August Aviation bites

[Angry Turnip]

Well folks,a new month,and the rain is back.Hopefully the good weather will return :-)


1st Aug 1907....The Aeronautical Division of the US Army Signal Corps is created.Their goal is, “to study the flying machine and the possibility of adapting it to military purposes.”

1st Aug 1911....The Aero Club of America grants Harriet Quimby the first U. S. pilot’s license issued to a woman.

1st Aug 1915....Lt Max Immelmann shoots down his first aircraft,beginning his career as an ace and the period that will become known as the "Fokker scourge".Careful now!

1st Aug 1921....First flight of the Curtiss CR,a racing aircraft designed for the United States Navy.It was a conventional single-seater biplane with a monocoque fuselage.

1st Aug 1929....Dr. Hugo Eckener commands the first airship flight to circumnavigate the globe when the flight leaves Friedrichshafen,Germany in the Graf Zeppelin.

1st Aug 1941....The Soviet Union makes the first operational use of parasite fighters,attacking Constanța,Romania with modified Polikarpov I-16s carried into action by Tupolev TB-3s.

1st Aug 1943....Soviet fighter ace Lydia Litvak is shot down and killed.She had 12 victories at the time of her death.She mainly flew the YAK-1,she was known as the "White Rose of Stalingrad".

1st Aug 1943....The first Canadian-built four-engined aircraft built under license,the Avro 683 Lancaster X,was flown at Malton,Onatrio.A total of 430 of this type were built by Victory Aircraft.

1st Aug 1946....British European Airways (BEA) is established under the Civil Aviation Act of 1946,which makes the entire British air transport industry nationalized.

1st Aug 1946....Scandinavian Air System (SAS) is founded.It was a consortium to pool the operations of Svensk Interkontinental Lufttrafik,Det Norske Luftfartselskap,and Det Danske Luftfartselskab.

1st Aug 1949....First flight of the Northrop YC-125 Raider,a three-engined STOL utility transport.It was powered by three 1,200 hp Wright R-1820-99 Cyclone radial engines.23 were built.

1st Aug 1951....Japan Airlines is founded,operations commenced Oct 1951.Over three decades of service and expansion,the airline was fully privatised in 1987.In 2002,it merged with Japan Air System.

1st Aug 1955....First flight of the Lockheed U-2,nicknamed "Dragon Lady",is an American single-jet engine,ultra-high altitude reconnaissance aircraft.Latest model,the U-2S,received its technical upgrade in 2012

1st Aug 1966....First flight of the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30,a twin-engine,single-aisle jet airliner.The first delivery was to Eastern Airlines on February 27,1967.

1st Aug 1966....The U. S. Army’s first Cavalry Division (Airmobile) conducts Operation Paul Revere II,a helicopter and ground assault against enemy forces in the Pleiku area of South Vietnam.

1st Aug 1973....First flight of the Martin Marietta X-24,a US experimental aircraft built to test lifting body concepts,of unpowered reentry and landing,later used by the Space Shuttle.

1st Aug 1977....Francis Gary Powers,US U-2 pilot,dies at 47.His KNBC Bell 206 JetRanger helicopter ran out of fuel and crashed,killing him and his cameraman George Spears,they had been advising on bush fires.

1st Aug 1983....America West Airlines started operations.A low cost carrier,their main hub was at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix,they started using three leased Boeing 737`s.

1st Aug 1997....Boeing and McDonnell Douglas complete a merger,forming The Boeing Company.

1st Aug 2002....First flight of the Scaled Composites Model 318 White Knight,a jet-powered carrier aircraft used to launch the Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne experimental spacecraft.

1st Aug 2013....The Airbus A400M Atlas entered service with the French Airforce.It is a European,four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft,a tactical airlifter with strategic capabilities.

[Angry Turnip]

2nd Aug 1909....The US Army accepts its first airplane (a Wright Military Flyer) and pays the Wrights $25,000, plus a $5,000 bonus, because the machine exceeded the speed requirement of 40 mph.

2nd Aug 1917....Squadron Commander Edwin Dunning of the British RNAS becomes the first pilot to land an airplane on the deck of a moving ship,when he lands a Sopwith Pup on HMS Furious.

2nd Aug 1923....First flight of the Wright F2W,an American racing biplane,two were ordered by the US Navy to enter in the 1923 Pulitzer Trophy.They were powered by the Wright T-3 Tornado engine.

2nd Aug 1943....Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress,41-2463,"Yankee Doodle",crashes on takeoff due mechanical failure at Espiritu Santo,New Hebrides.Pilot was Gene Roddenberry,future creator of Star Trek.

2nd Aug 1945....A U. S.Navy PV-1 Ventura patrol plane discovers survivors of the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35),the first indication that Indianapolis is even missing.

2nd Aug 1960....First flight of the Bennett PL-11 Airtruck,an oddly configured agricultural aircraft in the New Zealand aerial topdressing market.Just two were completed.

2nd Aug 1966....First flight of the Sukhoi Su-17,a Soviet variable-sweep wing fighter-bomber.Outer wing segments could be swept to 28°, 45°, or 62°,whilst a fixed inner wing simplified construction.

2nd Aug 1990....Iraq invades and occupies Kuwait.United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Independence (CV-62) is in the northern Arabian Sea;additional aircraft carriers deploy to striking range of Iraq.

2nd Aug 1991....Launch:Space Shuttle Columbia STS-43 at 11:01:59 am EDT.Mission highlights: TDRS deployment.The mission was also notable for being the first one to send an e-mail from space.

2nd Aug 2010....Todd Reichert of the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies pilots a human-powered ornithopter,Snowbird,in Ontario,sustaining 19.3 seconds of flight.

[Angry Turnip]

3rd Aug 1861....John La Mountain becomes the first balloonist to use boats for aerial operations in a military conflict.He ascends to 2000ft to conduct aerial recon of Confederate forces during America’s Civil War.

3rd Aug 1914....The Imperial German Navy leases the cargo-passenger ship Answald for conversion into Germany’s first seaplane carrier,SMS Answald,designated Flugzeugmutterschiff I.

3rd Aug 1914....France and Belgium enter World War I when Germany invades Belgium,and declares war on France.

3rd Aug 1945....First flight of the Kyūshū J7W1 Shinden,a Japanese propeller-driven fighter prototype with wings at the rear of the fuselage,a nose mounted canard,and pusher engine.Just 2 were built.

3rd Aug 1947....At Tushino air parade in Moscow USSR,presents the newest Soviet jets including among others: Yak-19, La-150, La-156, La-160, Su-9, Su-11.

3rd Aug 1950....USMC air operations over Korea commence,with VMF-214 flying strike missions from USS Sicily.Flying eight F4U-4B Corsairs they became the first Marine squadron to see action in Korea.

