Portal:Aviation/Today in aviation

2009 – A Russian Naval Aviation Tupolev Tu-142 M3 Bear F/J from the 310th Independent Long Range Anti-Submarine Aviation Regiment based at Kamenny Ruchey Airbase crashes 15–20 km from the coast of Cape Datta north of Sovetskaya Gavan. The Naval aircraft on a routine training exercise crashes into the sea in the Tatar Straight near the island of Sakhalin with the loss of all 11 crew.

2006 – AH-64D Apache from A Company, 1–82nd Attack Reconnaissance Battalion (ARB) attached to 25th Combat Aviation Brigade crashes north of Baghdad, killing the two pilots.^[1]

2002 – National Airlines, already operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, permanently ceases operations

2002 – Luxair Flight 9642, a Fokker F50, crashes short of the runway while landing near Niederanven, Luxembourg in foggy conditions; of the 19 passengers and three crew on board, only two survive.

1990 – Crew of an US Navy Grumman A-6E Intruder, '506', of VA-176, suffering engine fire, aim bomber away from Virginia Beach, Virginia oceanfront before ejecting just after take-off from NAS Oceana, Virginia's Runway 5. Bomber comes down at 1015 hrs. in the Atlantic Ocean ~.75 miles offshore, after just clearing the Station One Hotel, on-shore breeze carries crew inland about three blocks from the beach, one landing in a tree, the other in a courtyard of a condominium, suffering only cuts and bruises. Aircraft, on routine training mission, was unarmed. Officials did not identify the crew, but said the pilot was a 29-year old lieutenant, and the bombardier-navigator was a 34-year old lieutenant commander, both assigned to VA-176.

1986 – In the 1986 British International Helicopters Chinook crash, a Boeing 234LR Chinook crashes on approach to Sumburgh Airport, Shetland Islands with the loss of 45 lives.

1967 – TWA Flight 159, a Boeing 707, overruns the runway at Greater Cincinnati Airport and catches fire; all on board escape the aircraft, but a passenger dies four days later.

1963 – A TCA Douglas DC-8 operating as Flight 861 was taking off from runway 28L at London Heathrow Airport on a flight to Montreal, Canada with seven crew and 90 passengers on board. As the aircraft passed 132 knots on the take off roll the captain pulled back on the control column but mistakenly thought there was no response from the elevators and aborted the take off. As a result the aircraft overshot the runway and came to rest 800 yards from the end of the runway in a cabbage field. All passengers and crew on board survived the accident and the aircraft was repaired and returned to service.

1957 – A prototype of the Bristol Britannia crashes in Downend, England, during a test flight, killing all 15 people on board and injuring one person on the ground.

1956 – The world’s first ship-based helicopter-borne assault takes place, as helicopters from HMS Ocean and HMS Theseus land 425 men of the Royal Marines’ 45 Commando and 23 tons of stores in Port Said, Egypt, in 90 min. During the day, over 1,000 French paratroopers jump into Egypt, and French Corsairs and F-84 F Thunderstreaks provide close air support to French forces. A ceasefire ends hostilities between Egypt and the United Kingdom, France, and Israel in the evening. The last major operation by a British aircraft carrier force in history comes to an end.

1956 – A Boeing B-47E-60-BW Stratojet, 51-2421, c/n 450474, of the 96th Bombardment Wing, Altus AFB, Oklahoma, suffers engine trouble while on a routine training mission late Tuesday, crashing on a farm near Hobart, Oklahoma, killing four crew. According to Ranson Hancock, publisher of the Hobart Democrat Chief, the bomber hit the ground about 320 yards W of a barn owned by Charles C. Harris, skidded into the barn and exploded. Officials identified the victims as Maj. Joseph E. Wilford, aircraft commander, Capt. Francis P. Bouschard, pilot, Capt. Lee D. Ellis, Jr., instructor-aircraft observer, all having families at Altus, and 1st Lt. Andrew J. Toalson, observer, Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

1945 – After its piston engine fails, a mixed-propulsion Ryan FR-1 Fireball fighter flown by U. S. Navy Ensign Jake West (of VF-41) makes the first landing under jet power on an aircraft carrier, landing aboard USS Wake Island (CVE-65).

1942 – Grumman UC-103, 42-97044, former civilian Grumman G-32 Gulfhawk III, ex-NC1051, built for the Gulf Oil Refining Company, delivered 6 May 1938 and impressed by the USAAF in November 1942, used as VIP ferry aircraft, 427th Air Base Squadron, Homestead Army Air Field,[163] force-lands in the southern Florida Everglades with engine failure: written off.

1939 – The formation of the Organization and Training Division at RCAF headquarters was authorized.

1936 – The German Luftwaffe’s Condor Legion, a force of about 100 aircraft, begins to depart Germany for Seville, Spain, to support Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War.

1929 – A Junkers G 31 crashes near Marden Park, Godstone, Surrey; of the 8 on board, only a passenger survives.

1922 – First flight of the Bristol Bullfinch, an experimental British two-seat fighter biplane

1915 – A Curtiss AB-2 piloted by Lt Cdr Henry Mustin is catapulted from the deck of USS North Carolina while the ship is underway.

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