverted during a local flight test out of Dover AFB, DE 17 minutes after takeoff near Georgetown, DE. 4 Fatalities.

• 1944 – During a Naval Air Training Command (NATC) evaluation flight of Budd RB-1 Conestoga prototype, U.S. Navy NX37097, at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, the aircraft crashed, killing one of the crew. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and written off, but the pilot reported that the stainless steel construction of the plane contributed to saving his life.

• 1944 – After downing 3 planes on 8 April, Don Gentile was the top scoring 8th Air Force ace when he crashed his personal North American P-51B-7-NA Mustang, 43-6913, 'VF-T', named "Shangri La", this date while stunting over the 4th FG's airfield at Debden for a group of assembled press reporters and movie cameras. He buzzed the airfield too low, struck the rising ground, and broke the back of his fighter. Col. Donald Blakeslee immediately grounded Major Gentile as a result, even though his combat tour was completed, and he was sent back to the US for a tour selling War Bonds.

• 1945 – The last Boeing-built B-17 is delivered.

• 1943 – 188 Japanese planes from Rabaul raid Milne Bay, New Guinea, destroying one merchant ship and damaging others. Twenty-four Royal Australian Air Force Curtiss Kittyhawks intercept them, shooting down seven Japanese aircraft in exchange for three Kittyhawks.

• 1940 – During the Second Battle of Narvik, a Swordfish floatplane from the British battleship HMS Warspite sinks the German submarine U-64 in Herjangsfjorden off Bjerkvik, Norway – The first time that a Royal Navy aircraft sinks an enemy submarine during World War II – spots gunfire for Warspite and ships accompanying her in Ofotfjord, resulting in the destruction of seven German destroyers, and finishes off one of the destroyers with a bombing attack.

• 1940 – The Royal Air Force begins deploying sea mines around Germany's coastal waters.

• 1938 – Ground was broken at Malton Airport, Toronto for the Aircraft Division of the National Steel Car Corp. The plant later became Victory Aircraft Ltd and Avro Aircraft Ltd.

• 1935 – QANTAS and Imperial Airways provide regular connecting flights between Brisbane, Australia, and London
• 1931 – First flight of the Boeing YB-9.

• 1928 – The first non-stop flight across the Atlantic from East to West is made by Hermann Köhl, Baron Gunther von Hunefeld, and Major James Fitzmaurice (pilot) in a Junkers W.33 named the Bremen.

• 1925 – First scheduled airfreight service begins in the US

• 1925 – A Navy NB-1 was the first airplane using oleo-type hydraulic landing gear struts.

• 1920 – First flight of the Nieuport London

• 1919 – The Vickers Vimy Commercial, a civilian version of the bomber with an enclosed fuselage capable of holding a maximum of ten passengers, makes its maiden flight in Kent, England.

• 1917 – Royal Naval Air Service flying boats begin flying “Spider Web” patrols over the North Sea in the vicinity of the North Hinder light ship to detect German submarines in the area. The new patrol pattern, resembling a spider web, allows four aircraft to search a 4,000-square-mile (10,000-square-kilometer) area in about five hours, only half the time it takes a surfaced submarine to transit the area. The flying boats make 27 patrols in the next 18 days, sight eight German submarines, and make bombing attacks against three of them.

• 1897 – Werner Voss, German World War I pilot and ace, was born (d. 1917).

References

April 14

• 2013 – The Syrian Air Force strikes the Qaboun neighborhood of Damascus, reportedly killing nine children. A Syrian jet also strikes the Kurdish village of Hadad in northeastern Syria, killing at least 16 people. ^[1]

• 2011 – Coalition jets strike Tripoli, Libya, targeting a military base and damaging parts of a university complex. Libyan government antiaircraft artillery in central Tripoli fires at them. ^[2]

• 2010 – Air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption.

• 2009 – A Turkish Air Force Lockheed Martin F-16C Fighting Falcon from the 9th Air Wing flying from Balıkesir Airport on a routine night exercise crashes near the village of Muradiye Sarnıç, Balıkesir Province, Turkey killing the pilot.

• 2007 – First flight of the Comp Air 12

• 2004 – Rico Linhas Aéreas Flight 4815, an Embraer 120ER, crashes while on approach to Eduardo Gomes International Airport, killing all 33 passengers and crew on board; the cause is never determined.

• 2003 – A Marine AH-1W SuperCobra 163940 of HMLA-169 crashes near Samarra, injuring both pilots. Helicopter was later destroyed.

• 1994 – Black Hawk Incident (April 1994): Two U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters are mistakenly shot down by USAF McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle jets while patrolling the no-fly zone over Iraq, killing 26 personnel.

• 1986 – US Navy jets attack Libya in Operation El Dorado Canyon.

• 1982 – A United States Air Force McDonnell-Douglas F-4D Phantom II crashed on the Avon Park Range in Florida, both crew killed.

• 1982 – A United States Army Bell UH-1 crashed near Fort Rucker, Alabama, four killed.

• 1981 – Landing: Space Shuttle Columbia STS-1 at 18:20:57 UTC Edwards AFB, Runway 23, after its first test flight.

• 1972 – Marine reserve pilot Capt. Anthony McCarthy is killed in Friday night accident when he ejects from his McDonnell Douglas A-4 Skyhawk after tire failure on landing at MCAS El Toro, California after flight from homebase at NAS Alameda, California. Although he clears the airframe before it veers off the runway and into a fuel truck, "authorities said the pilot bounced several times on the runway after ejecting."

• 1968 – (14–19) Over 100 U. S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress sorties, 200 U. S. Air Force and U. S. Marine Corps tactical aircraft sorties, and numerous aerial rocket artillery missions strike enemy positions in South Vietnam's A Shau Valley.

• 1966 – Pan Am places the first order for the forthcoming Boeing 747

• 1965 – British United Airways Flight 1030X, a Douglas C-47, crashes on landing at Jersey Airport due to pilot error; of the 27 passengers and crew on board, only a flight attendant survives.

• 1962 – First flight of the Bristol 188

• 1960 – A Thai-C-54 Skymaster crashes into Mount Wu Tse after takeoff from Taipei, Taiwan. Eighteen people die, including the chief of the Air Force of Thailand, Air Marshal Chalermkiat Watanangura, and his wife.

• 1958 – A USAF Douglas RB-66B-DL Destroyer, 54-422, c/n 44722, of the 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, crashes in an open field four miles (6 km) from RAF Sculthorpe, UK, while making a blind landing as part of a routine training flight. All three crew KWF. The aircraft was receiving flight instructions from the radar control tower at Sculthorpe. Although the weather was good, the jet was operating under simulated blackout conditions.

• 1955 – The first significant Nike Ajax missile accident occurs at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, on a rainy afternoon this date, when, at 1235 hrs., Battery C, 36th AAA Missile Battalion, located south of Maryland 602 (now Route 198), was "practicing Nike procedures" when the rocket booster on an Ajax which was being elevated on its launcher suddenly ignites and the missile takes off. Crewman Sgt. 1st Cl. Stanley C. Kozak, standing seven feet away, is caught in the flareback from booster ignition and suffers minor burns. Initial reports stated that the missile exploded about three miles away, "several thousand feet in the air." Later accounts state that the missile, which was not in the fully upright launch position when it unexpectedly left the rail, suffered structural damage as it took off, "coupled with rapid initial acceleration, rendered the missile aerodynamically unsound and led to the break up. The fact the crew had not removed the propulsion safety pin during the drill contributed to the failure of the sustainer motor to start. And, since the launch was unintended, the missile was not under radar control. Neither the missile nor the booster exploded in flight. The booster separated and fell onto Barber's Trailer Court more than a mile from the launch site. Fuel tank fragments fell on the Baltimore-Washington Expressway where the fuel and oxidizer caused a fire but little or no damage. The missile nose section was found 500 yards from the launcher with the guidance assembly still attached." The Army board of inquiry isolated the cause as an electrical short caused by rain water in the junction box on the outside rear of the launcher control trailer. This condition defeated the crew's pre-launch safety checks.

• 1949 – First flight of the Aero Ae 50

• 1949 – First flight of the Helio Courier

• 1947 – First flight of the Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak

• 1945 – (Overnight) – An Avro Lancaster on a night mission against Potsdam becomes the last British bomber shot down by a German night fighter during World War II.

• 1943 – Two RAAF Bristol Beaufort torpedo bombers, in a flight of three, collided with each other over Jervis Bay. They were A9-27 and A9-268 from Base Torpedo at Nowra, Australia. They were carrying out a series of dummy runs and torpedo attacks on HMAS Burra Bra for a group of accredited War Correspondents on board the ship when the center aircraft of the vic pulled up, causing the left wing of the right-hand bomber to clip off its tail with both aircraft crashing.

• 1943 – 188 Japanese planes from Rabaul raid Milne Bay, New Guinea, destroying one merchant ship and damaging others. Twenty-four Royal Australian Air Force Curtiss Kittyhawks intercept them, shooting down seven Japanese aircraft in exchange for three Kittyhawks.

• 1943 – MV Empire MacAlpine enters service as the first British Merchant Aircraft Carrier, or “MAC-ship. ” Each of the 19 MAC-ships ultimately placed in service is a bulk cargo ship or tanker which continues to carry cargo while equipped with a full-length flight deck. Steaming within convoys, MAC-ships each operate three or four Swordfish aircraft for antisubmarine patrols. Although no MAC-ship’s aircraft ever sink a German submarine, no convoy containing a MAC-ship ever loses a ship, and none of the MAC ships are lost.

• 1941 – 402 “City of Winnipeg” Squadron carried out the RCAFs first offensive patrol over enemy territory.

• 1934 – The Wright Cyclone-powered prototype Polikarpov TsKB-12 is damaged when one of the landing gear legs collapses while taxiing. It first flew on 30 December 1933.

• 1929 – Ed Link introduced a ground-based flight trainer. During World War II, half a million pilots received flight training in Link trainers.

• 1926 – France and Germany sign an air treaty in Paris; since 1923, the Germans had seized 15 airplanes of the French-based airline CFRNA (now CIDNA) which were forced to land on German soil.

• 1906 – In Dayton, Ohio, the Wrights send letters to the German, Italian, Japanese and Russian ministers of war offering to sell their airplane.

• 1900 – The spectacular Paris International Exhibition opens. Clement Ader’s Avion III is one of the exhibits.

References

April 15

• 2010 – Following the second eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland, large areas of controlled airspace were closed, causing widespread suspension of services across Europe.

• 2010 – A Westland Lynx helicopter of the South Korean Navy was on a routine patrol mission when it crashed in sea near Chuja Island 14.5 km southeast of Jindo, South Jeolla Province. One occupants was killed and three others are missing.

• 2009 – The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency cancels the operating license of airline Elbrus-Avia.

• 2008 – Hewa Bora Airways Flight 122, a Douglas DC-9, crashes into a market near Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 40 people, including three passengers.

• 2007 – Two British Aérospatiale Puma helicopters are involved in a mid-air collision near Taji, north of Baghdad. Both aircraft crash, with two personnel killed and one seriously injured. ^[1]

• 2002 – Air China Flight 129, a Boeing 767-200ER, crashes into a hill during a landing attempt at Busan, South Korea in misty conditions; of the 155 passengers and 11 crew, 38 survive.

• 1992 – A U.S. Navy North American T-2C Buckeye crashes in the Gulf of Mexico shortly after launch from training carrier USS Forrestal, operating ~70 miles S of NAS Pensacola, Florida. Both instructor pilots eject but helicopter only retrieves Lt. Tim Fisher of VT-19, based at NAS Meridian, Mississippi, other pilot lost. This was the first training accident since the Forrestal became a training carrier on 4 February 1992.

• 1981 – A United States Air Force McDonnell-Douglas F-4E Phantom II of the 86TFW was shot down by another American Phantom and crashed near Tyndall AFB. The wingman mistook his leader for a drone.

• 1971 – Entered Service: Hawker Siddeley AV-8 A Harrier with VMA-513 of the United States Marine Corps.

• 1971 – Sergei Nikolayevich Anokhin, Russian engineer and former Cosmonaut (1 April 1910 - 15 April 1986), is injured in the crash of a Tupolev Tu-16 into the Aral Sea while the bomber was flying parabolas for zero-G tests of the engine of the Molniya Block L upper stage, to study why the stage was continually failing to restart in earth orbit.

• 1969 – The EC-121 shoot-down incident occurred when a United States Navy Lockheed EC-121 M Warning Star on a reconnaissance mission was shot down by North Korean MiG-17 aircraft over the Sea of Japan. The plane crashed 90 nautical miles (167 km) off the North Korean coast and all 31 Americans on board were killed.

• 1965 – U. S. Navy carrier aircraft strike Viet Cong positions at Black Virgin Mountain in South Vietnam.

• 1965 – First flight of the Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma

• 1962 – The United States Marine Corps' involvement in the Vietnam War begins when Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 362 (HMM-362), equipped with HUS-1 Seahorse transport helicopters, arrives at Soc Trang, South Vietnam, to begin Operation Shufly. It soon begins to airlift South Vietnamese troops.

• 1960 – Twenty-four airmen escape with their lives when a KC-97G-23-BO Stratotanker, 52-0919, c/n 16612, of the 307th Air Refueling Squadron, 307th Bomb Wing, crashes and burns on take-off from Lincoln AFB, Nebraska, when the undercarriage collapses. The only casualties are two airmen who suffer leg fractures and 5 others who suffer minor cuts and burns.

• 1958 – Two more Boeing B-47 Stratojet bombers of Strategic Air Command suffer crashes.

• 1952 – First flight of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress.

• 1952 – While making a maximum gross weight takeoff at ~ 0345 hrs., a Convair B-36B-10-CF Peacemaker, 44-92050, c/n 47, failed to become safely airborne and crashed off the end of a runway at Fairchild AFB. The aircraft was airborne briefly for ~ a quarter mile, when one starboard engine began backfiring and caught fire, followed by the shutdown of all six engines. The aircraft then skidded on its nose for another quarter mile, struck a ditch, and exploded. A "large heavy object (of highly classified nature)" tore through the front of the plane on impact, causing severe injuries to many crewmen. Later, amid several smaller explosions, a huge single explosion shook the ground. Seventeen men were aboard the plane; 15 were killed and two survived with major injuries. Joe Baugher states that the aircraft failed to climb out due to mis-set elevator trim which kept nose down on takeoff.

• 1948 – Newspapers all over the world publish pictures of a Boeing B-47 using jet-assisted takeoff.

• 1948 – Pan Am Flight 1-10, a Lockheed Constellation, crashes while on approach to Shannon Airport; of the 31 on board, only one survives.

• 1947 – Trans-Canada Air Lines inaugurated Transatlantic Service between Montreal Dorval and Preswick with the Douglas DC-4 North Star. Flight was 8 hrs, 39 mins.

• 1947 – BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) opens its first regular service to Canada; it is a weekly flight by a Constellation from London to Montreal.

• 1946 – Formation of the first post-war Auxiliary Squadrons was authorized – 400 (Toronto), 401 (Montreal), 402 (Winnipeg), 418 (Edmonton), 424 (Hamilton), 439 (Montreal), and 442 (Vancouver).

• 1945 – (Overnight) An Avro Lancaster on a night mission against Potsdam becomes the last British bomber shot down by a German night fighter during World War II.

• 1945 – (15-16) Task Force 58 launches fighter sweeps over Kyushu, claiming 29 Japanese aircraft shot down and 51 destroyed on the ground on the first day.

• 1945 – (15-16) The third Japanese Kikusui attack on ships off Okinawa includes 165 kamikazes. They sink the destroyer USS Pringle (DD-477) and a minesweeper and damage the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid (CV-11), three destroyers, a destroyer escort, a minesweeper, and a landing craft.