3rd Aug 1954....First flight of the Rolls-Royce Thrust Measuring Rig,a pioneering VTOL aircraft.It was nicknamed the Flying Bedstead and was powered by a pair of Nene turbojet engines.

3rd Aug 1961....A Royal Canadian Air Force Lancaster aircraft photographed the largest non-nuclear explosion ever conducted at the time,at Suffield Experimental Station in Alberta.

3rd Aug 1981....In the USA,Air traffic controllers affiliated with the PATCO walk off the job.President Ronald Reagan ultimately responds on August 5th,by firing those who ignore his order to return to work.

3rd Aug 2000....First flight of the Boeing B737-900,the longest variant to date.Alaska Airlines was the launch customer ordering 10 aircraft.

3rd Aug 2007....First flight of the Northrop Grumman E-2D Hawkeye,an all-weather,carrier-capable tactical airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft.The E-2 has been commonly referred to as the Hummer.

[Angry Turnip]

4th Aug 1901....Octave Chanute arrives at the Wright brothers’ camp at Kill Devil Hill and photographs their flight tests with the 1901 glider.He wrote the book Progress in Flying Machines in 1894.

4th Aug 1908....Count von Zeppelin takes the LZ4 on a 24-hour flight from Lake Constance,down the Rhine to Basel,then Strasbourg and Mainz and back to Stuttgart,a total non-stop distance of 435 miles.

4th Aug 1924....The attempt of the RAF team of MacLaren,Plenderleith,and Andrews to circumnavigate the world eastbound ends when they are forced down in the Bering Sea by fog and their Vickers Vulture                               amphibian is irreparably damaged.

4th Aug 1929....The first International Tourist Aircraft Contest Challenge 1929 in Paris,with 5,942 km race over Europe,won by the German crew of Fritz Morzik on the BFW M.23 plane.

4th Aug 1954....First flight of the English Electric Lightning P.1A,a supersonic fighter.It was the only all-British Mach 2 fighter,powered by two Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet engines.

4th Aug 1971....First flight of the Agusta A109,later AgustaWestland.A lightweight,twin-engine,8-seat multi-purpose helicopter.Entered service in 1976 and has since been used in various roles.

4th Aug 2007....NASA’s Phoenix spacecraft launches from Cape Canaveral,en route to a landing on Mars which would take place on May 25th,2008.Sheldon Cooper didn`t make the grade on this one.

[Angry Turnip]

5th Aug 1917....Under command of Maj. Ralph Royce,The first Aero Squadron of the Signal Corps leaves the United States for Europe.

5th Aug 1930....Neil Armstrong,Ohio, X-15 pilot,1st man to set foot on the surface of the moon with the Apollo 11 mission,was born.

5th Aug 1945....First production Martin JRM-1 Mars flying boat,BuNo 76819 named "Hawaii Mars",crashes on test flight in the Chesapeake Bay after porpoising during landing.

5th Aug 1951....First flight of the Hindustan HAL HT-2,an Indian two-seat primary trainer,it is the first company design to enter production in 1953 for the IAF and Navy,it replaced the de Havilland Tiger Moth.

5th Aug 1964....US Navy aircraft attack North Vietnamese naval bases, spearheading direct US involvement in the Vietnam War.All U.S. forces were completely withdrawn in 15 August 1973.

5th Aug 1969....Space probe Mariner 7 makes its closest approach to Mars, beaming back photos and data from around 10,000 miles above the Martian surface.

5th Aug 1971....The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 enters service with launch customer American Airlines.A tri-jet wide-body jet airliner.It was noted for a poor safety record in early operations.

5th Aug 1973....First flight of the Trident TR-1 Trigull,a Canadian amphibious flying boat.The company encountered financial difficulties and only three prototypes were ever built.

5th Aug 1981....Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.

5th Aug 1989....Piedmont Airlines is intergrated into US Air.Piedmont was a major airline in the United States which operated from 1948 until it was acquired.Piedmont had 22,000 employees.

5th Aug 2009....SATA International Flight 466,an Airbus A320-214,registration CS-TKO,makes a very heavy landing at Lisbon Portela Airport,Portugal,with a force of 4.6G being recorded.OUCH!

[Angry Turnip]

6th Aug 1910....International aviation meeting opens at Lanark,Scotland,drawing a wide range of flyers and airplanes.In all,22 competitors participate.

6th Aug 1936....German Junkers Ju 52 transports begin a schedule of airlifting 500 Nationalist troops a day from Spanish Morocco to Spain.Nationalist leader Francisco Franco himself makes the flight on August 6.

6th Aug 1941....Viktor Talalikhin rams a Heinkel He 111 bomber over Moscow with his Polikarpov I-16 fighter,destroying both aircraft.He parachutes to safety.It is the first aerial night ramming in history.

6th Aug 1945....B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay drops "Little Boy" the first atomic weapon used in warfare,over the Japanese city of Hiroshima.Enola Gay also participated in the second atomic attack as the                                    weather reconnaissance aircraft.

6th Aug 1950....The Handley Page HP.81 Hermes,a civilian airliner,enters service with BOAC.Closely related to Handley Page's Hastings military transport,the Hermes was powered by four piston engines.

6th Aug 1952....First flight of the Boulton Paul P.120,a research aircraft produced to investigate delta-wing aerodynamics.The project was cancelled,the P.120 the last Boulton Paul design to fly.

6th Aug 1956....First flight of the Beechcraft Travel Air,a twin-engine development of the Beechcraft Bonanza.720were built in a 10 year production run.It was developed into the Beechcraft Baron.

6th Aug 1964....The first North Vietnamese Air Force jet fighter unit,Fighter Regiment No. 921,bringing 36 MiG-17 and MiG-19 fighters to Phúc Yên airfield near Hanoi.They had trained in China.

6th Aug 1969....The biggest helicopter ever built,the Soviet Mil V-12 secures an unbeaten world lifting record for rotary-winged aircraft by carrying 40,205.5 kg (88,636 lb.) to a height of 2,255 m (7,400 ft.).

6th Aug 1986....First flight of the British Aerospace ATP,an evolution of the Hawker Siddeley HS 748.BAe were late into the market,the segment was already well represented by designs such as the de Havilland                          Canada Dash 8, ATR 42 and ATR 72 and production was ended after only 64 examples.

6th Aug 1990....The US issues its first orders deploying military forces in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait,sending two squadrons of USAF F-15 Eagle fighters to the Persian Gulf region.

6th Aug 1996....First flight of the Kawasaki OH-1 "Ninja" is a military scout/observation helicopter.Primary operator is the (JGSDF),it is a domestically-produced successor to their OH-6D Loach fleet.

