Portal:Aviation/Historical anniversaries/September in aviation/September 3

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September 3

• 1989 - a Varig Boeing 737 crashes in Brazil killing 53 passengers. The pilots had not noticed an autopilot malfunction because they were listening to a football match.

• 1981 - McDonnell Douglas delivers the 1,000th DC-9 produced; it was ordered by Swissair.

• 1978 - an Air Rhodesia Vickers Viscount is shot down by members of Joshua Nkomo's Patriotic Front using a SA-7 surface-to-air missile. The ten passengers who survived the crash are shot dead.

• 1970 - Air France places the first orders for the Airbus A300

• 1955 - J. S. Fairfield makes the first ejection from an aircraft on the ground, escaping from a Gloster Meteor traveling at 120 mph (193 km/h) along a runway

• 1939 - Paratroops are used for the first time, with German units dropped into Silesia, behind Polish lines.

• 1939 - Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys are used to drop propaganda leaflets into German cities.

• 1932 - Jimmy Doolittle sets a new landplane airspeed record of 296 mph (476 km/h) in the Gee Bee R-1

• 1925 - USS Shenandoah breaks up in a storm and crashes, killing thirteen.

• 1917 - The US 1st Aero Squadron arrives in France