• 1944 – Second prototype Dornier Do 335 V2, Werkenummer 230002, CP+UB, suffers rear engine fire while undergoing testing at the Erprobungsstelle Rechlin central Luftwaffe test facility just outside Rechlin, Germany, written off.

• 1943 – The first production model Boeing B-29 rolls out of the Wichita, Kan., plant.

• 1943 – Operation Flax is put into effect, the systematic targeting by Allied fighter pilots of Luftwaffe transport aircraft bound for North Africa

• 1943 – The first encounter of the U. S. Army Air Forces P-47 Thunderbolt with enemy fighters occurs, as 335th Fighter Squadron P-47Cs shoot down three German fighters in exchange for a loss of three P-47Cs.

• 1943 – During a single 12-hour period, the U. S. Army Air Forces’ Eleventh Air Force flies 112 sorties against Japanese bases in the Aleutian Islands, dropping 180,000 pounds (81,653 kg) of bombs on Kiska and 4,000 pounds (1,814 kg) on Attu.

• 1941 – CAMCO signs an agreement with the Chinese government to equip and administer the American Volunteer Group in China.

• 1941 – A German reconnaissance aircraft with a camera and exposed film of Soviet installations crashes near Rovno in the Soviet Union, but no Soviet attention to preparations for a possible German attack results.

• 1941 – No. 404 (Coastal Fighter) Squadron was formed in England.

• 1936 – The first production North American NA-16, designated the BT-9, makes its first flight.

• 1935 – The Douglas TBD Devastator makes its first flight. It is the Navy’s first all-metal monoplane.

• 1934 – While flying the U.S. Mail, 1st Lt. Arthur Lahman's engine on his Douglas O-38B, 31-435, '22', of Headquarters Command, Bolling Field, cuts out on approach to Newark, New Jersey, and crashes in a field. Pilot uninjured but airframe written off.

• 1925 – Ukvozdukhput begins services in the Ukraine

• 1925 – The U. S. Navy begins a program of daily flights to an altitude of 10,000 ft. from the Anacostia Naval Air Station in Washington, DC. The main purpose of these flights is to obtain weather data and to test upper-air sounding equipment that collects information that could be used to forecast weather.

• 1919 – The United States Navy selects the collier USS Jupiter for conversion into its first aircraft carrier, the USS Langley (CV-1/AV-3).

• 1916 – RFC and RNAS aircraft deliver 13 tons of stores into Kut el Amara, Mesopotamia, while it was besieged by the Turks. This was the first time aircraft had been used for such a purpose.

• 1909 – A crowd at the Centocelle Field, Rome, Italy, sees Wilbur Wright make a 10-minute flight in which he reaches an altitude of 98 feet.

• 1892 – Theo Osterkamp, World War I and World War II German fighter pilot, was born (d. 1975). Osterkamp was one of only a few pilots to score victories in both World Wars.

• 1875 – The scientific flight of the Montgolfiere "Zenith" up to 8,000 m ends in the death of two aeronauts and the deafness of Gaston Tissandier.

References

April 16

• 2010 – A Spanish Air Force Bell 212 crashed in Haiti near the border with the Dominican Republic killing all 4 crew on board.

• 2004 – CH-47D Chinook 92-0301 from C Company/193rd Aviation Brigade (Hawaii Army National Guard) makes hard landing during sandstorm and was later destroyed. Crew memberssafe. ^[1]

• 1994 – A Royal Navy Sea Harrier is shot down over Serbia by a SA-7 Grail. The pilot was later rescued

• 1988 – First flight of the McDonnell Douglas T-45 Goshawk

• 1980 – A contract was signed at CFB Uplands for 173 CF-18 A Hornet fighter aircraft.

• 1973 – The Florida State Senate votes unanimously to restore the name “Cape Canaveral” to the NASA establishment which was renamed “Cape Kennedy” shortly after the President’s assassination.

• 1973 – Entered Service: Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante with Transbrasil

• 1972 – President Richard M. Nixon's administration lifts most restrictions on bombing North Vietnam, and U. S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortresses bomb targets near Haiphong for the first time since 1968.

• 1970 – US Navy McDonnell Douglas TA-4F Skyhawk from NAS Oceana, Virginia, and USAF North American T-39A-1-NA Sabreliner, 61-0640, c/n 265-43, en route from Shaw AFB, South Carolina to Langley AFB, Virginia, collided in mid-air, the T-39 coming down over residential area of Weldon, North Carolina, but no one on the ground was injured and wreckage missed homes. Skyhawk crew, Lts. George D. Green, 27, and Walter G. Young, 27, both of Virginia Beach, Virginia, were killed as it came down in a swamp area ~20 miles away, near Enfield, North Carolina. Pilot Lt. Col. Francis George Halturewicz, Jr. of the Sabreliner, was credited with minimizing ground damage as he jettisoned most of its fuel before impact. Killed were Col. Ivey J. Lewis, Stockton, California, LTC Halturewicz, Maj. Ronald L. Edwards, and T. Sgt. Joseph R. Brown, all of MacDill AFB, Florida.

• 1969 – First flight of the Let L-410 Turbolet

• 1961 – First flight of the Beagle Airedale.

• 1958 – U.S. Air Force pilot 1st Lt. Robert Yoshizumi, 26, of Honolulu, survives ejection from his disabled North American F-100C-25-NA Super Sabre, 54-1982, at 300 feet (91 m) altitude. Fighter, of 36th Fighter-Day Wing, 22nd Fighter-Day Squadron, Bitburg Air Base, crashes in eastern suburb of Matzen, West Germany after entering spin. He suffers only minor injuries as his parachute swings one time before landing.

• 1956 – David McDowell Brown, American astronaut, was born (d. 2003). Brown was a United States Naval Captain and a NASA astronaut. He was killed on his first space flight, when the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-107) disintegrated during orbital reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere.

• 1956 – Entered Service: Douglas F4D Skyray, the United States Navy’s first supersonic fighter, with Composite Squadron 13 (VC-13)

• 1949 – First flight of the Lockheed F-94 Starfire

• 1945 – The final Soviet assault against Berlin begins with strikes by 150 Soviet Air Force night bombers of the 4th and 16th Air Armies against German positions in the early morning hours, coordinated with mortar and artillery attacks. By 1500 hours, 647 Soviet combat aircraft are in the air. The day ends with the Soviet Air Force having flown 5,300 sorties, claiming 131 German aircraft shot down in exchange for 87 Soviet aircraft.

• 1944 – Fifth Air Force aircraft stage their final attack against Japanese airfields around Hollandia. They have essentially destroyed the Japanese force of 351 aircraft that had been on the airfields at the end of March.

• 1943 – Believing they had sunk a cruiser, two destroyers, and 25 transports and shot down 175 Allied aircraft, the Japanese end the I Operation air offensive. Actual Allied losses have been one destroyer, one tanker, one corvette, and two cargo ships sunk and about 25 planes shot down.

• 1941 – Lt. j.g. Yasushi Nikaido, fighter squadron leader of the Imperial Japanese Navy carrier Kaga, survives close call when Mitsubishi A6M, number 140, loses both port and starboard ailerons as well as part of the upper wing surface while performing dive of 550 km/h at 2,300 rpm, but pilot makes skilful emergency landing at Kisarazu Air Field. Accident is reported to Naval Aeronautical Headquarters, the Naval Aeronautical Technical Establishment, and the Yokosuka Air Corps.

• 1941 – Igor I. Sikorsky impressively demonstrates the capabilities of his VS-300 helicopter by hovering virtually motionless over Stratford (Connecticut) Airport for one hour, five minutes. Powered by a large, 90-hp engine, it sets a new helicopter record.

• 1941 – London comes under intense bomber attack, with nearly 900 tonnes of high explosive dropped on the city.

• 1937 – Entered Service: Supermarine Stranraer

• 1935 – 16-17 – A Pan Am Sikorsky S-42 makes the first airline flight from the continental US to Hawaii.

• 1935 – Flying Officer Clive Newton Edgerton takes off from Laverton in RAAF Westland Wapiti, A5-31, but after entering a steep dive from 15,000 feet is unable to recover. "The structure of the aircraft failed during the test flight and the aircraft crashed at Werribee." Witnesses reported that the wings failed and folded back along the fuselage. The lower starboard wing landed in a paddock 1½ miles from the fuselage. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Committee (AAIC) reported that "The tailplane actuating gear was in full forward position...the aircraft had five ballast weights in the tail...when there should have been six, and in addition another four in the passenger's cockpit, so that the aircraft was obviously tail light and nose heavy. Apparently the pilot had his tail actuating gear into the full forward, giving maximum lift to the tail to enable him to go into a dive." The speed of Edgerton's dive was so great that the blades of the airscrew were pulled from the boss by the centrifugal force.

• 1929 – First flight of the Short Gurnard(two-seat biplane naval fighter) in his landplane form.

• 1923 – 17 – Lt John A. Macready and Lt Oakley G. Kelly establish a new endurance record, staying aloft for 36 hours 5 min in a Fokker T-2, covering a distance of 2,518 miles (4,052 km).

• 1922 – Taking advantage of the Treaty of Rapallo, a flying school for German pilots is set up at Lipetsk. By 1933, 450 German military pilots will have trained here.

• 1915 – The United States Navy conducts the first catapult launch of an aircraft (an AB-2 seaplane) from a floating platform, launching an airplane from Navy Coal Barge No. 214 at Naval Air Station Pensacola at Pensacola, Florida.

• 1914 – The Canadian Aviation Corps is formed.

• 1913 – First contest for the Schneider Trophy. Maurice Prévost wins in a Deperdussin monoplane, completing the 28 circuits of the 10 km (6.2 mile) course with an average speed of 73.63 km/h (45.75 mph)

• 1912 – Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly the English Channel.

References

April 17

• 2012 – Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, accompanied by a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) T-38 Talon chase plane, carries the retired Space Shuttle Discovery from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, to Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, where Discovery is slated to replace the Space Shuttle Enterprise on display at the Smithsonian Institution's nearby Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, a part of the National Air and Space Museum. The delivery flight includes low-level passes over the Cape Canaveral area as well as flybys at an altitude of 1,500 feet (457 meters) over Washington, D.C.-area landmarks. ^{[1] [2]}

• 2010 – UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter goes down about 12 miles (19 km) north of Tikrit. One U.S. service member is killed and 3 others are injured . ^{[3] [4] [5]}

• 2009 – TAROM ATR 42-500 YR-ATA suffers a birdstrike on approach to Iasi International Airport, Romania, resulting in a large hole in the nosecone. A safe landing is subsequently made.

• 2009 – Línea Turística Aereotuy Cessna 208 B Grand Caravan YV-1811 crashes shortly after take-off from Canaima Airport, Venezuela, killing one of the eleven people on board.

• 2009 – Mimika Air Flight 514, operated by Pilatus PC-6 PK-LTJ crashes into Mount Gergaji, Indonesia, killing all ten people on board.

• 2007- Go! (airline) began operations.

• 2005- AH-64D Apache 03-5370 from 4th Squadron, 3d ACR makes hard landing near Baghdad. ^[6]

• 1998 – Launch: Space Shuttle Columbia STS-90 at 2:19 pm EDT. Mission highlights: Spacelab mission.

• 1997 – A Delta II 7925 rocket carrying the first GPS Block IIR satellite, GPS IIR-1, exploded only 13 seconds after liftoff, raining flaming debris all over Launch Complex 17 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

• 1996 – A Grumman F-14B Tomcat converted from Grumman F-14A-120-GR Tomcat, BuNo 161444, 'AD 201', of VF-101, based at NAS Oceana, Virginia Beach, Virginia, crashes near Norfolk, Virginia, the fourth accident for the type this year. The two crew survive.

• 1995 – A LearJet C-21, the U.S. military version of the LearJet 35A, crashed in a wooded area four miles south of Alexander City, Alabama, while trying to make an unplanned landing at the airport. The plane was en route to Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, from Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. An Air Force spokesman said that the plane carried a crew of two and six passengers. Killed in the crash were Clark G. Fiester, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force; Maj. Gen. Glenn A. Profitt II, director of plans and operations for the Air Education and Training Command at Randolph; Col. Jack Clark II; Maj. Hubert B. Fisher, who was assigned to the Pentagon; the aircraft commander, 1st Lt. Paul Bowers; an instructor pilot, Capt. Paul Carley; and two passengers who had joined the flight on a "space available" basis, Air Force Maj. James K. Horne and Army Sgt. Padro Mercado.

• 1986 – Hindawi affair: Israeli security guards at London Heathrow Airport discover explosives in the luggage of an Irish woman attempting to board an El Al airliner. Her Jordanian fiancé, Nezar Hindawi, is arrested for planting the bomb without her knowledge in an effort to destroy the airliner.

• 1985 – CP Air began first Boeing 737 Series A 300 service when C-FCPG flew from Vancouver to Winnipeg and Toronto.

• 1982 – CAAC Flight 3303, a Hawker Siddeley Trident, crashes into a mountain near Yangsuo while on approach to Guilin Liangjiang International Airport in heavy weather; all 112 on board die.

• 1982 – Death of William Price (aviator), British WWI flying ace.

• 1974 – Death of Wilhelm Thöne, German WWI flying ace.

• 1973 – First flight of the PZL-106 Kruk

• 1973 – Federal Express delivers its first package.

• 1972 – The Soviet Union claims that American airstrikes have damaged four of its merchant ships in Haiphong Harbor.

• 1970 – The crippled Apollo 13 spacecraft and its three astronauts returns to earth safely after suffering an explosion en route to the moon.

• 1970 – A Sikorsky CH-53D helicopter flies between London and Paris to demonstrate that modern helicopters can provide reliable inter-city services.

• 1969 – First powered flight of the Martin Marietta X-24A

• 1969 – Soyuz 4 returns on earth.

• 1966 – First flight of the Chengdu J-7, People's Republic of China-built version of the Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21.

• 1966 – First total transition flight of the Canadair CL-84 "Dynavert", Canadian V/STOL turbine tilt-wing monoplane prototype.

• 1964 – Jerrie Mock arrives in Columbus, Ohio in a Cessna 180, completing a solo round-the-world flight and becoming the first woman to make such a journey.

• 1963 – Joseph A. Walker flies the North American X15 A to a height of 82,600 m (271,000 feet) and, having flown higher than 50 miles, he qualifies for astronaut wings.

• 1958 – First flight of the LIPNUR Belalang

• 1957 – First flight of the Nord 3202

• 1949 – Avro Tudor Mark IVB 'Star Ariel' passenger aircraft (British piston-engined airliner based on the four-engine Lincoln bomber) owned and operated by British South American Airways (BSAA) disappeared without trace over the Atlantic Ocean while on a flight between Bermuda and Kingston, Jamaica, part of the Bermuda Triangle legend.

• 1945 – The fight to liberate Apeldoorn in the Netherlands began when first Canadian Inf. Brigade supported by tanks of the first Hussars, tried to seize control of the main bridge over the Apeldoorn Canal. Stiff opposition is encountered and new plans to encircle the city are made. 2nd Bde. Crosses the canal south of the city, outflanking the enemy who withdraw to the west. When Canadian soldiers enter the city, they are greeted by thousands of cheering Dutch citizens.

• 1944 – F/O TC Cooke and crew in a Consolidted Canso of No. 162 Sq­ron sank the German submarine U-311, southwest of Iceland.

• 1944 – Howard Hughes sets a new US transcontinental speed record, flying a Lockheed Constellation

• 1943 – Birth of Daniel Charles Brandenstein US Navy test pilot and NASA astronaut.

