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Today in Aviation

2009 – The European Commission extends its blacklist to cover all airlines based in Djibouti, the Republic of the Congo and São Tomé. In Ukraine, Ukrainian Cargo Airways and Volare Airlines were removed from the blacklist as their Air Operator’s Certificates had been revoked. Motor Sich Airlines were also removed from the blacklist and Ukrainian Mediterranean Airlines were allowed to operate a single aircraft. TAAG Angola Airlines was allowed to increase the number of aircraft used for flights to Portugal.

2009 – A Sri Lanka Air Force Mil Mi-24 Hind Helicopter (CH635, c/n 3532431622597) engaged on a training mission, crashed 5 km north of Buttala(310 km south-east of Colombo) at approximately 1330 HRS due to technical failure. Prior to the crash the pilot have reported a power generator failure to the tail rotor. Pilot, Co-Pilot and 2 door gunners have died from this incident.

2008 – XL Airways Germany Flight 888 T was an Airbus A320 which was seen to plunge into the Mediterranean Sea, 7 km off Saint-Cyprien on the French coast, close to the Spanish border. Seven people were aboard, two Germans (pilot and co-pilot from XL Airways) and five New Zealanders (one pilot, three aircraft engineers and one member of the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand). Two bodies were recovered within hours of the crash; the others were found during later weeks.

2006 – F-16CG, serial 90-0776, from the 524th Fighter Squadron crashes near Fallujah while on a low-altitude ground-strafing run. The pilot, Major Troy Gilbert, was killed. His body was taken by insurgents. It was never recovered.^[1]^[2]

1989 – 1989 Jamba Hercules crash refers to an acicdent involving a Lockheed Hercules C-100 aircraft belonging to a CIA front company, Tepper Aviation, that crashed on final approach at Jamba, Huíla in Angola while delivering arms to UNITA.

1989 – Avianca Flight 203, a Boeing 727, explodes in mid-air over Colombia, killing all 107 people on board and three people on the ground. The Medellín Cartel claimed responsibility for the attack.

1975 – The announcement that Canada to was purchase 18 P-3 s as long range patrol aircraft was to be known as CP-140 Auroras in the Canadian Forces.

1964 – A Lockheed SP-2H Neptune, BuNo 135610, c/n 726-7046, "YC 12", of VP-2, out of NAS Kodiak, crashes into a mountain near the tip of Cape Newenham, Alaska. Twelve crew members killed.

1956 – Linea Aeropostal Flight 253, a Lockheed L-749 Constellation, crashes while on approach to Caracas International Airport, killing all 25 on board.

1952 – James D. Wetherbee, American astronaut, was born. Wetherbee is a veteran of six space shuttle missions, and is the only American to have commanded five missions.

1951 – French Leduc 0.22-01 ramjet-powered prototype interceptor is badly damaged in landing accident and the pilot seriously injured.

1945 – Douglas C-47B Skytrain, 43-16261,[84] of Air Transport Command, piloted by 1st Lt. William H. Myers, disappears during flight from Singapore to Butterworth, British Malaya. Wreckage found on mountain slope in the forest reserve area of Bukit Bubu, near Beruas, Perak, Malaysia. Crew remains never recovered.

1944 – In one mission, Captain Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager shoots down four German FW-190s.

1944 – During a 3,000-mile out-and-back navigation training mission from Great Bend Army Airfield Great Bend Army Airfield, Kansas, to Batista Army Airfield, Cuba, Boeing B-29-25-BW Superfortress, 42-24447, coded '35', of the 28th Bombardment Squadron (Very Heavy), 19th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy), suffers fire in number 1 (port outer) engine. Aircraft commander, 1st Lt. Eugene Hammond, orders crew bail-out 37 miles S of Biloxi, Mississippi. After all but pilot have departed, the burning engine nacelle drops off of the wing, Lt. Hammond returns to controls, brings the bomber into Keesler Field, Mississippi for emergency landing. Only four recovered from the Gulf of Mexico, one dead, three injured

1944 – Three Japanese transport aircraft carrying demolition troops attempt to land troops at Buri airfield on Leyte and on the Leyte invasion beachhead via crash landings, but many of the troops are killed in the crashes and the survivors do little damage.

1944 – Japanese aircraft staging through Iwo Jima make their first successful strikes against U. S. B-29 s on Saipan. An early raid by two twin-engined bombers destroys a B-29 and damages 11 others, while later in the day 10 to 15 single-engined fighters attack, destroying three B-29 s and damaging two.

1944 – Japanese kamikazes damage the battleship USS Colorado (BB-45) and light cruiser USS St. Louis (CL-49) in Leyte Gulf.

1944 – 81 B-29 s attempt a second attack on the Musashino aircraft plant in Tokyo. Heavy cloud cover forces them to bomb secondary targets instead.

1942 – Douglas O-46A, 35-179, of the 81st Air Base Squadron, piloted by Gordon H. Fleisch, lands downwind at Brooks Field, Harlingen, Texas, runs out of runway, overturns. Written off, it is abandoned in place. More than twenty years later it is discovered by the Antique Airplane Association with trees growing through its wings, and in 1967 it is rescued and hauled to Ottumwa, Iowa. Restoration turns out to beyond the organization's capability, and in September 1970 it is traded to the National Museum of the United States Air Force for a flyable C-47. The (then) Air Force Museum has it restored at Purdue University and places it on display in 1974, the sole survivor of the 91 O-46s built.

1940 – During the Battle of Cape Spartivento, the Italian naval commander Admiral Inigo Campioni orders his fleet to retire upon receiving word of the strength of the opposing British force. A torpedo strike by 11 Swordfish against his fleeing ships is ineffective, as is a belated attack on the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal by Italian high-level bombers.

1939 – Longest ambulance flight in Canadian history was carried out by a Junkers W-34 of Canadian Airways, piloted by WE Catton from Winnipeg Manitoba, to Repulse Bay, NWT and return.

1929 – 27-28 – Richard Byrd and crew make the first flight over the South Pole in a Ford Trimotor.

1923 – The Douglas Co. is awarded a $192,684 contract by the War Department to build four DWC aircraft and spares.

1912 – The aeronautical division of the US Army Signal Corps receives the first “flying boat”, a Curtiss Model F, capable of takeoff from water.

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