[Angry Turnip]

7th Aug 1913....Aviation pioneer Samuel Cody is killed test flying his latest design,the Cody Floatplane,when it broke up at 200 feet.He was the first man to fly an aeroplane in Britain.

7th Aug 1917....First flight of the Morane-Saulnier AI,a French parasol-wing fighter aircraft produced by Morane-Saulnier during World War I.It was powered by a Gnome Monosoupape 9N 160 CV rotary engine.

7th Aug 1918....First flight of the SPAD S.XX,a French fighter aircraft developed near the end of World War I.Almost 100 of these aircraft equipped the French Air Force in the years after WWI.

7th Aug 1919....Capt.Ernest C.Hoy becomes the first pilot to fly over the Canadian Rockies when he carries mail from Vancouver,British Columbia to Calgary,Alberta in a Curtiss JN-4 biplane.

7th Aug 1928....First flight of the Curtiss Robin,a high-wing monoplane.The cabin accommodated three persons;two passengers were seated side-by-side behind the pilot.

7th Aug 1941....13 Ilyushin DB-3 bombers of the Soviet Navy’s Baltic Fleet Air Force conduct a night raid on Berlin without loss.It is the first of ten SNA raids on Berlin August and September 1941.

7th Aug 1943....First flight of the Ilyushin Il-6,a Soviet long-range bomber developed from the Ilyushin Il-4.It was powered by two Charomskiy ACh-30 diesel engines.Only 4 were built.

7th Aug 1945....First flight of the Nakajima Kikka,Japan's first jet aircraft.Similar to the Me 262,the airframe was noticeably smaller and had straight wing and tail surfaces.10 were completed.

7th Aug 1951....First flight of the McDonnell F3H Demon,a subsonic swept-wing USN carrier-based jet fighter.It was redesigned with the J71 engine after severe problems with the Westinghouse J40.

7th Aug 1951....William Bridgeman sets a new airspeed record in the Douglas Skyrocket of Mach 1.88. 1,245 mph.It was a rocket and jet-powered supersonic research aircraft.

7th Aug 1963....First flight of the Lockheed YF-12,a prototype interceptor.It was a twin-seat version of the secret single-seat Lockheed A-12 recon aircraft,which led to the USAF`s Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird.

7th Aug 1964....The United States Congress passes the Tonkin Gulf Resolution,authorizing President Lyndon B. Johnson to use conventional military force in Southeast Asia.

7th Aug 1964....American aircraft begin photographic reconnaissance flights over North Vietnam.

7th Aug 1971....The Apollo 15 spacecraft splashes down,330 miles north of Hawaii,having been the fourth manned moon mission.It was the first mission on which the Lunar Roving Vehicle was used.

7th Aug 1980....Janice Brown pilots the MacCready Gossamer Penguin on its first public solar powered flight.She flew the Penguin approximately 40 times before a public demo at NASA's Dryden Center

7th Aug 1997....Launch:Space Shuttle Discovery STS-85 at 10:41 am EDT. Mission highlights: CRISTA-SPAS.

[Angry Turnip]

8th Aug 1901....Wilbur Wright achieves a flight of 389 feet (118.5 m) at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in the Wright 1901 glider.

8th Aug 1908....Wilbur Wright makes his first flights at the Hunaudières racetrack at Le Mans,France.His flights in this machine have a profound effect on European aviation during the following months.

8th Aug 1910....The first aircraft tricycle landing gear is installed on the US Army’s Wright airplane.

8th Aug 1924....The U.S.Navy dirigible USS Shenandoah (ZR-1) docks with the airship tender USS Patoka (AO-9) while the latter is underway,showing that airships could operate from support ships far out to sea.

8th Aug 1929....LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin makes the first flight around the world by an airship.Captained by Hugo Eckener,the airship makes its 21,500-mile circumnavigation in 21 days and 7 hours.

8th Aug 1934....James Ayling and Leonard Reid make the first non-stop flight from Canada to England,in a de Havilland DH.84, taking 30 hours 50 min for the flight.

8th Aug 1935....First flight of the Morane-Saulnier M.S.406,a French fighter aircraft.It was outperformed by the Messerschmitt Bf 109E during the Battle of France,1176 were built.

8th Aug 1946....First flight of the Convair B-36 "Peacemaker",a strategic bomber operated solely by the USAF from 1949 to 1959.It is the largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft ever built and had the                                  longest wingspan of any combat aircraft ever built.

8th Aug 1967....First flight of the Boeing 737-200,and it entered service at United in April 1968.

8th Aug 1986....First flight of the British Aerospace EAP,a British technology demonstrator which eventually formed the basis for the Eurofighter Typhoon.I saw it at the Farnborough Air Show,1986.

8th Aug 1989....Launch:Space Shuttle Columbia STS-28 at 8:37:00 am EDT. Mission highlights:Fourth classified DoD mission;Satellite Data System deployment.

8th Aug 2004....OH-58D(I) Kiowa 96-0015 made emergency landing north of Baghdad after being hit by RPG.Crew unhurt.

8th Aug 2007....Launch:Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-118 at 22:36:42 UTC.Mission highlights:ISS assembly flight 13A.1: S5 Truss & Spacehab-SM & ESP3.First use of SSPTS.

[Angry Turnip]

9th Aug 1894....Built by Frenchmen Charles Renard and Arthur Krebs,airship La France is powered by a 9 hp electric motor driving one large propeller.It makes a controlled circular flight traveling 5 miles.

9th Aug 1896....Otto Lilienthal crashes in his No.11 glider while flying from the Rhinower Hill range and dies the next day.He made approximately 2,500 flights in his various gliders.

9th Aug 1936....Six aircraft support a Republican seizure of Ibiza.No foam parties or glow sticks back in them days.:-)

9th Aug 1945....The second atomic bomb is dropped,the target is Nagasaki.Boeing B-29 Superfortress Bockscar drops a plutonium-239 nuclear weapon,Fat Man.Five B-29`s flew the raid as Special Mission 16.

9th Aug 1945....Task Force 38 conduct strikes against Japanese airfields in northern Honshu where they had been marshalling aircraft for a planned major suicide strike on B-29 bases in the Mariana Islands.

9th Aug 1949....The first Canadian passenger jet (2nd in the world after the British),the Avro Canada Jetliner,is flown at Malton.Despite its advanced design,it never saw production and was scrapped.

9th Aug 1949....USN pilot Lt.J.L.Fruin ejects from his McDonnell F2H-1 Banshee over Walterboro,South Carolina,becoming the first American Naval aviator to use an ejector seat.