• 1942 – 12 Lancaster bombers – six each from No. 44 (Rhodesia) Sq­ron and No. 97 Sq­ron – carry out the longest low-level penetration thus far in World War II and the first daylight raid by the Lancaster in an attack on a submarine diesel engine factory at Augsburg, Germany. The two sq­rons fail to rendezvous and four of the No. 44 Sq­ron bombers, led by South African Air Force Sq­ron Leader John Dering Nettleton, are shot down by German fighters shortly after crossing the North Sea, but Nettleton pushes on with the two surviving Lancasters and attacks the target against heavy antiaircraft artillery fire. He is awarded the Victoria Cross for the mission. No. 97 Squadron loses one Lancaster.

• 1942 – Sixteen North American B-25 Mitchells, led by Col. Jimmy Doolittle, leave for the pivotal raid on Japan.

• 1941 – During dive tests to determine why wrinkles are appearing on the surface plates of the wings, Lt. Manbeye Shimokawa, squadron leader at Yokosuka Naval Air Corps, is killed in Mitsubishi A6M Model 21, number 135, equipped with balance tabs, when, during pull-out at 1,500 meters from dive from 4,000 meters, parts are seen by ground observers to depart from the port wing, fighter drops nose, plunges into ten fathoms of water off Natsu Island. Pilot found in recovered wreckage with head injuries from striking instrument panel on impact. Aeronautical Technical Establishment investigation reveals that flutter and vibration tests had not simulated the stiffness distribution of actual airframes and that the ailerons and horizontal stabilizers had been torn out. Fighter had previously been assigned to the carrier Akagi.

• 1939 – The Renard R-36, Belgian all-metal fighter prototype single seat aircraft, crashed near Nivelles, killing pilot Lt. Visconte Eric de Spoelberg.

• 1934 – First flight of the de Havilland Dragon Rapide

• 1934 – First flight of the Fairey Swordfish

• 1931 – The second of two Westland Westbury twin-engine test bed fighter prototypes, J7766, retrofitted with Bristol Jupiter VIII engines with reduction gearing, suffers engine-start accident at Martlesham Heath this date. With Hucks starter turning over engine, with the throttle accidentally wide open, the aircraft suddenly jumps the chocks and collides with the Hucks vehicle, being damaged beyond economical repair :struck off charge.

• 1926 – Western Air Express starts its service between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.

• 1920 – The Venezuelan Air Force is formed, with a flying school at Maracay

• 1913 – Briton Gustav Hamel lands after a non-stop flight of 4 hours and 18 min from Dover, England, to Cologne, Germany in a Blériot XI.

• 1902 – Gustave Whitehead reportedly flies his Whitehead Aeroplane No. 22 flying boat on an 11 km (7 mile) flight and lands safely.

• 1899 – Birth of Nevil Shute, popular British novelist and a successful aeronautical engineer.

• 1892 – Birth of Thomas Mottershead VC, DCM, British WWI pilot.

• 1892 – Birth of Amedeo Mecozzi, Italian WWI flying ace, WWII general of the Italian Regia Aeronautica and a military theorist credited as the founding father of the "Attack air force" doctrine

• 1891 – Birth of Hans Klein, German WWI fighter ace, and WWII luftwaffe high-ranking officer.

• 1890 – Birth of Paul Petit (aviator), French WWI flying ace

• 1886 – Birth of Glenn L. Martin, American aviation pioneer, Founder of the Glenn L. Martin Company.

• 1885 – Birth of Karl Nikitsch, Austro-Hungarian WWI flying ace

• 1847 – Birth of Nikolay Yegorovich Zhukovsky, Russian scientist, founding father of modern aero- and hydrodynamics. Whereas contemporary scientists scoffed at the idea of human flight, Zhukovsky was the first to undertake the study of airflow.

References

April 18

• 2009 – Royal Air Maroc Boeing 747-2 B6 B CN-RME is substantially damaged when it lurches forward during an engine ground run and subsequently goes through a fence at Mohammed V International Airport, Morocco.

• 2006 – First flight of the Diamond D-Jet.

• 2005 – A United States Air Force F-16D crashed next to the Ashley River near Charleston, South Carolina. The two crew members ejected safely. Both the main power and backup power failed moments before the crash, the pilot said.

• 2002 – A Rockwell Commander A112 crashed into the Pirelli Tower in Milan, Italy.

• 1999 – Royal Australian Air Force General Dynamics F-111G, A8-291, c/n B1-63, of 6 Sqn., crashes about 2230 hrs. while on exercises in Malaysia. Believed to have hit one of two peaks on small island Pulua Aur, off the east coast of the Malay Peninsula, and then crashed into the South China Sea. The two crew, Sqn. Ldr. Steve Hobbs and Flt. Lt. Anthony Short, are killed.

• 1993 – Japan Air System Flight 451, a Douglas DC-9, is hit by windshear and skids off the runway at Hanamaki Airport; no fatalities are reported

• 1993 – USAF aircraft attack and destroy an Iraqi radar station

• 1991 – Eastern Air Lines is dissolved after 64 years of operation. Many of its remaining assets are parceled out to American and Continental.

• 1988 – The U. S. Navy conducts Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian forces and facilities in the Persian Gulf. A-6E Intruders from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-65) sink a speedboat, assist surface ships in sinking the frigate Sahand, and cripple the frigate Sabalan. Two Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force F-4 Phantom fighters approach the guided-missile cruiser USS Wainwright (CG-28), which damages one of them with a surface-to-air missile.

• 1986 – Marcel Dassault (real name, Marcel Bloch) dies at 94.

• 1982 – Death of Josef Mai, German WWI fighter ace and WWII instructor.

• 1981 – Bell Helicopters delivered its 25.000th helicopter, a Model 222, to Omniflight Helicopters.

• 1980 – Air Zimbabwe is formed.

• 1979 – Death of Giovanni Ballestra, Italian Air Force pilot, not bailing out of his F-104 Starfighter on fire in order to avoid victims in a high denisity population zone.

• 1978 – The Vickers Viscount becomes the first turboprop airliner to see 25 years in service

• 1977 – Philippine Airlines DC-8-53 RP-C803 was operating Philippine Airlines Flight 421 when during takeoff at Haneda, Japan it lifted off prematurely, banked, touched down, and ran off the runway tearing off the undercarriage and all 4 engines. There were no fatalities; however the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

• 1974 – Court Line Flight 95, a BAC One-Eleven, collides with a Piper Aztec on the runway at London Luton Airport, killing the pilot of the Aztec; there are no casualties on board the One-Eleven, but the aircraft is substantially damaged; the Aztec is written off.

• 1973 – Results of the USAF A-X fly-off announced, with the Fairchild YA-10 selected over the Northrop YA-9.

• 1969 – Soyuz 5 reenters earth.

• 1967 – Aeroflot and Japan Air Lines jointly inaugurate a Moscow- Tokyo service

• 1965 – Death of Charles Marie Joseph Leon Nuville, French WWI fighter ace and WWII officer.

• 1960 – Capital Airlines Flight 20 Vickers 745D Viscount crashes into a farm in Charles City County, Virginia, killing all 50 aboard.

• 1958 – The Avro CF-105 Arrow prototype exceeded M 1.5 at 50,000 ft during a test flight at Malton, Ontario, piloted by J. Zurakowski.

• 1958 – US Navy Lieutenant-Commander George Watkins flies from Edwards Air Base in California to a world record absolute altitude within the atmosphere of 76,932 feet in a Grumman F11 F-1 Tiger.

• 1957 – End of Operation Power Flite, 3 B-52 B aircraft of the 93rd Bombardment Wing of the 15th Air Force lands at March Air Force Base near Riverside, California after flying for a total of 45 hours and 19 min, first jet aircraft to circle the world nonstop.

• 1955 – Second prototype Lockheed XF-104A Starfighter, 53-7787, c/n 083-0002, is lost when airframe sheds the bottom ejection seat hatch fairing during 20 mm gun firing causing an explosive decompression. Test pilot Herman R. "Fish" Salmon ejected as aircraft broke up, injured landing in rough country. Joe Baugher cites date of 14 April for this accident.

• 1952 - The Convair YB-60 makes a successful first flight at Carswell Air Force Base at Fort Worth, Texas.

• 1945 – Luftwaffe ace (six victories) Oberst Johannes Steinhoff, of the jet experten Jagdverband 44, suffers tire blow-out on take-off from Flughafen München Riem when his Messerschmitt Me 262 hits a bomb crater. He lifts off, but without sufficient flying speed, he crashes, suffering severe burns, spending two years in hospital.

• 1944 – Death of Eugene Jules Emile Camplan, French WWI flying ace.

• 1944 – Air Solomons (AirSols) begins a very successful series of photographic reconnaissance flights over the Mariana Islands. The missions continue into June.

• 1943 – P-38 Lightnings intercepted Japanese aircraft and take down two Mitsubishi bombers over Bougainville, killing Admiral Yamamoto, Japan’s leading military strategist.

• 1942 – Col James Doolittle leads the first US attack on the Japanese mainland, leading a force of sixteen B-25 Mitchells flying from the USS Hornet against Tokyo in what comes to be known as the " Doolittle Raid".

• 1942 – First jet engine test in the United States: General Electric 1-A engine successfully tested in Lynn, Massachusetts.

• 1930 – Death of Tommaso (Tomaso) Dal Molin, Italian pilot in the crash of his seaplane racer Savoia-Marchetti S.65 on Lake Garda.

• 1929 – First flight of the Bourgois-Sénemaud AT 40, French two-seat, single-engine parasol wing monoplane tourer prototype

• 1920 – Death of Albert René Chabrier, French WWI flying ace.

• 1919 – CMA (Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes) commences a mail and freight service between Paris and Lille, using ex-military Breguet 14s.

• 1918 – Birth of Frederick C. Bock, WWII pilot who took part in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in 1945, flying the B-29 bomber 'The Great Artist'

• 1917 – William E. Boeing’s Pacific Aero Products Company is renamed the “Boeing Airplane Company. ”

• 1916 – Birth of Giorgio Savoja (Savoia), Italian WWII fighter pilot.

• 1916 – The first all-American air squadron in Europe is formed at the French spa town of Luxevil-les-Bains. Nieuport Squadron Nº 124, unofficially known as the “Escadrille Américaine” (American Squadron), is composed of volunteers who will be under the command of a French captain, Georges Thénault.

• 1915 – Roland Garros is shot down and taken captive.

• 1913 – Birth of Wing Commander George Cecil Unwin DSO, DFM & Bar, British WWII fighter ace.

• 1911 – Eugene B. Ely makes the first landing by an aircraft on a ship when he flies his Curtiss Model D pusher biplane from Selfridge Field near San Francisco to a specially prepared wooden deck on the stern of the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania.

• 1893 – Birth of Douglas Evan Cameron, British WWI flying ace.

• 1893 – Birth of Dr. Wolfgang Benjamin Klemperer, German prominent aviation and aerospace scientist and engineer, who ranks among the pioneers of early aviation.

• 1891 – Birth of Herbert Wilhelm Franz Knappe, German WWI flying ace

• 1888 – Birth of Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, CBE, Hon FRAeS, English aviation pioneer, founder of the Sopwith Aviation Company and yachtman.

• 1882 – Birth of Gaston Caudron, French aviation pioneer and aircraft designer along with his brother René.

References

April 19

• 2012 – Slovenian pilot Matevž Lenarčič returns to Slovenia, completing a 62,000-mile (99,839-km) round-the-world flight in a Pipistrel Virus SW914 ultralight 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. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

• 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 – Russian airline Arkaim is established.

• 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).

• 1984 – First flight of the IAI Astra

• 1983 – Death of Ham, also known as Ham the Chimp and Ham the Astrochimp, first chimpanzee launched into outer space in the American space program.

• 1979 – First flight of the Learjet 55

• 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 – Retired: Martin X-23 PRIME

• 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.

• 1960 – First flight of the Grumman A-6 Intruder

• 1956 – First flight of the Supermarine Scimitar (type 544), a British naval fighter aircraft.

• 1951 – First flight of the de Havilland Sea Venom, British postwar carrier-capable jet aircraft

• 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.

• 1932 – 19-28 – C. W. A. Scott sets a new solo speed record between the UK and Darwin, taking 8 days 20 hours in a de Havilland Gipsy Moth

• 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

April 20

• 2012 – Bhoja Air Flight 213, a Boeing 737-236, crashes in bad weather on approach to Benazir Bhutto International Airport at Islamabad, Pakistan, killing all 127 people on board.

• 2011 – Launch of Elektro-L No.1, also known as Geostationary Operational Meteorological Satellite No.2 or GOMS No.2, Russian geostationary weather satellite.

• 2011 – Launch of SA-224, also known as NRO Launch 49 (NRO L-49), American reconnaissance satellite.

• 2010 – A Eurocopter HH-65 Dolphin of the US Coast Guard crashed into Lake Huron nine miles (14 km) north of Port Huron, Michigan.

• 2010 – While performing maneuvers, a Vertical de Aviación Bell 222UT helicopter, registered HK-3262, and a Fuerza Aérea de Colombia (Colombian Air Force) MD Helicopters MD530 crashed on a military garrison near Chaparral, Tolima, Colombia.

• 2009 – Royal Air Maroc Flight 200, operated by Boeing 767-36NER CN-RNT is substantially damaged in a heavy landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Cracks are discovered in the forward fuselage on inspection.

• 2008 – In an effort to raise money for a spiritual rest stop for truckers in Paranagua, Brazil, and to break the existing 19-hour record for a flight suspended by helium balloons, Brazilian priest Adelir Antonio de Carli lifts off from Paranagua for a flight inland to Dourados, over 725 km (450 mi) to the northwest, suspended under 1,000 brightly colored party balloons. Rising to as high as 20,000 feet (6,096 m), he is swept backward out over the Atlantic Ocean and disappears about eight hours after takeoff. Some of his balloons are found floating intact in the sea two days later, and his body will be found floating in the Atlantic 700 km (435 mi) northeast of Paranagua near Maricá, Brazil, on 4 July.

• 2002 – During the NAS Point Mugu air show (Point Mugu, California), the pilot and radar intercept officer are killed when their United States Navy McDonnell-Douglas QF-4S+ Phantom II, BuNo 155749, stalls and crashes after pulling away from a diamond formation. Both eject but chutes do not have time to deploy. The Navy report states in part: "The cause of this tragic accident was the failure of the pilot to manage the energy state of the aircraft, and then to recognize a departure from controlled flight at low altitude, and apply the NATOPS recovery techniques." This Phantom II was credited with a MiG-17 kill 10 May 1972 with VF-96.

• 1998 – Air France Flight 422, a Boeing 727 leased from TAME Airlines, crashed into the mountains east of Bogotá, Colombia on takeoff from El Dorado International Airport of Bogotá in foggy weather. All 53 passengers and crew perish.

• 1997 – A new balloon absolute distance record of 16,722 km (10,363 miles) is set by Steve Fossett, during his unsuccessful non-stop, round the world flight, which he is forced to abandon in India.

• 1996 – STS-72, Space shuttle mission, recovers in space the Japanese spacecraft 'Space Flyer Unit' and lands back on earth.

• 1989 – Doru Davidovici, Romanian poet and pilot, loses his life, together with Dumitru Petra, this date, when their MiG-21UM trainer crashes during landing procedures while returning home to RoAF 86th Air Base, Borcea-Fetesti AFB, from a training flight.

• 1988 – Death of Robert Miles Todd, American WWI flying ace.

• 1985 – USAF North American CT-39 Sabreliner suffering from defective brakes, runs off runway at Wilkes-Barre-Scranton International Airport, Pennsylvania, goes down 125-foot embankment, burns, killing all five on board.

• 1982 – Lockheed F-117A, 80-785, crashes on take-off on its first test flight at Groom Lake, Nevada, due to crossed wiring of the yaw controls, coming to rest inverted adjacent to the runway. Lockheed test pilot Bob Ridenhauer survives with serious injuries and retires from test flying. He has to be cut out of the overturned cockpit section. This was the first loss of a production Nighthawk and occurred prior to Air Force acceptance. This was almost exactly the same wiring mistake that caused the loss of a Lockheed A-12 on 28 December 1965.

