Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/February 1

February 1

• 2008 – Mauricio Delfabro wins the first FAI South American Gliding Championships and 55th National Gliding Championships of Argentina in Adolfo Gonzales Chaves in the mixed Open, 18 m, 15 m and Standard Class, Carlos Adrover became South American Club Class Champion.

• 2008 – A United States Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle from the 199th Fighter Squadron, 154th Wing of the Hawaii Air National Guard flying on a routine training flight crashes into the Pacific Ocean near Oahu, Hawaii. After losing control at low altitude simulating air-to-air combat the pilot ejected about 60 miles (97 km) south of the Honolulu International Airport and was rescued by a United States Coast Guard helicopter.

• 2006 – UAL. Corp, United Airlines' parent company emerges from bankruptcy after being in such position since December 9, 2002, the longest such filing in history..

• 2003 – The Space Shuttle Columbia, OV-102, is lost as it reenters after a two-week mission, STS-107. Damage to the shuttle's thermal protection system (TPS) leads to structural failure in the shuttle's left wing and, ultimately, the spacecraft breaking apart as it decelerated over Texas. Investigations after the tragedy reveal the damage to the reinforced carbon-carbon leading edge wing panel had resulted from a piece of insulation foam breaking away from the external tank during the launch and hitting shuttle's wing. Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael P. Anderson, David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel B. Clark and Ilan Ramon were killed. See Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

• 1992 – British Aerospace’s latest Hawk demonstrator, Hawk Mk 102D, ZJ 100, takes to the skies for the first time. It is an enhanced two-seater ground-attack version with a modified wing and incorporates many improvements to its onboard sensors and weapons system.

• 1991 – USAir Flight 1493, a Boeing 737, strikes SkyWest Airlines Flight 5569, a Fairchild Metro commuter plane waiting to take off from the same runway on which the Boeing 737 was landing at Los Angeles International Airport. Of the 101 people on both aircraft, 34 people, including all 12 aboard the Metro and 22 of the Boeing 737 passengers, are killed.

• 1991 – In the Gulf War, a U. S. Navy A-6E Intruder hits an Iraqi Navy patrol boat near Min-al-Bakr oil terminal, leaving it burning.

• 1987 – People Express Airline ceased operations. It is merged with Continental Airlines.

• 1983 – Boeing announces it will stop producing Boeing 727 airliners.

• 1982 – Death of Richard B. Kershner, American Chief Designer. Developer of the Transit navigation satellite system.

• 1981 – Donald Wills Douglas, Sr., founder of the Douglas Aircraft Company, dies at age 88 (b. 1892]).

• 1979 – Pakistani Air Force Lockheed C-130B Hercules 23488, c/n 3698, former USAF 62-3488, coded 'P', registered AQ-ACP, then AS-HFP, jumped chocks during night engine test run, collided with C-130E 10687, c/n 4117, former USAF 65-10687, coded 'D'. Both written off, hulls at Lahore, June 1981.

• 1975 – In the previous 16 days all 8 world time-to-height records have been captured by a specially modified McDonnell Douglas F15 Streak Eagle. The final record sets a time of 3 min 27 seconds from standstill on the runway to a height of 30,000 m (98,425 feet).

• 1973 – Death of George Clapham Dixon, Canadian WWI flying ace.

• 1971 – Death of Amet-khan Sultan, WWII Soviet fighter ace and test pilot, while making a test flight on Tu-16 test-bed.

• 1971 – The 4,000th McDonnell Phantom II, an F-4E for the Air Force, is delivered.

• 1970 – Captain Raymond Munro makes the first hot air balloon crossing of the Irish Sea from Brittis Bay in Cop Wicklow to Ennerdale in Cumberland.

• 1968 – The Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Canadian Navy are disestablished as they merge with the Canadian Army to form the unified Canadian Armed Forces.

• 1967 – Rookie member of the Blue Angels U.S. Navy flight demonstration team, Lt. Frank Gallagher, of Flushing, New York, is KWF when his Grumman F-11A Tiger crashes during a practice flight ~16 miles NW of NAS El Centro, California. Fighter impacts in rugged desert terrain on a Navy test range. Assigned to the team only six weeks before, he is the fourth Blue Angels team member to die in an accident. Gallagher flew as the solo in the four-man formation and as number 6 in the full formation.