9th Aug 1952....Lt Peter Carmichael of No. 802 Squadron FAA aboard HMS Ocean claims the Fleet Air Arm's first MiG-15 kill,from a Hawker Sea Fury.He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in 1953

9th Aug 1956....First flight of the Fiat G.91,an Italian jet fighter.It enjoyed a long service life that extended over 35 years,a total of 756 aircraft were completed when production ended in 1977.

9th Aug 1967....The world’s first radar-equipped antsubmarine helicopter enters service,a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Westland Wessex HAS.3 with No. 814 Squadron.

9th Aug 1976....First flight of the Boeing YC-14,a twinjet engine STOL tactical military transport.Aimed to replace the Lockheed C-130 Hercules as the USAF's standard STOL tactical transport.2 Built.

9th Aug 1976....USSR launches Luna 24, last Lunar flight to date from Earth.The probe landed in Mare Crisium and returned with 170.1 grams of lunar samples to the Earth on 22 August 1976.

9th Aug 1996....Sir Frank Whittle,inventor of the jet engine,dies at 89.He is credited with single-handedly inventing the turbojet engine.In 1948,he retired from the RAF and received a knighthood.

9th Aug 2006....A terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives carried on board at least 10 airliners travelling from the UK to the US and Canada.Airport security measures were massively upgraded.

9th Aug 2006....First flight of the BAE Systems Skylynx II,a UAV developed to support US Marine Corps Tier II regiment-level reconnaissance,surveillance and target acquisition missions.

9th Aug 2010....JetBlue attendant incident:A flight from Pittsburgh to New York City had landed,wWhen a flight attendant,announced over the plane’s public address system that he had been called an obscenity                           by a passenger,he quit his job,deployed the evacuation slide at the terminal gate,and slid down it.He further claimed to have been injured by a passenger when he instructed her to sit down.

[Angry Turnip]

10th Aug 1910....Claude Grahame-White attempts to fly the first airmail in the world to be carried on a powered airplane.He takes off from Squires Gate but his Blériot monoplane engine fails,forcing him to                                  land.

10th Aug 1912....Francis K. McClean becomes the first pilot to fly under bridges spanning the Thames River when he takes off from Harty Ferry,Eastchurch in his Short biplane S. 33.

10th Aug 1922....The Schneider Trophy race is held at Naples.It is won by the only non-Italian competitor,H.C.Biard in a British Supermarine Sea Lion II,with a winning speed of 145.7 mph.

10th Aug 1936....Spanish Civil War-A civilian aeroclub from Seville has provided aerial recon and in one instance forced Republican militiamen to abandon their positions by dropping melons on them.

10th Aug 1938....A Lufthansa Focke-Wulf Fw 200 makes a non-stop flight from Berlin to New York,via Hamburg,Glasgow,Newfoundland,and Halifax,taking 24 hours 36 min for the trip.

10th Aug 1947....BEA operated its first scheduled all-cargo flight from Northolt to Brussels with a DC-3 freighter;the world's first regular cargo-only airline service.

10th Aug 1962....First flight of the Bell 533,a research helicopter to explore rotors at high airspeeds.It could be fitted with jet engines and swept wings,just one was built.

10th Aug 2001....Launch:Space Shuttle Discovery STS-105 at 21:10:14 UTC.Mission highlights:ISS supply,crew rotation.This mission was Discovery's final mission until STS-114,it was grounded for a refit.

10th Aug 2002....US Airways files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy,and again in 2004.It merged in 2005 with America West Airlines.In Oct 2015 it merged with American Airlines.

[Angry Turnip]

11th Aug 1906....Mrs.C.J S.Miller becomes the first female passenger in an airship.The 40-hp craft is owned and operated by her husband,Major Miller.

11th Aug 1915....The US Naval Observatory asks Eastman Kodak to develop a special aerial reconnaissance camera,that could be used from an airplane flying at heights of 3,000 feet to 6,000 feet.

11th Aug 1918....The first use of a parachute from a combat aircraft occurs when a German pilot escapes his burning Pfalz D.III after being attacked by a pilot from No. 19 Squadron RAF.

11th Aug 1921....The Schneider Trophy race is held at Venice.In an all-Italian field,Giovanni De Briganti wins the race in a Macchi M.7 with an average speed of 117.9 mph.

11th Aug 1937....First flight of the Boulton Paul Defiant.An interceptor turret fighter,without any forward-firing guns,proved to be a great weakness in daylight combat.It found it`s niche as a nightfighter.

11th Aug 1952....British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) inaugurates its new weekly service between London and Colombo,the capital of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).

11th Aug 1955....First flight of the Bell XV-3,a tiltrotor aircraft.It featured two-bladed rotor assemblies mounted on the wingtips,mounted to tilt 90 degrees from vertical to horizontal.

11th Aug 1956....First flight of the Cessna 620,a prototype pressurized 8/10 seat business plane powered by four piston engines.The model number indicates the 620 is twice the airplane that a Cessna 310 is.

11th Aug 1972....First flight of the Northrop F-5E,it had more powerful GEJ85-21 engines,and had a lengthened and enlarged fuselage than the F-5A.It eventually received the official name Tiger II.

11th Aug 1972....NATO signs a development contract for the MRCA (Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) programme,which will eventually result in the Panavia Tornado.

11th Aug 1982....A bomb explodes aboard Pan Am Flight 830,killing a passenger and injuring 15 others.The plane,a 747-100 Clipper Ocean Rover,N754 PA,makes an emergency landing in Honolulu and is repaired.

11th Aug 1985....Space Shuttle Challenger is flown to Kennedy Space Center via Davis-Monthan AFB,Arizona.

11th Aug 1986....A modified Westland Lynx sets a new helicopter world speed record of 249 mph.Intended as a utility craft for both civil and military,interest led to the development of several variants.

11th Aug 1991....Space Shuttle Atlantis lands after completing mission STS-43.Primary goal was launching the fourth Tracking and Data Relay Satellite,TDRS-E.It had a crew of five.

11th Aug 1995....First flight of the Embraer ERJ-145,a twin-engine regional jet.It was designed for a new market where the increased speed and comfort would outweigh the fuel economy of the turboprop.

11th Aug 2001....First flight of the Hawker 4000,a super-midsize business jet.As of May 2013,Hawker-Beechcraft is offering its jet division,including the Hawker 4000 project,for sale.

11th Aug 2003...."The Spirit of Butts Farm" makes the first flight across the Atlantic by a computer-controlled model aircraft.Launched from Cape Spear,it landed near Clifden,Ireland 38.9 hours later.

[Angry Turnip]

12th Aug 1888....The first gas-powered aircraft flies.Built by the German engineer Wolfert,the airship was fitted with a 2 hp Daimler benzene engine,running two props,flies for 2 ½ miles in Germany.