• 1980 – Death of André Dubonnet, French WWI flying ace, WWII fighter pilot, athlete, racecar driver, and inventor.

• 1979 – Two USAF General Dynamics F-111F-CFs of the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing, 70-2367, c/n E2-06 / F-06, and 73-0714, c/n E2-90 / F-90, based at RAF Lakenheath, suffer mid-air off the Scottish coast while on a training mission over the Dornoch Firth's Tain bombing range, all four crew surviving in what was described as a double "miracle" escape. Both crews escape in each plane's two-seat crew ejection modules. Flotation bags on the Peluso/Schlitt module became partially dislodged soon after landing and the module submerged under several feet of water. The other crew module became inverted immediately after hitting the water and remained inverted on the water's surface until the arrival of a fishing vessel. At that time the crew activated self-righting bags that partially righted the module. The crew then exited the module and, assisted by a RAF rescue parajumper, climbed aboard the fishing vessel before being hoisted to a RAF rescue helicopter. The fishing vessel arrived in the area of the crew modules approximately 40 minutes after the collision, with the rescue helicopter from RAF Lossiemouth arriving several minutes later. A Nimrod maritime patrol plane monitored from overhead. All four crew were flown by helicopter to RAF Lossiemouth, 40 miles NE of Inverness. All four returned to Lakenheath later that day. They were identified as Capt. Stephen R. Ruttman, of Norman, Oklahoma, Capt. Timothy A. Schlitt, of Afton, Missouri, Capt. Roger L. Webb, of Staunton, Virginia, and Capt. Joseph Peluso, of Rosedale, New York, all of them 28.

• 1978 – Korean Air Lines Flight 902, a Boeing 707, is shot down by Soviet fighter planes; the plane crash-lands near the Soviet Union's border with Finland; two of the 109 people on board are killed, the rest were subsequently released.

• 1977 – Death of Ernest Archibald "Ernie" McNab, Canadian WWII fighter pilot, first scoring pilot for the RCAF in WWII.

• 1975 – Death of Howard Burdick, American WWI flying ace.

• 1975 – A Boeing 707, commandeered by three terrorists and flown by a crew of Air France volunteers, lands in Baghdad, Iraq. The terrorists forced the French airline to fly them out of Paris by taking ten travelers hostage yesterday, at Orly airport.

• 1969 – Death of Arthur Eyguem De Montaigne 'Jacko' Jarvis, Canadian WWI flying ace.

• 1968 – South African Airways Flight 228, a Boeing 707-344C, crashes just after takeoff from JG Strijdom International Airport, Windhoek, South West Africa (now Namibia) due to pilot error; of the 128 on board, only 5 survive.

• 1967 – The 1967 Nicosia Britannia disaster: a Globe Air-operated Bristol Britannia on a charter flight in bad weather near Lakatamia, Cyprus, killing all 126 on board.

• 1967 – American aircraft attack powerplants in Haiphong, North Vietnam, for the first time.

• 1965 – Death of Ludwig "Lutz" Beckmann, German WWI flying ace.

• 1965 – Death of Friedrich Hefty, Austro-Hungarian WWI flying ace.

• 1964 – First flight of the Lockheed L-100 Hercules

• 1959 – Aeroflot puts the 84 to 110-seater Ilyushin IL-18, its first turboprop, into service from Moscow to Alma Ata, Kazakhstan, and Adler, now Sochi, on the Black Sea.

• 1959 – First flight of the Vickers Vanguard took place on 20 January 1959 ^{[1][ better source needed]}, a British short/medium-range turboprop airliner, development of the Vickers Viscount.

• 1952 – Death of Ronald Malcolm Fletcher, British WWI observer/gunner ace in two-seater fighters in conjunction with his pilot, Lt. S. F. H. Thompson.

• 1949 – Crash of a Lockheed F-80A Shooting Star kills Col. Robert Lewis Coffey, Jr., USAF Reserve, while on take-off from Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, at 1640 hrs. during cross-country proficiency flight. Coffey, a World War II ace (six victories) during 97 missions in the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, and deputy group commander of the 365th Fighter Group, 9th Air Force, who had been shot down and evaded capture, had resigned his regular commission to enter politics. He was elected to the 81st United States Congress (D-Pa.) and was on an Air Force training flight while the House was in recess when he died at age 30. He and fellow Hell Hawks pilot William D. Ritchie had departed Kirtland after refuelling for March AFB, California, but due to apparent engine failure on take-off, the fighter never rose above 25 feet, skidded off end of runway, cartwheeled across an arroyo, and broke apart but did not burn. Coffey was killed instantly. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. The House of Representatives recesses for one day in his honor.

• 1949 – 20-21 – A Short Sunderland flies medical personnel and supplies to HMS Amethyst, shelled by Chinese Communist forces on the Yangtze River.

• 1948 – Birth of Jerry Lynn Ross, USAF pilot and NASA astronaut.

• 1945 – A Swordfish from the Merchant Aircraft Carrier (or “MAC-ship”) MV Empire MacAndrew drops two depth charges on a periscope sighting position in the last attack on a submarine by a MAC-ship’s aircraft. During World War II, no submarine makes a successful attack against a convoy containing a MAC-ship. MAC-ship aircraft have attacked 12 German submarines; although they never sink one, their activities have proven very effective in convoy defense.

• 1943 – Led personally by the commander of the Seventh Air Force, Major General Willis H. Hale, 22 U. S. Army Air Forces B-24 Liberators from Funafuti bomb and photograph Nauru. Japanese aircraft follow them home and attack Funafuti early on April 21, destroying two B-24 s and killing six men.

• 1942 – In Operation Calendar, the U. S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CV-7) flies off 46 Spitfires to Malta. Detecting their arrival with radar, Fligerkorps II immediately attacks their airfields, destroying almost all of them within three days.

• 1942 – First official demonstration of the helicopter in the United States.

• 1941 – Death of Frederick Erastus Humphreys, American aviator, one of the original three military pilots trained by the Wright brothers and the first to fly solo.

• 1940 – The Brazilian Air Force, originally founded in 1908 as the Brazilian Army Balloon Corp, adopts its current title, Fôrça Aeréa Brasileira.

• 1938 – First flight of the Tachikawa Ki-36 (Allied reporting name “Ida”)

• 1938 – British Air Commodore Arthur Travers Harris makes a purchasing trip to the United States to select aircraft to expand the Royal Air Force. The Lockheed Hudson and North American Harvard are chosen.

• 1938 – A Flight Refueling Ltd Armstrong Whitworth AW.23 refuels an Imperial Airways Short Empire over Southampton Water.

• 1937 – A new Nationalist advance begins in Vizcaya province in northern Spain, supported by a preliminary aerial bombardment.

• 1935 – The first passengers leave for Australia on a new Imperial Airways/QANTAS service; the first Australian departures were made from Brisbane on April 17.

• 1934 – First flight of the Boeing P-29 (originated as the Model 264), US Fighter prototype, fully-cantilever wings, wing flaps, enclosed "greenhouse" canopy, and retractable undercarriage took place on 20 January 1934. ^{[2][ better source needed]}

• 1933 – Consolidated P-30 prototype XA-11 attack version crashed on 20 January 1933, ^{[3] [4]} during flight testing killing Lieut. Irvin A. Woodring.

• 1932 – Imperial Airways' Handley Page H. P.42 'Helena' leaves Croydon, England, for Paris on the first leg of the company's new mail service to Cape Town.

• 1932 – Charles Scott takes off for a new solo speed record between the UK and Darwin, in a de Havilland Gipsy Moth

• 1928 – Death of George Augustine Taylor, Australian artist, journalist, and aviation pioneer, first person in Australia to fly in a heavier-than-air craft.

• 1920 – The first civilian aircraft to be registered in Canada was (G-CAAA) registered in Sask. to Aerial Service Company of Regina.

• 1920 – Birth of Ferruccio Serafini, WWII Italian fighter ace.

• 1919 – Richard Hillary, Australian Spitfire pilot and author, was born (d. 1943). Hillary was a Battle of Britain pilot who died during World War II. He is best known for his book The Last Enemy, based upon his experiences during the Battle of Britain.

• 1918 – Manfred von Richthofen, aka The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims marking his final victories before his death the following day.

• 1916 – The Escadrille Américanne, later to be known as Lafayette Escadrille, is established as an American volunteer unit in France, equipped with Nieuport 11s.

• 1914 – Three US Navy aircraft depart Pensacola on board the USS Mississippi in support of troops at Vera Cruz, Mexico. They will fly reconnaissance missions until May 12.

• 1914 – Howard Pixton wins the Schneider Trophy at Monaco. Pixton averages 139.66 km/h (86.78 mph) over the course in a Sopwith Schneider

• 1913 – Attempting to establish a new women's altitude record, Bernetta Miller is covered with oil and temporarily blinded when her oil flow indicator smashes. She makes a safe emergency landing in New York.

• 1913 – Birth of Gheorghe Popescu-Ciocanel, Romanian WWII fighter ace.

• 1896 – Birth of James Dudley Beane, American WWI flying ace.

• 1893 – Birth of Howard John Thomas Saint, Welsh WWI flying ace.

• 1892 – Birth of Ludwig Hanstein, German WWI fighter ace.

• 1890 – Birth of Pierre Henri Edmond Dufaur de Gavardie, French WWI flying ace.

• 1889 – Birth of Allan Haines Loughead, later changed to Allan Haines Lockheed, American aviation pioneer and engineer. He formed the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company along with his brother, Malcolm Loughead that became Lockheed Corporation.

• 1889 – Birth of Alfred Mohr, German WWI flying ace.

• 1888 – Birth of Jens Tryggve Herman Gran DSC, MC, Norwegian aviator, explorer and author, first pilot to cross the North Sea.

• 1861 – Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, American inventor and balloonist, makes a balloon trip from Cincinnati, Ohio to the South Carolina coast in 9 hours.

References

April 21

• 2011 – The Sukhoi Superjet 100, the first airliner developed from start to finish in post-Soviet Russia, makes its first commercial passenger flight, flying for the Armenian airline Armavia from Yerevan, Armenia, to Moscow, Russia.

• 2010 – Pacific East Asia Cargo Airlines Flight 7815, operated by Antonov An-12 UR-AN216 crashed on approach to Clark International Airport (formerly Diosdado Macapagal International Airport), Philippines after a fire broke out in flight. Three of the six crew were killed. ^[1]

• 2010 – Two Mikoyan MiG-29 fighter jets of the Belarusian Air Force collided during a training flight. There were no casualties as one MiG-29 landed safely, while the pilot in the second plane ejected before it crashed.

• 2007 – Blue Angels South Carolina crash occurred when the Number 6 US Navy Blue Angels jet crashed during the final minutes of an air show at the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in Beaufort, South Carolina. The sole fatality was confirmed and identified as the pilot, Lieutenant Commander Kevin 'Kojak' Davis, by the Blue Angels organization spokesman in a news conference on 22 April 2007. The body of the pilot and the black box were later recovered and moved to the local coroner's office. There were eight injuries reported on the ground.

• 2007 – A United States Navy Blue Angels McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, BuNo 162437, crashes into a residential neighborhood while performing at an airshow in Beaufort, South Carolina, in the United States, killing the pilot. Military investigators blame pilot for his fatal crash. A report obtained by The Associated Press said that Lieutenant Commander Kevin Davis got disoriented and crashed after not properly tensing his abdominal muscles to counter the gravitational forces of a high-speed turn.

• 2005 – A Bulgarian Mil Mi-8 is shot down north of Baghdad, killing the 11 civilians on board, including six American contractors, three Bulgarian pilots, one of them is executed shortly after the crash, and two Fijian guards. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

• 2002 – First flight of the Irkut A-002

• 1997 – The Canadian Forces launched operation assistance in response to the flooding of the Red River in Manitoba. The CF would send 8,500 regular and militia troops to the region along with 135 military vehicles.

• 1990 – Aeritalia joins the Airbus consortium as a partner

• 1989 – Lockheed SR-71A, 61-7974, Article 2025, outbound on operational sortie from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, suffers engine explosion, total hydraulic failure. Pilot Maj. Dan E. House and RSO Capt. Blair L. Bozek both eject safely. This was the final Blackbird loss before the type was withdrawn from service.

• 1982 – (21-25) Helicopters play a major role as British forces recapture South Georgia Island from Argentine forces. ^[5]

• 1975 – First flight of the Dominion Skytrader

• 1972 – Apollo 16 landed on the moon. Apollo 16 was the fifth mission in which humans walked on the lunar surface and returned to Earth.

• 1970 – Philippine Airlines Flight 215, a Hawker Siddeley HS 748, explodes in mid-air and crashes 75 mi (121 km) north of Manila; killing all 36 on board; a bomb is suspected.

• 1967 – First flight of the Rollason Beta

• 1967 – Fourth prototype Grumman F-111B, BuNo 151973, c/n A2-04, suffers flame-out of both engines at 200 feet after take-off, killing the project pilot Ralph Donnell and co-pilot Charles Wangeman.

• 1964 – First flight of the Hamburger Flugzeugbau HFB-320 Hansa Jet

• 1961 – USAF Major Robert White pilots the X-15 A research airplane from Edwards Air Force Base in California on its first flight at full throttle, reaching a speed of 3,074 mph at an altitude of 79,000 feet, before climbing to 105,100 feet.

• 1958 – United Airlines Flight 736, a Douglas DC-7, collides near Las Vegas, Nevada with a US Air Force F-100 Super Sabre fighter on a training mission. All 47 aboard the airliner and both F-100 crew members are killed.

• 1958 – A United States Air Force North American F-100F-5-NA Super Sabre, 56-3755, collided in mid-air with United Airlines Flight 736, a Douglas DC-7 registered N6328C, at 21,000 feet (6,400 m) near Arden, Nevada – two F-100 crew and all 47 on board the DC-7 died.

• 1958 – Entered Service: Vertol Model 44 with New York Airways

• 1956 – First flight of the Douglas F5D Skylancer

• 1953 – T396 the last Handley Page Halifax in RAF service, a A Mk IX of No. 1 Parachute Training School, RAF Henlow written off in accident.

• 1951 – Four Yak-9 fighters attack two U. S. Marine Corps F4U Corsairs of Marine Fighter Squadron 312 (VMF-312) near Chinnampo, Korea. Marine Captain Philip C. DeLong shoots down two of them, while his wingman, Lieutenant H. Deigh, destroys one and damages the fourth.

• 1948 – British European Airways Flight S200P, a Vickers VC.1 Viking, crashes into Irish Law Mountain in Scotland due to pilot error; all on board survive.

• 1946 – No. 168 (Heavy Transport) Squadron was disbanded at Rockcliffe. It had completed 636 trans-Atlantic flights between 15 Dec 1943 and 02 Mar 1946.

• 1945 – Deutsche Luft Hansa Focke-Wulf Fw 200B-2, D-ASHH, "Hessen", hastily loaded with baggage of the Berlin Headquarters Staff, departs for Barcelona, Spain via Munich, piloted by Flugkapitän Künstle, with five crew and 16 passengers. Condor reaches Munich safely, but never appears in Spain. Extensive inquiries in Germany, Switzerland and Spain turn up no clues to fate. In 1954, evidence finally is discovered that the overloaded transport crashed and burned with no survivors near Piesenkofen Kreis Mühlberg, Bavarial

• 1944 – Southeast door of blimp hangar at Naval Air Station Houma, Louisiana, goes inoperable, is chained open. A gust of wind carries three Goodyear ZNP-K airships, all of ZP-22, out into the night; K-56, BuNo 30178, travels 4.5 miles (7.2 km), crashes into trees, K-57, BuNo 30179, explodes and burns 4 miles (6.4 km) from the air station, K-62, BuNo 30184, fetches up against high-tension powerlines a quarter mile away, burns. K-56 is salvaged, sent to Goodyear at Akron, Ohio, repaired and returned to service.

