Portal:Aviation/Today in aviation

2009 – Pel-Air Westwind ditching or Norfolk Island ditching was an aircraft accident near Norfolk Island. A Westwind II jet operated by Pel-Air was conducting an air ambulance flight for CareFlight International when it was forced to ditch after being unable to land in bad weather and not having sufficient fuel to divert to an alternate destination.

2009 – Iran Air Fokker 100 EP-CFO suffered an undercarriage malfunction on take-off from Isfahan International Airport. The aircraft was on a flight to Mehrabad Airport, Tehran when the undercarriage failed to retract. The aircraft landed at Isfahan but was substantially damaged when the left main gear collapsed.

2009 – Virgin America commences service between their San Francisco (SFO) hub and Fort Lauderdale (FLL), as well as LAX-FLL.

2002 – American Airlines and British Airways announce plans to code-share some transatlantic flights, but the partnership is heavily restricted by US regulators.

1997 – The FBI concludes its investigation of the TWA Flight 800 crash, declaring there is no evidence of foul play. The NTSB’s investigation would continue.

1985 – The first Space Shuttle, Enterprise, is flown to Washington Dulles International Airport atop a Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to the Smithsonian Institution for eventual museum display. Although lacking engines and a heat shield and never having flown in space, it has been used for shuttle portability, gliding, vibration, and launch pad tests and on publicity tours.

1983 – (Aeroflot Flight 6833, a Tupolev Tu-134, is hijacked by seven Georgians attempting to defect from the Soviet Union; the aircraft is stormed by Alpha Group who arrest four hijackers; three are executed while the fourth receives a jail sentence; of the 71 on board (including the hijackers), eight die; the aircraft is written off.

1975 – Boeing Wichita delivers its first modified B-52D to the Strategic Air Command.

1971 – Lockheed U-2A, 56-6952, Article 392, second airframe of the USAF supplementary production, delivered in January 1958, and assigned to the 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, Laughlin AFB, Texas. Converted to U-2C by November 1966. Assigned to training flights at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, in 1969. Destroyed this date at Davis-Monthan, in a fatal landing accident. Pilot was Capt. John Cunney, who lands heavily, wing low, attempts go-around but stalls and crashes onto the runway.

1966 – Captain William J. Knight flies the North American X-15 to a record speed of Mach 6.33 (4,250 mph, 6,840 km/h)

1952 – Off northeastern Korea, three U. S. Navy F9 F-5 Panther fighters from Fighter Squadron 781 (VF-781) aboard the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany (CVA-34) engage seven MiG-15 s almost certainly flown by Soviet pilots, shooting down two MiG-15 s without loss to themselves.

1949 – A Douglas C-74 Globemaster carries 103 passengers and crew over the North Atlantic, the largest number to have made the crossing in a single flight.

1943 – Battle of Berlin (air), 440 Royal Air Force planes bomb Berlin causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF lost nine aircraft and 53 air crew.

1943 – (18-19) Carrier aircraft from USS Essex (CV-9), USS Intrepid (CV-11), and USS Cabot (CVL-28) strike the island of Betio at Tarawa Atoll, inflicting considerable damage on Japanese forces there.

1943 – F/O DF McRae and crew, flying a Vickers Wellington of No. 179 (RAF) Squadron, sank the German submarine U-211.

1942 – In a typical wartime training accident, a Beechcraft AT-7 Navigator, 41-21079, c/n 1094, of the 341st School Squadron, crashes in the Mendel Glacier (one source says Darwin Glacier) in California’s Kings Canyon National Park. The four-member training flight left Mather Field in Sacramento, California, and was never heard from again. On 24 September 1947, a hiker discovered wreckage of the plane on a glacier in Kings Canyon. On 16 October 2005, a climber on the Mendel Glacier discovered a body believed to be one of the crew members. He was later identified as Leo M. Mustonen, 22, of Brainerd, Minnesota. The others were John M. Mortenson, 25, of Moscow, Idaho; William R. Gamber, 23, of Fayette, Ohio; and Ernest G. Munn of St. Clairsville, Ohio. A second body was found under receding snow in 2007 and was identified Ernest G. Munn.

1938 – The Battle of the Ebro ends with Spanish Nationalists retaking all territory captured by the Republicans. The Spanish Republican Air Force has lost between 150 and 170 aircraft since the battle began on July 25, and the Nationalists also have lost many planes.

1923 – The first aerial refueling-related fatality occurs during an air show at Kelly Field, Texas, when the fuel hose becomes entangled in the right wings of the refueler and the receiver aircraft. The Army Air Service pilot of the refueler, Lt. P. T. Wagner, is killed in the ensuing crash of DH-4B, 23-444.

1923 – Alan Shepard (Rear Admiral, USN, Ret.), American astronaut, was born (d. 1998). Shepard was the first American in space. He later commanded the Apollo 14 mission, and was the fifth person to walk on the moon.

1911 – First British seaplane to leave the water, and the first seaplane to take off from British waters, an Avro Type D, the first of six of the type, piloted by Royal Navy Commander Oliver Schwann, lifts off from Cavendish Dock, Barrow-in-Furness, England briefly, falls back into the water and is damaged. His lack of training betrayed him, and the first take-off was not followed by the first successful landing. The Avro will be repaired.

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