12th Aug 1913....First flight of the Bristol T.B.8,an early British biplane,mainly used as a trainer.They were purchased by the RFC and RNAS,the TB.8 had a distinctive four wheel undercarriage.

12th Aug 1915....Flt Cdr Charles Edmonds becomes the first pilot to attack a ship with an air-launched torpedo.He flies a Short Type 184 from HMS Ben-my-Chree,his target is a Turkish supply ship.

12th Aug 1935....First flight of the de Havilland DH.90 Dragonfly,a twin-engined luxury touring biplane.Similar to the Dragon Rapide,but was smaller and had higher aspect ratio,slightly sweptback wings.

12th Aug 1940....The Luftwaffe begins Operation Eagle Attack,targeting British radar stations,inland Fighter Command airfields,and Royal Air Force communication centers during the Battle of Britain.

12th Aug 1941....Two Wellingtons of No115 Sqn carried out the first operational trial of Bomber Commands new navigational device Gee.The trials were a success,and the equipment ordered into production.

12th Aug 1946....Harry Truman signs a bill to establish a National Air Museum in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC.The National Air and Space Museum is the most visited museum in the world.

12th Aug 1962....A day after launching Andrian Nikolayev into orbit,the Soviet Union also sent up cosmonaut Pavel Popovich;both men landed safely August 15th.

12th Aug 1965....First flight of the Fuji FA-200 Aero Subaru,a single-engine piston-powered,4-seat light aircraft.275 were built when production ended in 1986.

12th Aug 1966....First flight of the Learjet 25,2+8 pax,twin-engine,high-speed business jet.They were used by civilian and military operators,wingtip tanks are a distinctive feature.

12th Aug 1976....First flight of the Aermacchi MB-339,an Italian military jet trainer and light attack aircraft.Variant for Frecce Tricolori aerobatic team is the MB-339PAN with tip tanks removed.

12th Aug 1978....First flight of the production version of the Pilatus PC-7 Turbo Trainer.It is capable of all basic training functions including aerobatics,instrument, tactical and night flying.

12th Aug 1979....Ben Abruzzo and crew make the first transatlantic crossing by balloon,taking 5 days 17 hours to travel from Presque Island,Maine USA to Évreux,France in the Double Eagle II.

12th Aug 2012....The airline Wind Jet ceases operations after Alitalia's attempt to purchase it fails,leaving hundred of passengers stranded in Italy.

[Angry Turnip]

13th Aug 1914....A RFC Royal Aircraft Factory BE.2 becomes the first British aircraft to arrive in France to deploy for the Great War.By late 1915, the B.E.2 was proving inadequate in defending itself.

13th Aug 1932....First flight of the Gee Bee Model R Super Sportster,a special purpose racing aircraft made by Granville Brothers.The R-1 won the 1932 Thompson Trophy race,piloted by Jimmy Doolittle.

13th Aug 1937....First flight of the Sikorsky VS-44,alarge four-engined flying boat.It was designed primarily for the transatlantic passenger market,with a capacity of 40+ passengers.Just 3 were built.

13th Aug 1939....First flight of the Vickers Warwick,a multi-purpose twin-engined British aircraft.It served in the maritime recon/air-sea rescue,and transport roles with the RAF and later with BOAC.

13th Aug 1945....Seven B-29 Superfortresse`s drop five million leaflets over Tokyo,providing the Japanese population the news that Japan had accepted the Potsdam Declaration and was negotiating for peace.

13th Aug 1962....First flight of the British Aerospace 125,a twinjet mid-size business jet.Developed by de Havilland and initially designated as the DH125 Jet Dragon, it entered production as the Hawker Siddeley                            HS.125.It was operated by civil and military users,and over 1600 were built.

13th Aug 1976....First flight of the Bell 222 helicopter.A cosmetically modified version of the 222 was used as the titular aircraft in the American television series Airwolf.Go on,hum the theme tune!

13th Aug 2002....Midway Airlines files for bankruptcy,it was an airline based in North Carolina.Low cost carrier Southwest Airlines,hurt Midway badly and at closeure they had 33 aircraft.

13th Aug 2010....Regional Spanish airline Andalus Lineas Aereas ceases operations.It started in 27th Feb 2009,but closed as the local aviation authorities withdrew their licence.




 

[Angry Turnip]

14th Aug 1915....First flight of the Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.9,an experimental reconnaissance aircraft of World War I.The type was not developed further and just a single example was built.

14th Aug 1931....First flight of the Tupolev ANT-14 Pravda,a larger development of the ANT-9.Powered by five 480 Gnome-Rhône Jupiter 9AKX radial engines,it had a crew of 3 plus 36 seats.Just one was built.

14th Aug 1932....First successful single-lift rotor helicopter;Alexei Cheremukhin & Boris Yuriev’s experimental TsAGI-1 EA,which flew to a record altitude of 605 m (1,985 ft).

14th Aug 1945....VJ Day,Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II,bringing the war to an end.September 2,1945,formal surrender ceremony was performed in Tokyo Bay,aboard the battleship USS Missouri.

14th Aug 1953....The sound barrier is broken over Australia for the first time by Flt Lt.Bentleigh,Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF),in the first Australian-built Sabre fighter at Avalon,Victoria.

14th Aug 1958....KLM Flight 607-E,a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation,en route from Amsterdam to New York,crashes into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after takeoff from Shannon Airport.

14th Aug 1958....First flight of the Grumman Gulfstream I,a twin-turboprop business aircraft.It was powered by two Rolls-Royce Dart turboprops with Rotol four-bladed constant speed propellers.

14th Aug 1974....First flight of the Panavia Tornado,a twin-engine,variable-sweep wing multirole combat aircraft.There are three primary Tornado variants:The Tornado IDS Tornado ECR,and Tornado ADV.

14th Aug 1979....Steve Hinton sets a new piston-engined airspeed record in a specially-modified P-51 Mustang named the Red Baron.He reaches 499 mph over Nevada.

[Angry Turnip]

15th Aug 1935....First flight of the Seversky P-35,a US fighter.It was the first single-seat fighter in USAAC to feature all-metal construction,retractable landing gear,and an enclosed cockpit.

15th Aug 1937....Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G. begins seaplane services using Dornier Do 18`s,between the Azores and New York with the assistance of seaplane tenders stationed along the route.

15th Aug 1940....One of the heaviest days fighting of the Battle of Britain occurs,with the loss of 46 British and 76 German aircraft.

15th Aug 1940....First RCAF victory in the Battle of Britain was scored by S/L EA McNab who destroyed a Dornier Do 215 while with No. 111 Squadron RAF.

15th Aug 1945....First flight of the Ilyushin Il-12,a Soviet twin-engine cargo aircraft.It was decided to re-engine the aircraft with Shvetsov ASh-82 radial engines as the original engines were underpowered.