• 1944 – Generaloberst Hans-Valentin Hube (29 October 1890 – 21 April 1944), a German general who served in the German Army during the First and Second World Wars, and recipient of the Diamonds to the Knight's Cross, is killed when the Heinkel He 111 which was shuttling him to Berlin crashes shortly after takeoff in Salzburg at Ainring. Hube was nicknamed der Mensch ("The Man" or better "The human being") by his troops during the Second World War.

• 1944 – (21–24) Task Force 58 aircraft strike Wakde, Sawar, Sarmi, and the Hollandia area, losing 21 aircraft. Since late March, U. S. air attacks against Hollandia have destroyed 340 Japanese aircraft on the ground in the area and shot down an estimated 50 more, with the Fifth Air Force strikes of late March and April certainly accounting for almost all of the Japanese losses.

• 1943 – Since the second week of April, the U. S. Army Air Force‘s Eleventh Air Force has raided Kiska 83 times.

• 1942 – Lieutenant Commander Edward H. “Butch” O’Hare becomes the first U. S. Navy aviator to receive the Medal of Honor for his actions on 20 February 1942. ^[6]

• 1941 – Operating unopposed, German aircraft sink 23 ships in Greek waters, including a Greek destroyer and two hospital ships.

• 1933 – First flight of the USS Macon (ZRS-5)

• 1929 – A U.S. Army Air Force Boeing PW-9D, 28-037, collided with a Ford Trimotor, NC9636, operated by Maddux Air Lines over San Diego, killing all 6 on board both aircraft.

• 1928 – Australian explorer Hubert Wilkins and his American pilot Carl Ben Eielson arrive in Spitzbergen, Norway after making the first ever crossing of the Arctic by airplane. They left Point Barrow, Alaska, on April 15th in their Lockheed Vega.

• 1923 – Capt. Walter Ralls Lawson, Sr. (b. 23 October 1893) is killed along with four other crew when his Martin MB-2 bomber, 64205, of the 20th Bombardment Squadron, 2d Bombardment Group, crashes into the Great Miami River in high winds shortly after take off from McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio, the same aircraft he piloted with the 1st Provisional Air Brigade during bomb tests out of Langley Field that sank the former German battleship SMS Ostfriesland. The Army named the balloon landing facility at Fort Benning, in his home state of Georgia, Lawson Field in his honor in August 1931. After World War II the name of Second Lieutenant Ted W. Lawson was added to his, giving the parsimonious post war Army two memorials for the price of one. The second Lawson was author of Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, a memoir of his experiences as a pilot on the historic World War II raid led by the first Lawson's fellow pilot in the 1st Provisional Air Brigade, Jimmy Doolittle. At the time of his death, the senior Lawson was commanding officer of the 20th Bombardment Squadron.

• 1918 – Manfred von Richthofen, a living legend called the "Red Baron" and "ace of aces" is shot down and killed. By the time of his death, he had claimed 80 victories. Credit for his kill is given to Canadian Cpt Roy Brown, but this is disputed by others who claim that he was killed by ground fire from Australian troops.

• 1914 – The first news movie shot from the air is filmed by cameraman B. C. Hucks, Warwick Bioscope Chronicle Film, England. He flies down to within 400 ft. of the royal yacht with King George aboard, crossing the English Channel from Dover, England to Calais, France.

References

April 22

• 1999 – A Russian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24MR Fencer disappears from radar at 1140 hrs. while descending through cloud during a coastal surveillance flight. Wreckage found ~9 miles (15 km) from Novorossiysk and 25 miles (40 km) from Anapa. Both crew, Lt. Col. A. Kovalenko and Maj. A. Malkerov, did not eject and are KWF.

• 1996 – The prototype Lockheed Martin RQ-3 DarkStar crashes shortly after take off on its second flight due to incorrect aerodynamic modeling of the vehicle's flight control laws.

• 1992 – The YF-22 prototype is damaged beyond repair

• 1985 – Pan Am reaches a deal with United Airlines, which buys Pan Am's Pacific Ocean routes for US$750 million.

• 1982 – During the Falklands War, British SAS troops deployed from HMS Antrim, attempt to reconnoitre Fortuna Glacier on South Georgia island in preparation for recapture by UK forces but are hit by bad weather. One Westland Wessex HAS.3 and two Westland Wessex HU.5 helicopters (XT464 and XT473) of 845 Naval Air Squadron attempt a rescue in difficult conditions. After loading the troops, one Wessex 5 crashes on the glacier but all aboard survive. The personnel are then redistributed onto the other two helicopters, whereupon the second Wessex 5 also crashes on lift-off, leaving seventeen stranded on the glacier (thirteen SAS and four helicopter crew). The Wessex 3 navigator Lt. Chris Parry, returning to the glacier as nightfall comes on, loads 17 into a helicopter able to carry 5, returns to the Antrim, which is pitching in a rough sea, and pilot Lt. Cmdr. Ian Stanley crashes the Wessex onto the deck, concluding the rescue of the seventeen stranded men, who would likely have perished had they not been evacuated from the glacier. Pilot Stanley and two other airmen are awarded the DSO for the rescue operation, although the Ministry of Defense suppresses news of the loss of three helicopters.

• 1974 – Pan Am Flight 812, a Boeing 707-321B, crashes into mountainous terrain 42.5 nautical miles (78.7 km) northwest of Denpasar, Bali. All 107 passengers and crew on board are killed.

• 1971 – Britain and France give the go-ahead for four more Concordes, bringing the total to ten.

• 1971 – First flight of the Aero Boero AB-210

• 1965 – First flight of the Transavia PL-12 Airtruk

• 1958 – The prototype for the Boeing Vertol 107-II makes its first flight in Philadelphia. The Vertol 107 and its military cousin the CH-46 Sea Knight continue to serve around the globe.

• 1946 – First flight of a tailless glider developed at National Research Council, Ottawa from a design by Prof GTR Hill. Flight was made from Namao, Alberta. The glider was piloted by S/L R. Kronfeld, RAF in a towed flight by an RCAF Douglas Dakota piloted for F/O Robertson.

• 1944 – (22–23) Aircraft from eight U. S. Navy escort aircraft carriers support U. S. amphibious landings at Hollandia.

• 1943 – The Air Cadet Corps was made a component of the RCAF by Order-in-Council.

• 1942 – The USAAF forms China Ferry Command to support the Allied war effort in the China Burma India Theater.

• 1942 – A B-24 Liberator of the Combat Crew Training School crashes near the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico while returning to Kirtland Field in Albuquerque, killing all nine people on board.

• 1939 – Canadian pilot Marion Orr took her first flying lesson, to receive her private pilot’s license the following January. A couple of years later Marion began to operate a flying club. During World War II she got a job ferrying military aircraft for the RAF in England.

• 1939 – First flight of the Aeronautica Umbra Trojani AUT.18.

• 1939 – First flight of Lockheed Vega Starliner five/six-seat low-wing cabin monoplane with retractable landing gear and an unusual powerplant

• 1920 – Three aircraft are wrecked at Bolling Field, Washington, D.C.

• 1912 – Englishman Denys Corbett Wilson makes the first aeroplane crossing from Britain to Ireland.

References

April 23

• 2006 – Johnnie Checketts, New Zealand fighter pilot, dies (b. 1912). Wing Commander John "Johnny" Milne Checketts DSO DFC (20 February 1912 – 23 April 2006) was a World War II Flying ace who was credited with 14.5 kills. He was awarded the US Silver Star in 1944 and the Polish Cross of Valour in 1945.

• 2005 – First flight of the Cessna Citation Mustang

• 1996 – First flight of the Extra EA-400

• 1994 – Airbus delivers the first of 25 A300-600F dedicated freighters to the specialized package carrier, FedEx. This all-cargo version can carry up to a maximum payload of 120,855 lb over a range of 1,900 nautical miles.

• 1988 – The U.S. government's ban on smoking on flights of two hours or less goes into effect. "No Smoking" signs remain lit on 80% of domestic airline flights. Flight attendants are to be armed with gum and candy for those in anguish.

• 1988 – Kanellos Kanellopoulos recreates the mythical flight of Daedalus by flying a pedal-powered aircraft, the MIT Daedalus from Crete to Santorini, covering the 119 km (74 miles) in 3 hours 54 min.

• 1971 – A USAF General Dynamics F-111E, 67-0117, c/n A1-162/E-3, out of Edwards AFB, California, crashes in a rocky area of the Mojave Desert 12 miles S of Death Valley National Monument during test flight, both crew, pilot Maj. James W. Hurt, 34, of Indianapolis, Indiana, and WSO Maj. Robert J. Furman, 31, of New York City, killed when parachute on escape module fails to open until just before ground impact. Both bodies were inside the escape module when it is found on Saturday, 24 April. Aircraft experienced trouble at 6,000 feet. This was the 18th crash of the type since entering service and the second fatal accident this year when the module chute failed to properly deploy. All F-111s are grounded on Thursday 30 April after it is determined that the recovery chute compartment door failed to separate making crew escape impossible. This was the sixth grounding order for the type since it entered operation. The grounding order was lifted on 8 June 1971 during which time the panel that failed in this accident had been replaced.

• 1966 – American aircraft encounter MiG fighters in large numbers over North Vietnam.

• 1965 – The first production C-141A Starlifter cargo aircraft is delivered to the U.S. Air Force' Military Airlift Command.

• 1959 – In the 1959 Air Charter Turkey crash, an Avro Super Trader IV crashes on Mount Süphan, Turkey; all 12 crew on board die.

• 1956 – First flight of the Douglas C-133 Cargomaster.

• 1950 – A prototype SNCASO 4000, France's first jet bomber design, F-WBBL, rolled out 5 March 1950, suffers undercarriage collapse during taxiing trials causing extensive damage. Complex gear design proves too fragile for aircraft weight. With repairs and strengthened gear, the bomber makes its first and only flight on 15 March 1951 but design is found to be underpowered and unstable and never again takes to the air.

• 1945 – A U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress 43-38856, coded 'GD-M', of the 381st Bombardment Group (Heavy), crashes on the east facing slope of North Barrule in the Isle of Man killing 31 US service personnel (including ground crew) en route to Belfast for memorial service for President Roosevelt.

• 1945 – The United States Navy puts its first radar-guided bomb, the SWOD-9 "Bat" into use, dropping it from Consolidated PB4Y Liberators on Japanese shipping in Balikpapan Harbour.

• 1943 – Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Tarawa Atoll.

• 1942 – U.S. Navy Vought SB2U-2 Vindicator, BuNo 1363,[120] of VS-71, assigned to the USS Wasp, but flown ashore to clear deckspace for Spitfires bound for Malta, crashes in peat bog near Invergordon, Scotland, killing Ens. Jackson and Aviation Machinist's Mate Atchison. Atchison's body recovered, but squadron diary records that Jackson's body and bulk of airframe were buried too deeply, so remains and wreckage were covered over.

• 1941 – No. 405 (Bomber) Squadron was formed in England.

• 1941 – German Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers sink the Greek battleships Kilkis and Lemnos off Salamis Island, Greece, during the German invasion of Greece.

• 1939 – The U.S. Civil Aeronautics Authority raises the eligibility age for obtaining a private pilot license to 18 years from the previous 16 years.

• 1919 – The North Sea Aerial Navigation Company begins a passenger run between Leeds and Houndslow in ex-military Blackburn RT.1s.

• 1918 – Lt. Paul Baer shoots down his fifth aircraft, becoming the first ace of the American Expeditionary Force.

• 1915 – Patrick Nieson Lynch Bellinger, American pioneering US Naval aviator, climbed a Burgess-Dunne AH-10 to 10,000 feet in 1:19

• 1911 - Yoshitoshi Tokugawa set a Japanese record with a Blériot, flying 48 miles in 1:09:30

References

April 24

• 2011 – Libyan rebels claim that coalition airstrikes on Libyan government forces on the Al Zaitoniya– Al Soihat road near Ajdabiya hit 21 military vehicles but NATO does not confirm their claim. ^[1]

• 2009 – Senegalese Air Sénégal International suspends all operations.

• 2002 – A Belgian Air Force F-16B collides with an Ikarus PH-3G8 in Sellingen. The pilots of the F-16 and the Ikarus are killed. The pilot in the backseat of the F-16 ejects and survives.

• 2001 – The unmanned aircraft Global Hawk flies automatically from Edwards Air Force Base in the US to Australia non-stop and unrefuelled. This is the longest point-to-point flight ever undertaken by an unmanned aircraft, the first pilotless aircraft to cross the Pacific Ocean, and took 23 hours and 23 min.

• 1996 – The modified McDonnell Douglas F-15 S/TMD becomes the first aircraft to fly supersonic using round, pitch-and-yaw thrust-vectoring nozzles.

• 1993 – (24-25) In Operation Ashwamedh, Indian Army commandos storm a hijacked Indian Airlines Boeing 737 with 141 people on board at Amritsar, India. They kill the lone hijacker and free everyone else on board unharmed.

• 1992 – A USAF C-130 Hercules carrying out an anti-narcotics mission over Peru is attacked by Peruvian Air Force Sukhoi Su-22s.

• 1990 – Launch: Space Shuttle Discovery STS-31 at 12:33:51 UTC. Mission highlights: Hubble Space Telescope deployment.

• 1988 – Marine Corps Colonel Jerry Cadick, then commanding officer of MAG-11, was performing a demonstration at the MCAS El Toro Air Show before a crowd of 300,000 when he crashed his McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18 Hornet at the bottom of a loop that was too close to the ground. The aircraft was in a nose-high attitude, but still carrying too much energy toward the ground when it impacted at more than 300 mph (480 km/h). Col. Cadick was subjected to extremely high G forces that resulted in his face making contact with the control stick and sustaining serious injury. He broke his arm, elbow and ribs, exploded a vertebra and collapsed a lung. Col. Cadick survived and retired from the Marine Corps. The F/A-18 remained largely intact but was beyond repair.

• 1985 – LOT Polish Airlines inaugurates flights to JFK International Airport in New York.

• 1980 – Lockheed U-2R, 68-10333, Article 055, fifth airframe of the first R-model order, first flown 8 May 1968, registered N812X, delivered to the CIA on 28 May 1968. To 100th SRW, mid-1974, to 9th SRW, 1976. Damaged at Akrotiri, Cyprus, this date. Repaired.

• 1980 – Helicopters from USS Nimitz participate with other aircraft in the abortive Operation Eagle Claw, a plan to rescue US hostages from Iran. An unexpected sandstorm forces 2 USMC Sikorsky RH-53D Sea Stallion helicopters to divert before reaching the first rendezvous point in the Great Salt Desert of Eastern Iran, near Tabas, and causes serious mechanical damage to a third, prompting commanders to abort the mission. While attempting to evacuate personnel and equipment that had already arrived at the rendezvous point, the pilot of another Sea Stallion, BuNo 158761, loses situational awareness in a dustcloud during take-off and collides with a USAF Lockheed EC-130E Hercules, 62-1809, c/n 3770, of the 7th ACCS, killing five USAF aircrew aboard the C-130, and three USMC aircrew in the RH-53. Five other RH-53Ds had to be abandoned at the site after suffering shrapnel damage from the collision. These were BuNos. 158686, 158744, 158750, 158753, and 158758. At least one airframe was assembled from the abandoned helicopters, to join six RH-53Ds supplied by the United States to the Iranian Navy in 1978.

• 1972 – First flight of the Partenavia Alpha

• 1972 – Two UH-1 B attack helicopters arrive at Tan Son Nhut Air Base in South Vietnam, becoming the first helicopters equipped with the TOW antitank missile to enter combat.

• 1971 – Soyuz 10 spacecraft docks with the world’s first space station, Salyut 1. The cosmonauts on board are forced to return to earth without entering the station, however, due to a faulty hatch.