• 1964 – Entered Service: Boeing 727 with Eastern Air Lines.

• 1964 – President Lyndon Johnson publicly acknowledges the existence of the Lockheed A-12 Mach 3+ spy plane program and shows a picture that is actually a YF-12 A.

• 1963 – The United States Army activates the 11th Air Assault Division (Test) to test the concept of helicopter assault by ground forces.

• 1963 – Over 200 are injured and 73 killed when a Turkish Air Force Douglas C-47 Skytrain, CBK28, and a Middle East Airlines Vickers 745D Viscount turboprop airliner, OD-ADE, c/n 244, collide in a cloud bank in the afternoon over Ankara, Turkey, the press initially reports. Most of the victims were pedestrians and occupants of buildings lining Ulus Square in the Turkish capital. Eleven passengers and three crew aboard the commercial flight, and three crew aboard the Dakota were included in the fatalities. The C-47 was on a training flight. The body of one its crew was found on top of a building near the square with a partially opened parachute. Later description of the accident reported that the Viscount, Flight Number 265, from Cyprus to Ankara, was descending into Ankara-Esenboga Airport (ESB/LTAC), when it overtook the Dakota, which was returning to Etesmigut Airport. The airliner's number 3 (starboard inner) prop sliced off the Dakota's port horizontal stabilizer, while the starboard side of the Viscount was torn open with some passengers sucked out of the fuselage. An attempt to avoid the Dakota by the Viscount crew at the last moment was unsuccessful. This account gives ground fatalities as 87, and reports conditions as clear.

• 1961 – The Vickers Vanguard entered service with Trans Canada Airlines. Delivery of the first C-130 Navigation Trainer to 429 Squadron Winnipeg.

• 1961 – First launch of a LGM-30 Minuteman, U. S. nuclear missile, land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

• 1961 – Birth of Daniel Tani, American engineer and NASA astronaut.

• 1960 – Pilot Officer Noel H Lokuge of Royal Ceylon Air Force bailed out at 700 feet when his Jet Provost Mk2 suffered an engine failure during a formation flying training near Katunayake AFB and became the first Sri Lankan (Then Ceylon) ejectee.He suffered no injuries and resumed flying the next day. His Martin-Baker Mk4 seat earned him the No 57 of Martin Baker Tie Club.

• 1958 – Launch of Explorer 1, first US Earth satellite.

• 1958 – United Airlines sets a record commercial Honolulu, Hawaii-to-Los Angeles, California, flight time of 6 hours 21 min.

• 1958 – A USAF Douglas C-118A Liftmaster military transport, 53-3277, of the 1611th ATW, and a United States Navy Lockheed P2V-5F Neptune patrol bomber, BuNo 127723, collided over Norwalk, California (a suburb of Los Angeles) at night. 47 servicemen were killed as well as a 23-year-old civilian woman on the ground who was hit by falling debris. Two crew on P2V-5F survive. A plaque commemorating the disaster was erected by the American Legion in 1961 at the location of the accident, the corner of Firestone Boulevard and Pioneer Boulevard.[citation needed]

• 1957 – Northeast Airlines Flight 823, a Douglas DC-6, crashes during a snowstorm shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport; twenty of the 101 occupants die.

• 1956 – Vought F8U-1 Crusader, BuNo 140444, crashes N of Edwards AFB, California, Vought test pilot Harry T. Brackett killed.

• 1954 – USAF Curtiss C-46D-15-CU Commando, 44-78027, c/n 33423, suffered an in-flight fire. Pilot attempted a ditching in the Tsugaru Straits, but aircraft crashed off Hokkaido, 35 killed.

• 1950 – Eight Grumman F9 F Panthers land on the USS Valley Forge to complete the first aircraft carrier night landing trials by jets.

• 1949 – Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) revives, offering women a full professional career in the air force for the first time.

• 1945 – First flight of the Kawasaki Ki-100, Japanese fighter aircraft.

• 1944 – The U. S. Navy orders two Piasecki XHRP-1 helicopters. They are the first American helicopters to be developed under a military contract.

• 1944 – Death of James Alexander Connelly, Jr., American WWI flying ace and businessman.