15th Aug 1951....William Barton Bridgeman sets a new altitude record in a Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket,Bu. No. 37934,NACA 144, of 79,494 ft.

15th Aug 1957....USAF Captain Joe Bailey Jordan reaches a new altitude record of 103,389 ft in a Lockheed F-104C-5-LO Starfighter,USAF serial number 56-885.

15th Aug 1958....The US Congress approves a bill creating the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) to regulate all US commercial and military aviation.

15th Aug 1976....SAETA Flight 232,a Vickers Viscount 785D,goes missing mid-route from Quito to Cuenca,Ecuador.The scene remains undiscovered for over 26 years until February 2003.

15th Aug 1988....First flight of the PZL Bielsko SZD-55 Nexus,a Standard Class sailplane,still in production with approximately 110 built.It is built of fiberglass and has an elliptical wing.

15th Aug 2006....First flight of the Boeing EA-18G Growler,a carrier-based electronic warfare aircraft,a version of the two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornet.It replaced the Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowlers.

[Angry Turnip]

16th Aug 1918....Royal Navy Air Service airship, R27, destroyed in a hangar fire at RNAS Howden along with a makeshift SSZ class blimp and two SSZ class blimps,SSZ.38 and SSZ.54.

16th Aug 1942....The 82nd Airborne (All American) paratroop division is formed.The All American division was constituted originally as the 82nd Division,in Aug 1917.

16th Aug 1944....The first squadron of Me163a Komets is forced to flee it`s base at the Peenemünde-West field as a result of a heavy bombing raid by the RAF.

16th Aug 1947....First flight of the de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver,a single-engined high-wing propeller-driven (STOL) aircraft.It was widely used by civil and military operators.

16th Aug 1948....First flight of the Northrop F-89 Scorpion,an all-weather interceptor.It`s straight wings limited its performance,but it was among the first USAF jet fighters equipped with guided missiles.

16th Aug 1952....First flight of the Bristol Britannia,a medium-to-long-range 4x turboprop airliner.Canadair purchased a licence to build the Britannia in Canada,adding another 72 variants.

16th Aug 1960....Cpt.Joseph Kittinger sets a world record for highest parachute jump 102,800 ft,and longest parachute freefall 85,300 ft.He was testing high altitude parachute escape systems.

16th Aug 1980....First flight of the Embraer EMB 312 Tucano,a tandem-seat,single-turboprop,basic trainer with counter-insurgency capability developed in Brazil.Embraer built 504 examples.

16th Aug 1984....First flight of the ATR 42,a twin-turboprop,short-haul regional airliner.To date,all of the ATR series have been manufactured at the company's final assembly line in Toulouse,France.

16th Aug 1995....Concorde sets a new speed record for a round-the-world flight.It returns to JFK after a journey lasting 31 hours 27 min,passing through Toulouse,Dubai, Bangkok,Guam,Honolulu and Acapulco.

[Angry Turnip]

17th Aug 1910....The first English Channel flight crossing by an airplane with a passenger,is made by John Moisant who takes his mechanic in his two-seater Bleriot on the flight from Calais to Dover.

17th Aug 1914....The Imperial Japanese Navy’s first aviation ship, Wakamiya,is recommissioned as a seaplane carrier.It was equipped with four Japanese-built French Maurice Farman seaplanes.

17th Aug 1918....First flight of the Martin MB-1,a large twin engine biplane bomber.It was the first purpose-built bomber produced by the USA.Powerplant:2 × Liberty 12A liquid-cooled Vee,of 400 hp.

17th Aug 1925....The first Curtiss P-1 Hawk enters service with the USAAC.93 production P-1s were brought into service.Powerplant:1 × Curtiss V-1150-3 liquid-cooled V12 engine of 435 hp.

17th Aug 1929....Francis Gary Powers,American U-2 pilot whose U-2 spy plane was shot down while over the Soviet Union,thus causing the U-2 Crisis of 1960,was born.

17th Aug 1940....RAF No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron became operational and commenced patrols from its base at Northholt,operating Hawker Hurricane Mk1`s.It currently operates the Typhoon at RAF Lossiemouth.

17th Aug 1942....First crash of a Messerschmitt Me 262,test pilot of the Rechlin test center,fails to achieve speed on his first take-off from Leipheim,overruns runway,and wipes out a potato field.

17th Aug 1942....Heavy bombers of the USAAF’ Eighth Air Force carry out their first raid,attacking a railroad marshalling yard at Rouen,France.They operate 12 Boeing B-17E`s from RAF Polebrook.

17th Aug 1956....First flight of the Boeing C-135 Stratolifter,a transport aircraft derived from the prototype Boeing 367-80 jet airliner.^0 were built in different versions.

17th Aug 1961....First flight of the Handley Page HP.115,a British delta wing research aircraft.It formed part of the British supersonic aircraft research programme,that eventually produced the Concorde.

17th Aug 1986....First flight of the Tsunami Racer,an experimental purpose-built racing aircraft.Powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine,it exceeded 500 mph.

17th Aug 1988....50 people set a world record for flying in a single hot air balloon (Lelystad, Netherlands)

[Angry Turnip]

18th Aug 1871....Alphonse Pénaud achieves the first flight of a stable airplane when his Planophore is flown 131 feet 11 seconds before the Société de Navigation Aérienne in the Tuileries Gardens,Paris.

18th Aug 1901....Wilbur Wright addresses the Western Society of Engineers in Chicago with a 10,000-word paper titled “Some Aeronautical Experiments.” Sounds like a giggle fest.

18th Aug 1922....Arthur Martens makes the first sailplane flight of over one hour at the Wasserkuppe.His aircraft,named Vampyr (“Vampire”) is designed by Wolfgang Klemmperer.

18th Aug 1930....Captain Wolfgang von Gronau and crew make the first east to west crossing of the Atlantic from Germany to New York.They use a Dornier Wal D-1422 flying boat,the flight takes 47hrs.

18th Aug 1932....Jim Mollison makes the first solo East-to-West crossing of the Atlantic,flying a de Havilland Puss Moth from Portmarnock to New Brunswick.In July 1932 he married Amy Johnson.

18th Aug 1941....The Butt Report is issued.A scathing report reveals a widespread failure of Royal Air Force Bomber Command aircraft to deliver their payloads to the correct target.

18th Aug 1942....RAF Bomber Command’s Pathfinder Force flies its first mission,with 31 Pathfinder aircraft to mark the target,The submarine base at Flensburg,the raid is a complete failure;target is untouched.

18th Aug 1951....RCAF aerobatic team flying DH 100 Vampire fighters performed at the National Air Races in Detroit,Michigan.