• 1970 – The United States begins Operation Patio, involving air strikes up to 18 miles (29 km) inside Cambodia.

• 1970 – China launches its first space satellite, Dong Fang Hong I using a Long March I rocket. The satellite’s weight exceeds that of the first four satellites launched by Russia, the United States, France and Japan combined.

• 1969 – First flight of the Anderson Kingfisher

• 1967 – Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies during reentry of Soyuz 1 – parachute lines tangled during re-entry. Crashed to ground. First person to die while on a space mission.

• 1957 – Wes Lemmatta establishes Columbia Helicopters in Portland, Oregon. Columbia Helicopters is now the largest heavy-lift helicopter company in the world operating Boeing Vertol 107-II and Boeing 234 Chinook tandem rotor helicopters.

• 1956 – Ninth of 13 North American X-10s, GM-52-2, c/n 9, on Navaho X-10 flight number 21, out of Cape Canaveral, Florida, ground control system failure results in missile crashing at sea at Mach 1.25 200 km from the Cape.

• 1953 – USAF Strategic Air Command experimental project MX-1018, Project Tip-Tow, an attempt to extend fighter escort for bombers on long-range missions by coupling a pair of Republic F-84s onto bomber wingtips, suffers setback when EF-84D, 48-641, loses control, rolls upside down, hits wing of Boeing ETB-29A-60-BN Superfortress, 44-62093, sending both aircraft down to crash in Peconic Bay, New York, killing all aboard both aircraft. The program is immediately canceled.

• 1946 – Winged Cargo Inc. opens an unusual freight service in which goods are carried in a Waco CG-4 A glider towed by a DC-3.

• 1946 – First flight of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9, the Soviet Union’s first jet

• 1946 – First flight of the Yakovlev Yak-15 (three hours after the I-300)

• 1944 – The first B-29 Superfortress arrives in China, beginning the build-up by the U. S. Army Air Forces’ Twentieth Air Force for a strategic bombing offensive against Japan.

• 1942 – First flight of the Miles Martinet prototype LR241

• 1940 – 24-28 – aircraft carrier HMS Glorious evacuates the Gloster Gladiators of No. 263 Squadron RAF from Norway

• 1933 – First flight of the Grumman JF Duck

• 1929 – 24-26 – Sqn Ldr A. G. Jones-Wiliams and Flt Lt N. H. Jenkins make the first non-stop flight from England to India using a Fairey Long-Range Monoplane

• 1924 – French Captain Georges Pelletier d’Oisy and Adjutant Lucien Besin depart Paris eastbound in a Breguet 19.A.2, beginning an attempt to fly around the world. They will be forced to end their attempt in May in Shanghai.

• 1917 – Lt. Col. William “Billy” Mitchell becomes the first U. S. Army officer to fly over German lines.

• 1913 – O. Gilbert flies 825 km from Villacoublay to Vitoria (8 hours and 23 min).

• 1912 – Billy Stark returned to British Columbia with his pilot’s license and a new Curtis “Flyer. ” Stark took Daily Province sports editor Jim Hewitt up for a flight. Hewitt, who was British Columbia’s first air passenger, related his impression of the flight to his readers. Later that same day, Olive Stark became the first woman airplane passenger in Canada. She sat beside her husband on the lower wing of his Curtis, bundled up against the cold, looking both proud and apprehensive.

• 1911 – Lts. M. Longmore and C. R. Samson are the first British Royal Navy officers to qualify as pilots, after just two months training.

• 1909 – Wilbur Wright makes five flights in Centocelle, Italy with King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy present. During one flight, a Universal News Agency cameraman accompanies him and takes the first motion pictures from an airplane in flight.

References

April 25

• 2013 – The Israeli Air Force scrambles an F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter to intercept an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as it approaches Israel from the coast of Lebanon. The F-16 shoots down the UAV, which Israel suspects belonged to Hezbollah, over the Mediterranean Sea at an altitude of 6,000 feet (1,829 meters) six miles (9.7 km) from Haifa, Israel. ^[1]

• 2011 – Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi approves the use of Italian aircraft in ground-attack missions in Libya as part of NATO's Operation Unified Protector. ^[2]

• 2010 – A Royal New Zealand Air Force Bell UH-1H Iroquois crashed in heavy fog about 40 km north east of Wellington. Three persons were killed and a fourth seriously injured.

• 2009 – Lockheed P-2 V Neptune N442NA of Neptune Aviation Services crashes into a hill at Stockton, Utah, while on a ferry flight. The aircraft is destroyed and all three crew were killed.

• 1996 – First flight of the Yakovlev Yak-130

• 1992 – Second prototype Lockheed YF-22A, N22YX, suffers severe damage during start of a go-around when it belly-flops at Edwards AFB, California, following eight seconds of pilot-induced oscillation at an altitude of 40 feet when test pilot Tom Morgenfeld ignored a test-card requiring the 2-D convergent-divergent thrust nozzles to be locked in position during this stage of the PIO tests. Control surface actuators hit rate limiters causing commands to get out of synchronization with their execution, and the test fighter hit the ground, skidded several thousand feet, inducing fire that destroyed 25 percent of the airframe. Crash footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdfIiZnVhTI Aircraft never flew again, being rebuilt as a shell and subsequently used to test antennae at the Rome Air Development Center, Griffiss AFB, New York.

• 1990 – McDonnell-Douglas F-15 Eagle s/n 81-0049 flown by the 32nd TFS based at Soesterberg AB, Netherlands suffered an engine fire while flying in a three ship formation during Exercise Elder Forest and subsequently lost all hydraulic power. Pilot major George D. Hulsey ejected safely and was picked up by an oil-rig supply vessel. Aircraft crashed into the North Sea, 9 miles off Spurn Point Humberside, United Kingdom.

• 1986 – First flight of the Air Tractor AT-501

• 1983 – NASA exploration spacecraft Pioneer 10 flies past the orbit of Pluto.

• 1980 – Dan-Air Flight 1008, a Boeing 727, crashes into a mountain near Tenerife, Spain; all 138 passengers and eight crew die.

• 1972 – Hans-Werner Grosse sets a new sailplane distance record of 1,460 km (908 miles) in a Schleicher ASW 12

• 1968 – Apollo 6's SIV-B staqe re-enters the Earth's atmosphere and the Apollo 6 command module is recovered.

• 1967 – A USAF Lockheed EC-121H-LO Warning Star, 53-549, of the 551st AEWCW, out of Otis AFB, Massachusetts, ditches in the North Atlantic ~one mile off of Nantucket, Massachusetts, just after having taken off from that base. One survivor, 15 crew KWF. Five bodies were not recovered. Col. James P. Lyle, the Commander of the 551st AEW&C Wing to which all the aircraft and crew members were assigned, was the pilot. Colonel Lyle had been assigned to take over that command nine months earlier. It was he who presented each of the next of kin of 11 November 1966 crash victims with the United States Flag during that memorial service.

• 1962 – The United States Department of Defense announces its choice of the Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter for its Military Assistance Program.

• 1957 – Northrop SM-64 Navaho, 53-8272, falls back onto launchpad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, a few seconds after liftoff and explodes.

• 1956 – First flight of the Bensen B-8 Gyro-Boat with a basic free-turning rotor system, known as the Roto-sail

• 1955 – First flight of the FFA P-16

• 1952 – John Jay Hopkins founds General Dynamics Corporation.

• 1951 – Cubana de Aviación Flight 493: Douglas DC-4, registration CU-T188, (ex-C-54A-15-DC, 42-72263) c/n 10368, en route from Miami, Florida, United States, to Havana, Cuba, has a mid-air collision with US Navy Beechcraft SNB-1 Kansan, BuNo 39939, which was on an instrument training flight in the vicinity of Naval Air Station Key West at the same time. All 43 aboard the airliner and four on the SNB were killed. Flight 493 departed Miami at 1109 hrs. and was cleared to climb to 4,000 feet (1,200 m) on a direct heading to Key West. Approximately ten minutes later, the SNB-1 took off from NAS Key West for simulated instrument training. Although the flight was not cleared to a specific altitude or heading, standard instrument training procedures were in place. At 1149 hrs. Flight 493, heading south, and the SNB-1, heading west, collided over NAS Key West at an estimated altitude of 4,000 feet (1,200 m).

• 1948 – A North American YP-86 becomes the first jet-powered aircraft to exceed Mach 1.

• 1945 – 275 B-17 s escorted by four groups of P-51 Mustangs attack the Pilzen-Škoda armament factory in Czechoslovakia. It is the last heavy bomber mission by the United States Army Air Forces’ 8th Air Force against an industrial target.

• 1945 – The incomplete German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin is scuttled at Stettin to prevent her capture by the Soviet Union.

• 1945 – The last bombing attack was carried out by No. 6 (RCAF) Group with 192 aircraft dropping over 902 tons of bombs on Wangerooge Island.

• 1940 – McGee Airways pioneers the transportation of fresh meat and milk to the Alaskan interior.

• 1940 – Swordfish and Skuas from the British aircraft carriers HMS Ark Royal and HMS Glorious raid targets in the Trondheim area in Norway.

• 1940 – Oberfeldwebel Hermann Förster is the first German night fighter pilot to shoot down a British bomber during World War II. Flying a Messerschmitt Bf 109D-1, he downs a Handley Page Hampden laying naval mines off the coast of Schleswig-Holstein.

• 1939 – First flight of the Arsenal VG-33

• 1928 – Charles A. Lindbergh landed on the Plains of Abraham, Quebec City, in a Curtiss Falcon carrying pneumonia serum for Floyd Bennett.

• 1922 – Known as the Stout ST-1, the first all-metal airplane designed for the U. S. Navy makes its first flight piloted by Eddie Stinson.

• 1918 – Belgium's top-scoring ace, Willy Coppens, claims his first victory.

• 1914 – The first combat flight by a U. S. Navy aircraft takes place. It is a flight to observe Mexican positions during the Veracruz Incident.

• 1868 – John Bevins Moisant, designer, builder and pilot of the first aluminum airplane, is born in Kanakee, Illinois.

References

April 26

• 2012 – A Kamov Ka-26 helicopter crashes in Tulcea County, Romania, killing all five Ukrainians on board. ^[1]

• 2009 – Douglas DC-3 C N136FS of Four Star Air Cargo is destroyed by fire at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, Puerto Rico.

• 2009 – The third flying prototype of the Sukhoi Su-35, 04 (?), is destroyed during a high-speed taxi test just before its first flight at Komsomolsk-na-Amur/Dzemgi Airfield. Aircraft apparently ran off end of runway, hits obstacle, burns, destroying it. Test pilot Eugene Frolov ejects safely and is unhurt. This was actually the fourth prototype, but 03 is purely for ground testing.

• 2004 – OH-58D(I) Kiowa 91-0567 from P Troop, 4th Squadron, 2d ACR made emergency landing at Kut after engine problem and burned out. Both crewmembers safe.

• 2002 – First flight of the Extra EA-500

• 2001 – Pilot Sean Loutitt lands in Chile after a daring two-day flight to the South Pole in a Twin Otter to rescue an ailing U. S. scientist. It was the first rescue of its kind in the harsh Antarctic winter.

• 1995 – A Mikoyan MiG-29 sets a new FAI class C-1 h world altitude record of 90,092 ft.

• 1994 – China Airlines Flight 140, an Airbus A300, crashes while landing at Nagoya, Japan as a result of pilot error. 264 people of the 271 on board died.

• 1993 – Indian Airlines Flight 491, a Boeing 737, strikes a large vehicle on a road just outside Aurangabad airport and crashes subsequently, killing 55 of the 118 people on board.

• 1993 – Launch: Space Shuttle Columbia STS-55 at 10:50 am EDT. Mission highlights: Spacelab-D2, Germany funded mission.

• 1987 – The first full-scale prototype of Saab’s hi-tech JAS 39 Gripen fighter is unveiled in Sweden.

• 1984 – United States Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert M. Bond (1929–1984), Vice Commander of Air Force Systems Command, is killed in a high-speed ejection from a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 of the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron, out of Groom Lake, Nevada at 1018 hrs., which was initially reported to be an F-117A Stealth fighter. The MiG impacted on Little Skull Mountain on the remote Nellis AFB range in a high-speed 60-degree dive. Following this accident, officers of General rank were prohibited from test flying. The Air Force is also forced to admit that it is flying Soviet bloc aircraft.

• 1982 – A CAAC Trident 2E crashes into a mountain in Guilin, killing all 112 people on board. The Chinese media report that the plane, which had taken off in Guangzhou, crashed when the pilot attempted to fight off an armed hijacker.

• 1982 – SFC Clifford Wilson Strickland is picked up by an Lockheed MC-130 Combat Talon of the 7th Special Operations Squadron at CFB Lahr, Germany, during Flintlock 82 exercise, using the Fulton STARS recovery system, but falls to his death reportedly due to faulty equipment in 1400 hrs accident. This will be the last ever attempt to utilize the Skyhook system.

• 1978 – Possibly due to engine trouble, a United States Navy P-3 Orion patrol aircraft (BuNo 152724) of Patrol Squadron 23 (VP-23) crashes in the Atlantic Ocean near Naval Air Facility Lajes in Lajes in the Azores, killing the crew of seven.

• 1970 – Introduction: Lockheed L-1011 TriStar

• 1970 – First flight of the FMA IA 50 Guaraní II

• 1962 – First flight of the Lockheed A-12.

• 1954 – Northrop N-69 Snark, GM-11111, launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida, crashes 3,000 yards from launcher, just after the booster rockets separate, due to loss of electrical power.

• 1951 – First flight of the Lockheed X-7

• 1949 – Flying continuously in their Aeronca Chief light aircraft for 1,008 hours, and one minute (just over six weeks). Dick Reider and Bill Barris set a world endurance record for a flight-refueled aircraft in the U. S They received food and fuel handed up from a speeding vehicle four times a day.

• 1949 – First flight of the 2nd prototype McDonnell XF-88A Voodoo long-range, twin-engine jet fighter aircraft.

• 1945 – During a training exercise, a Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress 43-38859 collided in mid-air with another B-17G 44-8687. #859 crash-landed and was repaired. #687 was destroyed, with only 2 crew escaping and surviving the incident.

• 1945 – (Overnight) – 563 bombers of the Soviet Air Force’s 18th Air Army strike Berlin.

• 1943 – The British employ Ground Grocer, the first device capable of jamming the airborne Lichtenstein radar employed by German night fighters. Ground-based, Ground Grocer’s range is limited by the curvature of the earth, placing most German night fighter operations below its coverage.

• 1943 – 3rd prototype of Bell P-63 Kingcobra, the XP-63A, makes its first Flight.

• 1942 – First flight of the North American XB-28

• 1937 – Luftwaffe bombers of Legion Condor attack Guernica

• 1937 – Four Heinkel He.111 and 23 Junkers Ju 52 bombers of the German Condor Legion attack Guernica, Spain, in the first example of “carpet bombing” to demoralize a civilian population. Over three hours, the bombers drop 45,000 kg (99,207 lbs) of bombs, destroying 70% of the city and killing at least 1,000, and perhaps as many as a third (over 1,600 people) of its inhabitants. Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Heinkel He 51 fighters also strafe the town to kill any inhabitants they see. The town burns for three days. The damage shocks Spanish Nationalist military leaders, and the Condor Legion engages in no further area bombing during the Spanish Civil War.

• 1924 – Imperial Airways makes its first scheduled flight, from Croydon Aerodrome to Paris, using a de Havilland DH.34.

• 1917 – The Pacific Aero Products Company is renamed the Boeing Airplane Company.

• 1915 – 2nd Lt William Rhodes-Moorhouse is the first airman to receive the Victoria Cross (posthumous).

