Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/May 31

May 31

• 2011 – The Libyan government claims that NATO air raids have killed 718 civilians and injured more than 4,000 since the international bombing campaign to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya began.

• 2008 – Champion Air ceased operations because of high fuel prices and fuel inefficiency, the main two reasons the airline was terminated.

• 2008 – Launch: Space Shuttle Discovery STS-124 at 21:02:12 UTC. Mission highlights: ISS assembly flight 1J: JEM - Japanese module Kibo & JEM RMS.

• 2005 – An Italian AB-412 helicopter crashes near Nasiriyah, killing the four soldiers on board.

• 2002 – First flight of the Toyota TAA-1

• 1995 – The first flight of the Schweizer RU-38 Twin Condor long-range surveillance aircraft takes place in Elmira, New York.

• 1991 – First flight of the Pilatus PC-12

• 1978 – First flight of the RFB Fantrainer

• 1977 – The Vietnam People's Air Force is separated from the Vietnamese Air Defense Force.

• 1973 – Indian Airlines Flight 440, a Boeing 737, crashes while on approach to Palam Airport in New Delhi, India. 48 of the 65 passengers and crew on board are killed in the accident.

• 1968 – Lockheed U-2, 56-6954, Article 394, fourth airframe of the USAF supplementary production, delivered to the USAF in March 1959. Built as a two-place airframe for ARDC at Edwards AFB, California - later designated a U-2D. Transferred to SAC in 1966 and converted to U-2C by January 1967. Crashed this date near Tucson, Arizona. Pilot Maj. Vic Milam ejects safely at 41,000 feet after losing control when airframe experiences uncontrolled pitch-up.

• 1968 – Lockheed JQF-104A Starfighter drone, 56-0733, 'QFG-733', (so modified and designated on November 29, 1961), of the 3205th Drone Squadron, suffers a severe class A landing accident at Eglin AFB, Florida. Repaired.

• 1967 – A USAF KC-135 Stratotanker makes an emergency refuelling of six US Navy jets.

• 1957 – A Royal Canadian Navy McDonnell F2H-3 Banshee fighter jet, BuNo 126313, Sqn. No. 104 of VF-870, spirals out of control after its right wing breaks in half during a high-speed flyby at naval air station HMCS Shearwater, Nova Scotia, Canada. The canopy is observed to separate from the aircraft, but the pilot, Lt. Derek Prout, fails to eject and is killed when the plane slams into McNabs Island. The crash is attributed to improperly manufactured fittings in the folding wing mechanism, and most RCN and US Navy Banshees are grounded until improved fittings can be installed.

• 1946 – London Heathrow Airport is officially opened.

• 1942 – Nos. 405, 408, 419 and 420 (Bomber) Squadrons participated in the first 1,000 aircraft attack on Germany, directed at Cologne.

• 1942 – Since January 1, Royal Air Force Bomber Command has dispatched 12,029 sorties, losing 396 aircraft; German night fighters have shot down 167 of them, an average of 34 British bombers per month. Since February 1, aircraft losses in British bombing raids on Germany have averaged 3.7 percent.

• 1941 – The Anglo-Iraq War ends with the collapse of Iraqi resistance.

• 1939 – Italian forces, including the “legionary air force, ” depart Spain.

• 1935 – First flight of the Fairchild Model 45

• 1935 – Hickam Field is dedicated in the Territory of Hawaii.

• 1928 – (May 31 and June 9) The first airplane flight across the Pacific is made by British Capt. Charles Kingsford-Smith and crew in a Fokker F-VIIB/3 m Southern Cross. They fly from Oakland Field, California to Brisbane, Australia, 7,389 miles (11,890 km), in 83 hours, 38 min. On the way, it becomes the first airplane to land in Fiji.

• 1919 – NC-4 aircraft commanded by AC Read completes first crossing of the Atlantic.

• 1919 – First wedding held in an aircraft. Flying 2000 ft above Houston Texas in a converted Hadley Page bomber, Marjorie Dumont and Lt. R. W. Meade were married by an Army chaplain.

• 1918 – Douglas Campbell scores his fifth victory, becoming the first American pilot to become an ace while flying for an American unit.

• 1916 – A Short Type 184 from the Royal Navy seaplane carrier Engadine achieves the only British aerial reconnaissance flight of the Battle of Jutland, reporting the sighting of three cruisers and ten destroyers of the German High Seas Fleet before a broken fuel pipe forces it to end the mission.

• 1915 – First Zeppelin raid on London, made by LZ 38. Seven people killed, fourteen wounded.

• 1911 – Andre Beaumont beats Roland Garros in the Paris to Rome air race, completing the 1,465 km (910 mile) course in 28 hours, 5 min.

• 1910 – Glenn Curtiss wins a $10,000 (USD) prize from the New York World for flying in his Hudson Flyer from Albany, New York, to New York City in 2 hours 51 min, following the course of the Hudson River.

• 1862 – Information obtained from Thadeus S. C. Lowe's balloon observation saves Union forces from defeat at the Battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia during the U. S. Civil War. Union General George McClellan is warned by Lowe of Confederate General Albert Johnston's approaching troops.

• 1811 – Albrecht Ludwig Berblinger, the "tailor of Ulm" (Germany) crashes in his apparatus, a copy of Degen's, into the Danube. It was presumably a workable hang glider.