18th Aug 1965....First flight of the Kamov Ka-26,a Soviet light utility helicopter with co-axial rotors.Engines are two 325hp Vedeneyev M-14V-26 radials mounted in outboard nacelles.

18th Aug 1967....First flight of the Handley Page HP137 Jetstream,a small twin-turboprop airliner with a pressurised fuselage.It was designed to meet the requirements of the US commuter/regional market.

18th Aug 1989....VH-OJA,Boeing B747-438 flies nonstop from London to Sydney,setting a world record for a four engine jet,after having flown 10,587.54 miles in 20 hrs,9 mins,5secs average speed of 525.42 mph.

[Angry Turnip]

19th Aug 1871....Orville Wright was born in Dayton,Ohio.He was co-inventor,with his brother Wilbur of the first airplane to achieve powered,sustained,and controlled flight.

19th Aug 1911....Comdr.Charles R.Samson sets a new British endurance record of 4 hours 58 min 30 seconds.The Short S.38 biplane has special tanks fitted for extra fuel capacity.

19th Aug 1915....Lt Oswald Boelcke shoots down his first aircraft flying a Fokker E.I fitted with interrupter gear.This allowed a machine gun to be fired through the prop arc,without hitting the prop.

19th Aug 1921....Gene Roddenberry,B-17 pilot and winner of the DFC with the USAAC,was born in El Paso,Texas.Creator of Star Trek,he became one of the first people to have a space burial upon his death in                                1991.

19th Aug 1940....The first combat mission of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s Mitsubishi A6 M Zero fighter takes place,as 12 Zeroes escort 54 Mitsubishi G3 M bombers over Chungking.

19th Aug 1945....Lt. James K. Holt ferries a captured Messerschmitt Me 262A from Newark to Pittsburgh for fuel.Aircraft suffers brake failure,goes into a ditch,and splits apart.Airframe is a total loss.

19th Aug 1957....Maj David Simons sets a new balloon altitude record of 101,516 ft (30,942 m).It was part Project Manhigh,that took men in balloons to the middle layers of the stratosphere.

19th Aug 1958....First flight of the prototype of the Lockheed P-3 Orion,a four-engine turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner.

19th Aug 1960....Launch of Sputnik 5 – The Soviet Union launches the satellite with the dogs Belka and Strelka,40 mice,2 rats and a variety of plants.

19th Aug 1960....In Moscow,downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to ten years (3 in prison,the remainder in a labour camp)by the Soviet Union for espionage.

19th Aug 1969....Embraer is founded by Brazil’s Ministry of Aeronautics.The company initially produced a turboprop passenger aircraft,the Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante.

19th Aug 1981....Two Libyan Air Force Sukhoi Su-22s are shot down off of the Libyan coast by two United States Navy Grumman F-14A Tomcats of VF-41 from USS Nimitz.

[Angry Turnip]

20th Aug 1908....The Wright Flyer built for flight trials before the U. S. Army arrives at Fort Meyer,near Washington DC eight days ahead of schedule.

20th Aug 1908....Robert Gastambide becomes the first passenger carried by a monoplane when he is taken up on the Antoinette II,designed by Leon Levavasseur.

20th Aug 1910....The US Army experiments with firing a rifle from an airplane.US Army Lieutenant Jacob Earl Fickel conducts firing trials from a Curtiss two-seater biplane piloted by Curtiss himself.

20th Aug 1919....The first regularly scheduled passenger service by airship begins with Zeppelin LZ 120 Bodenese's first flight at Friedrichshafen,Germany to Berlin.It was later handed over to the Italian Navy as                              part of war reparations.

20th Aug 1939....The last rigid airship,the Graf Zeppelin (LZ 130) makes its last flight.The 2nd and final ship of the Hindenburg class,and the 2nd zeppelin to carry the name "Graf Zeppelin" (after the LZ 127).

20th Aug 1953....Using aerial refueling,17 USAF F-84G Thunderjets make the longest-ever nonstop flight by jet fighters,flying 4,485 miles from the United States to the United Kingdom.

20th Aug 1955....Flying a U. S. Air Force North American F-100 C Super Sabre,Horace A. Haines sets a world speed record of 822.135 mph (1,323.889 km/hr).

20th Aug 1963....First flight of the BAC One-Eleven,a British short-range jet airliner.It was originally designed by Hunting Aircraft,over half of the One-Eleven's sales at launch were to the US.

20th Aug 1969....First flight of the FMA IA 58 Pucará,an Argentine ground-attack and counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft.The type saw action during the Falklands War and the Sri Lankan Civil War.

20th Aug 1970....First flight of the Sikorsky S-67 Blackhawk,a prototype attack helicopter.A tandem,two-seater designed around the dynamic drive and rotor systems of the Sikorsky S-61.Just one was built,it was                            destroyed in a fatal crash at the 1974 Farnborough Airshow.

20th Aug 1977....Voyager 2 unmanned interplanetary spacecraft,is launched aboard a Titan IIIE/Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral,tasked mainly with photographing Venus, Neptune and Saturn.

20th Aug 1978....The British Aerospace Sea Harrier FRS1 entered service with 800NAS.A naval short take-off and vertical landing/vertical take-off and landing jet fighter,they retired in March 2006.

20th Aug 1986....First test-flight of a propfan engine,the General Electric GE-36.The design is intended to offer the speed and performance of a turbofan, with the fuel economy of a turboprop.

20th Aug 1992....First flight of the HAL Dhruv,an indigenous Indian utility helicopter.Design assistance was provided by MBB.It is designed to meet the requirement of both military and civil operators.

20th Aug 2002....First flight of the KAI T-50 Golden Eagle,a South Korean supersonic advanced trainer.Developed by KAI with Lockheed Martin,ROKAF's Black Eagles aerobatic team operates the T-50B.

20th Aug 2007....Loch Lomond Seaplanes launches scheduled services from Glasgow Seaplane Terminal to Oban in Scotland.

[Angry Turnip]

21st Aug 1908....Wilbur Wright moves to Camp d’Auvours,6.8 miles east of Le Mans,where all his flights for the remainder of the year will be based.

21st Aug 1918....First flight of the Nieuport-Delage NiD.29,a French single-seat biplane fighter.They entered service with the French Air Force in 1922,over 1500 were built.

21st Aug 1923....The first electric airway beacons start appearing at airfields in the United States to assist in night flying operations.

21st Aug 1944....First flight of the Grumman F8F Bearcat,a single-engine carrier-based fighter,it was Grumman last piston engined fighter aircraft.Modified versions are popular among air racers.

21st Aug 1953....A new world’s altitude record of 83,235 feet is set by Marion Carl in the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket.Only 3 Skyrockets were built as they were research aircraft,not for production.