• 1896 – Ernst Udet, WWI pilot and film actor, Luftwaffe officer, was born (d. 1941). Udet was the second-highest scoring German flying ace of World War I. He was one of the youngest aces and was the highest scoring German ace to survive the war (at the age of 22). His 62 victories were second only to Manfred von Richthofen, his commander in the Flying Circus.

References

April 27

• 2013 – The Boeing 787 Dreamliner makes its first passenger-carrying flight since the worldwide grounding of Dreamliners in January 2013, when a packed Ethiopian Airlines 787 flies from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Nairobi, Kenya. Boeing vice president Randy Tinseth is among the passengers. ^[1]

• 2012 – A Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, accompanied by a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) T-38 Talon chase plane, carries the Space Shuttle Enterprise from Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, making low-level flybys of New York City-area and Long Island landmarks. Enterprise, replaced by the Space Shuttle Discovery at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia, is to be placed on display at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York. ^[2]

• 2012 – A team of scientists and engineers stages an experimental crash of the Boeing 727-200 XB-MNP in a desert near Mexicali, Mexico. The crash is filmed for a television documentary. It is only the second such experiment in history, the only previous one having been the 1984 Controlled Impact Demonstration.

• 2011 – First flight of the Boeing Phantom Ray

• 2011 – NATO airstrikes mistakenly kill 11 Libyan rebels and wound two in Misrata. ^[3]

• 2009 – Indonesian airline Linus Airways suspends operations as it has no aircraft to operate.

• 2009 – Magnicharters Flight 585, operated by Boeing 737-2 K9 XA-MAF is damaged beyond economic repair when it makes a belly landing at Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla International Airport, Mexico. There are four injuries during evacuation by the 116 people on board.

• 2008 – Eos Airlines files for bankruptcy and ceases all operations.

• 2007 – A Russian military Mil Mi-8 transport helicopter crashes near Shatoy, Chechnya in Russia. The incident occurred during the Battle of Shatoy and killed the crew and 17 spetsnaz (Russian special forces) soldiers on board.

• 2005 – First flight of the Airbus A380 from Toulouse, France.

• 2002 – Final successful telemetry is received from the Pioneer 10 space probe, floating nearly 7.5 billion miles from earth. After its launch in 1972, Pioneer 10 became the first probe to travel through the asteroid belt and the first to make direct observations of Jupiter.

• 1995 – While performing ACM near the Hawaiian Islands, the starboard engine of Grumman F-14A-115-GR Tomcat, BuNo 161273, 'NH 116', of VF-213 from the USS Abraham Lincoln, suffers catastrophic compressor stall, severing hydraulic and fuel lines. Pilot Lt. Cdr. John Stacy Bates and RIO Lt. M. Crawford successfully eject and are rescued by a helicopter of HS-6.

• 1993 – 1993 Zambia national football team air disaster: A Zambian Air Force de Havilland Canada DHC-5D Buffalo, AF-319, crashed shortly after take-off from Libreville, Gabon. One engine caught fire and failed; the tired pilot then shut down the wrong engine, causing a complete loss of power during the climb and leading to a crash 500 metres offshore. The plane was carrying the Zambia national football team to a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Senegal. All 30 on board, including 18 players, the coach, and team support staff, were killed.

• 1991 – First flight of the Eurocopter Tiger

• 1986 – First flight of the Partenavia Mosquito

• 1982 – CAAC Flight 3303, a Hawker Siddeley Trident 2E, crashes into a mountain near Yangsuo, China, while on approach to Guilin Qifeng Airport in heavy rain. All 112 people on board die. The Chinese media report that the plane, which had taken off in Guangzhou, crashed when the pilot attempted to fight off an armed hijacker. ^[4]

• 1980 – Thai Airways Flight 231, a Hawker Siddeley HS 748, crashes while on approach to Don Mueang International Airport in severe weather, killing 44 of 53 on board.

• 1977 – An Aviateca Convair 240 crashes near Guatemala City, Guatemala, due to a maintenance error, killing all 28 people on board.

• 1976 – American Airlines Flight 625, a Boeing 727, crashes on approach to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, killing 37 of 88 people on board.

• 1974 – Engine number four of an Aeroflot Ilyushin IL-18 (SSSR-75559) suffers an un-contained failure, bringing down the plane near Leningrad and killing all 118 people on board.

• 1972 – US Air Force F-4 Phantoms destroy the Thanh Hoa bridge with laser-guided bombs.

• 1969 – President of Bolivia René Barrientos dies in a helicopter crash in the canyon of the Arque River in Bolivia.

• 1967 – U. S. Navy aircraft strike Kep airfield in Cambodia and U. S. Air Force aircraft attack Hòa Lạc airfield in southern South Vietnam.

• 1965 – Ryan XV-5A Vertifan, 62-4505, noses over from 800 feet (244 m) and crashes at Edwards AFB, California, during a demonstration in front of several hundred reporters, military personnel, and civilians. Ryan test pilot Willis Louis "Lou" Everett, flying at 180 knots, prepares to transition from conventional flight to fan mode but the aircraft unexpectedly pitches down. Everett attempts low-altitude ejection but seat fails, his chute snags on the high tail, and he is killed.

• 1963 – (April 2-May 20 – U. S. Marine Corps transport helicopters are heavily involved in airlifting South Vietnamese troops during Operation Bach Phuong XI, a South Vietnamese offensive against Viet Cong forces near Do Xa, South Vietnam.

• 1963 – The U. S. Marine Corps loses its first aircraft to enemy action in Vietnam, a UH-34D transport helicopter shot down by Viet Cong ground fire near Do Xa, South Vietnam.

• 1955 – First flight of the Sud Aviation Caravelle

• 1952 – First flight of the Tupolev Tu-16.

• 1951 – Convair B-36D-25-CF Peacemaker, 49-2658, of the 436th Bomb Squadron, 7th Bomb Wing, Carswell AFB, Texas, collides with F-51D-25-NT Mustang, 44-84973, of the 185th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, Oklahoma Air National Guard, out of Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma City, during gunner training NE of Perkins, Oklahoma, 55 Miles NE of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Mustang pilot Lt. Fred Black killed, as well as 13 of 17 B-36 crew.

• 1947 – A United Airlines Douglas DC-6 becomes the first DC-6 to be placed in overseas service when it flies from San Francisco, California, to Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii.

• 1945 – (27-28) The fourth Japanese Kikusui attack on ships off Okinawa includes 115 kamikazes. They sink an ammunition ship and damage four destroyers and the hospital ship USS Comfort (AH-6).

• 1945 – First flight of the Pilatus P-2

• 1944 – The only Japanese air reaction to the U. S. Hollandia landings—a night raid by three planes—torpedoes and damages a cargo ship.

• 1943 – No. 405 (Bomber) Squadron, now transferred to No. 8 Pathfinder Group (RAF), carried out its first Pathfinder operation.

• 1941 – Evacuating British troops from Greece, the Dutch troopship Slamat is sunk by German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers. The British destroyers HMS Diamond and HMS Wryneck rescue 700 survivors before themselves being sunk by the Stukas. Only 50 men ultimately survive from the three ships.

• 1941 – HMS Argus flies off 23 RAF Hurricanes to Malta.

• 1932 – Imperial Airways commences a regular passenger service to Cape Town.

• 1929 – Squadron Leader A. G. Jones-Williams and Flight Lieutenant N. H. Jenkins complete the first non-stop flight from England to India; they fly the 4,130 miles in 50 hours, 37 min in a Fairey Long-Range Monoplane.

• 1918 – The United States Department of War creates a Division of Military Aeronautics responsible for the training of United States Army aviation personnel and units.

• 1913 – Robert G. Fowler makes first flight across the Isthmus of Panama. Technically this is the first flight from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

• 1905 – Sapper Moreton of the British Army's balloon section is lifted 2,600 ft (792 m) by a kite at Aldershot under the supervision of the kite's designer, Samuel Cody

• 1839 – John Wise (balloonist), an American, introduces the balloon ripping-panel, a glued section that the pilot can pull open for quick emptying of the balloon after landing. This prevents the balloon from being dragged along the ground.

References

April 28

• 2012 – Jubba Airways Flight 6 J-711, an An-24 blew both right main gear tires on landing, causing the aircraft to veer off the runway at Abdullahi Yusuf International Airport in Galkayo, Somalia. The wing separated from the body of the aircraft. No injuries were reported, although the aircraft was substantially damaged.

• 1991 – Launch: Space Shuttle Discovery STS-39 at 11:33:14 UTC. Mission highlights: First unclassified DoD mission; military science experiments.

• 1988 – Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a Boeing 737, suffers explosive decompression during flight but manages to land safely. Of 95 people on board, one flight attendant is blown out of the plane and killed, and several passengers are injured.

• 1986 – Pan Am returns to the Soviet Union, using a Boeing 747 from JFK International Airport in New York.

• 1983 – USAF LTV A-7D-11-CV Corsair II, 71-0361, of the 149th Tactical Fighter Squadron, of the Virginia Air National Guard, based at Richmond International Airport, crashed near Richmond, Virginia, shearing unoccupied house in half and setting second structure on fire. Pilot Capt. Robert Welch, 30, of Atlanta, Georgia, ejected just before impact, suffering a slight back injury.

• 1977 – An Aviateca Convair 240 crashes near Guatemala City, Guatemala, killing all 28 people on board.

• 1970 – A USAF McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II being ferried from Robins AFB, Georgia to Torrejon Air Base, Spain, was disabled by a severe thunderstorm, forcing the crew to eject at 36,000 feet 150 miles E of Charleston, South Carolina, suffering minor injuries from hail while descending. Pilot Capt. Daniel Heitz, 25, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and navigator Lt. MacArthur Weston, 28, of Jacksonville, North Carolina are spotted by rescue aircraft, and are recovered after two hours in the water by the oil tanker Texaco Illinois, diverted from 8 miles away.

• 1969 – LAN Chile Flight 160, a Boeing 727, crashes near Colina, Chile; all 60 on board survive.

• 1967 – Douglas Aircraft Company and McDonnell Aircraft Corporation are officially merged to form McDonnell Douglas.

• 1952 – Pan Am Flight 202, a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, crashes after a propeller failure in a remote area of Brazil on its way from Buenos Aires, Argentina to New York City via Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; all 50 on board are killed in the worst ever accident involving the Boeing 377.

• 1948 – The U.S. Navy launches two P2 V-3 C Neptune aircraft – A version of the P2 V configured for carrier launch carrying a nuclear weapon – From the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea (CVB-43) off the coast of Virginia. The first carrier launches of any type of P2 V, they establish the U.S. Navy’s first, interim carrier-based nuclear strike capability pending the acquisition of aircraft designed from the outset to be capable of carrying a nuclear weapon from a carrier.

• 1948 – The first non-stop Paris/New York flight is made by an Air France sleeper Constellation; the journey from Orly airport, near Paris, takes 16 hours, 1 min.

• 1948 – (28-29) Leonardo Bonzi and Maner Lualdi set a light plane distance record of 4,170 km (2,590 mi) flying from Campoformido (Italy) to Massawa (Eritrea) in an Ambrosini S.1001.

• 1947 – A Trans-Canada Air Lines Lockheed 18-08A Lodestar [CF-TDF] disappeared in southwestern British Columbia with 15 people onboard with no survivors. The crash site was discovered 47 years later, on Mt. Cheam near Chilliwack, BC.

• 1945 – Douglas A-26C Invader, 43-22644, assigned to the 611 Base Unit at Wright Field, Ohio,[34] crashes into the Choctawhatchee Bay, 3 Miles NE of Fort Walton, Florida after being struck by a test Speedee (Highball) bouncing bomb which tears off tail unit, bomber instantly nosing over into the water. It had taken off from Eglin Field, Florida, on a low level bombing exercise at AAF water range Number 60.

• 1944 – (28–29) U.S. Army Air Forces Fifth Air Force bombers conduct large strikes against Japanese forces at Biak, Wakde, Sarmi, and Sawar.

• 1944 – (April 28-May 6) Arctic Convoy RA 59 steams from the Kola Inlet in the Soviet Union to Loch Ewe, Scotland. Aircraft from the escorting British aircraft carriers HMS Activity and HMS Fencer sink three German submarines, attack eight more, and shoot down a German Bv 138 C flying boat during the voyage.

• 1940 – Aircraft from HMS Ark Royal raid the Trondheim area, causing considerable damage to the German-held airfield at Vaernes, Norway.

• 1939 – Vladimir Kokkinaki and Mikhail Godienko attempt a non-stop flight from the Soviet Union to New York but are forced down on Miscou Island in bad weather the next day.

• 1937 – The first commercial flight across the Pacific is made as a Pan-American Boeing 314 Clipper seaplane arrives in Hong Kong.

• 1932 – Louis T. Reichers flew from Montreal Quebec to Havana, Cuba; 1,786 miles in 9 hrs in Lockheed Altain “Golden Eagle”

• 1927 – The first airmail service north of the Arctic Circle begins between Fairbanks and Wiseman, Alaska.

• 1924 – Imperial Airways inaugurates its London/Paris service.

• 1911 – The first aeroplane flight in the Province of Alberta was made by Hugh Robinson of the Curtiss exhibition flying team of Edmonton, Alberta using a Curtiss pusher biplane.

• 1910 – Frenchman Louis Paulhan completes the Daily Mail’s London to Manchester challenge in less than 24 hours.

References

April 29

• 2018 - National Oil Corporation confirms, Libyan Air Force C-130 aircraft chartered by Akakus Oil crashed during take-off, 2km from the Sharara oil field, after delivering 18 tonnes of catering and maintenance supplies.

The crash occurred took at 12:25pm on Sunday, April 29, 2018.

• 2013 – National Airlines Flight 102, a Boeing 747 freighter carrying cargo, stalls and crashes shortly after takeoff from Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, due to load shifting, killing all seven crew members on board.

• 2013 – Virgin Galactic's commercial spacecraft SpaceShipTwo makes its first powered flight. Released by its jet-powered mothership White Knight Two after a 45-minute climb at an altitude of 48,000 feet (14,631 meters) over the Mojave Desert, SpaceShipTwo burns its engine for 16 seconds, climbing to 55,000 feet (16,764 meters) and reaching a speed of Mach 1.2 before gliding to a landing at Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, after 10 minutes of independent flight. Mark Stuckey is the pilot and Mike Alsbury the co-pilot for the flight. ^[1]

• 2009 – Bako Air Boeing 737-275 TL-ADM crashes near Massamba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing all seven crew. The aircraft is destroyed.

• 1991 – First flight of the Cessna CitationJet

• 1988 – The first flight of the Boeing 747-400 is made. This Advanced Superjet has a crew of two and can carry between 412 and 509 passengers over 8,000 miles.

• 1988 – Entered Service: Airbus A320 with British Airways

• 1985 – Launch: Space Shuttle Challenger STS-51-B at 16:38:00 UTC. Mission highlights: Spacelab mission.

• 1984 – TWA starts services to ten new cities in one day, the largest single day expansion in the carrier's history.

• 1982 – An Avro Vulcan bomber deploys to Ascension Island as part of the Falklands War build-up of British forces in the South Atlantic Ocean. ^[2]

• 1981 – First flight of the Myasishchev VM-T

• 1975 – A seven-pound baby girl was born on a 442 Squadron Buffalo medical evacuation flight.

• 1972 – An SA-7 Grail surface-to-air missile shoots down an aircraft for the first time in the Vietnam War.

• 1971 – First flight of the Piper PA-48 Enforcer

• 1968 – United Air Lines becomes the first carrier to put the Boeing 737-200, a larger capacity version of the standard 737, into service.

• 1968 – The Royal Netherlands Navy decommissions its last aircraft carrier, HNLMS Karel Doorman (R81). She will be sold to Argentina on October 15.