• 1942 – The U. S. Navy aircraft carriers USS Enterprise (CV-6) and USS Yorktown (CV-5) launch air strikes against Japanese bases in the Marshall Islands. It is the first offensive operation by American forces in World War II.

• 1941 – Birth of Enzo Venturini, Italian Air force pilot.

• 1940 – The Soviets begin a new ground offensive in Finland, supported by about 500 bombers.

• 1940 – Death of George de Bothezat, Russian American engineer, businessman and pioneer of helicopter flight.

• 1940 – The Southern Rhodesian government forms Southern Rhodesian Air Services.

• 1939 – Reserve Command is formed under the command of Air Marshal C. L. Courtney.

• 1935 – Birth of Vladimir Viktorovich Aksyonov, Soviet pilot and cosmonaut.

• 1933 – First flight of the Boeing XF6 B, Boeing's last biplane design for the USN, carrier based fighter/bomber.

• 1932 – The Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier Hōshō joins the carrier Kaga in Chinese territorial waters during the Shanghai Incident.

• 1930 – San Francisco’s first air ferry service starts to operate, cutting journey time across the Bay to 6 min. The ferry flies from San Francisco to Alameda, and from Oakland to Vallejo.

• 1929 – First flight of the Lublin R-X.

• 1929 – The aviation and space operations of Boeing and Pratt & Whitney were merged to form the United Aircraft & Transport Corp.

• 1927 – The first NCO pilots Began training at Borden. They were A. Anderson, R. Marshall, A. J. Horner. They received their wings 30 April 1927.

• 1923 – 1923 – The Danish Army Flying Corps is established

• 1920 – World War I American ace (twelve victories) Field Eugene Kindley is killed in a crash at Kelly Field near San Antonio, Texas, during a demonstration flight for General John J. Pershing. A control cable snaps on the Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 biplane Kindley is flying, AS-8137, of the 96th Aero Squadron, he stalls, falls from an altitude of 100 feet. Kindley Air Force Base, Bermuda, is later named for him. Other sources give his crash date as both 2 February and 3 February.

• 1920 – The first interisland commercial flight in the Hawaiian Islands takes place when pilot Charles Fern carries a paying passenger from Honolulu to Maui and back. The outbound flight requires an emergency stop on Molokai.

• 1920 – The South African Air Force is established as an independent air arm.

• 1913 – Birth of Jeffrey Kindersley Quill OBE AFC FRAeS, British WWII RAF officer, RNVR officer and Test pilot. He test-flew every mark of Spitfire.

• 1912 – First flight of the Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2 (Blériot Experimental), a British single-engine two-seat biplane.

• 1911 – Burgess and Curtiss becomes the US's first licensed aircraft manufacturer, receiving a license to build Wright aircraft from the Wright Brothers, who held several key aeronautical patents.

• 1902 – Death of Rudolf Max Wilhelm Hans Bartsch von Sigsfeld, German airship designer and pilot.

• 1898 – Birth of Francis Jefferies Williams, British WWI flying ace.

• 1898 – Birth of John Carbery Preston, British WWI flying ace.

• 1896 – Birth of James Henry Forman, Canadian WWI flying ace.

• 1893 – Birth of Loudoun James MacLean, British WWI flying ace.

• 1891 – Birth of Corradino D'Ascanio, Italian aeronautical engineer who designed the first production helicopter, for Agusta, and designed the first motor scooter for Ferdinando Innocenti.

• 1891 – Birth of Mario Fucini, Italian WWI flying ace.

• 1888 – Birth of Henri Péquet, French pioneer aviator, WWI pilot and test pilot.

• 1887 – Birth of Henry Meyrick Cave-Browne-Cave CB, DSO, DFC, RAF, British engineering officer in the Royal Naval Air Service during WWI and senior commander in the RAF.

• 1885 – Death of Stanislas Charles Henri Dupuy de Lôme, French naval architect and Navigable balloons designer.

• 1876 – Birth of Francis Kennedy 'Frank' McClean AFC, English civil engineer and pioneer aviator, One of the founding members of the Royal Aero Club and one of the founders of naval aviation and amateur flying.

• 1858 – First flight in Australia in a Balloon is made by William Dean at Cremourne Gardens near Richmond.