21st Aug 1967....First flight of the Antonov An-30,a development of the An-24 designed for aerial cartography,reconnaissance and transport.The nose is extensively glazed and houses the navigator.

21st Aug 1973....First flight of the Aerosport Scamp,a small biplane designed for the home build market,by Harris Woods.Over 1000 sets of plans have been purchased,and a crop sprayer version was built.

21st Aug 1974....First flight of the Hawker Siddeley Hawk,a single-engine,jet advanced trainer,later built by BAe.Over 1000 have been built-it is used by the RAF Red Arrows Aerobatic Display Team.

21st Aug 1985....Sir Freddie Laker accepts a £UK 8 million in a settlement with British Airways. Laker had sued twelve airlines for conspiring to drive Laker Airways out of business.

21st Aug 1989....Unlimited class racer Rare Bear,a modified Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat,sets a new piston-powered speed record of 528.32 miles per hour at Las Vegas,Nevada.

21st Aug 1998....An Insitu Aerosonde named Laima becomes the first UAV to cross the Atlantic Ocean,completing the flight in 26 hours.No need for an in flight movie,or trolley service.:-)

21st Aug 2012....Afghan insurgents fire rockets at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan,damaging the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III of US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey.

[Angry Turnip]

22nd Aug 1909....The first great aviation meeting in Bétheny,France,opens as 23 European airplanes make 87 flights during one week.It will influence the technical and military aspects of flight.

22nd Aug 1914....An Avro 504 on patrol over Belgium is shot down by German rifle fire,the first Royal Flying Corps aircraft destroyed in action.

22nd Aug 1918....Lt.Frigyes Hefty of the Austro-Hungarian Air Corps,successfully parachutes from his burning fighter after a clash with Italian aircraft.He is the first to survive a combat parachute jump.

22nd Aug 1922....First flight of the Vickers Type 56 Victoria,a twin engine biplane freighter and troop transport.Powered by two Napier Lion engines.The enclosed cabin had room for 24 troops.

22nd Aug 1938....The Civil Aeronautics Act becomes effective in the United States,coordinating all non-military aviation under the Civil Aeronautics Authority.It later became the FAA.

22nd Aug 1944....Operation Goodwood,a series of airstrikes begins by carriers HMS Formidable,HMS Furious,HMS Indefatigable,HMS Nabob,and HMS Trumpeter against battleship Tirpitz at anchorage in Norway.

22nd Aug 1951....Bell X-1D,48-1386,suffers fire/explosion internally while aloft for its first flight,jettisoned from Boeing B-29-96-BO Superfortress,45-21800,crashes near Edwards AFB.

22nd Aug 1952....First flight of the Saunders-Roe Princess G-ALUN,the largest all-metal flying boat to have ever been constructed.It had six turbo-prop engines and a wingspan of almost 220ft.

22nd Aug 1963....Joe Walker in the North American X-15 high speed/high altitude test plane reaches altitude of 107 km (67 miles).This was flight 91,his top speed was 3,794 mph.

22nd Aug 1970....Two Sikorsky HH-53 C helicopters complete a non-stop transpacific flight of 9,000 miles (14,484 km) using in-flight refueling.

22nd Aug 1972....First flight of the Sukhoi T-4,a Soviet high-speed recon,anti-ship and strategic bomber aircraft that did not proceed beyond the prototype stage.Only one flew of the two built.

22nd Aug 1973....First flight of the Learjet Model 35,a multi-role business jet and military transport.The USAF examples are known as C-21A`s.Its cabin can be arranged for 6-8 passengers.

22nd Aug 1974....First flight of the Short 330,a small transport aircraft.It seats up to 30 people and was relatively inexpensive,with low maintenance costs at the time of its introduction in 1976.

22nd Aug 1985....British Airtours Flight 28M,a Boeing 737,aborts its takeoff from Manchester,England because of an engine fire.

22nd Aug 2002....First CH-149 Cormorant was delivered to the Canadian Forces.The CH-149 is a medium-lift helicopter for military applications.It is known as the Agusta Westland AW101 in Europe.

[Angry Turnip]

23rd Aug 1878...The British government uses its first military aviation budget of £150 to build and fly their first balloon,the Pioneer.

23rd Aug 1913...Léon Letort,flies his Morane-Saulnier monoplane fitted with an 80-hp Le Rhône engine,on the first non-stop flight between Paris and Berlin,taking 8 hours to complete the flight.

23rd Aug 1947...The Avro Tudor 2 prototype,G-AGSU,crashes on take-off at Woodford,Greater Manchester,killing Avro chief designer Roy Chadwick and test pilot S. A. Thorn.Just 4 were completed.

23rd Aug 1948...First flight of the McDonnell XF-85 Goblin,a prototype fighter.It was intended to deploy from the bomb bay of the giant Convair B-36 bomber as a parasite fighter to defend bombers.

23rd Aug 1953...First flight of the Short SB.6 Seamew,a lightweight anti-submarine aircraft.Due to poor performance,only 24 production aircraft had flown before the project was cancelled.

23rd Aug 1954...First flight of the YC-130 prototype,a four-engine turboprop military transport,that became the C-130 Hercules.The versatile airframe has found uses in a variety of other roles.

23rd Aug 1958...President Eisenhower signs the Federal Aviation Act of 1958,transferring all authority over aviation operations in the US to the newly-created Federal Aviation Agency/Administration

23rd Aug 1965...Air Wisconsin Airlines commences operations with it's first flight between Appleton,Wisconsin and Chicago–O'Hare,Illinois.It started with a pair of de Havilland Dove aircraft.

23rd Aug 1977...The Gossamer Condor became the first human-powered aeroplane,flying a figure-8 course to demonstrate sustained,controlled flight.The design was developed into the Gossamer Albatross.

23rd Aug 1983...First flight of the Boeing Skyfox,a twin-engined jet trainer.A highly upgraded development of the Lockheed T-33 designed to replace the Cessna T-37 Tweet.One prototype flew.

23rd Aug 1990...The Boeing VC-25A enters USAF service.They are highly modified Boeing 747-200Bs,known as Air Force One if the President is aboard.Two unsold 747-8s are to replace the VC-25A in 2024.

[OldBanditDriver]

A small but important correction for 23 August 1947.

The AVRO Chief Designer was Roy Chadwick.

One of many tributes, here. http://www.thedambusters.org.uk/chadwick.html

[Angry Turnip]

A small but important correction for 23 August 1947.

The AVRO Chief Designer was Roy Chadwick.

One of many tributes, here. http://www.thedambusters.org.uk/chadwick.html

I know about that,and I forgot to amend my error,too many things going on at once when I was compiling these.Opps!