• 1966 – First flight of the Neiva Universal

• 1966 – First flight of the Dornier Do 28

• 1964 – British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) introduces the VC10 jet airliner into regular passenger service, on its route to Lagos, Nigeria.

• 1961 – The aircraft carrier USS Kittyhawk, the first of a new class of attack carrier equipped with Terrier ground-to-air guided missiles was commissioned.

• 1961 – First flight of the Potez 840

• 1954 – Convair becomes a division of General Dynamics.

• 1949 – First prototype (of two) of the McDonnell XF-85 Goblin parasite fighter, 45-523, makes its only flight, piloted by McDonnell test pilot Edwin F. Schoch. After launching from trapeze suspended below Boeing EB-29B Superfortress, 44-84111, named "Monstro", pilot is unable to hook up for retrieval and belly lands on dry lakebed at Muroc Air Force Base, California. After only six total flights by the Goblin, totalling ~2½ hours of flight time, the U.S. Air Force abandons the test program. Both prototypes are preserved in museum collections.

• 1945 – A North American AT-6D Texan trainer, 42-84963, of the 2002d Base Unit, piloted by West Point Cadet Robert B. Clark, crashes into Bramley Mountain 3 miles SE of the Town of Bovina, Delaware County, New York, (in the Catskill Mountains) due to weather. The Binghamton Press of 1 May 1945 reports that "the young flier was on a routine night cross-country training flight." He was flying to Stewart Field in Newburgh, New York and apparently was lost when he crashed.

• 1944 – (29–30) Task Force 58 aircraft attack Truk Atoll, shooting down 59 Japanese aircraft, destroying 34 on the ground, sinking over 20 small ships and craft in the harbor, and contributing to the sinking of a submarine, in exchange for the loss of 35 aircraft, 26 of them in combat. With only 12 serviceable aircraft left, Truk never again poses a threat to Allied forces.

• 1943

Republic P-43 Lancer, 41-6718, converted to P-43D. To RAAF as A56-7. Assigned to 1 PRU, it went missing in flight from Wagga, Australia, this date. Aircraft found crashed in thick forest on the side of Gordon Gully near Healesville in Victoria, NE of Melbourne, in June 1958. ^[3] The airframe was approved as a write-off on 30 April. The pilot was P/O A. W. Green (406393) of 1 PRU Rear Echelon based at Laverton. His body has not been found. ^[4]

• 1942 – A Curtiss P-40 of the 49th Fighter Group, piloted by Lt. Bob Hazard, taking off as second of two P-40s from Twenty-Seven Mile Field, SE of Darwin, Australia, loses directional control in prop-wash of lead fighter, strikes recently arrived Lockheed C-40 parked next to airstrip, killing General Harold H. George, Time-Life reporter Melville Jacoby, and base personnel 2nd Lt. Robert D. Jasper, who were standing next to the Lockheed. A number of others receive injuries, but P-40 pilot survives. Victorville Air Force Base, California, is renamed for the late general in June 1950.

• 1940 – During the second world war the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan was Canada’s largest contribution to the war effort. On this date, the first trainees started training in Canada, and within a year the BCATP had 77 training facilities operating across the country. At its peak the program had 97 schools, and was graduating 3000 flyers a month.

• 1939 – An attempted Great Circle Route long-distance flight by Red Air Force crew V. K. Kokkinaki, pilot, and Mikhail Gordienko, navigator/radio operator, from Tchelkovo Airport near Moscow to New York City, in Ilyushin TsKB-30 prototype twin-engined bomber, "Moskva", ends in crash-landing on Miscou Island off New Brunswick, Canada, after battling head winds and bad weather, as well as bitter cold, having achieved 4,970 miles in 22 hours, 56 minutes. Crew is uninjured in wheels-up landing, and receives hero's welcome in New York City.

• 1938 – In the largest air battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War to date, 18 Mitsubishi G3M (Allied reporting name “Nell”) bombers and approximately 30 Mitsubishi A5M (Allied reporting name “Claude”) fighters encounter 60 to 80 Soviet-built Nationalist Chinese fighters over Hankow. The Japanese claim the destruction of 51 Chinese fighters and admit losing two fighters and two bombers, while the Chinese admit the loss of 12 aircraft and claim to have shot down anywhere from 21 Japanese aircraft to as many as 45.

• 1933 – The Reichsluftfahrtministerium ("Reich Aviation Ministry") is formed by the Nazi government.

• 1932 – Fairchild Y1C-24, 32-289, ^[5] c/n 6709, of Headquarters Flight, one of four Pilgrim Model 100-Bs acquired by the USAAC and used as an air ambulance into the late 1930s, piloted by James R. Williams, is moderately damaged in a ground loop on landing at Langley Field, Virginia. Repaired, it will later be wrecked 5 miles SE of Front Royal, Virginia on 28 January 1937.

• 1930 – First flight of the Polikarpov I-5

• 1918 – Flying a Nieuport 28 fighter, the top-scoring American ace of World War I, Eddie Rickenbacker, scores his first victory, shooting down a German Pfalz D.III fighter near Baussant, France.

• 1905 – Daniel Maloney is launched by balloon in a tandem-wing glider designed by John Montgomery to an altitude of 4,000 feet before release and gliding and then landing at a predetermined location as part of a large public demonstration of aerial flight at Santa Clara, California.

• 1891 – Chuhachi Ninomiya flies the first model airplane in Japan, a rubber-band-powered monoplane with a four-bladed pusher propeller and three-wheeled landing gear. It makes flights of 3 and 10 m (10 and 33 feet). The next day it flies 36 m (118 feet).

References

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April 1

• 2011 – A Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II from Spangdahlem Air Base crashed near Laufeld, Germany. The pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Scott Hurrelbrink, ejected and was not seriously injured.

• 2011 – Southwest Airlines Flight 812, the Boeing 737-3HR N632SW with 123 people on board, suffers an in-flight structural failure which opens a six-foot (1.8-meter)-long hole in its fuselage and triggers an explosive decompression and the deployment of oxygen masks. Only two people suffer minor injuries, and the airliner makes a successful emergency descent and landing at Yuma International Airport in Yuma, Arizona. Southwest Airlines grounds all 80 of its 737-300s for inspection. ^[1]

• 2011 – In the Libyan Civil War, a coalition airstrike attacking a Libyan government ground convoy in eastern Libya causes a truck carrying ammunition to explode, destroying two nearby houses. Seven civilians die and 25 are wounded. ^[2]

• 2011 – A Libyan rebel convoy near Brega fires into the air with an anti-aircraft gun, perhaps in celebration. A U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft believing it was under attack by Libyan government forces then returns fire, killing at least 13 people. ^[3]

• 2011 – Introduction: Denel Rooivalk

• 2009 – A Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma (G-REDL) flying from the BP Miller Oil Platform located 168 nautical miles (270 km) north-east from Aberdeen, Scotland to the heliport at Aberdeen Airport crashes into the North Sea 11 nautical miles (20 km) east of Peterhead, Aberdeenshire. The Super Puma helicopter owned by Bond Offshore Helicopters made a brief mayday call at 12:54 pm BST and was then seen to crash 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) from a supply vessel resulting in the death of 2 crew and 14 passengers. ^[4] The cause of the accident was the catastrophic failure of the main rotor gearbox, which caused the main rotor to detach and severed the pylon and tail boom. ^[5]

• 2006 – AH-64D Apache from 4–4th Aviation Regiment shot down southwest of Baghdad, killing the two crewmen.

• 2006 – F-14A Tomcat 158620 'NF-104' of VF-154 crashes; the pilots survive. ^{[6] [7]}

• 2003 – AV-8B+(R) Harrier 165391 of HMM-263 crashes off USS Nassau; the pilot was rescued. ^{[6] [8]}

• 2003 – S-3A Viking 160584 of VS-38 crashes off USS Constellation; two pilots survive. ^{[6] [9] [10]}

• 2001 – Hainan Island incident- An American Lockheed EP-3E Aries II surveillance plane, BuNo 156511, coded 'PR-32', of VQ-1, collided with a Chinese Shenyang J-8IID fighter jet, reported as 81192, and was forced to make an emergency landing at Lingshui air base on Hainan Island, China. The U.S. crew was detained for 10 days; the Chinese fighter pilot, Wang Wei, was reported missing and presumed dead. The Chinese refused to let the Orion be flown out, so it was dismantled and transported on chartered Antonov An-124-100 of Polyot.

• 1993 – Queen Elizabeth II of England reviews 70 Royal Air Force aircraft on the ground in celebration of the air force's 75th anniversary. A mass flypast is cancelled due to poor weather.

• 1982 – Air France flies the Concorde over to Rio de Janeiro and Caracas, Venezuela for the last time.

• 1978 – The Canadian Snowbirds aerobatic team officially becomes the 431 Air Demonstration Squadron.

• 1976 – Lufthansa's first two Airbus A300Bs enter service. They will fly between Frankfurt and Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart and London.

• 1975 – Republic of Singapore Air Force is formed

• 1972 – BOAC and British European Airways are merged to create British Airways

• 1971 – Entered Service: Hawker Siddeley Trident 3 B with British European Airways

• 1965 – Entered Service: NAMC YS-11 with Japan Domestic Airlines

• 1965 – Tasman Empire Airways becomes Air New Zealand

• 1965 – Tripartite Evaluation Squadron Hawker Siddeley Kestrel FGA.1, XS696, catches fire on take-off at RAF West Raynham and crashes.

• 1964 – In an unusual accident, the Number Three deck elevator of the USS Randolph tears loose from the ship during night operations and plunges into the Atlantic off Cape Henry, Virginia, taking with it a Grumman S-2D Tracker, five crewman, and a tractor. Three crew are rescued by the USS Holder, but two are lost at sea.

• 1961 – Venezuelan airline VIASA commences operations

• 1956 – TWA Flight 400, a Martin 4-0-4, crashes on takeoff at Greater Pittsburgh International Airport, killing 22 of the 36 on board; 14 survive.

• 1955 – post- World War II bans on powered flight in West Germany are lifted

• 1954 – Last operational flight by an RAF Spitfire, a photo-reconnaissance sortie against bandits in Malaya

• 1954 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.

• 1953 – The CF-100 entered Squadron service.

• 1953 – British European Airways and Air France introduce " tourist class" fares

• 1951 – U. S. Navy carrier-based jets are used as fighter-bombers for the first time as F9F Panthers of Fighter Squadron 191 (VF-191) aboard USS Princeton (CV-37) attack a railroad bridge near Songjin, Korea, with 100- and 250-pound (45- and 113-kg) bombs.

• 1949 – Tip tank of Dow AFB-based Republic F-84B Thunderjet comes off during Lewiston, Maine parade flyover and hits Lewiston Public Works Garage.

• 1949 – Entered Service: Boeing Stratocruiser with Pan American World Airways

• 1948 – First flight of the Convair XF-92, America's first delta-winged airplane

• 1947 – First flight of the Blackburn Firecrest

• 1945 – The Nakajima Aircraft Company comes under the control of the Japanese government and is renamed the First Munitions Arsenal.

• 1945 – Ohkas score hits on the USS West Virginia and three of her escorts.

• 1944 – U. S. Navy Task Force 58 carrier aircraft strike Woleai. During the March 30-April 1 raids on the Palau Islands, Yap, and Woleai, Task Force 58 aircraft have sunk or badly damaged 36 Japanese ships totaling 130,000 tons, trapped 32 more in harbors with naval mining, and destroyed many Japanese aircraft in exchange for the loss of 25 U. S. planes.

• 1943 – The Imperial Japanese Navy begins the I Operation, a land-based air offensive over the Solomon Islands and New Guinea, with a fighter sweep by 58 Japanese Mitsubishi A6 M Zeroes from Rabaul down New Georgia Sound toward Guadalcanal. Over the Russell Islands, 41 U. S. F4 F Wildcats, F4U Corsairs, and P-38 Lightnings intercept them. The Japanese lose 18 Zeros in exchange for six American fighters.

• 1943 – (1-2 ) U. S. Army Fifth Air Force bombers attack a Japanese convoy bound for Kavieng, sinking a merchant ship and damaging the heavy cruiser Aoba and a destroyer. Aoba is never again capable of steaming at maximum speed.

• 1942 – At Malta's submarine base, German aircraft sink the British submarine HMS Pandora, damage the submarine HMS P36 beyond repair, and badly damage the submarine HMS Unbeaten.

• 1940 – First flight of the Grumman XF5F Skyrocket

• 1939 – First flight of the Mitsubishi A6M Zero (Allied reporting name “Zeke”).

• 1939 – During a promotional sales tour of Europe, the Seversky 2PA-202 is wrecked after a demonstration in England.

• 1938 – Nationalist leader Francisco Franco announces that the Spanish Civil War has ended in a complete Nationalist victory. During the 32½-month war, the Nationalists have used about 1,300 aircraft and the Republicans about 1,500; about 10,000 people have died in air attacks. Early Republican numerical air superiority had been challenged almost immediately by the technical superiority of Italian Fiat CR.32 fighters and Savoia-Marchetti SM.81, and German Junkers Ju 52 bomber-transports; Soviet Polikarpov I-15 and I-16 fighters had given the Republicans air superiority in the winter of 1936- 1937, but the Nationalists had achieved lasting air superiority after German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters and Heinkel He 111 bombers and Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bombers had arrived in 1937. Germany has sent about 600 aircraft to Spain, Italy about 660, the Soviet Union 1,000, and other countries (principally France) about 350. The German, Italian, and Soviet air forces have learned a great deal about the employment of modern aircraft in warfare through their involvement, and the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion in particular has used the conflict to test new aircraft and revolutionary new air warfare concepts.

• 1937 – No. 3 Repair Depot authorized to form at Vancouver.

• 1935 – First flight of the North American T-6 Texan

• 1935 – Swissair begins services between Zürich and London

• 1933 – The Indian Air Force is formed

• 1928 – The Imperial Japanese Navy forms its first seagoing aircraft carrier organization, the First Carrier Division.

• 1926 – Italian airline Società Italiana Servizi Aerei begins operations linking Trieste, Venice, Pavia, and Turin with CANT 10 flying boats.

• 1924 – Most of the aviation work that had been done in British Columbia up to 1924 was done in conjunction with the Air Board, then the Canadian Air Force and finally the Royal Canadian Air Force which came into being. The RCAF withdrew from patrol duties despite its success in this role. A few of the people who had been flying for the military until this time decided to strike out on their own. They wanted to form independent companies, and still make a living doing what they enjoyed most – Flying. Don McLaren was one such person and he formed a company called Pacific Airways, in February 1925

• 1924 – The Royal Canadian Air Force is formed.

• 1924 – Britain's Fleet Air Arm is established

• 1924 – Imperial Airways is formed, with the backing of the British government.

• 1923 – The Royal Air Force abandons the squadron as the basic organizational unit for those of its aircraft operating from Royal Navy ships, reorganizing them into six-plane flights.

• 1921 – French pilot Adrienne Bollard takes off from Mendoza, Argentina in a Cauldron biplane to become the first woman to fly over the Andes. She completes the historic Andean crossing to the Chilean capital, Santiago in 10 hours.

• 1918 – The Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service combine to form the Royal Air Force. The Women's Royal Air Force is formed at the same time.

• 1916 – US Coast Guard Third Lieutenant Elmer F. Stone begins flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Pensacola, Florida. He is the first US Coast Guard aviator.

• 1915 – French pilot Lt Roland Garros scores the first kill using a non- synchronised machine gun when he shoots down an Albatros observation plane from his Morane Saulnier Type L.

• 1916 – French ace Jean Navarre, with an observer Lt. Robert, score the first kill.

• 1911 – The first flying unit of the British Military, the Air Battalion Royal Engineers formed.

• 1911 – First flight of the Avro Type D

• 1904 – Captain Ferdinand Ferber makes a failed attempt to fly an Archdeacon glider at Berck sur Mer, Picardy.

References