Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries

September 5

• 2012 – Wearing a white costume designed to induce endangered Siberian cranes to follow him, President of Russia Vladimir Putin pilots a motorized hang glider in three brief flights over Russia's Yamal Peninsula in the Arctic, apparently the first time a Russian head of state has piloted an aircraft. Cranes follow him on two of the flights. His flights are part of the "Flight of Hope" project to increase the population of Siberian cranes by using ultralight aircraft to lead the birds on flights that teach them to migrate.^[1][2]

• 2006 – First Fight: Boeing 737-900ER.

• 2005 – An Antonov An-12BP cargo aircraft (reg 4L-SAS) owned by Transaviaservice of Georgia, operated for Galaxy Kavatsi of DRC, and flying with an expired Georgian license overshoots and burns at Goma DRC while stopping en route to Bukavu. Five crew (two Ukrainians, two Georgians, one Congolese) and three minor passengers (Congolese girls) were killed.

• 2005 – Sukhoi Su-33 landing on the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov at 1627 hrs. gets the trap, but arresting wire breaks and the fighter goes off the deck into the North Atlantic, pilot Sub Colonel Yuri Korneev ejecting immediately. Jet sinks in ~1,000 metres of water, pilot deploys raft from his survival pack and is rescued by a Kamov Ka-27P rescue helicopter and brought on board in a "normal condition." According to a source in Naval Headquarters, "it is possible that the pilot also made a mistake during the incident. The jet pilot, according to instructions, should have revved the engine after the cable broke and performed an emergency takeoff. However, the fault of the pilot can be determined only after analysis from the Su-33’s black box," reported Kommersant. Capt. Of First Rank Igor Dygalo, head of the press center of the Main Staff of the Navy, said that the black box released as it was designed and surfaced after the plane sank. This was the first loss of the type during a "sea flight."

• 2005 – Mandala Airlines Flight 091, a Boeing 737-200, crashes in Medan, Indonesia, killing 103 of the 111 passengers and all 5 crew members on the plane and an additional 47 people on the ground.

• 1994 – The first production version of the advanced McDonnell Douglas Explorer twin-turbine, eight-place helicopter makes its maiden flight at Mesa, Ariz.

• 1986 – Pan Am Flight 73, a Boeing 747, is hijacked on the ground at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan, by Palestinian militants. About twenty passengers and crew out of 379 on board die during a shootout inside the plane.

• 1984 – Landed: Space Shuttle Discovery STS-41-D at 13:37:54 UTC Edwards AFB. Mission highlights: Multiple comsat deployments; first flight of Discovery, test of OAST-1 Solar Array.

• 1983 – Landed: Space shuttle Challenger STS-8 at 07:40:43 UTC. Mission highlights: Comsat deployment, first flight of an African American in space, Guion Bluford; test of robot arm on heavy payloads with Payload Flight Test Article, First night landing.

• 1982 – Douglas Bader, RAF fighter pilot in World War II, died. Bader was a successful fighter pilot, claiming 22 German planes shot down in WWII. He claimed the fifth highest total in the RAF, despite having lost both legs in a pre-war flying accident. He was shot down 1941 and spent the rest of the war in a German prison camp. He made so many escape attempts that the Germans threatened to take his prosthetic legs away from him.

• 1960 – A United States Navy McDonnell F4 H-1 Phantom II sets a world speed record over a 500-km (310.5-mi) closed-circuit course, averaging 1,216.78 mph (1,958.16 km/hr). September 10, 1960 – NORAD carries out Operation Sky Shield, testing US and Canadian radar systems took place on 10 Sep 1960.^[3]

• 1959 – Black Brant (rocket) 1 rocket, a Canadian designed sounding rocket, was first launched.

• 1957 – Royal Canadian Air Force Avro Canada CF-100 Mk.4B, 18455, pulled up, flamed out, went into inverted spin and at the Canadian International Air Show, Toronto, Ontario. F/O's H. R. Norris and R. C. Dougall were killed.

• 1954 – KLM Flight 633, a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation, ditches after takeoff from Shannon Airport in Ireland, killing 28 of 56 on board.

• 1950 – To divert enemy attention from the upcoming Inchon landing, U. S. Air Force bombers begin strikes on bridges and roads around Kunsan, Korea. To contribute to the deception over the next few days, carrier aircraft from USS Badoeng Strait (CVE-116) and HMS Triumph (R16) strike roads and bridges to the north of Kunsan, and aircraft from USS Valley Forge (CV-45) and USS Philippine Sea (CV-47) attack targets between Seoul and Pyongyang.

• 1948 – A US Navy Martin JRM Mars sets a new cargo record of 62,262 lb (28,242 kg)

• 1944 – First flight of the Douglas C-74 Globemaster^[4]

• 1943 – 1,700 men of the United States Army’s 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment parachute onto the Japanese airfield at Nadzab, New Guinea, capturing it easily. An airlift of several thousand more Allied troops to the airfield occurs over the next few days.

• 1941 – (5-12) Nine U. S. Army Air Forces B-17D Flying Fortress bombers fly from Hickam Field in Hawaii to Clark Field in the Philippine Islands via Midway Atoll, Wake Island, Port Moresby in New Guinea, and Darwin, Australia.

• 1939 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the United States Navy to organize a Neutrality Patrol to report and track any belligerent air, surface, or underwater naval forces approaching the United States East Coast or the West Indies.

• 1923 – US Army bombers carry out anti-shipping exercises, sinking the obsolete battleships USS Virginia and USS New Jersey.

• 1918 – First flight of the Orenco C

• 1918 – Establishment of Royal Canadian Naval Air Service; authorized to operate two stations in Nova Scotia.

• 1914 – During the Siege of Tsingtao, the Imperial Japanese Navy carries out its first air combat mission. A three-seat Farman seaplane from the Wakamiya bombs German fortifications at Tsingtao, China, and conducts a reconnaissance of Kiaochow Bay.

• 1908 – Goupy No.1, is the world’s first triplane. The French Goupy, was built by Ambroise Goupy, it has three sets of wings; each stacked above the others and is powered by 50-hp Renault engine.

• 1862 – After a dramatic take-off, aeronaut Coxwell and English physicist Glaisher reach 9,000 m.